It’s no longer a sales process…

Yep, time to rip up the sales dictionary again! 

If the last year and a bit has taught us anything, it’s that buyers want to control their own buying process. Whether for personal consumption or business purchasing, buyers are retaking the initiative.

Which is really good news for sellers who adapt quickly.

Buyers are arriving at your door more informed and more ready to buy. They have done their research, know what they want and just need your help to get it. In a buying process all you have to do is to help the customer buy. So much easier than pushing them through a complex sales process.

But it does mean you have to be flexible. Buyers want to buy on their terms and buy what they want, not what you want to sell them. So sales promotions on specific products need to be replaced with incentives to offer outstanding customer service.

Imagine how much more positive a buying process is for the customer / client. They have led the process and been very well looked after by you. They have come to trust you because you helped them get what they wanted. Do you think this customer is now more likely to buy from you again? I think so.

You just need to keep in touch with them and be on hand to help them buy in the future.

What do you need to do to turn your sales process into a buying process? There are a few simple steps:

 1)     review all your sales material, emails, quotes, etc. Look for the words “us”, “our”, “my”, “I”, and “we”. Replace them with “you”, “your” etc… a colleague calls this I-disease. As desire to talk about yourself excessively.

2)     Look at all your lead generation strategies and re-work them so that everything is set up to spot when a prospect is engaging with your material so that you can offer a customer service call to help them get what they want.

3)     Redouble your efforts on customer service - both so that they buy again and also so that they tell everyone else about you.

4)     Have a sense of humour. No one buys from a boring stuffed shirt.

The next step in the road to switching to a buying process is to look at customer service… This is the next big area where businesses are starting to differentiate themselves. Just take a look at Amazon.