BE the value: the importance of an integrated approach to sales in a post-pandemic world

A lot of folks these days might tell you that buying and selling have changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic. Looking at the B2B space, where I live, I’d agree that certain aspects of it have — but others, not so much. Yes, buying has changed in that it's easier to start the process and reach out to potential vendors.?Selling has changed to the extent that many salespeople are less effective, and top salespeople are closing a bigger percentage of the business than ever before.

But therein lies the crux: remaining effective. Providing value. It’s the salespeople who can continue to provide value in this post-Covid, point-and-click world who will remain relevant. Let me back up a bit to explain.

Since the start of the pandemic, how has buying really changed?

According to most digital marketing folks, buying has changed dramatically.?But just because a digital marketer says it, does that make it true??

To answer that, let's first clarify that we are talking here mainly about B2B. And let’s also?differentiate facts from claims, starting with what we know for certain.

B2B buying can be broken down into two broad categories:

●?????Transactional purchases – e.g.: Navigate to a website and buy it.

●?????Strategic/knowledge-driven purchases – e.g.: Talk to or meet with a salesperson.

In the case of transactional purchases,?salespeople have largely been eliminated from the process. Of course, this is a pre-existing trend that has been many years in the making; the pandemic has simply accelerated it.

However, for strategic or knowledge-driven B2B purchases, salespeople continue to be heavily involved in and influencers of the buying process. But only when they provide value. To clarify, selling goes beyond the act of establishing a monetary transaction. It's also about the seller’s ability to relate, negotiate, and persuade others to do something the seller wants them to.

Consider that prospects today can search Google; visit websites to gain in-depth information about products and services; build a list of possible suppliers; and even get a sense of pricing.?

Salespeople must add value to that process. Someone who simply regurgitates the information readily available online to a prospect is no real help at all, and won’t be around for long.?

Adding value comes down to taking stock of what has changed in your world, and what you as a salesperson must now do to contribute to it.

One of the most significant changes in sales is that it’s now more difficult to?reach decision-makers. Senior leaders are better protected, and they tend to rely more on group decision-making. Additionally, a lot more people are working from home, exacerbating the challenge of connecting with them.

Another big change: The pandemic has catalyzed?virtual selling?to the masses and added more buying options than ever before: Today the business across the country is no farther away than the one down the street.

Consequently, the way buyers find salespeople has changed. They might use Google — or they might find a trusted source on an expert’s blog, or through LinkedIn, or on some other social platform.?While inbound marketers might interpret that as proof that outbound selling is dead, I would counter by pointing out that yes, inbound marketers generate a lot of interest and leads on which to follow up, but the quality of the leads can be questionable, and the frequency, inconsistent. As well, there are often problems handing these leads off to salespeople.??

On the other hand, salespeople who continue to do their own prospecting — using all the tools available to them — are assured of plenty of quality meetings to keep their pipelines full. Yes, the web and social are extremely useful, but they need to be combined with video conferencing, the telephone, and face-to-face when necessary, to establish any kind of meaningful, sustainable relationship. Great salespeople subscribe to the theory that the best time to work on a relationship is when you don’t need it. That means: Always be working on building relationships.

Another shift in the sales landscape: Buyers are more self-educated. We know, for instance, that the buying journey is somewhere between 55% and 65% complete by the time a buyer first reaches out to a salesperson. Ineffective, underperforming salespeople assume that prospects know what they want, and therefore the salesperson’s job is merely to quote prices, prepare proposals, and take orders.?That assumption is why they are ineffective and chronically underperform.

The issue is mistaking education and knowledge for readiness — which can prompt a salesperson to take the path of least resistance: quote, proposal, order.

As a result, they don't follow their company's sales process — or, worse, the sales process has been modified to reflect a state of readiness.?If buyers were truly ready at this point, they would simply buy.

The top 20% of all salespeople have not succumbed to the false sense of security?offered by poor-quality inbound leads, or the myth of the buyer journey being largely complete before the buyer engages with a person.?

Instead, top salespeople continue to take a consultative approach to selling. They make full use of the tools and technology at hand. They nicely challenge prospects who seem ready, shining a light on the problems the prospect originally set out to solve. They get prospects to think differently, and see them (the sellers) as subject matter experts. They qualify more thoroughly than ever. They connect with decision-makers. They recognize that proper discovery leads to one — and only one —solution. And they close two to three times more business than their underperforming, order-taking colleagues.

Sure, Steve, right—in a perfect world.

No, not a perfect world, but one with the proper structure and systems to support consultative, integrated sales development.

Establishing that structure begins with a sales team evaluation to identify potential issues. First, address the question: Do you have the right folks on the team? At the same time, consider whether the issues are with individual performance or with the underlying process. A thoroughly documented, customized sales process — integrated into a tailored CRM application — is vital to helping salespeople meet the correct milestones, with the proper people, at the optimal time, for the right reasons.?

You also need the right compensation structure to drive desired sales behaviour. If your goal is to sell this, but your team is selling too much of that, check to be sure your compensation structure is serving as an appropriate incentive.

Remember, too, that sales strategy is about more than quota. Too often, sales leaders and business owners make quota — the outcome — their sole focus. They forget that sales success is the result of many factors. Success depends on appropriate territory planning. It requires the right activity metrics, giving each team member the best chance to reach their goals. It means time spent clearly defining your ideal customer profile and buyer persona(s) — so that your salespeople know exactly who to target. Further, a well-crafted value proposition will tell them exactly what to say when they get in front of those targets. And for you, the sales leader, proper training — e.g.: consultative selling; using role plays; and modeling what great selling looks and sounds like — will help you effectively coach up your team.

A well-crafted value proposition is especially important. People don’t always buy the best service; they buy the one they understand the fastest. If you don’t have a powerful marketing message for your business or services, you should be making it a priority.

Moreover, your value proposition should be a fundamental component in a broader content strategy. Having a robust content strategy is critical to establishing your authority around your products and services, and sharing how they improve the businesses and lives of your clients. This authority — a.k.a. thought leadership — is the subtle difference between getting clients and creating clients. With the latter in mind, you should be making content creation a consistent routine. I would add here that knowing your content distribution channel is also crucial. I’m a big believer in The Bullseye Framework for Getting Traction, created by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, and explained in their book, Traction. Their framework is an effective means of determining which marketing channel will work best for you.

Process and routine have a way of setting people free. That is certainly the case in sales. Through process comes a “system” that enables people to go beyond “just getting it done” —e.g.: writing quotes and taking orders. Process sets up salespeople to think creatively, work more collaboratively with prospects, and — ultimately — provide value.??

If you’re in sales (or marketing!) I’d love to get your perspective: How has sales and lead generation changed for you? And have you changed your methods as a result?

More food for thought!