2020 and 2021 haven’t just affected how and where sales teams work, but they’ve also affected how prospects behave. Your prospects have been influenced by new trends and have changed their preferences when it comes to agreeing to a deal. Here are four trends that you should when selling in 2022, that will help you communicate and close deals effectively.
The majority of 2020 and 2021 sent sales teams into peril. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the sales team to move their in-office efforts online in the short term. Investing in remote work had paid off for sales leaders within the last year. In HubSpot’s 2021 Sales Enablement Report, 64% who transitioned into remote sales were able to meet or exceed their revenue targets. 50% of sellers didn’t. Remote sales reps can perform more effectively if they have the right structure in place. For example, scheduling meetings online allows sellers to find an empty slot in the rep’s calendar, cutting down on the phone calls and follow-up emails that they would typically do if they were working in an office. Without a face-to-face focus, they can often act more time efficiently and also sell on a global scale.
If you want to approach sales the right way in 2022, you need to start personalizing your messaging and looking to understand your customer. Sellers have to understand that their target customers receive emails for other products and services all the time. If you are looking to reach them you have to understand how they behave. According to Forbes 50 Stats Showing the Power of Personalization, 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. Customers are tired of receiving unsolicited messages that try to sell them a solution to a problem they don’t have. When you are reaching out to your prospect, make sure you research your prospect's needs. Having a personalized approach will help you strengthen your messaging and follow-ups. 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. Providing more personal experience can help sales reps get replies earlier in the sales funnel.
What if I told you that the same tactics you’d use on Instagram or Facebook to get to friends and followers, can have the same effect when you are trying to prospect leads on LinkedIn. Your Linkedin profile can offer another route to relationship building, that can be more difficult through cold emails. With LinkedIn, you can identify a lead and can like or comment on a few posts. When you do this you are creating organic engagement. Your prospect won’t view it as you trying to sell with them, but you are engaging with someone who is in the same community as you. LinkedIn is a way for professionals to network with other people in their respective fields. Once you start commenting and sharing you’ll be on the path to relationship building that a cold email could not. Once you engage enough and feel as though a relationship has been established, it might be a good time to send them a direct message. 31% of B2B professionals say social selling has helped them build deeper relationships with clients. Since you’ve engaged with them socially, you’ll be able to skip the small talk phase and talk more about their needs.
Social selling has another benefit – when you build up your own profile you can make yourself more visible to prospective clients. Establish your online presence as a thought leader to be more appealing to prospects! 92% of B2B buyers would engage with sales professionals who are known industry thought leaders.
As working remotely continues to become a popular trend, customers are now developing a preference for connecting digitally. According to gethownow.com, 41% of sales managers discovered their customers prefer to communicate digitally. From the seller's viewpoint, you might want to start looking into live chat tools like Microsoft teams or Zoom, which was really popular during the pandemic. You also may want to consider looking into automation tools in order to reduce the time spent on manual tasks. It can provide your reps with more tools to be more efficient.
Selling can be hard Selling remotely can be even more tough makes it more tricky to do so, and that’s why it’s important to outsource to agencies like Key Outreach. Our experienced and gritty team helps improve your sales and resources and playbooks, helps reps send the right message, and helps them reach the decision-makers they need.
We’d be happy to show you how to accelerate your sales pipeline and develop new strategies with Key Outreach.
