MERIDITH POWELL
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, KEYNOTE SPEAKER, BUSINESS STRATEGIST, SALES/LEADERSHIP EXPERT
Copyrighted by Meridith Powell
The Most Important Questions You Need To Answer
Everyone is talking about selling virtually, and the skills you need as sales professionals to master the art. You need to get better at the video, better at e-mail writing, better at connecting, and better at engaging on social networking. And while all of that has an impact on your virtual sales success, it leaves out the essential part of virtual selling –the customer. You can get so focused on what you need to do, and what you need to change as sales professionals you lose sight of just how much has changed for your customers. Your One Job: Help Your Customers Virtually If you want to master the art of selling virtually, then understand your most important job is to help your customers buy virtually. As sales professionals, we have been selling virtually for years. Oh, we might not have using video conferencing that much and still had the luxury of closing a deal in person, but if we get right down to it, less has changed for us than our customers. Think about it, while we have been “mobile” or “working remotely” –using our cars and living rooms as an office for years –our customers have not. In a matter of weeks, they went from being surrounded by coworkers to being in a make-shift office interrupted continuously by their kids and family members. While they used to walk down the hall to get input and advice before making a decision, now they have to schedule a virtual meeting, get everyone using the new technology, and coordinate schedules. The uncertainty that customers are feeling is your opportunity as a sales professional to help them make the buying process simple, easy, and useful. 5 Strategies to Help Your Customers Buy Virtually
1. Get in Their Perspective: This is not business as usual. You may have been right in the middle of a sale before this pandemic, but the moment your customer had to shelter in place, your sale changed. So, get perspective, and show a little empathy. Invest first in learning about their situation, how this is impacting them, their team, their family, and their company. Learn what has changed, so you know and understand the new environment you are selling into.
2. Uncover New Pain Points: Getting perspective leads to new pain points –new ones for your customers. Just like their circumstances have changed, so have their challenges, opportunities, and overall product needs identified. Now, you may be selling the same product, but you need to understand it is now solving a different pain point.
3. Keep It Simple: Your customers have enough change going on in their lives, and more to do than they can handle, so make the buying process simple. You may want to go for the big sale, but if there is a small problem you can solve or some pain you can ease quickly –do it. Keeping it simple, easy to work with will build trust, and trust leads to more sales.
4. Right Sales Tools: Have you done your homework? Investigated everything you need in today’s marketplace to close this sale? Technology for signatures? Ways to deliver products safely. How will things be serviced? You need the right tools in place before your customers ask. Be proactive with tools that ensure your customers know you are one step ahead.
5. Stay in The Game: Understand this selling environment has a long tail, and you need to stay in the game. Uncertainty means your customers will have interruptions, changes in priorities, and sometimes buying your product or service will fall to the bottom of their list. A strong value-add follow-up system will ensure when they’re ready to buy, you’re the first person they think of.
Selling today can be a challenge, but it is also incredibly rewarding. Your customers need you! Take the time to start to think of this crisis from your customer’s perspective and do everything you can to make buying virtually that much easier. Emerge Successfully ~Meredith Powell
Meridith Powell was voted Top 15 Business Growth Experts to Watch by Currency Fair, and Top 41 Motivational Speakers, Meridith Elliott Powell is a is an award-winning author, keynote speaker and business strategistwho helps her clients learn the techniques they need to turn uncertainty to competitive advantage. An awardwinning author, Meridith’s latest book, with coauthor Mary Kelly, Ph.D., is Who Comes Next? Leadership Succession Planning Made Easy. With a background in corporate sales and leadership, her career expands over several industries including banking, healthcare, and finance. Meridith worked her way up from an entrylevel position to earn her seat at the C-Suite table. Meridith is a Certified Speaking Professional ©, a designation held by less than twelve percent of professional speakers. She is passionate about helping her clients learn the sales and leadership strategies they need to succeed no matter what this marketplace does.
Meridith Elliot Powell CSP
Meridith Elliott Powell YouTube Channel
https://meridithelliottpowell.com/
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