In Sales, Timing is Everything.

Have you ever walked in to a party too early or too late? Either way, it’s uncomfortable and you realize better planning could have resulted in arriving right on time.

Likewise, in sales,connecting too early or too late with your prospect has some serious disadvantages. What are those disadvantages and how can you dodge them? We’ll discuss them in today’s blog.

Know where your prospects stand in the sales cycle

Ted and Carla are sales reps for different IT companies. Both get an inquiry from Marilyn, whose firm is looking to invest in an intranet system for the office. Ted and Carla are set up for a sales pitch with Marilyn and her seniors and asked to present before them.

During the pitch, Ted seemed to hit all the right notes with the bosses, while Carla came across as mediocre. As a result, Ted’s company got the contract.

What really happened?

As a part of his preparation for the pitch, Ted researched Marilyn's recent IT company research activities like:

What whitepapers she had recently downloaded.

What links she had clicked.

How she spent her time (on specific pages) on the website.

Relative inquiries she made on her social groups online, etc.
 

All this gave Ted a clear idea of what Merlyn was looking for. This 360-degree overview of his prospect ensured that he was ready with the right pitch for his prospects.

As prospects will do their own research before they meet your sales reps, your reps need to be on the same page as they are when they meet. If your reps are not able to answer their prospects questions in the first few minutes of their pitch, they will not impress the client. The key to success is in knowing where the prospects stand in the buying cycle, even before you ever meet or talk to them the first time.

Follow up with relevant messaging

Sales reps often wait to call the prospects back thinking that they have done their part and now it’s the prospect’s turn. However, before that happens, a small yet unavoidable step escapes their minds.

Follow-up:

Research reveals that 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact with the prospects, and yet almost 48% of sales people never follow up. Company reps who get in touch with you for your product are a busy lot. These will usually be decision makers with many responsibilities within their organization; meeting your competitors for the same product, being one of them.

In order to demonstrate your service or product, it is important that you follow up with your prospect with relevant messaging. What were their fears and concerns when you met/spoke to them? Which of your features or benefits appealed to them the most? Which are the most frequently asked questions you generally face in such situations?

Shoot an email to them that reminds them what they were looking for, or send them some useful e-books that can help them in their research process. Avoid the urge to force-sell your product in your follow up e-mails.

Personalize your communication

Relevant messaging means to personalize your communication according to each buyer. Here’s how you can do that:

Personalization based on prospect’s position in the sales cycle

Tracking your prospects activity gives you deep insight about where the prospect stands in the buying cycle. You can also determine what exactly your prospect is looking for. Tailoring your campaigns according to this information will create a more value added experience for your prospect. You can personalize by both product and presentation style, depending on what appeals best to your prospect’s needs.

Personalization at the local level

Often, national marketers are in a lurch when it comes to connecting with their prospects on a local level. As 50% of all mobile searches are local, it is important that your business cater to this large segment of the market. Being able to personalize on the local level enables you to communicate more personally to your local prospects through your channels or agents. All of your selling strategies applicable to particular areas can be done through your local channels.

Your sales reps, agents, or channel partners can also choose to go with personal branding so that your prospects experience a one-on-one communication experience.

Playbooks

So, you've got step one, two and three covered. It seems like you've won half the battle. But guess what? The final frontier is where most salespersons falter.

Did you know that an average salesperson spends around 30 hours a month looking for the right materials and preparing for sales calls? Meaning: most salespersons are at a loss when it comes to talking to their prospects. 

What to say, how to say and when to say--these are the most common questions that haunt most salespersons.

This is where sales playbooks come in handy. Playbooks are ready-to-use information kits for salespeople that offer them all that they need to know when making a sales call. It has all the assets bundled in--videos, whitepapers, case studies, webinar clips, e-mail drips; with clear instructions on what to use when. A good sales playbook is like an instruction manual for a salesperson- a complete package of strategy, content, and tools.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, the internet has spurred an evolution of sorts when it comes to buying cycles. The buyer is the one calling the shots in today's market. The result of this power shift is forcing sales teams to evolve; to adapt and match steps with this empowered buyer.

Hence, your sales reps have to be enabled to connect with prospects at the right time with the right tools armed with a complete prospect vision at every stage. When it comes to sales, timing is everything.