You may have read our article on this topic published
recently in Western Sydney Business Access. I’m going to summarise the concepts
here too because the changes in buyer behaviour really do warrant a review of
the sales process and approach.
What’s Changed?
We’ve changed! With Internet search and social media moving
into our everyday lives, the way we shop for products and services is very
different. It may not feel significant on a personal level because it’s simply
become a new habit, but when you look at the big picture from a business
perspective, the change is quite extreme.
Retail Shopping
In years gone by, when we shopped for a retail item we may
have left home at the “I think I’ll buy a new TV phase” with the intention of
checking out a number of stores to identify the options and compare prices. We
were at the very beginning of our decision making process – the information
gathering phase.
Now, we motor through that phase at home using the Internet
and sometimes social media to gather the information we need. By the time we
leave the house, we often know exactly what we want and which retailer is
offering the best price. When we enter that store, short of an unanticipated disaster (or a particularly unpleasant sales assistant) between the front door
and the object of our desire, we’re ready to part with our dollars.
Choosing Services
The process is similar when we’re looking for a service.
Whether we’re on the hunt for a cleaning service, graphic designer, or lawyer,
we’ll make extensive use of the Internet to identify suitable providers before
we make a call. By the time we reach for the phone, it’s likely that we’ve
reviewed the company’s website, read some of their blog posts, and perhaps checked
out their social media pages and profiles to develop an impression. Only once
we’ve formed a favourable impression of a business, do we make that call. And we’re often just a few convincing words
away from making a decision.
That’s where it gets interesting. As a business, you may
have previously treated many first time interactions with prospective customers
as early stage enquiries and responded by sending or handing out information.
Doing that now might make you seem uninterested in making a sale – we’re ready
to buy, and all we need is someone to close the deal! Are you closing deals or
sending potential clients away with brochures and price lists in hand so they
can reconsider and buy from your competitor?
Implications for
business
There are three very important implications to consider:
- Your online presence is more important than ever. It many cases it’ll be your only opportunity to make a favourable impression. If prospective clients can’t find you online, or your website or the content on it is unimpressive, you’re likely to lose out.
- Getting past first base may be much harder. You need to be a stand out solution to capture attention. That means you’ll need to work harder to differentiate yourself from the competition.
- Because the first contact people make with a business has more potential to lead to a sale (and in a very short time frame), nearly everyone in your business is now on your sales team. But do they know it? Are they closing deals for you? Do you have a sales process that everyone can understand and apply when a customer calls or approaches them?
Many business owners haven’t noticed this shift in buyer
behaviour at all. Why? Because for those standing on the front line of a
business, there’s nothing noticeably different about the behaviour of potential
customers – people still call the office with an enquiry, or walk into the
store and start looking around. But we need to stop treating them as if they’re
“just browsing”, because the chances are they’re not. They’re ready to buy something now.
If keeping up to date with sales and marketing strategy is of interest to you, keep your eye on our Events page for Business Workshops. Sales speaker John Lees will be conducting some sales related workshops on behalf of the Chamber this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment