One of the most important and fulfilling parts of the sales process is turning a sales prospect into a customer. This means more business for the company and good pay too. But how do you achieve that?
Sales prospecting is a way for your business to attract new customers who may not be aware of your existence. Today’s prospecting environment has changed dramatically - you are competing with email marketing campaigns, social media interactions, and other forms of content marketing that have become incredibly sophisticated yet efficient. However, one thing remains unchanged: if you want to close deals with a busy sales prospect, you must drink from the same cup. So how do you get there?
Here are three tips for how to get the attention of a busy sales prospect:
1. Track and engage a sales prospect on social media
Social media is a resourceful lead generation tool for sales reps looking to promote and generate leads for their businesses. Almost 46% of sales decision makers make up the largest percentage of social media users and are aged between 18 - 34 years. They use social media on average of 10 times a day, and with social media search features and CRM tools, you can get on the radar of any sales prospect.
These tools use data analytics to determine and establish a sales prospect's interests and needs and then position you so that you can easily find them. Through such insights, you get to understand what times a sales prospect is likely to be active on social media and what channel they use the most.
Once you have identified when and where a sales prospect is most active, you can engage them by liking and commenting on their posts. Remember, sales prospecting is like starting a new relationship, you are just getting to know each other. In this regard, however, your main objective is to gain the trust and confidence of the sales prospect. Unfortunately, trust is hard to find, but a sales prospect is most likely to get attracted to your credibility.
2. Build credibility for your business
One way to build credibility for sales prospects is by continuously getting involved in conversations that contribute to your brand development.
Sharing relevant content with sales prospects is one way of engaging them on a personal level and another way of adding value to potential buyers and a way of peeking at their attention.
A study revealed that 91% of B2B buyers are now active and involved on social media, whereas 84% of senior executives use social media to support purchase decisions. On the other hand, 75% of B2B buyers are significantly influenced by social media. So, is there an article that you wish to share with a sales prospect? If yes, then do so.
Another way of building your credibility is by sharing content across all relevant social media channels that your target audience use, such as Emails, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Your content or sales messages across these platforms should be aimed at intriguing, informing, persuading, calling to action, and closing sales deals.
You can further read how to craft intriguing sales messages here.
2. Develop a content marketing strategy
Now that you have your sales messages ready, you need to develop a content marketing strategy for distributing the content across all channels evenly. The nature of content created has to be engaging and should vary from social media channels of communication.
There are different types of content that you can generate, such as newsletters, blog posts, stories, reels, and posts. While at it, use analytical tools to know when exactly sales prospects are more active on these platforms, so you publish your content at the right time.
Aside from that, an effective content marketing strategy does 3 things: grows your audience, develops your brand presence, and drives sales by attracting, and engaging a sales prospect. It is often used in social media marketing because when implemented effectively, it drives valuable search traffic and social engagements to your website.
While at it, don’t leave your first meeting without asking for these 5 commitments:
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A commitment to buy from you and not from your competitors
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A commitment to decide on your proposal within 30 days
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An assurance that you will be kept informed about the progress of the sale
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An agreement that you will be kept informed of any changes in the customer's business situation or plans that might affect the deal
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A personal commitment by the customer's management to ensure that there are no obstacles to completing this sale and getting it done
