Do you prefer a sales-free experience?

Do you prefer a sales-free experience?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that many buyers and customers prefer a rep-free experience

Does this mean that they do not want any help as they seek out products or services?

What it means is that they no longer want to be SOLD

They want help…yes, they just don’t want to be pushed or talked into anything

In fact, depending on the demographics of the customer or buyer over 50% may indicate they want zero sales interactions

How does this affect your current sales and new customer acquisition process?

It means the days of so-called “closers” are over

It means that the days of customer experience have begun!

Let’s break this down,

Today you may have a team of sales representatives led by a sales manager or VP of Sales

You may also have customer support representatives and technical support or sales engineers

In addition, you likely have marketing staff headed by a marketing manager and digital content people

Your sales process may look like this today:

You’ll note that every step of this process screams “Sales”…just what most customers and buyers tell us they don’t want!

So what if your sales process looked like this:

Create human and engaging profiles on digital channels used by customers and buyers
Having all your leadership and customer-facing teams doing likewise
Creating human and engaging stories (otherwise known as content) about what you do and why you do it as a business
Creating a library of online information available to customers and buyers that is available and supported 24/7
Having all your leadership and customer-facing teams doing likewise
Reaching out to customers on a daily or weekly basis via real-time communication like Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Zoom etc!
Celebrating customer stories through all of your social and digital channels
Creating a real-time digital reward system for online customer reviews
Engage, communicate and have fun with your customers where they are…online in the digital world
Measure all activities to see what works best
Share results both wins and losses with all of your teams freely and consistently
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

This might look easy but it’s not

This requires a new way of approaching sales and the customer experience in fact so new that it requires an entirely organizational chart

Time to stop doing what you have always done and time to start doing what really works today

Now, how many salespeople do you need in today’s new digital world?

If your salespeople are simply sending emails, making cold calls, and waiting for trade shows to restart the answer is NONE,

That’s right, ZERO!

If you are retooling and reimagining your sales team to follow the new sales process as we have outlined…then as many as it takes!

Just remember today all of your people can be doing this to a degree, depending on their specific roles…

But, you no longer need silos separating sales, marketing, customer service, and support!

Now they are all basically doing the same things! Albeit in different ways…

Think about that

Now, what should your new organizational structure look like?

Don’t just replace old titles with new ones, rearranging the chairs on the deck of the titanic is not the answer

No,

Really think about a flatter, much more customer-focused organization where anyone can and should be talking directly to customers

Only by truly knowing your customers can you make their experiences with you and your company … amazing

Where to start?

The best results always come from the leaders who walk the walk …