Email marketing is a big part of our service offering here at Digital 22. It’s also one of the...
The Manchester HUG virtual event in September welcomed two speakers this month. HubSpot's Principal Channel Consultant, Rachel Ahearne, spoke about the recent CRM updates and was joined by our very own Caroline Sibley.
Caroline discussed how the sales process has changed and how you can adapt your pitch to suit it - with a big focus on personalisation. Check out the full talk in the video below or continue reading for a summary of what she had to say.
How sales has evolved
Caroline explained how the power had always been with the sales professional. They held all the information the buyer needed. Sales was very focused on money and commission and was all about the fast sell.
The perception of sales people back then was that they didn't care about the end result, or whether or not the purchase was right or wrong for the buyer.
For example, when it came to buying a car, people used to have to visit car dealerships to find out which was the right car for them. This process could take well over an hour. Today, people do all of their research before they visit the car dealership, switching the power to the buyer.
Buyers now can go to car dealerships already knowing exactly what they need and the process could be as quick as 15 minutes.
Although sales has changed and adapted, many people still have the old school view of sales professionals. So it's really important that prospective clients are shown that as a sales professional, we've adapted our process.
Nowadays, it's not a sales professional's job to close the deal as quickly as possible. Instead, it's their job to help and advise prospects along their own journey. And one way to do that is through personalisation.
How to build rapport
It's now up to today's sales professionals to repair the damage that has been done in the past and build a trustworthy relationship going forward.
To create a strong relationship with a prospect, it's important to personalise the experience they have, as 80% of people are more likely to purchase when you offer that personalised sales experience.
That's why it's essential to adapt and create a unique experience for each and every one of your prospects.
Storytelling
Storytelling allows sales professionals to create a much more personalised experience. By telling stories, you can win back the trust from prospects that you may have previously lost and also from the previous damage from the old school sales professionals' tactics.
For Caroline, during the initial engagement with a prospect, she wants them to learn more about her as an individual and bring that human element into the sales process.
She'll talk about her kids and the things she does outside of work, because she wants the prospect to see she's genuine and really does care about the outcome and the success for the prospective client.
Things to remember
Rounding off Caroline's talk, she offered us some things to remember ahead of the next all-important sales call:
- Always be mindful that the stories need to be relatable to ensure value is always added
- You might not be the right solution for that prospect and that's okay, but you need to tell them that. Twelve months down the line, they may end up being the right fit
- Always be honest and truthful when giving advice
Caroline is the latest in a long line of experts we've had share their knowledge at the Manchester HUG. Although we're forced to go virtual for now, it's still the perfect event if you want to soak up valuable information and become a better marketer.
What is the Manchester HUG?
The Manchester HUG stands - or the HubSpot User Group - is an event hosted by Digital 22 for like-minded people to share their inbound tactics and experience to help everyone learn and improve together.
At the HUG, you’ll learn what works for other companies that attend and get the chance to network with other people that use HubSpot. It's also a great opportunity to ask any questions to the experts in attendance.
We're always lining up industry experts who want to share their knowledge. We've just had the last one of the year so you'll have to wait until 2021 to see us again. In the meantime, you can check out our blog for more insights.
