Modern-day selling is broken, so much so that most sellers wouldn’t buy if they were being sold to using the usual methods. At least that was my theory. I started asking prospects, “Would you buy from your team the way you sell today?” So far, not one person has said, “Yes.”
If we can’t even sell to ourselves, how are we going to sell to anyone else? This is why modern sellers need to center their selling process on buyers. We have to focus on making the process as easy as possible for them to navigate.
These are the most common things sellers are doing that turn buyers away.
Gatekeeping Vital Content
According to Gartner, 83% of the buying journey is completed without sales involvement. This is part of a growing trend of B2B buyers wanting to make the sales experience more like B2C where they can do their own research on what’s available and read reviews to determine if a product will fit their needs. If you’re withholding information until buyers book a meeting with you, those buyers will go elsewhere to get the information they need.
Do this instead:
Having a self-service option for buyers to demo your software early in the process is an easy way to satisfy both buyers and sellers. Your customers can get an early look at your product without being forced to follow your strict schedule and you get the buyer intent data gathered by the interactive demo as they watch.
Ignoring How Vital Self-Service is to the Modern Buyer
Every personal purchase is easily vetted with online reviews. A person wanting a new car will go to YouTube to check it out before going to a dealership. Someone wondering, “Are these new training shoes the best for running?” will find the answer in YouTube reviews by runners! Many sales teams don’t offer resources to facilitate that, blocking buyers from conducting their own research.
Do this instead:
Most buyers want to work through knowledge independently and at their own pace. 70% of B2B buyers want a self-serve demo option, Upgrading your website CTA to include an automated demo or link an interactive demo to your review site profiles. G2 has a built in integration where you can share interactive demos and get 2-3x better engagement than other media.
Making Selling Experiences Impersonal
So many sales teams forget to make the experience personal. It’s too easy to copy and paste agendas from earlier meetings because it worked on the last deal right?! More than ever, buying groups have multiple stakeholders with unique POVs, value cases, and varying degrees of comfort when it comes to what software will solve their business problems and create desired outcomes.
Do this instead:
Tailor your messaging to address the unique perspectives of everyone in the buying group. This requires deep discovery, which does take time and effort, but the results are worth it. You can also help facilitate your discovery by sending automated demos to the stakeholders. Based on their selections, you’ll know what each individual cares about. Plus, you can uncover new stakeholders when the demo is shared with other internal team members.
Overlooking Social Selling
Social selling is vital for the modern sales team. Some teams might think social media is a marketing thing or that it’s just not really important. Buyers now engage with sellers through all sorts of channels, and social media is a big one. Potential customers want to build trust and relationship with vendors and an easy place for them to do so in on social media.
Do this instead:
Having the assets and resources to educate the market is critical. Not only will it further the research your customer is doing, you can become famous for solving business challenges in an industry. As you build out your social plan, ask yourself, these questions. Are you the trusted expert? Is you messaging tight enough to the industry and personas you’re talking to?
Forgetting the Power of Reviews
Online independent reviews will shape your buyers’ opinions of you as a business.
Traveling on holiday? I’m very sure you read the hotel reviews and check out pictures online.
Your buyers are doing exactly the same to you as a software vendor.
Do this instead:
Well-crafted case study documents still have their place, but acknowledging reviews both positive and negative is where a company gets credibility with the buyer. Take a risk off the table with reviews. Have a searchable repository of reviews and social proof ready for the sales teams to use. If there’s too much for them to do this on the fly, try using AI to help make it easier for sales reps to find the information they need.
How to Build a Better Sales Plan
I’m sure by now you’ve noticed the main theme of these mistakes is not selling the way buyers want to be sold to. To fix this, you have to put yourself in their shoes and sell the way they want to sold to. Buyer enablement is the only way forward for reaching modern customers.
We literally wrote the book on buyer enablement called Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder. It has everything you need to know, if you’re ready to jump right in to customer based selling. We also have a host of resources around buyer enablement in our resource center, webinars, and DEMOFEST virtual event.
