Sales situations tend to be inherently stressful. Whether clients are in the market for a new phone, TV, or car, anxiety and emotion are major factors in a purchasing decision. As a salesperson, it’s your job to put their minds at ease, make them feel in control, and ultimately drive a conversion. After all, companies don’t make clients feel valued — people do.
It’s no easy feat to build rapport with customers while also asking them to make purchases, but it can be done — especially with the help of modern technology. Here’s how to utilize the devices all around you to build authentic connections with your clients:
- Educate employees. Sixty-three percent of sales employees have admitted to lying to customers about products due to a lack of knowledge, so there’s clearly room for improvement on employee education. Maybe that’s why so many consumers trust their mobile phones over salespeople to find product information. By giving your employees easy access to inventory and product information — perhaps via a custom app or iPads linked to an internal microsite — they’ll become much better resources for clients.
- Give prospects a peek into your world (and be sure to peek into theirs, too). If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then social media is the window to your brand. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram let you both show and tell your customers exactly who you are and what you’re brand is about. As a salesperson, social media is also a great opportunity to research the organizations or individuals discussing your brand or to find the real decision makers behind that tricky negotiation you’ve been working on.
- Offer easily digestible context. Send useful links to prospects and customers that will help them gain perspectives on your industry, company, and products. Train yourself to constantly evaluate how you can help customers solve issues they’re dealing with. Do they seem overwhelmed? Send an article that paints a broader picture. Do they seem like they want to engage on a more personal level with your brand? Direct them to your social platforms.
- Floor the gas pedal on response time. The right tools can help you respond more quickly and efficiently to clients’ questions and concerns. This also helps them see you as a valuable resource outside of the sales transaction. Add top clients to your VIP email list, and turn on smartphone notifications so you never miss an email. Keep a digital list of FAQs on hand that you can easily tweak and customize to best match client concerns.
- Make the purchase process a cinch. For brick-and-mortar retailers, if it’s been a while since you’ve updated your purchase process (or, worse, you’re still cash-only), it’s time to upgrade. The easier the purchase process, the more likely your customers are to buy in the first place. Conversely, a poor experience could cause customers to abandon the sale early.
At my company, we integrate technology by offering a “Mobile Wallet for Merchants” that extends well beyond transactions to create a rich customer engagement experience. The experience includes services like loyalty, offers, express check out/pickup, and alternative payments.
Clients’ assessments of quality and value are often fraught with emotion, but most sales processes don’t anticipate those challenges and aren’t set up to address them. We live in a tech-driven world that makes it easier than ever to build rapport with clients via employee education, social engagement, and more, but it’s up to you to take advantage of those resources
This article was originally posted to the EyesOnSales Blog by Sona Jepsen on December 1, 2015.
