Why Business Owners who don’t know Sales are Rookies
Sales is one area of small business that a lot of owners struggle with but it doesn’t have to be so difficult.
Sales for small business varies in 3 ways, there are businesses who sell:
- Business to business
- Business to consumer
- Business to business & business to consumer
Sales and people who are full times salespeople do not have it easy. Whether you are the business owner or working within a small business you have targets you need to keep hitting. It is these targets that can be very stressful as a business owner you will struggle and as an employee you may need to start searching for work.
The stress of trying to meet expectations (your own or your bosses) means that you may become pushy. No one likes to buy from a pushy salesperson!
Business to Business Sales
According to a recent study by Discover Org business to business sales, people are not doing well.
54% could clearly explain how their solution will positively impact your business
31% were able to speak effectively with senior executives
18% would be classified as trusted and respected advisors
Overall, study participants rated 12% of salespeople excellent, 23% good, 38% average, and 27% poor.
How then if you are a business trying to sell to another business do you succeed?
- Ultra-high sales performers are smart people
- Top performers have the ability to develop unique original solutions to problems
- Recommendations from top performers will not be expected and the status quo will be challenged
- High performers continue to learn and educate themselves through training, reading, practice and experience
- Average salespeople think they know it all
- A high performer will be a fast uptake of technology
- Salespeople who are not tech-savvy are going to be left behind
- The level of emotional intelligence for successful salespeople is very high and very authentic
- The top-performing salespeople find out who the decision-maker is and they pitch to them as soon as possible
- Consumers are educated and smart, if you aim to pull the wool over people’s eyes you will ultimately not succeed
It is important to remember that with technology there will be two types of salespeople. One will tell the machines what to do and the other will be told what to do by machines. Naturally, the first group is where you want to be.
Do you sell Business to Business? My Sassy Business can help
Business to Consumer Sales
To succeed when you are selling to consumers
- Ultra-high performers know their product or service inside out
- Top performers know their business and industry exceptionally well
- Recommendations from top sellers will inspire the consumer to buy what they have
- High performers continue to learn and educate themselves through training, reading, practice and experience
- Average salespeople think they know it all
- Top salespeople know how to find their ideal clients both online and offline
- The best sellers stand out from all the noise and offer a value-added approach
- Top performers know how to share the benefits of their product or service
- The buyer’s experience will always be one that is quick, easy and leaves them feeling better after their purchase
- Consumers are educated and smart, if you aim to pull the wool over people’s eyes you will ultimately not succeed
- Contests, retargeting, membership programs, social media, ambassador programs are all just part of the process, they are not the only tools you need
Do you sell Business to Consumer? My Sassy Business can help.
Business to Person
At the end of the day, it is people who make all the decisions and that is who you have to sell to. All people have unique values and unique needs that you as the salesperson must account for. It is this uniqueness that you must vary with each potential sale that you engage with.
By remembering that in the end it is all about people and regardless you are selling business to person all the barriers to the sale change. Ensuring that you as the salesperson look at what people really care about, make you one of the leaders in sales. My Sassy Business can help.
Adding value is speaking to the buyer’s pain points, knowing what they care about and showing empathy. It is not a list of features that something has.
Here are some interesting statistics on sales intelligence
- 64% of people cite shared values as the main reason they have a relationship with a brand. Harvard Business Review
- B2B brands that connect with their buyers on an emotional level earn twice the impact over marketers who are still trying to sell business or functional value. LinkedIn
- “Professional, social, and emotional benefits” marketing has a 42% lift in perceived brand benefits, as opposed to traditional messaging. LinkedIn
- 75% of B2B buyers want branded content that helps them to research business ideas, but 93% of brands focus their content on marketing their own products and services. MarketingCharts
- B2B customers are more than 2x as likely to consider a brand that shows personal value over business value because they perceive little difference in the business value between suppliers. Marketing Week
- B2B brands fare better with customers when they use emotive rather than rational marketing messages. MarketingWeek
Your website is more important than you realise!
Few people buy without any research at all. The first place that people go is a businesses website and internet presence.
Discover Org reports that 98% of people are in the Yes I visit a businesses website and it has an effect on purchase choice. Only 2% said that it had no effect at all.
So if your website is not a priority and you are trying to sell something, your market is going to be VERY limited.
Prioritise your website by
- Refreshing the copy
- Updating the design (every 2 years is standard)
- Replacing old images
- Checking for broken links
- Blogging consistently
- Adding new information regularly
Conclusion
Selling can be difficult and stressful, but not selling anything is far more stressful for business. There are many business owners who are amazing at what they do but not so amazing at selling what they need to.
If you enjoyed this blog – make sure you subscribe
[gravityform id=”2″ title=”true” description=”true”]
