What Successful Sellers Know About Buyer Engagement

Buyers are changing, they’re more jaded and self-educated than ever before and are consistently moving further and further along in the buying process without talking to a salesperson. (60% of buyers are all the way through the process before first communication with a salesperson)

All of this has changed the way salespeople need to approach buyers. Sellers need to meet the buyers where they are and not force them backwards. For a long time people were trained to use standard sales processes, but these are just too simple and linear for our current landscape. The best companies are noticing this and have started to utilize technology to gain insight into where the buyers are and how they are progressing. These companies are finding that they need to earn the right to talk to the buyers by providing valuable insights into their purchasing process and eventual decision.

Another thing contributing to all of this is the idea that marketing and sales are converging more and more. Marketers need to be looking at real engagement data to see what content customers are actually engaging with and consuming. What are sellers using in their outreach? Allow the marketers to tune that material up so you (the seller) can play a more valuable role in the choice. Things like real-time analytics help everyone get on the same page. They give insight to not only how we engage customers in real-time, but how to tune content, forecast better, and make better choices with how we use the valuable selling time.

One thing is for certain: you need a proper sales toolkit for your team. In addition, we find that you need a unified toolkit that the people in the field can utilize just as easy as those at their desk. Utilizing mobile apps, the Cloud etc. is so important. You need your team to be able to sell anywhere – this is the real promise of technology.

The consequences of companies who are not aware of these tools or who are unwilling to adapt is that they’re losing the edge. And without that edge you’re looking at a severe disadvantage within the field.