Sixty Four! That’s the number of approaches by salespeople buyers now receive over the course of a week, according to research from Loudhouse.
Despite sales departments having already changed significantly in recent years, many still lack the granular insight required to deliver a great sales experience. In fact, 75% of buyers say they often feel like they are way ahead of a salesperson who is supposed to be “helping” them. In the UK and India, this figure jumps to over 80%.
Personalized, consistent and relevant service is a fundamental pre-requisite if vendors are to flourish over the next decade. If you run a sales team, your only real question is whether your current sales approach and use of modern technologies is having any impact on the bottom line, particularly as customer expectations continue to increase.
New Benchmarks to Sales Success:
Ninety percent of buyers think vendors can effectively differentiate themselves by offering an exceptional customer experience based on meaningful interactions with them at every step of their buying journey. The report found new benchmarks to sales success:
- Personalization: Businesses must provide more relevant and appropriate content which demonstrates a full understanding of customer needs while predicting their future needs
- Trust: As with all solid relationships, a successful partnership is built on the solid foundation of trust, transparency and integrity
- Experience: Vendors must look to enhance the customer experience, focusing on a process speed, service consistency and seamlessness across channels
- Insight: Businesses are switching off to the ‘carbon copy’ sales process and instead expect bespoke, actionable and insightful solutions to their business problems
From Acceptable to Exceptional:
Shifting from delivering acceptable levels of service to exceptional levels enables vendors to know what buyers want even before they do, and continually deliver relevant value to them. The Loudhouse study found that by getting a “good” sales experience, 28% of buyers say they are extremely likely to buy from that vendor again. Not bad. But when buyers receive an “excellent” sales experience that figure jumps to a whopping 81%. That’s a delta of 53% by improving from good to great.
Cornerstone of Successful Buyer/Vendor Relationships:
Understanding and knowledge are the cornerstone of successful buyer/vendor relationships today and for the foreseeable future. Trust, experience and insight are now valued over cost in the context of today’s buying market. That means differentiating yourself by offering exceptional customer experiences and understanding the requirements of your buyers at an individual basis, rather than as a homogenized assumption.
