Do you have a buyer focused sales process? When was the last time you were told the seller is King? Never, I hope.
A buyer focused sales process is built on understanding, knowing, empathizing with, catering to, and serving the needs of potential buyers. Outreach happens in the ways potential customers want to be interacted with. This is no new phenomenon. It has been the basis for successful sales for as long as I can remember.
True, buyers today can evaluate and educate themselves about products and services more easily. Information is at our fingertips, and the Internet helps buyers get what they need when they need it instantly.
Warning signs of a seller-focused sales process
It’s also true that far too many companies have begun and stayed with very poor sales and customer service practices over the years. In our own daily lives can we see the traces of a seller focused environment including:
- issue resolution dragging on over time
- poor follow up or follow through
- lack of creativity or thinking outside the box to resolve concerns
- guidelines, policies and structures that limit the flexibility the buyer needs, and hinder access to information to resolve concerns
Factors Driving Heightened Buyer Awareness in Sales and Marketing
Maybe it’s the sudden intensity of the economy, new Internet resources, or social media that are causing a heightened awareness of the buyer as king. We are now more buyer-focused.
I don’t remember ever hearing the seller is king. For as long as can I remember it has always and should always be about the buyer, first and foremost. So in the change isn’t a shift from seller to buyer.
There is a greater awareness of just how iimportant the buyer is. There is less tolerance of the poor sales and customer service practices we unfortunately have all experienced at one time or another. The call is for the seller to remember who is — and who has always been — the boss: the buyer. The buyer, and buyer-focused selling, has always been the name of the game.
Stayed tuned next week as we share 10 thoughts on messaging.