Your buyers have changed how and when they want to engage with your Sales Team and now wait until their buying decision is 2/3 made before they engage. When they do engage, 70% of the time your Sales Reps are not properly prepared for the conversation and only 7% will earn a second conversation with your customer.
Meanwhile, sales team productivity is falling off the cliff as reps continue to use traditional engagement methods with prospects and customers, customers who simply don’t want to spend their time with sales.
The future of sales productivity lies in combining digital customer engagement with analytics, enabling sales teams to target, prepare, and engage far more effectively.
customer don’t want to talk to you until THEY are ready…so YOU need to be prepared when the opportunity arises
How do you internally need to rethink how to engage customers NOW?
FTF call = $200Tele call = $30Digital nurture = $2-$3Human customer contact is…Very expensive……requires scheduling…and often viewed as “invasive” Increasingly, digital customer engagement is:Significantly lower cost…immediate when customer wants it…able to provide customized rich content Implication: Digital customer engagement will rapidly substitute for higher cost face-to-face and tele based sales interactions
A new revenue equation
…let me use Inside Sales as an example…
Improved Customer Brand ExperienceIntegrated digital and inside sales interactionsExpanded Customer Reach and ResponseSignificantly higher digital response and engagement rates vs. teleIncreased Revenues and Customer Lifetime ValueTargeted sales activities with tailored offeringsReduced Cost-to-SellFree up sales capacity from lead profiling, qualification activities……shifting time to higher value opportunitiesDeeper Customer InsightCollect customer preferences via digital engagementBuild better predictive algorithms with interaction data
Step 1:Select Top 3 business areas to pilot “shift and lift” programRecommend coverage maps for live rep vs. digital nurturingQuantify economic model of cost reduction and revenue lift from “shift and lift”Map the 6-12 mo. roll-out plan for delivering economic gainsCreate executive business case and messaging on transformation planStep 2:Analyze data to identify which prospects warrant ISR focus based on preferences, purchase likelihood, value and engagement propensity modelingDevelop buyer persona flags and triggers for existing database Digitally flag the best opportunities (buyer x account x interest x timing) within the CRM systemRefocus inside sales away from low priority tasks, prospects, and interactionsStep 3:Digital engagement, nurturing, and recycling programs using marketing automation to score and qualify leadsDifferentiated treatment and messaging by channel preference, lifecycle stage, potential value and engagement propensity Build and launch the basic lead scoring model based on existing dataStep 4:Implement analytics foundation linked to existing MA/CRM systems to continually advance the lead scoring model accuracyImplement trigger event notification for ISR and MA interaction based on Buyer personaProduct and offer recommendations Personalized content & channelTrigger by stage in buying processStep 5:Build online community around common affinity group interestsManage ongoing content calendar based on social interests and “buyer path” analysisRecruit prospects to engage community contentTrack interaction with MA and customize messaging by persona, preferences, and interaction historyFeed data into analytics engine and Inform ISRs via CRM on history and top messages to deliver