Stop Selling and Start Educating Your Prospects

Buyer behavior has changed. Now your marketing and sales strategies have to change too. Think about your own purchasing behavior. Don’t you start with a Google search or ask a trusted friend for a referral or better yet, find a review on the web? What makes you think your prospects are behaving any differently?

Your prospects aren’t interested in a sales call, reading a brochure, or even spending an hour digesting everything on your website. They want educational content that will help them make a good purchase decision. They want to feel safe that their decision is the right one for them and they want to know that other people like them have made a similar decision.

Give them what they want!

1. Content is king! We have heard this for a while; it has never been truer. Marketers must create the “right” kind of content to engage their target buyers. This means understanding what information they are starving for and providing it in the formats they need it in. This means you might need a Free Report or Research Study if your target audience loves to read or is data oriented. If they are like most of us (63% of the population are visual learners) video might be a better format. YouTube is now the second most popular search site behind Google and the top “How To” website.
2. Make sure you have content for everyone regardless of where they are in the buying process. We recommend clients consider the Trio of Offers™. No Risk Offers, requiring just an email submission, for those people just researching solutions. The Low Risk Offer, requiring a bit more contact info, for those people a little further along and the Direct Business Offer for those people ready to engage in an active sales conversation.
3. The No Risk Offer is typically a free report, tip guide, white paper or video they can consume at their own pace without any additional follow up. The Low Risk Offer is typically a webinar, in-person seminar, online quiz, or assessment that requires time, but little else from their perspective. The Direct Business Offer is fairly straight forward, it is the “contact us” form or direct outreach to begin an active conversation about purchasing.
4. Finally, integrate this approach into your sales process. Make sure your sales people aren’t calling and calling hoping for an appointment, but educating, advising, and coaching your prospects on how to make a good decision. They should be asking questions to understand every aspect of your prospects’ business so they can provide recommendations and counsel, each step of the way.

For more information on the changes in buyer behavior and how to change your sales and marketing accordingly, click here to download the first two chapters from Fire Your Sales Team Today! This will give you the insights you need to consider changes in your sales and marketing teams.

To find out how to add a content oriented inbound marketing program to your current marketing mix, click here to download the Free Report: Cut Your Advertising Spend While Increasing Sales.

Both will give you the proper orientation to upgrade your marketing from brand oriented, “get your name out there” to lead generating revenue growth oriented Marketing Machines.

For more information on Square 2 Marketing and how we help businesses and marketing departments, click here.

Read more:

• Why Educating Your Prospects is Better than a Sales Pitch