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In this three-part series, we cover three tactics essential to the modern salesperson: disrupting buyer inertia, harnessing the conversion power of advocacy, and leveraging the psychology of purchase decisions.
Part one: disrupting buyer inertia.
Part three: the psychology of purchase decisions.
You need to gain your customers’ trust by thinking just like them.
“Who hates it when another human being calls them on the phone?”
This was the simple but powerful question the perennially straight-shooting Gary Vaynerchuk posed to a New York City audience of 1500 sales and marketing leaders at a Sales Machine conference.
You might be thinking, “What does he mean? Who’s calling? A friend? A telemarketer asking if I’m interested in massive long distance savings?”.
But with 40% of the audience sheepishly raising their hands, you realise these questions no longer matter. Indeed, the world has changed.
“Time itself has become our most precious commodity. And we’re fiercely protective of it.”
In part one of this three-part series, we discussed the first of three principles that modern sellers need to master to thrive and meet the changing needs of their buyers: disrupting buyer inertia.
The second principle is directly related to the assertion that, in a time where we’re constantly being bombarded with marketing messages, time itself has become our most precious commodity. And we’re fiercely protective of it.
In fact, a recent survey from Aimia found that 59% of people block unwanted phone calls or texts, 75% say they receive too many emails from brands, and 69% say this behaviour has caused them to unfollow brands on social channels.
We’re talking today about the power of advocacy in converting leads, because harnessing that power is key to modern sellers like you breaking through.
“Modern buyers have recoiled, and now disproportionately seek the counsel of trusted sources.”
So who do they trust? Vendors? Analysts? To answer that question, think about the process you go through when you’re looking to book a holiday at a place you’ve never been to before. You might first visit the property’s website, but within moments you’re checking out reviews on websites like TripAdvisor and reading comments on Airbnb.
Not surprisingly, many studies have shown that recommendations from people like ourselves reign supreme when it comes to driving purchasing decisions.
B2B sales data from Salesforce corroborates this trend. It demonstrates that when it comes to lead conversion, interest that originates from customer and employee referrals do so at rates 50 times higher than email campaigns.
This means that one of the most unobtrusive, empathetic and authentic ways to convert prospective buyers is to surround them with like-minded customers who love you.
Want to know how your organisation is travelling on that front? Try this simple test. Go to Google (or your favourite search engine) and type “[your company name] reviews” and see what comes up. Do you see recommendations on trusted review sites? Perhaps Glassdoor reviews highlighting your innovative culture? What about your own personal social profile? Does you digital footprint demonstrate to a prospective customer that you and your organisation can help them?
In a world where customer engagement is the new marketing, organisations need to mobilise their advocates to generate the social proof and high intent leads that convert at the speed of trust.
“Organisations need to mobilise their advocates to generate the social proof.”
