With news of a possible economic downturn around the corner, many businesses and marketers are finding themselves in a tight spot. Even if companies aren’t experiencing any economic challenges just yet, the pessimistic look of the market is enough to make any business think twice about spending.
With clients being more conservative with their budgeting, your sales approach needs to change to tackle this slowdown of the sales cycle. Here are three ways to shift your perspective and to sell effectively, especially in a down economy.
1. Pre-call planning is crucial
An important part of sales pitching, pre-call planning shouldn’t be too much of a rehearsal of the script of what the seller is meant to say or pitch. Instead, any initial sales call should be about creating a consultative process; salespeople should ask questions instead of reciting from a script. In their pre-call planning, salespeople should be planning what to ask clients in order to understand their pain points.
Asking questions is a great way for salespeople to understand the new pain points that clients are facing as a result of this economic downturn and how exactly their product or service can address these pain points. From there, they can make suggestions to create value and consider the different needs and objectives the client may be looking to pursue. By properly understanding the client’s struggles, salespeople can adapt their usual script and sales pitch to address these specific pain points and convert more clients.
2. Sales managers should stay on top of planning, not selling
During a downturn, sales teams often put all hands on deck in order to reach their sales target. During these times, it is not uncommon for managers to temporarily step away from management to do more hands-on selling. This may make sense, as managers naturally would have the highest sales success rates, which resulted in them being promoted.
However, this may have a greater negative impact than intended. Taking managers out of their management role is also removing them from an area where they can have the greatest impact on success. During a downturn, managers should be all the more focused on the development and management of their team by helping with planning. They will need to continue supporting their sales team in their pre-call planning and post-call reviews, which could have a huge influence on the success of a sales cycle.
3. Break out of price-driven sales cycles
One huge mistake that could cost you your sales cycle is bringing up and negotiating prices too early. This applies at any time, but the impact of this is magnified during an economic downturn when clients are even more guarded regarding budgeting and making big financial decisions.
While salespeople may feel pressured and are driven by numbers, talk about spending decisions may have to be put on the back burner temporarily. Instead of jumping straight into selling, build up the client-seller relationship by discussing the latest product news and company successes to build up a relationship. This strong relationship will pay off in the long run when clients are more able and willing to spend.
How Shaachi can help?
With Shaachi, building up these client relationships couldn’t get easier. Shaachi’s exclusive AI technology uses public company information to bring up topics and create relevant messages for you. Usually, prior research on the company and product is a crucial part of the pre-call planning but it may be difficult for salespeople to find the time to do this thorough research for every prospect they have a call with. With Shaachi, you can save time and money on this research and focus on closing sales.
Shaachi did a 3-month pilot with a growth marketing firm where appointments increased from 5 to 30 for the company, proving how well the company could prospect. During meetings, the company used talking points provided by Shaachi to plan their conversations and is now making 2.5 times further gain in the number of sales closed, directly increasing its topline revenue.
As mentioned earlier, talking about things other than strictly selling often sits well with prospects, who will appreciate this breath of fresh air, as they will feel that the sellers truly understand their struggles during this downturn. This helps in establishing a level of trust with the prospect and while may not convert to a sale immediately, will go a long way in building a strong foundation for a good business relationship.
