To sell successfully, you must be able to offer benefits that solve specific problems, and you should target them toward people who share similar aspirations, wants, and needs. Customer segmentation means determining who your ideal customers are and grouping them according to the criteria that dictate their purchasing behaviour. 

Once you have done that, you can develop sales strategies that recognise people who fit into each segment and offer them solutions that will interest them. Sometimes, the same product can be bought for several different reasons. Targeting market segments based on why customers buy will be more effective than trying to please everyone at once.

Customer Segmentation Examples

Example 1

You are selling photo editing software. Your customers include:

• Businesses that want to present their products in a way that appeals to customers
• Influencers and hopefuls who want glamorous pictures and a large following on social media
• Individuals who want to have great pictures that preserve their happy memories

Your sales and marketing messages would differ for each of these segments. Businesses want professional-looking product pictures. Influencers want attention-grabbing content. Individuals want happy memories captured beautifully to enjoy across years and generations. 

Example 2

A fashion house designs clothing for people of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Trying to appeal to everyone may mean they appeal to no one. Instead, they segment their market. 

• Parents looking for cute kids’ clothes
• Teenagers hoping to follow the latest trends
• Young professionals who want to impress friends and colleagues
• People who want stylish and flattering clothes to suit their body shape
• Older people seeking an elegant and timeless look that reflects their personality

Each of these customer segments can be further divided according to gender identity, and then five segments turn into at least ten. Not sure you can cater to all of them? Pick the segments that generate the most sales and focus on them.

Example 3

Your company sells fine wine and hopes to boost sales through targeted sales and marketing. Your customers may include:

• Collectors and investors on the lookout for something rare and valuable
• Ordinary folks who love entertaining and want to offer their friends good wine
• Foodies who love to pair good wines with food for an amazing experience

Each of these groups wants different things. Collectors and investors want an asset that appreciates in value. Entertainers want something their guests will love. Foodies want memorable food and wine pairings. 

Customer Segmentation vs Market Segmentation

Market segments represent people you may yet sell to, as well as people you have sold to already. Customer segmentation refers to people who have bought from you already. Since they have bought from you once, they are more likely to buy again. This makes customers a high-value area to invest some effort into.

Both market and customer segmentation are important. However, customer segmentation and strategising for each customer segment is more likely to bear fruit than general market segmentation approaches. In addition, you have historical data that allows you to see how different customer segments behave. The wider market is less predictable. 

Benefits of Segmenting Your Customer Base

Segmenting your customer base has multiple benefits, and you won’t be the only one who appreciates the results—your customers will, too. By using customer segmentation for targeted marketing, you may achieve outcomes like these and more.

For your customers:

• Greater customer loyalty: “They always know what I want!”
• Better customer satisfaction: “I love all the products they offer me.”
• Better customer retention: “I will keep supporting them. They understand me.”

For your business:

• Better ROI: “Our sales and marketing strategies are successful.”
• Better product development: “We know what this niche needs, and we can help.”
• Greater competitiveness: “Our competitors don’t understand customers like we do.”

Types of Customer Segmentation

The ways you choose to segment your customers depends on what affects their buying behaviour. Examples of customer segmentation include:

• Demographic segmentation: Age, race, gender, marital status, income, education, geographical location
• Behavioral segmentation: Reasons to use your product, things they’ve done before, shopping behavior
• Mindset and personality segmentation: What they care about, are interested in, think, and feel is important
• Value perception segmentation: Buying lowest-priced items, highest-priced items, or in search of special offers
• Segmentation according to needs: Grouping customers according to the problems they face and the desires they have
• Business type and size: For B2B sales – industry and size of enterprise
• Customer lifecycle segmentation: new customers, long-standing customers, and departing or dormant customers

How to Target Market Segments More Effectively

Firstly, decide which segments you will prioritise. It makes sense to target market segments with the biggest spend first. These are the receptive market segments that are most likely to present good sales opportunities now. You already know some of the things that may matter to them, and this can guide your approach.

Segments representing your mid-range spenders are next on your list. But don’t forget to contact customers who seem to be nearing the end of their lifecycle. They might just need a reminder that you are out there and still ready to serve them.

You may find that people and businesses that fall into specific customer segments share similar purchase histories, but you should not treat them all alike. Consider how they fit into other customer segments. For example, women with a certain value perception may react differently to a specific type of messaging than men with a similar value perception do. A single customer may match several segmentation rules at once. Tailor your messaging accordingly. 

Know your customers and take everything you know about them into consideration when pitching a sales message. This may require a little flexibility, but it will pay off. No script will work for everybody in a market segment, and you will need empathy to gauge what works for each customer. 

The Human Element is Irreplaceable

In marketing, the best you can hope for is to appeal to people who match a market segment you’ve identified. You will still need empathy to craft a message, and the results you get depend on the way people in targeted segments respond. 

In sales, there are opportunities for give and take: a process in which you adapt your messaging based on real-time client responses. You may begin with segment-specific approaches, but if your customer does not respond positively, you can work to find out why and adapt accordingly. 

The adaptability that one-on-one conversations allow should boost your results per person contacted. This is a distinct advantage of in-person sales, even though it targets individuals rather than groups. Time and resource constraints are the biggest problems most companies face in adopting this approach, but we have a solution. 

RSVP’s outbound sales service teams could be just what you need to reach out to people in your chosen market segments. We are communications experts with all the tools you need to stay in touch and in charge. Our history of serving leading brands speaks for itself. We’d love to serve your customers next. Let’s talk about the customer segments you’d most like to reach. Allow us to amaze you (and your customers) with what we can do. 

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A winning script, delivered well, may be able to grab their attention. If the person your rep is speaking to is a good fit for your product, they stand a good chance of piquing a prospective customer’s interest and holding it. But to do so, they will need skill and an excellent cold call script. 

The best cold call scripts begin with a carefully crafted introduction that can lead to an unscripted or semi-scripted conversation. You can steer the conversation, but the people your agents are talking to never get the impression that your people are not listening to them. 

Important Components of a Cold Calling Script

You can build your own cold call script by incorporating the following components. Each has a purpose and should be delivered accordingly. Build-in flexibility. Simply gabbling off a rigid formula will rarely make a favourable impression. 

The Introduction

Your introduction begins with a greeting, followed by your agent’s name and the name of the company they are representing. Next, they should say why they are calling a specific prospect. For example, they previously bought a related product from you, or you noticed an expression of interest. 

Pain Points, Solutions, and Benefits

This is the meaty section of the call in which you will either gain a receptive audience or be rejected. Keep it short and benefits-laden. The person on the other end wants to know whether it is worth listening to you, so tell them why it might be. 

Mention the top pain points your company addresses and how you may be able to solve them. Limit it to a few short, impactful sentences. You can provide finer details later.

Ask Whether They Can Spare a Few Minutes to Learn More

You do not know the circumstances of the person on the other end of the line. If they are feeling rushed when your agents call them, they are likely to focus on bringing the call to an end. Besides this, it is only good manners to check whether it is a convenient time for a cold-call prospect to talk. 

If your agents have called at an awkward time, they should ask the customer to suggest a favourable one. Once your representative has reached a prospect at a time when they are open to learning more, you can adopt one of several strategies to move prospects toward making a purchase. 

Moving Towards the Sale

We find that listening is as important as talking, so you might decide on a few questions your representatives can ask. This can help reps adjust their sales pitch to match individual customers’ needs. 

A common tactic in B2C selling is to prime customers by asking questions they are likely to respond to positively. The theory is that the more they say “yes”, the more likely they are to say “yes” to your call to action. This can work, but be careful of overdoing it. Keep those questions open-ended, and don’t miss the opportunity to get to know your customers.

Whatever strategy you employ as your reps transition toward selling, ensure that they take a moment to understand the prospective customer’s perspective.

Propose a Solution That Will Work For Them

As you can see, we are moving away from the word-for-word script and into the give-and-take of negotiation. However, you can script pitches that your agents can adopt and adapt based on their understanding of the customer they are speaking to. 

Summing up how the conversation has worked so far: 

• You have identified one or more problems that may bother your customer
• You have shown you can offer solutions, but you have not provided much detail
• You have confirmed that the customer may be interested in hearing more
• You have learned a little about each customer’s needs
• You have clearly indicated a way to meet those needs

Now, it is time to show how your product will add value for the customer. Pitch away, adding a few of the most important details, but keep it relatively brief. 

Handle Questions, Objections, or Doubts

With this done, your reps should check whether customers have any questions at this point. A simple “How does that sound to you?” offers them an opportunity to raise any queries or doubts your agents can address before moving on to a call to action. 

They must pace this, ensuring that customers are satisfied with the answers they have received for each of their questions. This part of a cold call is not easy to script. You can provide answers to frequently asked questions on a cold call script, but provide a formula for question and objection handling. Here is an outline:

• Agree with the customer by reflecting their concern back. For example, “You are right. Scalability is important for a product such as this.”
• Address the concern: “Thanks to (product features), we are able to offer scalability across (parameters).”
• Confirm whether the response is satisfactory for the client: “Would that be acceptable in your context?”

This question-and-answer process continues until the customer is satisfied or has asked you to furnish proof of your claims. Your sales enablement toolkit should provide what’s needed. Offer to send the data requested and schedule the next call. Remember, B2B sales funnels are rarely navigated at first contact. 

Deliver a Call to Action

Your call to action will depend on what you want your customer to do next. For example, you may ask if they would like to place an order, whether they would like to see a quote, or, for more complex sales processes, whether they would like to schedule a demonstration or meeting. 

Provide for several possible outcomes based on customers’ reactions so far. Whatever options you script, make sure they offer customers a way forward without seeming pushy. Always allow for customers’ hesitancy to make an immediate purchasing decision over the phone. You can offer incentives to do so, but do not be too insistent. 

Respect customers’ right to think things through and make provision for this eventuality in your cold-calling script. For example, your agents can ask prospects whether they need any information resources and when they would like to receive a follow-up call. 

Crucial Cold Calling Tips

Cold calls can help customers find products that solve their problems. Undertake cold-call selling in this spirit. Your cold calls should never be nuisance calls. Use these tips to keep ethics and quality high.

Stay on the Right Side of the Law

Cold calling is legal – but only if you adhere to the requirements set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). It has provided a convenient checklist to ensure that your cold-calling efforts are compliant. Yes, we know that it looks hard to stick to and likely requires investment in high-end tech and software, but we know that it can be done. 

Use High-Quality Call and Customer Relationship Management Software

Your call management software not only helps you to stay compliant, but it also integrates with your CRM software. The latter allows you to develop a “do not call” list (a compliance requirement) as well as keep track of customers who have scheduled a time for your initial or follow-up calls. 

Deploy Well-Trained Representatives

Effective cold-calling agents are well-trained salespeople with the ability to deliver scripts naturally and the interpersonal skills to build rapport with the people they call. Similarly, they will know when diverging from scripts is called-for, and how to end conversations gracefully, even when prospects are not interested. 

In short, they talk to people rather than “talking at” them, a trap the inexperienced can easily fall into. Instead, they will use their scripts for guidance rather than implementing a formula that will not work for all prospects. 

Research B2B Prospects Carefully, Adapt Your Script, and Talk to The Right People

Your B2B cold-calling approach begins with careful research. Some of the questions you will seek answers for include: 

• Is this company likely to benefit from your product? 
• What specific indicators have you noticed that make them look like a good match?
• Which manager will influence the purchasing decision in your favour?
• What kind of information will they need?

Use this information to craft a sales strategy before your representatives call. Tailor aspects of the pitch to match what you have learned about the specific companies you are targeting. 

Selling an enterprise solution? Delivering a fabulous sales pitch to a receptionist is unlikely to be productive. Consider how to get past “gatekeepers.” They may ask what business your reps would like to discuss with specific managers. Develop a clear and concise response that makes a positive impression and can easily be conveyed verbatim.

Effective Cold-Calling With RSVP

Our cold-calling results speak for themselves. When undertaking cold-calling on behalf of Virgin Wines, we achieved a 25 to 35 percent conversion rate. Bear in mind, the industry benchmark for success is just ten percent. 

Apart from our use of cutting-edge technology, our top secret to success lies in our choice to use professional actors to represent our customers. For them, adapting tone, pace, and delivery to represent a brand persona is second nature. They know how to “read the room,” responding to audience needs – and apart from reading cold-calling scripts with natural ease, they know when and how to improvise. 

Our London-based outsourced sales solutions work wonders for our customers, earning us a reputation as a service provider that’s a cut above the rest. Pair the products you’re proud of with people who will represent you as well, and possibly better, than you could represent yourself. 

We not only promise results – we deliver them. Work with us and get first-hand experience of the difference RSVP can make to your sales efforts.   

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Very often, presales refer to a process that is undertaken when selling something unique to a single, targeted customer or a small, narrowly targeted group. For instance, a software company may propose and then develop software solutions that are tailored to address a challenge that a specific business or group of businesses faces.  

What is Presales? A Simple Definition

Taking the most common use of the term into account, we can define presales as a range of tasks that are completed before a sale is finalised.

This includes researching possible customers, prospecting and lead generation, and discovery calls or meetings. The aim is to understand what customers want and need and find ways to meet them. At times, this may mean some level of customisation. 

Presales Versus Selling

In general, you would only sell something that is already complete and ready for delivery. The product or service features are already finalised, and your salespeople work to convince a market consisting of a relatively broad range of people or businesses that they want or need the product. 

Presales, on the other hand, generally refer to a consultative process that may affect the form or features your product will take on. The market is frequently B2B and individual customers are carefully researched, screened, and canvassed. At times, such as in the presale of customised business software or IT services, unique features are provided, and a project proposal is signed off by the customer. 

Presales Activities Step By Step

In its most complex form, presales likely apply to B2B selling. These steps are, therefore, based on B2B sales but can be adapted to niche, high-value B2C sales.

1. Lead Generation

Technical, marketing, and sales staff work together to understand customer needs and align their products toward meeting them. In the process, they will develop an ideal customer profile and a sales strategy. As part of this, sales staff research possible clients with the aim of identifying sales opportunities. 

2. Lead Qualification and Initial Contact

As a very targeted approach to selling, the next step along the way is to validate whether the leads so far identified will find the product interesting. In other words, how well do they match the customer profile? 

By the time first contact is made, the salesperson already has a good understanding of the company and the pain points their product may address. Because B2B sales are generally high-value and involve complex decision-making processes, the primary aim of initial contact is to schedule an exploratory call or meeting. 

3. Exploratory Call

As the name implies, this is a time to gather information on the customer that isn’t in the public domain. Use it to gain a deeper understanding of their needs, find out about any budget constraints, and discover which of their team members is involved in decision-making. At the same time, the customer is likely to ask for information, too. End the call by proposing a schedule for the next steps. 

4. Determining Specific Customer Requirements

Now that the customer knows what you can do and you know more about the customer, you have both had time to think. You can drill down to the details. For example, you may guide the customer through a demonstration. This, in turn, sparks a conversation on specific technical details desired, and your customer may be better prepared to suggest a preferred budget. 

5. Developing a Proposal

Your team gets together with the sales and technical personnel who were involved in early discussions to determine the details to include in a proposal. At all times, refer back to the specific needs and preferences the customer raised. 

6. Present the Proposal

Although the preceding steps, and even this one, can be delivered remotely, consider calling an in-person meeting for your final presentation. Guide the customer through the proposal showing how your team has accommodated their needs and answering any questions they or their colleagues may have. 

7. Negotiating the Deal

With all objections out of the way and all needs addressed, it’s time to structure the deal, negotiate the timing of payments, and present a sales contract. Address any last-minute questions and concerns, and prepare to close the deal. 

8. Closing the Deal

Congratulations! You have offered your customer a solution that addresses their business challenges, and they have signed the deal. Now, it’s time to work on implementing your proposal according to the pre-agreed timeline. 

Why an Effective Presales Process is a Winning Strategy

The top reason why presales processes like the one outlined in our example are so successful is that they are completely customer-centric. 

• Your research ensures you are only contacting customers who are very likely to benefit from your product
• You discuss their needs in detail and make adjustments to make sure they get exactly what they want
• You consult throughout, showing them how you are adapting to their requirements
• You present a product that is exactly what they wanted

Yes. The process is a lengthy one. Yes. You will gain a high-value customer who will be highly motivated to remain loyal. After all, they know you’re willing to understand and adapt to their needs. You have worked hard, but you now have more than just a sale – you have a solid relationship based on value. 

Can Presales Work in B2C Sales?

They certainly can! Consider a travel agency that offers round-the-world tours. Different families will have their own priorities on where they want stopovers, and what they want to see and do, and they will have different budgets they want to stick to. 

As a high-value sale, it is worth the travel company’s time to research, and listen carefully to customers’ needs, tailoring and presenting a proposal that neatly matches their holiday of a lifetime ambitions.

A prominent fashion house approaches a fashionista and discovers she wants a complete wardrobe for her wedding and honeymoon. Once again, consulting her, developing an irresistible proposal, and tailoring her garments based on her needs is sure to involve a presales process.  

An events company designs and develops party experiences that will make an important birthday an unforgettable event. Our list could go on. 

In short, there are definitely times when B2C customers are a worthwhile investment in presales activities and collaboration. Your primary concern will be to avoid making individuals feel “stalked.” Do not invade privacy. Find other ways to generate leads. For example, approach former customers or use your website and social media to attract expressions of interest. 

How Will You Find Time for Presales Activities?

Presales can be a very intensive activity. There’s no room for dropped balls or communication gaps in presales. Dedicated staff and technologies that organise workflows are a prerequisite for its success. 

You can acquire a sales-ready team and a group of strategists who will work with your personnel to develop a presales strategy that converts. It’s easier than you might think. RSVP has the people and the processes you need to make it happen. Call us today and find out how outsourced sales can boost your business. 

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Sales Revenue vs Income

Sales revenue refers to the money your business makes from sales. Some people refer to this as sales income. However, it could be said that revenue only equates to income after costs have been deducted. In other words, sales don’t equate to income until you have covered your costs. 

Revenue vs Sales Revenue

Once again, we encounter complexity. Although most of the revenue your business brings in may come from sales, it’s very possible that other forms of revenue contribute to your business. For example, you may have investment revenue, rental revenue or earn royalties on intellectual property. 

From a more customer-facing perspective, companies that sell subscription services don’t technically “sell” to their subscribers every month. Instead, the revenue would count as subscription revenue, and it would continue for as long as customers remain subscribed. 

Total revenue is the most important figure for you to consider since it represents all the revenue your business has earned from various sources during the period reported. 

Accrued Revenue, Timing of Revenue Recognition and Matching

Accrued revenue is revenue your business has earned but you have not yet been paid. According to accrual accounting principles, revenue is recognised at the time when it was earned, even when you have not yet received payment. Once the client has been invoiced, they become a debtor. The revenue is recorded with the amount being listed under debtors. The amount is seen as an asset.  

To balance your books accurately and determine income, the costs incurred to make a sale possible are recorded during the same period as the sales they helped create. This principle is known as “matching.”

Deferred Sales Revenue

Customers may pay for goods and services that have not, as yet, been delivered. This is termed deferred revenue. Since you owe your customer either goods and services or a refund on the advance payment, it is seen as a liability (amount owed) rather than an asset. 

Once you deliver the goods, the money becomes yours, is recorded as sales revenue, and becomes an asset. If people were to pay in advance for a rental or subscription, it would be recorded as revenue accordingly once the recipient receives what they have paid for. 

How to Improve Sales Revenue

There are only two ways to improve revenue: one is simple, and the other is far more complex. 

Increase Prices

The simplest way to improve sales revenue may be to increase prices. However, if your customers decide that your products now cost too much, they may decide to withdraw their business. This reduces demand.

The result of a price increase may be that you sell fewer units and that could reduce overall sales revenue even though the amount you receive with every sale is higher. The only way price increases can work to improve sales revenue is to keep your sales volumes up while increasing prices. 

Implement Strategies to Increase Sales

Raise Awareness and Generate Leads

Increasing the number of sales you make is the best way to increase sales revenue. Regretfully, there are always costs involved when you seek to generate more sales. You may decide to spend more on marketing your products. Advertising and raising awareness add people to the top of your sales funnel. 

Offering them valuable resources in exchange for their contact details may generate fresh leads you can work on. If, on investigation, you find that certain leads are just perfect for your product, there is a high likelihood of making a sale. That’s why lead generation and qualification are popular sales strategies.

Concentrate on Leads near the Bottom of Your Funnel

Alternatively, you may decide to focus your attention on people you know are on the verge of buying. They’re near the bottom of your sales funnel and are sending out buying signals. Getting them to make a purchase is likely to cost less than spreading your net far and wide with awareness marketing. 

Research and Targeted Outreach

In B2B sales, you can focus some resources on researching possible clients so that you can undertake target outreach. It’s a form of outbound sales that can be very effective. You identify prospects that could benefit from supporting your business and reach out to them with all the facts they need to make a decision. 

Customer Referrals

Another way to boost sales is to motivate satisfied customers to do your marketing for you. This isn’t necessarily free. The best way to get them to actively work on your behalf is to offer an incentive such as a discount on their next purchase or a free benefit. 

Of course, offering your clients incredible service turns them into brand advocates even when they don’t expect a reward. But it does mean you have to invest in customer service. Remember: nobody is going to see automated and self-help options as “excellent service.” To gain this reputation, human interactions will be key. 

Discounting

Offering discounts can boost sales but has a few drawbacks. You’ll make less money per sale, and to make sales and attract customers, you must invest in getting the word out. However, if your research shows that customers are hesitant to try your products because of their price and that they’re likely to remain loyal after trying them, this can be a good approach. 

Reach Out to Former Customers

Past customers may only need a little reminding to start buying from you again. Your agents will have to handle a sensitive question: why did your former customers stop buying your products? There may be reasons why your products aren’t right for them anymore, or they may have experienced problems with your business. Nevertheless, it could be worth opening a discussion. 

Bundle Products

You can also look at increasing sales to customers who currently support you. Bundling may offer a solution. Instead of selling only one item per customer, you can offer them a bundle of products and services that complement each other. It’s a case of maximising your sales revenue per customer as a matter of routine. 

Increasing Sales With Outsourced Sales Solutions

There are many advantages to outsourcing sales and customer service. Predictable costs and reduced costs can be among these. For example, you need not undertake recruiting, equipping and training sales agents, and managing your own call centre. Instead, you can use a team of people who are already trained and equipped and are specialists in their field. 

At RSVP, we have proved how effective this can be. In our work with Virgin Wines, we achieved a 25 to 35 percent daily conversion rate from contacting past customers. The benchmark is 10 percent. Overall, we re-recruited 20,000 customers for Virgin Wines, enabling them to increase their sales revenue. 

Talk to us about your hopes to increase sales. Our standard process is to begin with matching what you are able to do in-house and then exceed it. We will partner with you to develop a sales plan that aligns with your goals. Our agents take it from there, and your business benefits from sales revenue growth. Invest in your business’s success with outsourced sales solutions from RSVP. 

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The post Sales Revenue: What It Is, How to Calculate It, And How to Increase It appeared first on RSVP Call Centre.

The target market is often far larger and more diverse, making it more difficult to formulate effective marketing and sales strategies. In B2B sales, the sales process is longer with more decision-makers participating. But it’s also far easier to research individual customers, gauging their needs and gaining a clear picture of the information they’d need to make a purchasing decision. 

In B2C sales, the sales cycle is shorter, but that also means you have less time to engage your customers. You know far less about them as individuals. Instead, you must determine how your products address your ideal customers’ wants and needs. Often, people who don’t quite match that profile will share similar motivations, and you’ll be able to win some of them over along the way. 

B2C Engagement: Winning Over Individuals

Generating B2C customer engagement is the golden thread that runs through every stage of the marketing and sales process. You want people to notice what you offer, like it, and build a relationship with your business. Like all relationships, it can’t be one-sided and consistency is key. Beginning with your marketing messages, customers will develop an impression of “who” your brand is, and every interaction should confirm that impression. 

For example, you may want customers to see your business as friendly, caring, and helpful. In that case, everything from your website to your email newsletters and customer service must reinforce those impressions. 

Most challenging of all, each of your customers wants to be seen as an individual and be valued accordingly. That requires a little help from technology and a willingness to engage in person. Some customers may be happy to navigate purchases on their own. But research shows that up to 83 percent of them will need some help from a live person before committing. 

B2C Sales Tips

Know Your Customers and Identify With Their Needs

Even after identifying your target markets, it can be difficult to identify with people in remote selling. To help you connect with your customers, your first step is to humanise them. Think about the type of people who would buy your products and why they would support your business. 

Some businesses even build “personas” complete with all the personal circumstances, hopes, fears, and aspirations your ideal customers would have. This helps your marketers, designers, and salespeople to understand and empathise with the people who make up your target market. 

Personalise and Empathise

As you get to know customers, either through their behaviour in your store or through direct communication, you can begin to personalise in greater detail. Some of this can be automated. For example, if you view a product on Amazon’s website, it will show you linked or similar products. 

E-commerce stores often make recommendations based on buyer behaviour – and if people sign up for your newsletter, you can tailor the information they receive based on their customer profiles. At the same time, be empathetic. Although people like the personal touch, they don’t want to be bombarded with sales pitches.

Personalisation becomes even more important in direct interactions with customers. As a seller, it’s your task to make recommendations that add value to individual experiences. Use any data you may have from previous interactions. Ask open-ended questions to clarify their needs and pain points. Determine how you can help them before you try to sell anything to them. 

Focus on Individual Customer Benefits

Customers don’t want to hear about how wonderful your business or its products are. What they want to know is how your business can help them. Lead with the benefits, matching them to what you know about each prospective customer’s needs or wants. At its most successful, the meaning of B2C sales should imply guiding customers to make choices that are right for them. 

For example, upselling and cross-selling are common tactics, but they should only be employed if they will benefit your customers. If your recommendations add value to their experiences, they’ll be open to coming back for more in future. If they don’t, they’ll soon find out – and they won’t support your business again unless they absolutely have to. 

Follow Up With Relationship Building

Gaining new customers is resource-intensive – keeping them needn’t be. Relationship-building includes following up to see whether customers are satisfied with their purchases, being available if they need after-sales service, and incentivising repeat purchases and referrals. 

While this might sound like a lot of things to do, some of it can be automated. Although most customers know an automated follow-up when they see one, they’ll be happy to know that their opinions matter to you. The data you gather from their responses will be valuable, and if some of your customers raise concerns, you have an opportunity to address them. 

You can also build relationships through outbound selling – but do this with caution and an intimate knowledge of your customers. For example, if an apparel seller notices that certain customers always snap up the latest products from a specific designer brand, you can notify them whenever new designs are in stock. 

Outsourced Sales and Customer Service Solutions for B2C Sellers

RSVP can help you with all your inbound and outbound B2C sales needs. Not sure what your sales plan should look like or struggling to sell with your existing one? Our strategists will help you to develop, implement, and fine-tune it. But that’s not all. 

Whether your business is small or large, scaling the human side of selling to meet your and your customers’ needs can be difficult. Many of your customers will shop outside of business hours, and you may be selling products across countries and time zones. Our team of sales specialists can handle this on your behalf, feeding back all the information you need to know your customers as well as if you were dealing with them yourself. 

Major brands trust us to develop outsourced sales solutions on their behalf – but we’ve also helped multiple startups and smaller businesses grow their sales and fast-track their progress. Contact us today and let’s get to know one another! We’ll be proud to be part of your success.

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The nature of the pitch will also differ. Consumers often make purchasing decisions based on emotion, a need for status, and other personal motivations. Businesses want to know about return on investment. They want to know whether the product they’re buying will boost efficiency, for example, and they want facts that show how gains exceed costs.

Does a B2B Sales Funnel Differ From a B2C Sales Funnel?

In its most simplified form, a B2B sales funnel will be the same as a B2C sales funnel. However, the elements each phase consists of will be different. To demonstrate this, we can examine a typical sales funnel from a B2B perspective.  

Awareness

Consumers generally become aware of products through advertising, web searches, or social media. While companies might also find out about your business in this way, individually targeted selling and pitching have a greater role to play. For example, if you’re selling advanced fleet tracking systems, it makes sense to find out about businesses that have substantial fleets and sell directly to them. 

Once you’ve identified companies that could be excellent sales prospects, you can target and research them, discovering details like the size of their fleets, the routes they serve, and the names of their fleet managers. Armed with this information, you contact them, making them aware of your solution and how implementing it will benefit them. 

Interest

During this phase, customers find out more about the business, its products and competitors. But, while consumers are generally satisfied with basic information like price comparisons, a few tech specs, and reviews, businesses will need more. 

Apart from showing them case studies and research results, this is a time to offer them customised information, showing how your product might help their individual businesses. For instance, you might send through a tailored proposal document, highlighting any unique features that will address their pain points. 

Consideration

A consumer thinks things through on their own and may even opt for a purchase on the spur of the moment. Businesses, on the other hand, will enter a consultative process. For example, a fleet manager may consult a CEO about a product they think is worthy of consideration. Help them by providing the materials they need to make the case for your product. 

Next, there may be meetings involving all the relevant decision-makers. If you can be present, whether in person or virtually, you can present compelling reasons to adopt your product plus any additional supporting evidence. All the same, there are likely to be questions and requests for more information. 

Intent

While moving consumers from intent to purchase to the actual sale is usually just a matter of adding a reminder or seeing if there are any final objections, businesses will want more from you. They’ve decided they’d like to buy your product, but they will want a finalised proposal, possibly with adjustments to suit their context. You may also be required to run demonstrations of your product in action or offer a free trial or samples so that they can verify whether your product lives up to its promises. 

Evaluation

For consumers, the evaluation phase could be as simple as reviewing their shopping cart and going to checkout. Businesses, on the other hand, will still be examining your proposal and may be considering alternatives. It will be important to remain in touch, answering any final questions, addressing obstacles, and responding to any concerns raised. 

Purchase

When consumers make a purchase, you need only confirm the sale and provide an avenue they can use to follow up on details like delivery or call for support. Businesses will expect more, particularly when they have purchased a big-ticket item or a complex product. For example, they may need you to train their staff to use your product or, at the very least, determine whether they are gaining the expected value from their purchase. 

Loyalty and Advocacy

Many sales funnels omit this important step. However, it’s an accepted fact that customers who bought once may buy again, and satisfied customers who feel they have a relationship with your business are less likely to support your competitors. 

Both B2B and B2C sales funnels should include this element, and in B2B sales, relationship-building is frequently hand-tailored to suit specific clients. In B2C sales, personalisation is also important, but it can be automated to a greater degree. 

The nature of relationship-building content, even when it is bulk content, will also differ. B2B customers support you because you are a specialist in a specific field, and they will be interested in your perspectives. For example, if you sell HR software, newsletters with actionable HR advice will be welcomed. Beyond this, your goal is to become more than just another supplier. Instead, you aim for partnership. In general, businesses are receptive to this approach.

Types of B2B Customers

It’s important to know your customers, and different types of B2B customers have different needs. You can use this as a broad guide to your sales strategies, but you should also carefully research individual inbound or outbound customers. We can broadly classify B2B customers as follows:

• Producers/service providers
• Resellers
• Governments
• Institutions

They all have some things in common. They’d like to work more efficiently, save costs, and deliver quality. And, they will prefer to forge long-term supplier relationships. The extra effort that goes into B2B selling will be worthwhile as long as you deliver the results you promised. 

In the private sector, business is characterised by competition, and products that strengthen your customers’ competitiveness will be of interest. This will be less interesting to government bodies and public institutions. Budgets, however, are often a key concern for them.

Ultimately, nothing beats researching sales prospects thoroughly in an attempt to identify possible pain points you might be able to address. Research your competitors carefully so that you can be confident you’re offering extra benefits. Quite simply, B2B buyers want products that will make their work easier, better, and cheaper and they want to be sure that their choice is better than any alternatives. 

Extra B2B Sales Tips to Help You

Apart from access to customer profiles created during your research, sales enablement, making resources available to help your sales team provide what customers want, will be very important. To make a strong case for your products, your team will need extra materials like whitepapers, proven research results, presentations, and all the facts and figures your B2B customers will want to see before making a purchasing decision. 

You should also use inside sales and, at times, outside sales to optimise results. Inside sales allows your agents to work with customers remotely and handle more customers in a day. Sometimes, you can handle the entire sales process remotely. 

Outside sales means that you meet with customers, and in some instances, you’ll need to add it into the mix. For example, you may need to inspect the customers’ premises to develop cost estimates and show them what you propose to do, or they may invite you to make a presentation to their management team. It’s resource intensive since it involves travel, but it can be a great way to build relationships. 

How to Save Time on B2B Selling

“Time consuming” should be part of the B2B sales definition. Before you contact anyone and deliver a pitch, you need a coherent sales strategy and the materials that help your team to execute it. Actioning a sales strategy provides its share of headaches for business owners. It’s frequently said that B2B sales will require at least seven interactions, often spanning months, and your customers won’t be impressed if there are any dropped balls. 

You already have a lot on your plate just running your business, and your key strengths may not be sales-related. Of course, you could hire a top-flight sales manager and recruit a sales team; provide the necessary office space; and equip them with the hardware and software needed to manage customer interactions. 

Or, you could simplify it all and outsource. But who can you trust to represent your business to its customers and advise you on the ideal sales strategy?

RSVP offers outsourced sales solutions that work. We’ll get to know your business and your target market. And we’ll put our London-based business and its extensively-trained agents to work winning you customers. Throughout, we’ll keep you in the loop with data and analytics that you can use to fine-tune your business strategy. 

Still unsure? Take a look at what we did for Virgin Wines. Selling is our expertise, and the results speak for themselves. Get the conversation started today. Enjoy a better tomorrow.

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It’s the full suite of training, coaching, materials, tech tools, and content you place at your sales reps’ disposal to enhance their potential for generating sales. In a sense, it could be said that all businesses practice sales enablement in one or more ways. But there’s much more to effective sales enablement than placing a person behind a desk with a computer and phone. 

To illustrate this, a look at the tools you’ll use for sales enablement will be a good place to begin. 

Sales Enablement Tools

1. Sales Engagement Tools

Beginning with the basics, your sales team needs channels they can use to engage with customers. These could include phone, email, live chat platforms, and social media. This would make you a multichannel seller.

2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software 

The average sale consists of several interactions before the deal is finalised. Keeping track of everything, joining the dots between the various engagement tools, and triggering workflows, your CRM software keeps you organised. 

It reduces the chance of dropped balls and lost sales while allowing your representatives to pick up the conversation with customers without wasting time determining where they are in the purchasing process. With information based on interactions across channels brought together, you are now an omnichannel seller. 

3. Call Centre Software

It will be important to direct customers toward the people they need to help them quickly and efficiently. Call centre software ensures they aren’t kept on hold and are connected with people who are qualified to deal with their enquiries. 

4. Sales Content Management Tools

Some products aren’t straightforward to explain, and their benefits are best understood through content like informational diagrams, research and case studies. To provide the information that customers need, your sales team should have access to materials that answer customers’ questions and can be used to motivate a purchase. Content management tools keep the information customers need at their fingertips. 

5. Sales Intelligence Tools

Whether you’re cold-calling or are contacting qualified leads, customers will want to know why your representatives have called them. For example, if you’re strategising for B2B sales, it makes sense to research the company you’re targeting and have a reason for contacting them. Sales intelligence tools can show your reps why you think the customers they’re targeting might benefit from the products they’re offering. This helps them to adjust and personalise their sales pitches. 

6. Sales Training Tools

Naturally, the sales enablement software you use will only be as effective as the reps who use them. Your sales team’s training tools will range from sales pitches, and product knowledge training to videos and manuals that show them how to use the tools at their disposal. 

What is a Sales Enablement Strategy?

So far, we’ve discussed people and the tools they might use to enable sales. But for them to work together effectively, you need a strategy. It will also guide you in choosing the tools you’ll provide, avoiding overlaps and redundancies. 

As with all things sales-related, your strategy begins with a firm understanding of your customers – what they want, what troubles them, and how you can improve their situation through your products. 

From here, you move to customer journey mapping: determining how customers navigate their way through your sales funnel, and all the touchpoints they’ll encounter in the process. Your sales enablement tools will help you to optimise each of these steps, directing your team to the areas where their intervention is needed and specifying how they would help move customers nearer to a purchase. 

Once you’ve gone through this process, each enabling resource has a carefully-calculated place in the sales workflow. Now, it’s just a matter of training your personnel to follow the process and use their tools effectively. Follow up with regular reviews to see whether you’ve gauged customers’ needs well and are offering them the experiences they need to motivate purchases. 

Sales Enablement Reporting and Analysis

Why do people buy your products? What makes them engage or disengage? How can you improve your sales enablement strategy? The answers are in the analytics. By taking a closer look at them, you can determine what works for you and customers in your target market and what doesn’t. 

For example, if customers are leaving your sales funnel at a specific point, they may be in need of something you haven’t included in your sales enablement toolkit. It’s a point where your salespeople are struggling to overcome specific customer objections, and it’s up to you to provide the enabling materials that would allow them to do so. 

Analysing the information your sales team gathers helps you to understand your customers better and address elements that are acting as obstacles to sales. Through a process of continuous improvement, you can optimise sales processes, serve your customers better, and boost your business’s sales. 

In short, sales effectiveness is the measurement you’ll use to determine whether your sales enablement strategy actually works. Analytics help you to spot what’s not working and adjust your sales strategies accordingly. 

Gaining a Competitive Edge Through Sales Enablement

Sales enablement allows your selling efforts to lead customers towards a purchase by offering them great experiences and compelling information. However, as so many businesses have found, it can come with a hefty price tag. The costs of employing and training the necessary personnel and integrating the best software for the task can be very high. 

For some businesses, the costs of implementing a fully-enabled sales process are simply too high, and the time and effort required to make it work just don’t seem worth it. But some businesses look beyond the barriers and find solutions. 

Outsourcing can be a no-compromise solution, and at RSVP, we’re proud of the results we’ve achieved for top brands through our outsourced sales solutions. 

Yes. We realise that sales enablement is a specialised field. Yes. We know that even large businesses can struggle to achieve the focus it requires. But we are focussed on sales and service. We have the tools. We have the personnel you want representing you. The only missing ingredient? You. Contact us today. As your strategic partners in sales, there’s so much we can achieve by working together.

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Let’s wrap this up and create a simple cross-selling definition. Cross-selling is the practice of selling additional, related products to your existing clients.

More Cross-Selling Examples

Cross-selling is a very effective strategy that companies use to boost revenue. You’ll often notice it being put to work in the financial services industry. Your bank might offer you investment brokerage services as an extra, for example. Or, your insurance company suggests that you consider their disability insurance (income protection) policy after you bought car insurance from them. 

Cross-selling is widespread across industries. When it’s done well, it offers customers something extra that will work for them, and they’ll be getting it from a business they already trust. The reasoning is simple. Customers aren’t always aware of the full range of products and services you offer and how they complement each other. Having bought one, alerting them to another could mean more sales for you plus a satisfied customer. 

Cross Sell vs Upsell

When successful, both cross-selling and upselling mean you get more revenue from your customers. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Upselling means that your customer buys a more expensive product instead of the one they first thought they’d buy. Cross-selling means that customers are offered, and often buy, extra products on top of the ones they’ve chosen.

Upsell Example

You’re about to buy a mobile phone. The sales assistant suggests a slightly more expensive phone with better functionality, explaining how you’ll benefit from an upgraded purchase. After thinking it over, you decide that the phone with the bigger price tag will serve you better than the one you initially chose, and you close the deal. 

Cross-Sell Example

Now that you’ve chosen a mobile phone you’ll like, the sales assistant suggests you buy a cover and a screen protector. You know it’s a great idea to have these extras. You realise that they can help your new phone to survive mishaps. So, instead of just buying a phone, you buy the additional products too.

Benefits of Cross-Selling

Both customers and sellers benefit from cross-selling. The customer gets things they wanted but didn’t initially ask for, and the business makes extra sales. Various market researchers have confirmed that companies that cross sell make up to 30 percent more revenue and boost customer lifetime value. Summing up the benefits of cross-selling:

• Businesses increase sales and revenue 
• Satisfied customers get everything they need from one source
• Customers return for more because they know more about the business’s capabilities and range – it becomes their go-to option
• Customers trust businesses that cross-sell. They know you’ll tell them if there’s anything extra that might complement their purchases

How to Cross-Sell to Customers

Many E-commerce stores use cross-selling as a matter of course. For example, if you order a shirt, the online store may point out a matching jacket. There are also the “limited time offers” on discounted extras and offers of bundled products. In person cross-selling is even more effective since sales agents can gauge customers’ needs and sentiments from a human perspective. Whatever your approach, these tips will help you to boost your cross-selling efforts. 

Less is More

Don’t bewilder customers by offering way too much at once. Keep it simple with a few extras that customers can consider adding to their orders. Do make sure that the products you offer are closely related to the ones your customers are already interested in. For example, your burger salesperson doesn’t offer you a “seafood platter with that.” They offer chips because burgers and chips go well together. 

Map Out Options

Some products are simple to cross-sell. If someone is buying earrings, offering a matching necklace is an obvious option. But not all products are as easy to link and different types of customers may have different needs. 

If you’re selling through an e-commerce site, you can automate cross-selling offers based on customers’ purchasing history. If they’re consulting your sales agents, your representatives can ask a few questions to determine whether cross-selling will benefit your customers and if so, what they should offer. 

Whether you’re cross-selling on auto or in person, making the right offers comes down to knowing what extras go with which products and why. Capture these ideas and put them to work for you.

Choose the Right Time

The best time to upsell or cross-sell is when your client has already decided to move ahead with a purchase. Our fast food example may be simple, but it also illustrates this. Nobody asks if you want chips before you’ve placed an order. 

After-sales follow-up is another great time to offer additional products that will help customers enjoy what they’ve already bought even more. Wait until you’re sure they’re satisfied with the original purchase. If they are, offer them something extra that will make their positive experience even better. 

Use Consultative Selling

Businesses that sell sophisticated products with comparatively large price tags almost always benefit from some level of in-person selling. Up to 83 percent of customers say they need some form of in-person help to make a purchase. Since you’re selling a valuable product, your representatives should definitely be there for them. 

Your agents should have a framework they can use to determine which products are right for different types of customers. If they ask the right questions, listen carefully to answers, and adapt as they go, it will be easy for them to know which products are a good match for each customer. 

Show the Value

While you don’t need to explain that necklaces and earrings go together or that burgers go better with chips, there are scenarios in which you’d need to show how your cross-selling benefits specific customers. Facts and figures can come in handy here. For example, if a B2B customer can see they’ll enhance their ROI thanks to your offer, they’ll be more likely to convert. 

Outsourced Sales Solutions for Effective Cross-Selling

While brick-and-mortar businesses can train their employees to cross-sell, it gets more challenging when you work remotely with clients. For example, sales enquiries can come in at any time of the day – not necessarily during business hours. Ideally, you need a well-trained, scalable team that’s on duty around the clock. 

That’s where we can help. Our UK-based sales teams consist of people who match your profile of the ideal representative. We work with you to determine how best we can serve your customers and help you reach your objectives. Then, our team springs into action and does the rest. 

Are you making the most of your sales opportunities? Talk to us to find out how you can serve your customers better while enhancing your bottom line. 

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Inside Sales vs Outside Sales

Outside sales representatives spend a lot of time travelling to visit customers and very little time selling. This approach is helpful for relationship-building. It’s also useful when customers need to see and touch a product. And it can be worthwhile when in-person meetings result in large sales. But customers are increasingly becoming comfortable with inside sales and find it convenient too. 

Sometimes, it isn’t an either-or and you’ll combine outside sales with inside sales. For example, your sales representatives attend a trade show. That’s outside sales. They’re likely to return to the office with more expressions of interest than actual sales, but that’s still a win. With contact already made, it’s an easy matter to mail leads and set up calls or virtual meetings. These inside sales activities ultimately finalise deals. 

You may have other lead generation strategies that don’t require in-person outreach. In this case, your selling process is pure inside sales. 

The Benefits of Inside Sales

Since inside sales representatives don’t have to spend time travelling between clients, they have greater reach – even international reach – and they can handle more interactions per day. This makes inside sales an efficient sales strategy. 

Efficiency not only saves costs, builds capacity and boosts profits, the time savings that go with it mean that you can close deals faster. Your customers aren’t kept waiting till the next visit to proceed with the process. You may even increase sales because there’s less time for customers’ interest to cool down. 

Steps to Successful Inside Sales

Understand Your Customers and Competitors

Before you begin selling, you need to know who would buy your product, why they’d do so, and what they would want it to do for them. You can be sure that they’ll check out your competitors. Know why your product is a better solution than theirs and find ways to express this when interacting with customers. For example, if you’re offering a solution with unique features and benefits, your customers will need to know what they are. 

Tailoring the information you offer to specific market segments is an effective strategy. Always remember that your customers want products that will work for them. Offering extraneous information that isn’t applicable to them only muddies the waters and makes selling harder. 

Use Your Research to Create Context and Build Rapport

Inside sales is not the same as cold calling. Lead generation is the first step. It should already tell you a few things about a possible customer so that you can offer a tailored approach. In B2B settings, you can do a little extra research to find out about leads, qualifying them based on their business’s context. 

Begin your pitch with a value statement that’s been carefully developed based on your research. It should be brief and to the point yet link what you can do to a challenge your customer is facing. State how you can help and what results your customer can expect. 

Customers want to be understood, not just face a barrage of sales talk, so after your introduction, find out more about them. For example, you might ask them what goals they are working toward in a specific area where your product may be of help. 

Position your Product Within the Customer’s Context

Once you have insight into your customer’s situation, you can offer information they can relate to. Use gain-framed messaging. It’s simply a matter of acknowledging options, while stating the gain you can offer. If you can present compellingly frame gains, your customer will be more likely to see your product in a favourable light. Keep the conversation going and gauge what your customer is thinking by asking them if they have any questions they’d like to ask you. 

Build Trust

In most instances, especially in B2B outreach, sales are seldom made based on a single call. Your customer may want to see a demo, for example, or you may have offered to send more detailed information. Know what evidence they might want to see and be ready to suggest the next step. Be sure to deliver on your promises. Involve other teams as needed and follow up. 

Overcome Objections

When following up with a customer, you may find that they have objections to making a purchase. It will be important to acknowledge these instead of directly contradicting the customer. For instance, you might say that you agree that a customer’s concern is a valid one, asking them to expand on it so that you can search for the underlying reason behind it.

If you’re sufficiently well-prepared, you should know how to address the objection. After doing so, ask your customer whether your response addresses the issue they raised. If they raise another element, validate your customer by acknowledging it before expanding on your solution. Once again, ask how the client feels after hearing your response. Repeat this process until your customer is satisfied or asks for an action that would satisfy them. Once objections are overcome, it’s easy to close the deal. 

Is Inside Sales the Same as Telemarketing?

We’ve already noted that inside sales is not the same as cold calling, but is it just a “dressed up” version of telemarketing? While you are likely to use voice calls in inside sales, it requires much more advanced skills than telemarketing typically does. 

• Telemarketers generally work according to a tight script. Inside sales, on the other hand, may use a prepared introduction, but follow through by initiating a consultative process. 
• Inside sales strives to build relationships in which the customer’s perspective guides the process. Telemarketers try to guide the customer towards a quick decision. 
• Inside sales offers tailored content that may include customised solutions. Telemarketing tries to sell generic products using generic content. 

Can You Outsource Inside Sales?

Inside sales requires an in-depth understanding of a business, its customers, products, and strategies. It also requires speaking, listening, and improvisation skills. Very few call centres are able to offer effective inside sales. RSVP can. Here’s why. 

First, there’s the degree to which we immerse ourselves in learning everything there is to know about your business and the in-depth training we provide to our agents. 

Second, there are our agents. Every one of them has superb communication skills and knows how to build rapport with an audience. The secret? We employ real actors. Their art requires them to communicate, gauge audience responses, empathise, and improvise within the framework of set scenarios. It’s practically a verbatim list of the skills required for inside sales. 

You (and your customers) get operatives who know how to “step into the role,” and since understanding context is part of acting, they’ll immerse themselves in the personas you need to achieve inside sales. 

Of course, you’d like some details. Perhaps you’d like to know more about how we use technology to help us, how we’ll adapt to your needs, and you may have a few concerns about our ability to handle inside sales. We’d love to talk, find out more about your business, and help you find the solutions you need to achieve effective outbound sales. Contact us today and let’s work together. Building relationships is our business. 

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Why is the Sales Funnel so Important?

Stages of a Typical Sales Funnel

To understand the importance of a sales funnel, we must first consider the different stages of the customer journey it represents. Here’s what we need to know:

1. Awareness: This is the top of the funnel. People become aware that your business is out there. 
2. Discovery: They’re interested in your business, so people decide to find out more.  
3. Evaluation: Now that they know more about your business, customers consider whether your offer will be of value to them. 
4. Intent: Having decided that your offers have value, they form an intent to purchase. 
5. Purchase: Following through on intent, prospects become customers and buy your product. Many people think sales funnels end here, but they should not. 
6. Loyalty: having achieved satisfaction from their purchase and everything that occurred after they made it, customers become supporters. 

Why That Funnel-Shape is Significant

A look at the customer journey makes the entire process seem very simple. But now, we come to the reason why the sales funnel has its distinctive shape. At every step along the journey towards the bottom of the funnel, you are going to lose some of your audience. This makes sense. After all, not everybody who is aware of your business will be interested in it and find out more. They could be outside your target market, for example. 

The further people journey down the sales funnel, the surer you can be that you’re looking at a real sales prospect and the costlier to your business a departure from your funnel becomes. For example: 

• If a person didn’t find the information they were looking for during the discovery phase, they can’t properly evaluate your product. 
• If they fail to see benefits during the evaluation phase, or decide they’ve found a better alternative, they won’t form an intent to purchase. 
• If they already had purchase intent but don’t move towards a purchase, you just lost a customer. 
• And, if they had a less-than-pleasant experience with your business’s service or the product they received, you’ve lost a supporter who could have brought you even more business. 

Now, consider what would happen if you were to devote attention to helping your customers move from one stage of the sales funnel to the next. Clearly, you’d lose fewer people at each stage of their journeys, and if you do this really well, you’ll ultimately make more sales and have more loyal customers. That’s why sales funnels are meaningful to businesses, and why mapping yours and acting to help your customers navigate it will make a difference to your bottom line. 

Sales Funnel Examples

Some sales funnels are much more complex and involve far more steps than our explanation implies. Others are far simpler or are navigated so quickly that your intervention to help customers with purchases is less necessary. 

For example, a customer decides to add ordinary flour to their grocery list. They already know where they can buy it and, after a quick cost-comparison, they choose a brand and buy it. There are a few things you can do to encourage customers to buy your brand of flour, but it’s a fairly standard product, so there are limits to how much you can differentiate. 

If you’re selling software, on the other hand, all the steps we’ve described would be important to you, and you may even divide the stages of the customer journey into smaller portions.

Some authorities recommend separating the sales funnel from the marketing funnel. The marketing funnel generates leads, and the sales funnel qualifies leads, directing them toward forming an intent to purchase, and guides them from there to the purchase. 

In general, however, we don’t feel that it’s necessary to make that distinction in your sales funnel visualisation and it may even be detrimental. For instance, if sales and marketing work in separate silos, it can become difficult to send unified messages and create a seamless customer experience. 

How to Create a Sales Funnel and Use it Effectively

Build Your Sales Funnel and Identify Elements for Each Step

Awareness

Begin by identifying your target audience and deciding on strategies to generate awareness. This may require market research and a little trial and error to determine the best platforms and strategies to generate interest. 

Discovery

Consider the things people will want to find out during the discovery phase and make sure they’re easily available. Offering the highest-value resources in a format that allows for lead generation is often effective.  

Evaluation

Your leads may want to further evaluate your product. Case studies, white papers, research results, and comparisons can be of help here. For software companies, this might be a good time to offer a demo. 

Intent

With all the information they need to form intent at their fingertips, a little extra incentivisation is in order. For example, WordPress often uses limited time offers to encourage purchases and software companies may offer a free trial that automatically switches to a paid subscription after a set time unless users choose to cancel. 

Purchase

Don’t neglect the purchase phase. Make it easy for customers to buy your product or get answers to last-minute questions. Streamline your checkout process and offer multiple ways to pay. 

Loyalty

Offer excellent after-sales service to help your customers make the most of your product. This could include tutorials, support services and loyalty programs. Check on customer satisfaction with after-sales surveys that invite feedback. 

Choose Tools and Resources to Work for You

You’ll need a little technological help to turn leads into loyal customers. Each of them would like to be treated as an individual, and the better you’re able to personalise and target information, the better your results will be. 

CRM systems will help you to manage relationships, record interactions, and manage them. Promised a callback? Your CRM system will remind you.

Email Marketing platforms will help you automate communication while personalising content to match your sales leads’ interests and their position in your sales funnel. For example, if they’ve already demonstrated intent to purchase, discovery information will not be relevant to your prospective customers. 

You’ll also need analytics tools to monitor how you’re doing so that you can adjust your campaigns based on reactions. As an example, if people aren’t opening your emails, a different subject line might change their minds. Or, if they aren’t clicking your links, decide whether you’re targeting the right people with the wrong information. 

The human touch will be important too, especially as you move from intent to sales and after-sales services. If somebody has been sending out strong buying signals but hasn’t made a purchase yet, it may be worth reaching out to find out whether they need any further information or advice. Or, if customers have already purchased your product, they may contact your representatives for help if they are unable to find answers to their questions in your resource base. 

Need Help Turning Leads into Loyal Customers?

Are you hoping to maximise sales without having to scale staffing to meet your changing sales campaign needs? Hoping to deploy only the most qualified sales professionals to represent you? RSVP will work with your business to develop a unique sales plan that matches your objectives and your target market’s needs. From outbound sales solutions to helping you build customer loyalty, our London-based team is ready to help. Let’s collaborate.

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