How to reignite stalled sales conversations

The workplace changed for everyone last year, causing prospects to hit the pause button. Sales teams are now looking toward the future and connecting with their customers.

Today, B2B buyers expect sales teams to engage with them and curate experiences that focus on their interests, passions, and challenges. After nearly a year of significant disruption, it’s time to get back on track.

The question is— how do your sales reps reignite those lost conversations and take the first steps toward getting those overdue deals over the line?

A whole new world of selling

As the world settles into the new normal, Forrester Research predicts that 80 percent of B2B sales will happen remotely, while 53 percent of B2B workers hope to continue to work from home.

In the new remote sales world, your reps may be struggling to reignite lost conversations. Fair enough— it can be challenging to build long-term, sustainable relationships from afar— particularly with opportunities that have gone cold. With the lack of face-to-face business meetings and the rapport-building-perks of a business lunch, these relationships need to be nurtured in a different way.

Most importantly, your sales teams need to quickly work out how well the prospect’s business fared in 2020, so they’re able to set realistic, achievable results.

However, this is easier said than done as your sales teams will not be the only ones reaching out to those prospects. Which begs the question— how can your sales teams cut through the noise? The answer?

Focused, curated experiences.

Focused, curated experiences implies finely tuned messages that meet the prospect’s needs. Have your sales reps taken the time to understand what the customer is passionate about? Or understand the challenges they’re trying to overcome in the new year?

It is not enough for your sales reps to personalize for personalization sake. The sales team needs to align with how buyers want to buy and tailor communications to restart conversations.

• Curate individual sales messages: Buyers are not all one and the same, therefore they will expect personalized, targeted communications. Sales messages and conversations need to align with the individual’s needs, the market needs and the buyer’s specific persona.

• Redefine the work schedule: In the new normal, working hours and workspaces have changed. Buyers will expect curated experiences to align with their new work routine, including hours of work, time on the road and time spent in the office. More specifically, if you can identify and honor your buyers’ preferred hours (even if they don’t align with yours), you may have better luck connecting.

• Add value from the get-go: Buyers are limited on time and will receive sales communications from many vendors. Therefore, buyers expect immediate value and understanding of how your particular solution will help them. This needs to be clear in all lines of communication.

By taking the time to research the customer’s current business position, dig into the customer’s personal interests and identify gaps your product or services can fill, you will be better prepared to add value.

As you launch into 2021, you’ll want to arm yourself with real-time, granular level of detail about what’s working and what’s not--which likely requires you to rely more heavily on sales technology.

The right technology enables you to gain insights that matter, and tailor communications to specific B2B buyers’ needs and desires.

Sales Engagement Technology can also help scale focused, curated experiences across your book of business. To find out if your sales tech stack is capturing the right info for your unique sales motion, download our buyer’s guide checklist.