Market Smart To Help Your Sales Force

This is the challenge for pretty much every business, regardless of industry.

And let me point out, there seems to be an awful lot of psychology thrown around on how to reach this goal, but so little of this seems tangible to the human beings which constitute your salesforce.

So here are 3 hints to consider in helping them:

1. Market what really counts
2. Do it in the right style
3. Be brave

Your sales force is finding it tougher and tougher, largely because the internet is so influential in providing research material which helps prospects evaluate before they make their decision.

So in order to nurture more prospects, learn to ride the wave and leverage it to your benefit and gain more clients.

Apart from being the great leveller, the web is a different animal and understanding it and putting your own business into perspective can make all the difference. So, consider the following:

1. Market what really counts

Forget ‘spin’, ‘dimensional psychology’, ‘attention span quotients’ and any other jargonistic term I can invent because actual terms are just as vague that I can’t think of some right now.

What really matters in the drive for more clients and better clients is your number one asset – your experience. Your best marketing material is in your own mind.

Have you ever considered how effective the help would be to your sales force if all that experience and knowledge could be your marketing tool?

Well that is precisely what content marketing is all about. Nothing carries more authority than thought leadership, and it’s through content based marketing where you stand to gain most – but it has to be done the right way.

2. Do it in the right style

Boasting how clever you are doesn’t cut it. Whether it’s through blog content, press releases, your website or anything else, the one thing potential clients are looking for most is trust and authenticity.

Content isn’t just about information, it is about the human being behind the company name, so the challenge to build trust is paramount largely because international studies prove that about 70% of people who come to your business after finding your content on the web have already decided to use your product or service.

So key to this is to establish and maintain a conversationalist tone in all your work; to be not a company that says this is us and we’re the best etc. but to make the reader feel as if they are communicating as equals; that you are side by side heading in the same direction rather than raking them in like fish for a cannery.

Perhaps because you have never had a marketing tool with such powerful potential it is hard to relate to this reasoning, but to get a glimpse of the style that works, feel free read this too.

Better clients could be just around the corner

3. Be brave

Don’t be afraid to tell the market what you think, without offending anyone, of course. Some of us have really strong views on what constitutes intelligent, quality thought within our industry.

Until recent times, it has been near-impossible to voice your opinion purely because of the prohibitive cost in doing so.

But with online capacity offering us so much these days, everyone can have their say.

If you have opinions and thoughts, content is the only way to get your message out there and it won’t cost a fortune. The added value is it builds some market familiarisation it is not uncommon for a potential client to be less standoffish to your sales staff as they feel like they have dealt with you before, purely by reading you on the internet.

If you don’t have the means or confidence to handle it alone, find someone that can help. Now is the time to be brave about the things that occupy your mind which can be useful for your market to hear, so don’t waste the opportunity in these early stages to get ahead of the rest.