Who is this blog for?  The higher end #professionalservice providers that are selling products/services to business owners and upper echelon professionals.  Did you catch that?  Professionals selling to individual professionals.  

If you want to continue to grow and maintain profit margins going forward it will behoove you to pay attention to what is changing for your prospective clients where they earn the money you want them to spend with you.  Their success at work directly impacts your success.

One of the ways to gain deeper engagement with prospects is to understand the challenges that they are facing currently and what they are excited and/or worried about in the future.  One high priority issue you need to be discussing and thinking about is How The Way We Work Has Changed:

Forrester research indicates:

• 53% of workers who are currently remote hope they will be able to continue to work from home (WFH) more often even after the crisis is over.
• 44% of US workers glad their business travel has been cut back
• 38% of respondents said the in-person sales meeting had decreased in value.

Forrester, as a result, is predicting this:

• 80% of B2B sales will now be done digitally and remotely
• 70% – At the start of the crisis. nearly 70% of B2B sellers stated they didn’t believe they could be as effective in a virtual sales meeting as they are in person, and as a result
• 40% of B2B reps plan to modify their tactics to adapt to remote selling activities
• 57% of B2B sales leaders plan to make deeper investments in tools with AI and automation to accomplish more with less and improve engagement effectiveness

Source: Forrester, including: – The Democratization Of B2B Sales – Talent Wins Games, But Teamwork And Intelligence Win Championships – Future Onsite Meetings will Come at a Premium – Interview with Mary Shea – August 2020 – Forrester 2021 Predictions

The above statistics are facts that your prospective clients are working their way through right now.  Don't be 'that guy' that only talks about what you get paid for.  Instead, be 'that professional' that prospects seek out for good information and counsel.  The top of the funnel isn't where you pitch...it's where you interact and engage about what is valuable and interesting for them.

They aren't going to answer your emails, endless voicemails and DM's and why should they?  You are going to have to reimagine how to get to those high value prospects at the top of the sales process...when they aren't necessarily looking to buy, but, they are looking for valuable information about how THEY GET PAID.  Remember, your prospect is more interested in their own success.

How do we do this?

Application:  You are going to have to use #social to get access to these new prospects in combination with traditional #referralmarketing.  The ultimate 'sales stack' going forward is going to be that combination.  

Any seasoned sales professional will tell you that the best way to get a meeting booked is by referral...and now we can add the digital version of that tried and true method:  #socialselling based upon strategy (not spam).  Where to start?

It all depends upon how much urgency you attach to your current situation.  Do you see the inevitable requirement for a new way to engage with customers that are sick and tired of interrupt marketing and sales?  

If so, you will want to start with strategy first.  Then will come a process to use training and coaching to engage with and encourage your employees and team to use social in a productive and human way.  

If you have further questions please engage in the comments below or send me a private message and/or email (mike@valuesbasedmindset.com).  Also, if this was valuable a like and a share are always appreciated.