If we only understand sales, we’re just salespeople to our prospects and nothing more. We can’t just be experts in selling. We need to be experts in our customers’ industries, too. When we understand the overall industry, prospects’ business, and their specific issues, we become business experts. That’s the key to selling value, and that’s when a sale can start to happen.
Sometimes we get so focused on selling a product that we fail to show how the product fits into people’s lives and adds value. We get tunnel vision and forget about anything outside our scope of view – namely, the business at large.
It’s time to change that.
There are three steps to securing our position as business experts:
Understand our prospects’ business in depth
It’s not enough anymore to just have some understanding of our prospects’ business. We need to have much more than that, and until we have in-depth understanding of the whole picture at hand – the industry, the competitors, the issues faced – we won’t be seen as experts providing value to the business. We need to dig deeper and do the research. What do industry sources say about this business? What do the trade press, news, and other resources suggest are issues they face? What’s going on in their world? Gaining full understanding of the business and situation at hand helps us know what to expect when we do begin communication with prospective customers.
Prepare to effectively communicate with prospects
Once we have done the research, it’s time to prepare for our communication with a business-like approach. That means having data on hand, deducing how prospects will respond to us , and being ready to speak the language of business. We are business-salespeople bringing sales into the business world.
Maintain expertise in the industry
Once we’ve learned an industry in-depth, it’s time to follow up. That means staying up to date on what’s current in both our prospect’s business and their industry. Have issues changed? What new issues have come up? Read the news, keep an eye on trade press, and rely on sources that specifically serve that industry. When we maintain strong industry expertise, we are prepared to face prospects as business experts, and that’s how we bring value to the table every time.
As the sales industry becomes increasingly “sales-y,” we can’t forget the business in B2B. Stand out from the crowd by being an expert in business, sales, and value.
