Today, experience loyalty is the new brand loyalty. Modern buyers expect a cohesive, compelling journey, and the companies that deliver will come out on top.
That said, an increasingly connected world coupled with ever-more empowered buyers has led to the convergence of digital and human channels. With multiple routes to purchase, providing buyers with a seamless experience across content, conversations, and other tactics is easier said than done.
Forward-thinking sales and marketing leaders are embracing the challenge of ensuring that their salespeople exceed sales targets while fulfilling expectations of digitally oriented buyers, as outlined in Forrester’s new report The State of Digitized Selling. In this new world of channel-agnostic customer experiences, here are several steps you can take to move your company toward digital selling that drives results.
Unite Touchpoints Under One Experience
Most channels have been developed to meet a linear buyer’s journey, but in a world in which buyers bounce between speaking with sales and researching your product online, siloed channels are a thing of the past.
Leading businesses are focused on delivering a unified customer experience. A recent survey with B2B marketers found that 94% of respondents believe it’s important for their company to deliver a consistent experience across various digital and offline channels.
Tactically, this means that sales and marketing leaders would do well to align and rethink their joint approach to the buyer’s journey and the customer experience — how do you provide both digital and human touchpoints at every stage of the journey? How simple is it for buyers to toggle between these channels? And what barriers inhibit purchase, and how can you remove them? Answering these questions will help you build a consistent, agile experience that’s sure to delight modern buyers.
Invest in Technology That Elevates Engagements
When it comes to delivering a digitally immersive experience, sales technology — such as sales enablement, sales engagement, and sales readiness platforms — can and should play a bigger role. Your sellers need to be equipped with tools tailored to their needs. Despite this, teams frequently default to using tools to deliver one-directional communications, such as generic prospecting emails. But in the era of personalisation, doing so alienates rather than attracts buyers seeking a tailored experience.
Engagement-forward technology, like sales enablement solutions, helps reps efficiently and effectively manage cross-channel interactions for more streamlined, personalised customer conversations. For businesses and buyers alike, the impact is tangible. Forrester reports that “in addition to delivering better experiences for marketers, buyers, and sellers, organisations that successfully operationalise these tools will likely gain the benefit of a 20% revenue lift.” These tools ensure conversations between buyers and salespeople are elevated beyond transactional discussions to value-driven, collaborative interactions.
How can you use this to your advantage? If you are using a sales enablement solution already, consider how you can leverage its capabilities to prepare reps with the knowledge they need to meet buyer expectations. And if you haven’t yet invested — now, more than ever, is the time to make the leap.
Consider Customers Your Business Partners
Winning over your customers doesn’t stop when a deal is signed — businesses must maintain that momentum throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Innovative companies are now working directly with their customers to do just that.
From implementing a digital collaboration platform to meeting customers both virtually and in person, you can foster collaboration across channels in ways that benefit your customer and make your business better. For instance, customer insights and requests can inform your product roadmap. Similarly, customer success managers can review customer data to offer action-ready advice. In both cases, these elements strengthen the relationship between buyers and vendors, tighten alignment, and ultimately deliver more value for all parties involved — ensuring your company wins, time and again.
Don’t Wait — Innovate
Your buyer experience should transcend mediums and channels to give customers the power to engage with your company and your brand whenever, and however they choose. By building a streamlined, fully digitised sales and marketing organisation, you can ensure that wherever you meet your buyers, you’re prepared to deliver excellence.
Get the action-ready insights you need to jumpstart your transformation with Forrester’s guide to winning with digital selling.
