I’ve been saying the same thing from stages around the world for years: The way people buy has changed. 

But that change isn'tඣ something that's a simple bef🍒ore and after. The change continues — and savvy businesses adapt to meet the needs of their buyers. 

And even smarter businesses anticipate where the changes will💛 go next. 

One trend is clear: Buyers want to be in control of the sales process.

They want fewer meetings, fewer sales pitches, and access to all the 🥃information they're looking for.

And you should give them what they want.

The changing buyer

According to a stജudy from Gartner, . For millennials, it’s even higher: 44%. 

Think about that for a second. At least a third of your buyers would prefer not to talk to your sales team at🌺 all. They want to be able to purchase exactly what they want without any contact with a sales rep.

This statistic does not stand alone. It feels like every day I read something new about how more an🅺d more of the buying p𒉰rocess is happening according to the customer’s preferences. 

But this doesn’t mean that your 168极速赛车官网:sales team has been rendered irrelevant. Instead, it means you nee𓂃d to retrain and redeploy them to better serve your bu✃yers. 

Reimagining what you salespeople do

When customers say they want a sales-free buying experience, they're obj𓆉ecting to a company being pushy, aggr🐟essive, or manipulative. 

But that's not what the sales process s👍hould be anyway.

In the purest sense, a salesperson helps a buyer know what a purchase experienc🔯e will be like. I believe this kind of buyer education is more important than ever.   

To help your buyers to feel in control of the sales process, position your team🧔 as the guides who will help them solve their challenges. This way, they control the buying process and you get the sale. 

1. Make your marketing interactive

Today, buyers self-educate more than ever before. They use the information available online (on your and yourꦬ competitors’ website, on review sites, on YouTube, on social platfo🎃rms) to help them make the right purchase.

The more inte⭕ractive you make your marketing materials, the more in control the buyer feels.

Self-selection tools

Every buyer of every product is asking the same question: Which option is right for me?

The reason salespeople have gotten a bad rap is that some have answered that question without really taking the buyer’s needs into account. Instead, they’ve steered people toward the product that’s right for the saꦕlesperson to sell, not for the buyer to buy.

168极速赛车官网:A self-selection tool lets the buyer get a customized response to their central question. If they need a new refrigerator, say, a self-selection tool can ask a few questions ab๊out size, budget, and design to help them narrow down a lengthy list in an interactive way that they control.

Here’s a self-selection tool from — a business that sells high-ꦍtech coffee machines. Buyers can click through to find the best option for their needs.

But Marcus, what if our self-selection tool counsels them toward a product we don’t offer?

No big deal! That’s a bad-f꧃it prospect out of your pipeline. If you ended up se🎀lling them something that didn’t fit their needs, they’d become unhappy customers down the line.

At myꦦ swimming pool company, we only sell and install fiberglass pools. 🔯We think fiberglass is a great option for most backyards. But it's not best for everyone. There are circumstances where a concrete pool would be a better choice. (For instance, if they want it highly customized or bigger than a certain size.)

If we tried to convince those people that they actually wanted fiberglass, they’d likelꦡy end up with buyer’s remorse, which benefits no one.

On-demand information in a learning center

But a buyer-centered sales process doesn’t have to involve a branching-logic selection feature or AI functionality. It can be as simple as providing thorough, honest information that’s well𒊎-organized and easily searchable.

If you provide unbiased answers to buyers’ questions — especially if you talk frankly about the pros and cons of your own offerin⛎gs — you’re giving customers the ability to control their own learning.&nb𝓰sp;

H🐻ere’s a💙 learning center example from Alabama-based .

This is their homepage. It's f﷽ront and center. Any information a customer needs can be found t༺here.

Imagine if your buyer could go through your pages, learn what they need, and move forward when they’re ready. You'd be talking with more educated customers who know🍬 what they want and are ready to buy. 

But to do this best, you need to teach them the way ♎they want to learn.

That means written and video conte♔nt, all of which is presented in their vocabu🌸lary.

If you’re not answering the questions they’re asking on your website or in your 168极速赛车官网:sales enablement materials, your content will not resonate.

2. Provide a no-pressure buying experience

We all know what it feels like to be sold to. Whether it’s a cold call during dinner, a tone-deaf sales email, a LinkedIn prospecting message, or any other invasive outreach or𝓰 pushy approach, we recoil when we’re getting rushed along the sales proce๊ss.

At the same time, we aꦏll love discovering new products and buying n🐼ew things. It’s human nature. 

So, how do we match our offerings to our customers in a way that doesn’t turn their stomachs? By being he𒈔lpful, not salesy. If we take the pressure out of the equation, everyone is more comfortable. 

I’ve shared this before, but it’s wo🌳rth mentioning again: I was recently watching a sales call recording from one♔ of our reps here at IMPACT. She was patiently explaining our services to a prospect. 

Now, it’s worth noting that what we sell is complex: An 18-month coaching and training program to help you master🃏 inbound sales and marketing. It 🐓takes a lot of learning for company leaders to fully understand their 🅠own struggles and how we can help them.

On this call, just as it was wrapping up, the🅺 CEO told oꩵur salesperson, “Thank you for educating us instead of selling us.”

This was music to my ears.

We were ꦡfocused on their growth, not on our sale.

In the end, they weren't a good fit for our services, but I know they left with a positive impression. And I’d bet they’d recommend us to their friends who might be better prospects. That's worth a lot more than pushing through a sale and ending u💞p with an unhappy or d🅷ifficult customer.

Ask, what decisions does someone need to make to buy from us?

Once you figure out the decisions your buyers make, base your sales process around that, not around arbitrary steps.💎 This way, you're a🌳lways focused on your buyers' needs. 

3. Keep customers happy and engaged with your post-sales experience

After you close a deal, don’t simply write off the customer and move on. A core tenet of inbound marke🔯ting is that happy customers are your best marketing resource.

After all, word-of-mouth referrals and five-sta♚r reviews can drive tons of business. 

This is the flywheel HubSpot talks about so much.

Even if your sales team sees the purchase as the end, the customer sees it as the beginning. A customer-c𒁃entered sales process needs to keep👍 this in mind.

Think of ways you can k𒁃eep your customers in the loop after you’ve made the sale. If you sell pizza ovens, maybe you send out monthly recipe roundups or start a Facebook group for your custꦕomers. If you sell software, it could be notes about updates, use cases, and events. 

Whaꦯtever you sell♛, keep the relationship going after the sale. 

Keep in mind, this should not be a major focus. The sales team’s efforts should still be aimed at new deals, but creating some automated email sequences to keep your customers haﷺppy will serve as marketing for the future, whether that’s in the form of repeat business or word-of-mouth refe🧔rrals. 

Think like a customer

Car salespeople have long known that if you get your customer in for🔯 a test drive, they’re more likely to buy the car. Other industries have been doing similar things for years. Furniture giant to let customers see that new sofa in their actual living room. 

Benjamin Moore lets customers upload a photo of a room and . Once customers can truly imagine ho🗹w that new furniture or new color will look, it starts to feel like theirs, which brings them closer to a purchase.

And as AI brings new t🧔✃ools to market, the possibilities are endless. 

But it doesn’t have to be about big budgets and high-tech. You really just need to think ♋like a customer. When you buy something, what’s the experience you prefer? 

At the end of the day, letting your c𒈔ustomer control theꦜ buying process requires your sales team to do these three things:

1. Be helpful, not pushy.
2. Provide the resources they need to make the right decision for them.
3. Keep your customer happy long after the purchase.

To do so, you don’t need much more than a good weꦬbsite and basic email software. You’ll need to:

• Focus on education, not aggressive sales.
• Create content that will educate your prospect, even if it makes them not choose your product.
• (Make sure this content is in the format your customers want. If they want e-books, give them e-books. If they want TikToks, give them TikToks.) 
• Give website visitors self-service options so they can have their questions answered even faster.
• Reach out to past customers to keep them engaged. 

When you do these things, you’re giving🦩 the customer what they want: a buying process🔯 that’s tailored to their needs.