Page 64 - Lighting Magazine February 2020

on the Mark
professional salesperson, or your showroom, do not measure door traffic with a defined process, a key metric is missing.
A fAilure to CommuniCAte
Using digital communication properly by a sales team demands that they interact with a more sig- nificant potential client base before they have a product need. In other words, you’re speaking to the lurkers on social platforms, too.
A digital interaction can begin by providing an- swers to questions most asked by customers. Those questions are usually relative to a problem or situa- tion they are facing.
The supporting evidence – which comes from Google – is that as many as 87 percent of consum- ers begin their research with a generic search term, and those queries typically fall into one or more of five specific topics no matter if the market you’re after is B2B or B2C.
These five points are the hot buttons across all client personas and should be a part of every digital marketing strategy and professional sales conversa- tion. In order of client query, the topics most asked about are:
1. Pricing
2. Product
3. Showroom Reviews
4. Client problems they want to have solved
5. This vs. that product or vendor comparisons and details on the best product in the class
Having an astute sales team that can socially engage on these topics and point to the digital sup- port documents in the form of your internal blogs goes a long way to motivating the digital browser to turn into a showroom visitor.
ConneCtinG With A DiGitAl ProSPeCt
Since we know almost everyone is researching online before they make a purchase, especially a luxury purchase like lighting or plumbing, the ques- tion becomes: How does a salesperson locate potential clients and then build a relationship? Clients want the convenience of digital and the benefits of human interaction. I look at some of the lessons learned from old school prospecting. As they say, what was old is new again, but with a twist. Sadly, many sales teams within an organization have either forgotten what prospecting is or have never
THE THREE STAGES OF
THE BUYING PROCESS ARE:
1AWARENESS. This stage demands proactive sharing of vital information to establish that you and your showroom are the experts who the clients want to work with.
2CONSIDERATION. You reach this point if you have provided suitable infor- mation and the prospect has interacted with you either on a social platform or by requesting information. At this stage, do not put up a gate in front of the prospect that gets their contact information; people will quickly abandon you for another search query since you have not earned that request yet. Instead, have a request form for more information as part of the blog page they are reading.
3DECISION. The prospect can turn into a buyer at any time when the information is processed. The sales team must learn to ask for a commit- ment online to buy or visit the showroom.
62 enLIGHTenment Magazine | February 2020
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