I say it all the time, but it bears repeating: the way people buy is changing — and it's changing faster than most people realize.
Increasingly, this means that the way sales teams and salespeople operate has to change to cater to the way people want to buy today.
According to a recent study published in Forbes, 75% of B2B buyers would prefer an entirely seller-free buying experience. Now, that number might be high, but think about that for a second. As many as three quarters 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.
We’ve seen this play out for years in the retail space with cashierless checkout lines, and now touchless sales are becoming more and more popular in every industry. Today, people buy their mattress online. They buy their groceries online. They buy their TV online. Heck, you can even buy a car or a condo online.
Considering the state of sales today, the company that best serves its customers — and the way those customers want to buy — is the company that will win their business.
The companies that cling to the old way of doing things will get left behind by buyers who’ve changed, and who expect companies to change as well.
Why They Ask, You Answer serves the modern buyer
Today, before buyers make a purchase, they spend a great deal of time doing research. This could mean looking up reviews for a product, comparing two services side by side, or researching how to get the best price.
Or, it could be joining a social media group or chatting with Google Gemini about different options.
Then, when they’re ready, they reach out to a company. At this point, they’re much more educated than buyers in the past. In fact, much of what used to be part of the sale process is already complete at this point.
If a company can provide the educational resource that makes potential customers feel more comfortable as they’re approaching a purchase, that company will see two enormous advantages:
- First, those customers will trust you, provided they see you’ve been open and straightforward.
- Second, those customers will be more qualified for sales conversations, as they already know enough to make an informed decision.
They Ask, You Answer urges businesses to obsess over the questions their prospects have — and to answer them honestly on their website.
This way, customers can find the answers they need and build a trusting relationship with your brand.
And it's not just through organic search that these resources can help your business. Sales reps can send content to prospects during the sales process — a technique we call assignment selling.
These benefits of They Ask, You Answer (driving traffic, building trust, shortening the sales cycle) will allow your business to best serve today’s buyer.
However, it will only be a successful initiative if everyone at your company is bought in, including leadership, marketing, and... wait for it — sales.
They Ask You Answer needs sales team buy-in to be successful
I have taught over 300 on-site trainings with sales teams over the past 15 years. What I’ve seen is that the most successful content marketing initiatives are those from companies where the sales team is bought in. When content is seen as something that only belongs to marketing, it never gains traction and influences sales. Instead, this furthers the divide between the two teams.
If you want They Ask, You Answer to succeed at your company, you need your sales team to be on board — and in order for them to be on board, they need to see that it works.
Salespeople are often resistant to change. If they have a tried and true method, they’re unlikely to try something new that is more uncertain.
But even these salespeople are sure to recognize that buyers have changed. Today, buyers are more informed than ever before.
And, if you can acknowledge that your buyers are getting information from somewhere, you can easily see the advantage to having them get it from you.
Getting They Ask, You Answer buy in
The key to getting They Ask, You Answer buy in from your sales reps is to show them how the methodology will make their lives easier.
Like with most things, a top-down approach will only get you so far, and you'll get plenty of resistance and resentment along the way
It’s fine to eventually make They Ask, You Answer a requirement for all sales reps, but you should only do that once you’ve built a cohort that is bought in and will be able to help you spread the word.
Bringing They Ask, You Answer to your sales team in 5 steps
In order to get full adoption, start with a subset of your team — and build consensus from there. That early group will be crucial to full team buy in.
- Find your players. Pick a subset of your sales team (say, 25%), who are typically more open to new initiatives. Teach them They Ask, You Answer, preferably with a coach who can help with training.
- Choose your plays. Focus on small-scale adoption for quick wins: Sending 1:1 videos, sharing content during the sales process, and focusing on education instead of a sales pitch
- Get some reps. Let those sales reps practice They Ask, You Answer techniques with prospects. As they get the hang of it, have them share their successes with colleagues.
- Build momentum. As word of successful adoption spreads, prepare to offer They Ask, You Answer trainings to the whole team, using early adopters to help instruct and encourage.
- Change the culture. Make They Ask, You Answer required for all sales reps, with the clear indication that leadership will help support their adoption.
Once They Ask, You Answer is a requirement at your company, make sure to put the structure into place to allow for a successful full adoption. This means ongoing training and support, as well as the meeting time necessary to make sure sales and marketing are working together.
Putting They Ask, You Answer into practice
Although They Ask, You Answer is primarily a sales initiative, the bulk of the work falls to marketing. After all, they will be the ones writing and publishing the content. Because of this, getting sales to do their part is a relatively small ask.
Sharing questions with the marketing team
One aspect of this process is easy. Get your sales reps to share the questions they’re hearing from buyers with the marketing team.
A recurring content brainstorm meeting every two weeks or once a month will be sufficient for this. It’s a small time commitment, after all, and makes a big difference.
Assignment selling is harder, and requires training
However, to truly embrace They Ask, You Answer, your sales reps need to practice assignment selling. That is, they need to use the content in the sales process.
The marketers have produced the content that answers the customer questions. Now, it’s up to sales to use this content to better educate their buyers. This can be done proactively — they send a piece of content that answers an anticipated question — or reactively — sharing content after a call to fully satisfy a question that came up in a conversation.
In order to do this well, you’ll need some training. Sales leaders need to be ready to provide the necessary instruction and support.
To get you started, you can use the resource below, or talk to us about our coaching services.
🔎Related resources:
Adapt now... or become obsolete
In the last few years, I have seen hundreds of businesses embrace virtual selling (that is, selling over a Zoom or other video call), many of which, before the pandemic, had previously been very skeptical of such practices. Instead, they found that virtual selling could work for their industry.
With the buying process continually moving away from the traditional sales model, now is the time to implement a They Ask, You Answer initiative at your company.
It will allow you to best serve your modern buyers, and to build trust in the marketplace.
The time is ripe for change.
Author: msheridan@impactbnd.com (Marcus Sheridan)
* This article was originally published here
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