The marketplace has shifted and so has the way prospects do business. If your people want to close more, they’ll need to accept — and adapt to — these four truths:

1. Most new purchases need to be justified and/or approved: Unless you’re selling direct to CEOs, chances are your prospects will have to get the green light before any sales can be finalized. What may be helpful is to ask prospects early on who else is involved in the decision-making process, then work to gain as many internal champions as possible. Consider how each sale will impact the others involved in the buying process, so everyone — not just prospects — think your products/services are beneficial.
2. It’s a buyer’s market: Prospects have more access to competitive pricing and discount offers than ever before. So what does that mean for salespeople? Conducting more pre-call research and perhaps even offering their own competitive analysis may be required to seal more deals. Taking proactive steps like this helps salespeople anticipate any possible objections, while maintaining control of the process. Finally, providing your own competitive analysis allows you to highlight all the areas where you offer superior value and ROI.
3. Everyone is doing more with less: Companies are leaner, and most prospects are being asked to take on additional responsibilities. That means they don’t have nearly as much time to spend listening to a lengthy pitch. Salespeople may be able to use that to their advantage, by focusing on solutions that can help prospects eliminate costs or save time.
4. Loyalty is at an all-time low: The average company now loses 10%-30% of its customers every year and 50% of its buyers every five years, according to Carlson Marketing research. That’s a direct result of all the other offers buyers are bombarded with today. But salespeople can boost customer loyalty by focusing on building strong relationships. With the growing popularity of social networking outlets like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, salespeople have even more ways to maintain a dialogue with buyers, solicit ongoing feedback, monitor what’s changing about customers’ businesses, etc.

Adapted from “Sales Lessons Learned From Selling in a Recession,” by Kelley Robertson

Tags: Carlson Marketing, closing, economy, Facebook, LinkedIn, prospects, Recession, Twitter, Value