The Secret to Connecting with Information-Empowered Buyers
Today’s B2B and B2C buyers are invisible until they’re ready to purchase. With access to information on every topic imaginable in the palm of their hands (or behind the click of a mouse), they don’t call up a company and ask for a brochure or wait for a salesperson to come calling.
These savvy buyers do their own homework online, ask their own network for suggestions and essentially create their own brochure without ever revealing their interest and intent to sales and marketing teams.
This has become such a widespread challenge, that it has created an entirely new dynamic in which companies must “prove their value or make a business case” — not deliver a hard-sell — in order to engage with in-market consumers.
Below I share the secret to connecting with information-empowered buyers. In my opinion these have become the foundational sales and marketing tactics that will carry a company’s marketing efforts into the next decade:
Teach Over Hard Selling
You need to tell stories, share examples of other people’s success and start to paint a picture of how you can solve the customer’s problem. I feel with this approach, the trust barrier is removed. It’s a great way for information-empowered buyers to relate to you as someone who delivers value, without the exchange of money.
Some of the best ways to attract information-empowered buyers to you is to teach through workshops, seminars or articles.When you develop a reputation for being someone who can teach people, then you get invited to places where you have the opportunity to sell.
Offer Insight Over Information
You have read 300 times by now how important content marketing is. But with all the hype and hoopla about content marketing, unfortunately it’s being interpreted as “create more content.” The information-empowered buyer doesn’t need more content, in fact they may be drowning in it. Add value by making sense of it.
Insight is more important than information. In fact, “If you have foresight, you’re blessed. If you have insight you’re blessed twice.” Tell the information-empowered buyer WHY all this information matters and WHAT information is the correct information. Add value, create clarity and the information-empowered buyer will perk up an ear.
Intense Focus Over Wandering Generality
Sales and Marketing 101 says that you focus on the problems and desires of your buyers and match those up with your content, product and service.
Simply said!!!
Takeaway
The BIG takeaway is that organizations must change the way they think and approach today’s information-empowered buyers – they must think more in terms of educating and less in terms of selling. B2B and B2C buyers are still looking for solutions, trying out new products and services, they’ve just changed how they go about doing it.
