While few businesses foresaw the paralysis the Covid-19 would deal us, many were quick to shift their approach to ensure business continuity.
Through web articles, emails, digital ads, and virtual presentations, businesses kept communication channels open, fostered connections, and delivered value.
If you’re still on the fence over digitizing your business, now is the time to do so. Because even though we’re shaking off the effects of Covid-19, these tactics have changed marketing as we knew it.
They will be among the digital strategies that take center stage going forward. Post pandemic, here are five strategies sales and marketing teams can adopt for greater success.
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1. Focus on Existing Customers
It was tough enough retaining customers and keeping revenue going before the pandemic so we can understand the daunting task marketers face today.
With shifting needs and lower budgets, many customers cut down spending or abandoned projects altogether.
Those who stayed with you, the pandemic notwithstanding deserve greater attention to ensure you’re meeting their needs as expected and cement their loyalty. Top tips to help you do so include:
- Creating worthwhile incentives. Surprise discounts and discounted upgrades help show your appreciation of their business. Packaging relevant and budget-friendly upsells and cross-sells can nudge them to spend more.
- You are building your relationship. Over 35 percent of shoppers will spend extra on products/services out of loyalty. Make consumer touchpoints and experiences exceptional to boost this loyalty. Please pick up the phone or drop them a line to know how they are doing.
- Being responsive. Respond to queries, reviews, and complaints quickly to keep things from spiraling downwards. Reducing complaints is crucial to customer retention and may help convert dissatisfied buyers to brand ambassadors.
2. Use an Account-Based Salesforce Approach
For many businesses, there’s an invisible but divisive line between sales and marketing that keeps them working cohesively.
Teams speak to different leads within a target company, which means information is varied and possibly inconsistent. Without a single point of contact, target accounts contend with fragmented experiences as departments cross each other where key decisions need to be made.
With an account-based salesforce approach accounts are segmented and allocated to individual team members.
The main advantage of this approach is that the rep now becomes the sole contact person, responsible for forging relationships with decision-makers in the target accounts. They oversee all communication, outreach, and progression along the sales funnel.
Each rep modifies information for their own accounts, enforcing accountability and minimizing situations where other reps tamper with a colleague’s account.
Not only does this ease weekly or monthly reporting, but sales managers can monitor target account metrics. And through it, effectively advise the rep on ways to motivate the prospect forward.
3. Cold Calling
Armed with a name, phone number, and some background information, you go on and “interrupt” a stranger’s day to sell them your solutions.
Cold calling is one of the toughest selling strategies there is. Yet it makes for human connections, allowing you to introduce and work up an interest in your solutions to companies that may need them.
Post covid, here are several skills that may come in handy as you contact potential customers:
- Persistence. You will encounter rude people, get hung up on, reach voicemail, and feel like smashing the phone against the wall. Frustration is real in this job but the joy, that comes with scoring a meeting or big win outdoes it. Give your 47th call the same zest you did, on your first call.
- Learn how to navigate gatekeepers. Part of a gatekeeper’s role is to filter calls, especially cold callers. Be respectful and kind, and let your voice exude both confidence and familiarity with the decision-maker.
4. Take an Omnichannel Approach
An omnichannel approach unifies the team around a defined methodology that provides well-coordinated and consistent consumer experiences across channels. From online experiences to messaging, and interactions, all consumer touchpoints are made cohesive.
This holistic approach allows buyers to switch platforms at any point in the sales cycle without having to re-engage. This eliminates the frustrating back and forth communication which often results in zero or poor progression.
When all your channels are interconnected and you have total visibility of the buyer’s actions, you can facilitate seamless transitions.
Best practices include:
- Identifying your top buyers. Start by identifying high-value clients and those you have great relationships with and determine their preferred mode of interaction. Segment these buyers to tailor user experiences based on their preferences. Use the engagement patterns you’ve uncovered to update your buyer personas. Introduce sales enablement tools that can grow your sales pipeline.
- Analyze consumer data. Analyze live chat and chatbot interactions, your website forms, social media interactions, and other communication formats to understand customer behavioral flow.
- Maintain consistency across channels. Facilitate experiences and messages that consistently resonate with audiences. The messages should also encourage progression with the purpose of achieving a conversion.
5. Organize Virtual Events
Through themed events, webinars, and virtual conferences marketers can educate audiences, nurture leads, pitch their offerings, forge relationships, and establish thought leadership.
Audiences can engage the host in real-time conversations and experience personalized interactions. The organizers enjoy wider reach scalability and the ability to track metrics to improve future events.
As you organize your virtual events, consider the following:
- Map your event around your target industry’s pain points. Think about your ideal audience and what interests them. Where are they located? What’s the best time to connect? What incentives can you offer to motivate them to action?
- Invite thought leadership speakers to your event. Besides roping in larger crowds, inviting industry experts helps develop your credibility and authority. Post-event, you can produce on-demand content to reach more audiences.
- Choose a virtual platform that meets your needs maximumly. Does it allow attendees to network and interact with the host? Is it simple enough for use? What content can it show? What insights and live event analytics does it offer? Are there extra features like live polls, gamification, or Q&As?