Selling to the enterprises is complex. The sales process itself is long and complex with multiple decision makers and as many decision influencers. Research can be an invaluable tool to help you achieve meaningful conversations. Here is how.
Getting to know your buyers is priority number one in enterprise sales and more importantly, understanding their needs is of paramount importance. Customised research is of high importance in enterprise sales for many reasons, one of them being the complex nature of enterprise demanding research and insight to fuel meaningful conversations.
There are 4 particular reasons why research is invaluable in enterprise sales:
People to People, i.e. people sell to people
Inherently speaking, research is invaluable as people sell to people and this means that conversations need to be personalized and meaningful in order to have any relevancy to the target account. Only a deeper research about the person or the people that you need to influence or sell will reveal what they are like as a person, do they play golf or prefer soccer? Are they futuristic and prefer innovation based conversation or are they number based people and are data driven decision makers? Research helps answer all these questions.
Balance between gaining trust and personal aspirations
Conversations between you and the C-level executive require the right balance between you gaining trust and your own personal aspirations. Research helps in balancing these two aspirations that all sales professionals have. This is done through fueling understanding of the companies you are selling to, which makes you understand what your target account care about and allows you to express concerns towards the same area.
The complex nature of enterprise sales demands research
The complex nature of enterprise sales demands all the relevant insight and research into the buyers who are actually buying the product and will use the product, the gatekeepers who control the flow of information and the decision makers who ultimately have formal authority for the purchase decision. Without research, salespeople are left only to guess what their buyers are interested in, and fall into a trap of not being able to establish a relationship.
Fueling the right content enabled by research
Research enables marketing teams to reach high levels of personalisation with their target accounts through their content marketing initiatives. An Account Insight enabled content marketing strategy would mean that content would be tailored to suit the needs and requirements of the target account. The right content fueled by research and one which is targeted at your ideal enterprise level accounts naturally leads to higher engagement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, research is invaluable in enterprise sales because ultimately people sell to people and this process demands research to fuel meaningful conversations and content. Secondly, research helps in finding the balance between gaining trust and personal aspirations, through allowing you to express concerns in order to gain trust. In addition, the complex nature of enterprise sales does demand research otherwise leaves salespeople to fall into a trap of not being able to establish a relationship. Finally, research enables marketing teams to reach high levels of personalisation with their target accounts through their content marketing initiatives.