3 MIN. READ
After all the challenges 2022 posed to industrial sales and marketing, you may be eagerly wishing for a stronger year ahead. So let's look at what sales trends 2023 will bring and see what you can do to make that wish a reality.
In 2018, the EU marked a growing movement toward consumer privacy by implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Increasingly, U.S. customers and prospects may also regard your marketing data collection as an intrusion of their privacy, particularly if you involve sources outside your company.
Browsers such as Chrome are setting deadlines to eliminate any cross-app tracking your company may count on for leads. To address privacy concerns, you can employ zero-party and first-party information-gathering methods and data providers.
Your company gathers first-party data itself. You can use surveys, tracking social media, or direct conversations with customers and prospects.
Zero-party data is similar but involves customers willingly sharing information with a company or brand they trust. This type of data may include the following:
● Customer-initiated feedback on product performance
● Suggestions for product upgrades
● Requests for future products
Your opportunities to track down prospects at shows, conferences, and other in-person events are back. You can use these personal interactions to convert online leads into prospects and cement your relationships with existing customers.
Making your customers' experience world-class
You don't just want a one-time customer — you want a purchaser who will come back for more.
Keeping your buyers in the fold means delivering top-drawer customer service and a seamless buying experience. Whether adapting an installation or personalizing a training course, you can respond to a purchaser's unique needs.
While a seasoned rep may celebrate the opportunity to build relationships through direct contact, social selling offers an alternate path. You can reach out to prospects through postings on a business-oriented social platform such as LinkedIn.
You can use LinkedIn to organize in-person events. You can also post photos and videos that increase your customers' understanding of your products.
Joining industry-specific LinkedIn groups will garner more new contacts with less time and effort than you'd expend cold-calling or knocking on doors. You can also reinforce existing relationships via posts highlighting new information and opportunities.
You've lined up your customers. Now, what do you do to keep them? You need to excel in customer relations management (CRM).
One way you'll stand out from the B2B crowd is by employing CRM software solutions that leverage the most important trends:
● Accommodation of multiple systems or sources of information
● Ease of use
● Smooth integration with other software
● Affordable licenses and/or maintenance
● Promotion of superior organization
As more companies use CRM to automate business flows, you too should consider investing in technology that will spur future growth.
Software like IndustrySelect will enable you to locate and contact the prospects empowered to close deals. IndustrySelect can be seamlessly integrated into popular CRMs like Hubspot and SalesForce, creating a bulletproof solution to make more sales in 2023.
When you approach prospects, the question that's most likely at the front of their minds is "What's in it for me?" By using value-based selling, you respond to that query. The benefits of this approach speak for themselves. In fact, 87% of high-growth companies use it.
In every interaction you have with prospects, you stress the value they gain from doing business with you. Rather than you pressing them with a hard sell, they convince themselves that they need your product. All that's left for you to do is get a signature on the dotted line.
Aligning your company teams dealing with prospects and customers would seem like a no-brainer. However, many companies feel they could do better. That's why 19% of marketing executives say aligning sales is a top goal for 2023.
To integrate these forces, you must create a target prospect or profile everyone can agree on. This is your customer persona. Characteristics of this composite personality may include several features:
● educational level
● personal experience
● industry expertise
● specific pain points your product or service addresses
Once sales, marketing, and support agree on this persona, your company will be better equipped to formulate your approach from the first contact through a continuing relationship.
The critical step for riding these trends to sales is determining the right leads. IndustrySelect can help. It provides complete company profiles with executive names, titles, and emails for the decision-makers who can seal a deal. Try a free demo today, and make 2023 the year your sales surf a rising tide.