Member Article

Peter Boolkah: How to create sales conversations that convert during a recession

It is important to understand that a recession is temporary. However, it will ultimately affect the way you sell. People’s buying habits and behaviours change in a recession and as entrepreneurs and business owners it is important we are aware of those changes and we work with those different behaviours. Ultimately we know selling is about solving problems. We find out what problem our potential buyer or client has and we work out how our product or our company can solve this problem.

To solve those problems we should be having conversations with our customers and clients. However, it is important to understand that selling is about having conversations not telling stories. It is a mistake to simply find out as much as you can about your customers and create a monologue of what you have to offer. Create a narrative that allows your customers the time and space to engage with your product or service and work out for themselves how you can solve their problem.

In a recession people often go for the cheapest option. Brands are starting to recognise that brand loyalty is down. As a sales person or business owner you need to work out how to foster better engagement with your customers or clients. Make sure you engage with your customers. Conversation marketing is a popular way to do this. It is a mistake to think that conversation marketing must be over the phone. The advent of online chat is a very useful tool in conversation marketing. If you are trying to multitask then online chat can be time saving and allow you to find the solution to your problem whilst still doing other tasks.

It is important that brands are clear what their brand messaging is. Consider what the customer first experiences when engaging with your company. Think about a simple approach. Layer three key components or types of statements that allow the buyer to find out more about your service offerings. Order of content and order of operation is critical when people first engage with your business. There are three things that people need to know before anything. What you do, how you can solve their problem, and how you are different from your competitors. That needs to be done clearly and concisely in around 15-20 seconds of viewing time.

Therefore the messaging around your brand - on your website and through your blogs must be clear. It must be as concise and tight as possible whilst still demonstrating your credibility and expertise, without throwing out all of the credible and important details of how much of an expert you are. Think about the importance of SEO (search engine optimisation) in your content. Your brand messaging is incredibly important in growing your audience and customer base. Ensure that it is a collaborative process. It is your brand and your business. My advice: find a partner who is a wordsmith or certainly hire one.

At any time but also importantly during a recession make sure you analyse your target audience regularly. Don’t make the mistake of marketing to everyone. Work out who your target audience is and get to know them. Over time you can expand, but at first concentrate on one or two groups. Work out who has the highest probability of purchasing from you, Who is the most fun to work with? Who sees the best value in what you’re delivering? Who’s the easiest revenue source? Who’s the fastest deal cycle? With these considerations a pattern will emerge and a clear target group will also become clear.

It is entirely possible to continue to sell and grow your business in a recession but you must be clever in your approach to selling. Winging it is not an option during financial instability.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucy Hood .