Every sales professional is aware of the fact that prospecting is one of the most crucial stages in the sales cycle and is an ongoing activity.
Benefits Of Mapping Multiple Touchpoints While Prospecting
Generally, most B2B sellers indulge with only 1 or 2 stakeholders in an account while prospecting and by doing so they may miss out on the benefits such as :
- As per CSO insights on average there are > 6 buyers who exist in an opportunity.
- Normal sales reps tend to drop the account when there is no favorable response and in doing so they lose out on a potential account.
- Mapping multiple touchpoints increases the probability of moving faster in the sales cycle.
- Helps sales rep build credibility and visibility in the entire account.
- Eventually helps in the understanding buying process from the client’s perspective.
Even though a seller is selling the same product/solution, for different stakeholders it solves altogether a different problem and offers distinct benefits as well. In such scenarios, it is advisable to target multiple stakeholders with a personalized message that the buyer can correlate to and realize how it navigates their day-to-day hassle.
Example of Multiple Touchpoints Outreach :
Let’s assume you are selling “Sales CRM” to XYZ company where the potential stakeholders could be Head of Sales, Sales Operation, IT, Finance, Procurement, etc. Below is an example of a personalized approach to communicating what actually the buyer wants to listen to rather than what the seller wants to tell.
1. Head of Sales (Users)
Since he/she is an ultimate beneficiary, the sales pitch should ideally be focused on prioritizing important opportunities/accounts, improving forecasting, and the intelligence it can offer to the sales team.
The key outcome they look for: Prioritizing opportunities/accounts, forecasting, time consumption, Insights/intelligence.
2. Sales Operation
Eventually, the Sales Op’s team is the one that manages the day-to-day monitoring of the CRM hence the pitch must emphasize ideally monitoring, generating reports, forecasting, and overall ease of use.
The key outcome they look for: Prioritizing opportunities/accounts, forecasting, time consumption, Insights/Intelligence
3. IT
As the team is responsible for the overall integration, data security, data transfer with the existing IT setup the primary sales pitch must ideally be focused on how easy it is and less time-consuming it is for them.
The key outcome they look for: Integration, data transfer, data security.
4. Finance
Mostly the budget approval comes from CFO, hence the primary focus should be on the ROI and how structurally the forecasting can be monitored.
The key outcome they look for: ROI, Forecast accuracy
5. Procurement
The pitch should ideally be focused on efficient cost, payment terms, and other financial agreements.
The key outcome they look for: Lowest quote, Flexible payment terms, contract terms & conditions, etc.
This personalized approach helps the sellers to go deep into the account, tap different stakeholders, increase the penetration rate, and eventually mitigate the last-minute surprises.
Average hard-working sales professional remains focused only on 1-2 touchpoints, but smart customer-focused Sales Reps know there are multiple touchpoints that influence the opportunity behind the curtains. They know what different customer touchpoints are thinking/expecting and sellers customize their sales pitch depending on the customer contact he/she is speaking to.
