The past year has challenged and forced businesses, sales professionals and more to create a “new normal.” Even in this new reality, the core values of what it takes to be a successful sales consultant have not changed, they are simply updated to meet the transforming needs and goals of local businesses.

By leveraging online research and relevant industry pain points, the possibilities are endless when it comes to prospecting for and landing sales with businesses that need digital marketing more than ever.

If you are interested in how our consultants are responding to the rapid changes in digital marketing, then keep reading for more information!

Dive Into Research

No matter the season or circumstances, research is everything. But now, as businesses are looking to get back on their feet, their time is more valuable than ever.

Think about it; just like in school, coming into a test unprepared usually ends in an undesired outcome. The same goes for prospecting!

To have a successful prospecting conversation, you need to come prepared by planning out your day ahead of time. Have your research ready for demos or conversations. When you gather the information needed to know who your best point of contact is for a business, how their current online presence looks and more, you will be prepared for prospecting success.

Naturally, this preparation allows you to work smarter to land continued sales conversations and fulfill a potential client’s trust in your work ethic and time investment.

This step will help you create rapport and value to build a strong relationship. You work in sales, but getting an initial conversation is about landing a client’s valuable time, not immediately throwing a sales pitch in their face.

Potential clients want to know you are invested in and understand what goes into making their business succeed before they want to have a sales conversation and putting in the background research is your first step in getting there!

Address Relevant Needs

Every business has wants and needs. But in the face of a new normal, many local businesses are focused on specifically meeting their updated needs over wants, and that’s where you come in!

Now that most sales prospecting occurs remotely (via phone call or Zoom meetings), it is more crucial than ever to have a talk track in place. By having the research under your belt about a prospective client or business, you can then touch on the potential “pain points” that their business experiences, especially during these times, and how they apply to your expertise and services.

This prequalifies your appointment and gives you the tools you need to prepare for the next steps. Your appointments will stick better when you practice this prequalifying approach to address where a business’s current needs lie.

With little time to waste, it’s important that you can gain a prospect’s attention quickly by proving that you have done your due diligence to address their industry-specific challenges and needs.

And while having research under your belt and the ability to reassure a prospect about their pain points is essential, you should also be open to asking questions about their business.

This will uncover even more about what makes their business a staple for their local clients, the current challenges they need to overcome and how the services you have to offer can be necessary for their business!

On top of this, approach the conversation by assuming rather than pushing the sale. This way you can set the buying atmosphere immediately while remaining informative and relevant.

Final Thoughts

Business owners need support now more than ever. You must have research, business needs and relationship assurance established with a business before you ever get the sale. It’s all about finding problems and creating solutions.

If you are interested in the day-to-day experience of our sales consultants here at RevLocal, make sure to check out this blog for more insight!

Sales at RevLocal are all about supporting the local businesses that make our community unique and allow it to thrive. If joining a team with these perspectives and values sounds like the right career move for you, then visit our careers page to learn more and apply to an open position in your area.