One thing all successful salespersons have in common is excellent communications skills. Yes. Persuading the right customers to buy products and services is no mean feat. You need to employ the right communication strategies at the right time. Personalization is arguably the most effective strategy to use in every sales pitch.
Current statistics show that 95% of companies experienced increased profitability in the year following their personalization efforts.
Unfortunately, many salespeople lack the vital communication skills required to reap the maximum benefits from personalized messages.
Personalized Messages
Personalized messages do not start and end by using the name of a prospect or customer in an email, video, or other types of content. The primary purpose of personalization in sales is to deliver a pleasant user experience to customers.
To get the best result from personalized messages, you must learn how to develop your sales communication skills.
Below are some ways to build your sales communication skills.
Data Gathering Skills
Without data and other vital information about your customers, it is impossible to personalize your communication with them.
A recent online survey revealed that data gathering is becoming difficult as people are becoming less willing to share sensitive information. According to the survey, about 86% of the respondents expressed concern over data privacy.
Because of the value of customer data, many companies are looking for sales professionals with the skills to elicit vital information about their customers.
There are four types of data you can generate from your customers.
- Personal or Identity Data — Personal or identity data is information that belongs to an identified or identifiable person. Personal data includes information like name, age, gender, address, and phone number.
- Engagement Data — Engagement data is information relating to the interaction between a person and your business. Engagement data can help brands know how valuable their products and services are to their customers. You can discover customer engagement through views, clicks, downloads, and other direct contacts with your brand.
- Behavioral Data — Behavioral data shows how your prospects and customers behave when interacting with your brand. Brands use behavioral data to predict their prospects and customers’ behavior to increase sales.
- Attitudinal Data — You get attitudinal data from the feedback, reviews, complaints, opinions of customers about your brand. Businesses get valuable insights from attitudinal data that reveal why customers behave the way they do. Understanding what your customers think about your brand can help you offer a better user experience.
Gathering quality data can help you better engage their customers through effective personalized messages. Speaking the language of your customers increases your chances of closing a sale.
Data Analytics Skills
While gathering customer data is good, the skills required to analyze data are more vital. Many experts have rightly noted that data is useless without the skills to analyze it.
The customer analytics market has grown astronomically and is currently valued at $5.24 billion. Experts project that customer analytics will continue to grow as more businesses leverage it to personalize communication and enhance user experience.
One of the many benefits of customer data analytics is that it helps you personalize communication with your clients and prospects.
The skill to make sense of generated data is invaluable in every organization. Many business owners are searching for sales professionals who can interpret data and help them provide quality services to customers.
As an essential but often underestimated KPI, average handle time (AHT) can tell you how well your call center meets expectations in terms of providing fast solutions and quality assistance to your callers. It is a reliable indicator of the quality of your service.
It is insights from data analysis that help businesses create customer personas and boost sales. A sales professional can determine the best communication strategy for an individual or audience through a customer persona.
Social Media Personalization Skills
With half of the world’s population active on social media, knowing how to connect with people on various social media platforms is an invaluable skill.
Many sales teams have discovered that personalizing interactions with their customers on social media is a simple way to boost sales.
There are many ways to improve communication and create a personalized social media experience for your customers.
- Ask questions – A great way to personalize social media conversation with your customers is to ask questions to elicit vital information about each person. The information generated will be used in subsequent interactions with customers instead of treating them like new customers.
- Practice active listening – Some sales teams have mastered the art of listening to the social media conversations of their customers to discover what appeals to them.
- Use User-generated content – Another way to enhance social media communication is to use user-generated content to personalize your customers’ experience. User-generated content improves conversion by allowing customers to make an input to their shopping experience.
- Do not neglect customer feedback – Listening to and implementing customer feedback can also help you personalize communication with your customers. Through feedback, you can have a glimpse into the minds of your customers and respond appropriately with the right messages.
- Reach your audience at the time – Post your content on your social media when your targeted audience is most likely to be active. In this way, you can personalize the experience. You can use social media analytics tools to know the best time when your audience is active so that you can take your next actions accordingly.
Brands can satisfy their customers by improving the user experience. Studies show that satisfied customers are more likely to continue patronizing a particular business.
Email Sales Skills
The email has remained the number one strategy used by marketers to increase engagement rates. Like marketing teams, sales teams can also leverage the power of emails to send personalized messages to customers.
Many businesses globally have testified to the success of email as a sales strategy. You can further enhance the success of your email strategy through personalized content.
There are many free email marketing software businesses can use to send personalized messages to customers. Other effective email communication strategies include:
- Use automation tools
- Create an email list
- Personalize the subject line
- Include an interactive email signature
- Recommend products and services based on interests
- Send time-sensitive emails
- Celebrate customers’ milestones
- Engaging sales email templates
Relationship-Building Skills
You can achieve more by connecting and developing stronger relationships with your customers as a sales professional.
Building stronger relationships means committing to understanding your customers and providing solutions to their problems. One way to build a strong relationship with your customers is to establish a communication platform for easy interaction.
A close relationship with your customers increases trust, which is essential in sales. Customers are more likely to patronize brands they trust.
Another benefit of building a close relationship with your customers is knowing how to be empathetic towards them. Empathy is all about putting yourself in people’s shoes to understand their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs.
Technological Skills
Thanks to technological tools, many companies can create more personalized experiences for their customers.
Sadly, many sales professionals still struggle to deliver an excellent personalized experience to their customers because of their inability to take advantage of technological tools.
A personalization tool, for example, can analyze your prospects’ messages and let you know those that are ready for a sales pitch.
Technological skills can help you deliver a personalized customer experience by improving communication during the purchasing stage.
Another great advantage of tech tools is the ability to personalize user experience in real-time by leveraging the information provided by the customer.
Apart from identifying each customer by name, tech tools can help sales professionals keep records of past products and services.
Final Words
All sales professionals must constantly improve their communication skills to persuade their prospects. Personalized messages have revolutionized communication between brands and their audience. While many salespeople have mastered the art of personalized communication, others are yet to make an impact with it.
The tips considered in this article are simple ways that brands can improve their communication skills and get the most out of personalized messages.
About the Author!
Radina Skorcheva is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Inbound Blogging, specializing in Content marketing and SEO. Besides her passion for digital marketing, she likes traveling and spending time with her family. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.