The Art and Science of Selling to Business Consumers Podcast

The Art and Science of Selling to Business Consumers with Mario Martinez Jr., #192

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I’m doing things a little differently with this episode of The Modern Selling Podcast. Because instead of me interviewing a guest, I want to share a podcast where I was interviewed by Ethan Beute and Steven Pacinelli of BombBomb as part of their The Customer Experience Podcast.

We had a great in-depth discussion on customer success, prospecting, and how to master the art (and science) of modern sales. Plus, I shared more insights from the book I co-authored with this dynamic duo called Human-Centered Communication: A Business Case Against Digital Pollution.

Be sure to listen in to the full conversation to hear some actionable strategies that work to elevate your customer experience and even some tips on how to find results-driven salespeople. 

Selling is a science and an art, but many #salesleaders struggle to navigate how to enhance the #customerexperience the right way to make selling easier. 😲 Find out how w. guests @ethanbeute @stevepacinelli on @GoModernSelling Click To Tweet

Why is the customer experience so important?

Here at Vengreso, we go above and beyond to make sure our customers are taken care of. For one simple reason: sales isn’t just about closing a deal. The art of modern selling is about understanding the feelings, the experiences, and the perceptions that your customers have about your brand.

And, customer experience doesn’t start when they reach out to ask a question. Every touchpoint you have with your customer and every opportunity you have to engage with them is a chance to build a relationship.

I always say that customer experience is the sum of all interactions that a customer has, with an organization and its people over the life of that relationship – starting from the first time they visit your website, all the way through to becoming an actual customer. 

But, it gets even deeper than that. 

In this episode, I explain one commonly overlooked component of the customer experience and why it’s so critical not to ignore it, if you want to have customers come back again and again.

Download this episode and listen until the end so you don’t miss a single important insight.

Where is customer experience headed in the future?

Ethan and Steven asked me to share my thoughts on the future of customer service, what it is now, and what it will likely evolve into over the next decade.

Here at Vengreso we recently hired a new Chief Customer Officer who oversees the entire customer journey and looks for ways to enhance every single touchpoint we have with our customers.

When I break down the structure of most sales organizations, the sales teams focus on finding prospects, while the customer service teams often are tasked to oversee all of the post-sales activities and onboarding. In most structures, the customer service department is not required to sell but rather just nurture and maintain the customer relationship.

I see this changing where the Chief Customer Officer will be involved in account management and to be successful they’ll need to know how to sell to either get customers to renew or upgrade.

Check out the conversation, particularly around 21:30 to hear a rather unique perspective I share on the difference between the art and the science of selling. Plus, I walk through an example to illustrate why customer service will need to become a hybrid support and selling position.

Listen to this great in-depth discussion on customer #success, #prospecting, and how to master the art and science of #modernsales. On this 🎙️ @GoModernSelling w. @M_3Jr and guests @ethanbeute and @stevepacinelli of @BombBomb Click To Tweet

What is a prosumer?

If you haven’t heard this term before, then welcome to the new age of the prosumer. A prosumer is a professional consumer. 

That means they will do their due diligence, read reviews, ask for personal recommendations, scour through your website – all before they ever reach out for a sales call. In essence, the prosumer has already carefully vetted and narrowed down their options, so they know who can help them and exactly what they’re looking for.

The prosumer has quickly become the new norm. Information sharing and fact-checking is how people shop now and it won’t change anytime in the near future. But, it’s also how sales teams and sales organizations will need to adapt. We’re living in a world that’s heavily driven by data, so we know when people click, where they click – now we just need to perfect our understanding of how to pitch them based on what they may already know about us.

The key here will always be in bringing value to the sales conversation, especially with prosumers. If they’ve reached out then you’ve likely made their shortlist. Now, it’s the salesperson’s chance to wow them with personalization and follow up.

About halfway through this episode, I share a key strategy I have my sales reps do right before they get on a call to talk with an inbound lead that makes sure they position the conversation to close the deal.

How do you identify good sales reps in the hiring process? What should sales managers be looking for?

These are probably THE most important questions a sales leader can ask, especially now as you consider expanding your sales teams.

When we hire a new salesperson, we take them through a detailed group panel style interview that I like to refer to as “reverse selling”. This is a critical part of our recruiting process that allows us to determine if, in fact, the sales candidate has the sales skills, the acumen, and the proactive attitude we need on our team.

Here’s how it works…

Before the group interview, we send the candidate a detailed 4-5 paragraph write up of what to expect and what they will be required to do. Essentially, we aren’t asking them questions, they have to present themselves to us answering the single most important question: “Why should we hire you?”

We often pull between 10-20 people from our companies, across all departments, to have them sit in and rate the candidate because they have a vested interest in who we hire as well.

It’s always fascinating to me how poorly people perform in this step of the interviewing process. Especially because there’s a clear way to ‘hack’ our panel interview and know exactly what criteria or parts of their presentation to hit to do well. 

I won’t share the details here, but you can find how a candidate could (and should) follow the digital bread crumbs we put out to beat us at our own reverse selling game. You can find that cool tip right around the 27-minute mark. 

But, don’t skip any of the conversation because Ethan, Steven, and I go deep into this much-needed discussion so you can have what you need to enhance your customers’ experience.

Listen to this @GoModernSelling for the full conversation to learn some #strategies that work to elevate your #customerexperience and even some tips on how to find results-driven #salespeople. w. @ethanbeute and @stevepacinelli 🎙️ Click To Tweet

This episode of The Modern Selling Podcast was brought to you by OrgChartHub. The B2B purchasing process can be quite complex. OrgChartHub seamlessly integrates into your existing HubSpot account, giving your sales team the ability to immediately map out the key decision makers, so you can get to a “Yes!” – even faster. It takes just two clicks to get set up – try out OrgChartHub today!

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