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Mother’s day is just right around the corner and we want to honor the women who have raised us, love us unconditionally, and always give us nothing less than the best.
Did you know that mothers have what they call a “Mother’s instinct”? This means, even without anyone telling them anything, they know what’s best for them, their children, and their family.
Today, let’s talk about this instinct because it also exists in the business world – more specifically in B2B sales. The little twist, however, is we are the children and our customers are the mothers.
Information Overload
It’s only natural for us to go overboard when we churn out information about our services and/or products to our customers. We want them to know every single little detail and educate them on how everything works. The motive in itself isn’t bad. In fact, it is our job to properly educate our customers. However, there is a difference between overfeeding your customers with information and educating them.
The thing is, before your customers even contact you, they’ve already done plenty of research about you and your products already. So, b repeating all the information they already know back to them is more of a waste of time on both parties as well as sounding like a broken record.
What you can do to save time and make your meeting more productive is to make sure that all the initial information they need to know about you and your product is all readily available and accessible on your website and social media platforms. So, when you finally set an appointment with them, ask them about their goals and challenges they may be facing so that you know exactly what information to share with them.
“Naggy Nancy”
What is the golden rule after acquiring a new lead is? Ding, ding ding! You guessed that right: Nurturing. This is the crucial stage in lead generation that should never be neglected in order for your leads not to grow cold. Your leads appreciate it when they feel cared for and see the efforts and lengths you’re going for them. But then again, there is a fine line where it can become excessive and annoying on your lead’s part.
The occasional follow-up call is fine, but once bombarded with it every day, and adding more than one “just checking” email to top it all off is stepping over the line.
Remember, only your customers know when they’re ready to buy. By constantly checking on (nagging) them, they’ll only feel more and more pressured and the worst-case scenario is, they’ll pull out completely which will leave them back at zero and without a lead.
Related: The 4 Main Lead Generation Goals: What Has Changed & How to Reach Them
The best thing you can do in this time of waiting and nurturing is to ask them about their priorities or what would happen if they didn’t act now. Asking them questions that will cause them to think and reevaluate is the better route to go here. This will also help you automate your follow-ups based on their answers and interactions.
“I Know What You Need”
We’re not mind-readers. We never know from the get-go what it is exactly that our customers need. But more often than not, we like to tell them and convince them that we know what they need. This is what will put them off instead of steering them towards your services/products.
The truth is, your customers either know exactly what they need, or they have a vague idea of what they need and just need guidance to be able to pinpoint it. This is where you come in. Instead of telling them that you know what they need, ask them questions such as what their pain points are, what the current state of their business is, what their expectations are, etc. Based on their answers, the picture comes better into view for both of you. From here on, you let them know that you have what they need instead.
Takeaway
Just like our moms know what’s best for us, so do our customers know what’s best for them, what they need, and what they want. The key is to understand our customers better and guide them instead of just pushing our own sales agenda.
We hope that this short list helped you in your future business endeavors with your customers.
Just remember: Mother (your customer) knows best!
