Enabling the New Buyer/Seller Relationship
The past 15 years have seen dramatic changes in the buyer/seller relationship. These have been brought about by the cumulative effect of a number of changes, starting with the widespread use of "e-retailing" on the Web and continuing through the advent of Web 2.0, social media and widespread broadband mobile connectivity.
As recently as 10 years ago, the seller held all of the advantages in the typical buyer/seller relationship, having full knowledge of what options existed in the marketplace, whether products performed as advertised and what prices competitors were offering for similar products. In that earlier time, assembling information prior to making a purchase was a slow and painstaking process, whether the consumer was purchasing a house, a car, furniture, insurance or other commodity. Even in the business-to-business realm, sellers held most of the cards, with the exception of the final choice.
Today customers have the ability to locate all possible sources for a product or service, and receive instant access to product information, independent evaluations, advice and pricing options from multiple vendors. The advent of this hyper-connected, hyper-informed buyer has changed the relationship.
Meanwhile many post-sale elements of the buyer/seller relationship have changed as well. Rather than relying on direct assistance from company representatives, many consumers use automated troubleshooting systems or join online forums and communities where they share expertise and frank viewpoints about each company's products and services.
The New Role of Personalized Care
Does all this mean that the value of personalized sales and customer care has been diminished? Certainly not. In fact, the stakes have been raised even higher to differentiate from competitors when in direct contact with customers, and to use those opportunities to build deeper long-term (and profitable) relationships.
The same forces that have changed the overall buyer/seller relationship and driven disintermediation have actually raised the expectations that customers have when they are dealing directly with company representatives. When customers themselves are able to access so much information about sellers and their products, and are able to know when goods are shipped, track their shipments online and receive real-time updates on delivery, their expectations of the customer-facing professionals who sell and support your company's products also go up.
What buyers today are looking for in their direct interactions with sellers is a highly informed, highly engaged agent capable of picking up where the Web experience left off and adding value. The new way of interacting with customers can be described as changing the focus of conversations from product-based to needs-based, and from sales-driven to advice-driven.
From product-based to needs-based. Because customers today can learn nearly everything about a product or service on their own, what they look for most from a salesperson is someone who listens to and understands their needs. Rather than working from a standard litany of product features and benefits, the engaged salesperson learns to listen to needs and to adapt their offerings and approach to the customer's perspective. This requires more than simply following a script or playbook.
From sales-driven to advice-driven. While most vendors pay lip service to building customer relationships, the traditional approach to selling emphasizes transactions or "closing business." Transactions are easy to measure, and often serve as the basis for sales compensation. However a customer who has the ability to learn about a product on the Web, order it and track its assembly and delivery through every stage, doesn't need help with a transaction. They may, however, need help navigating choices, reassurance that a choice made through online research is the correct one or guidance in assembling a total solution. By focusing on customer needs and guiding them to the right choices, sales people can create relationships and become trusted advisors.
Leveraging the New Dynamics
The new dynamics of customer interaction place a great deal of pressure on customer-facing professionals to have ready-access to information. Customers expect that the salesperson they are speaking with has expertise and knowledge to share. Moreover, if the customer has done business with the vendor in the past, they expect the salesperson to be aware of what they have already purchased, options selected, what problems may have been reported in the past and other details.
In short, dealing with a hyper-connected, highly informed customer requires sales and service agents who are at the top of their game and motivated to assist customers as trusted advisors rather than simply selling and servicing products.
Companies must enable their salespeople and other customer-facing professionals to engage customers in this new way by providing a more agile and complete information environment. Rather than forcing salespeople to search in multiple different locations for the information they need, companies must provide an environment that delivers contextually relevant information from multiple sources in a single view to ensure that company representatives aren't "blind-sided" by a customer situation or information they were not aware of. This will allow them to focus on listening to and assisting customers rather than looking for information, and will help your sales and service representatives become the trusted advisors that will build customer loyalty and repeat business.
Vivisimo's Customer Experience Optimization solution connects customer-facing professionals with all of the information they need to deliver an outstandingcustomer experience. Visit www.vivisimo.com
Vivisimo, Inc.
1710 Murray Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
PH: 866.296.8484 or 412.422.2499
Contact: vivisimo.com/about/contact-vivisimo
www.vivisimo.com