We all sell shoes — just not like we used to
Did you ever watch “Married with Children?” Al Bundy and family?
Did he hate his job (and a lot of other things too)!
He wouldn’t have a job today.
You see, years ago (okay, I’m going to age myself now), before the Millennials were all born, there was a breed called a “shoe salesman”. There still around today, but, not like they were back in the “good ol’ days”. These sales man would actually measure your foot, then remove your shoe (for you), and put on your feet your new shoes. They would watch how you walk, they would ask you some questions about comfort, and then, if things weren’t “perfect”, they would start all over again. Over and over again until they found the right shoe and made the sell.
Today, disregarding those few shops that still do this, it comes down to this:
- You do research on the shoe you want (your friend says something great about them, an advertisement says these are the best, or you start on the internet)
- You search on the internet where a store is where you can purchase said shoe
- You go to the store, pull the shoe off the shelf, and try them on
- You then walk to the front of the store with your shoes in a box and purchase them (all the while hoping that they will “work out” when you actually wear them for a day and you won’t be in too much pain)
What’s interesting is that most of these steps are how software, from an app to an enterprise solution, is sold today. Your prospect does the research and then goes to the store (if it’s something that can be downloaded and installed) OR they fill out the “contact us” field on a website or pick up the phone.
Two things are exactly the same in both of these scenarios:
- The personal touch is no longer around
- The prospect does the research on their own
Unfortunately, many sales today go this way. Yes, we do our prospecting by spamming thousands of people every day; if we get a lead, we follow-up with them; and so on and so on.
Some sales professionals realize that #1 and #2 can be taken out of the equation, if they supply the research before the prospect ever reaches out.
How can this be? How is this done? You are saying to yourself, “I send out 500 emails a day with my product brochure attached. I write a nice letter saying that we can solve all their problems. And as a result, I’m happy if I get one lead out it.”
Yeah, .002% return. Not something to be tooooo excited about, but, we get it. If the lead turns into a multi-million dollar deal, woot woot! But, how many do? It really is a grind.
Here at Illumineto, we are starting to see that number go up. And up. And up.
Our users are using our Illumineto Spark tool — which addresses #1 and #2 (kinda).
First, our tool brings back the personal touch in selling. Addressing the needs of the prospect in a unique engaging manner, Spark let’s sales reps present the data in an engaging manner — causing the prospect not only to open the email, but it causes the prospect to want to reach out and ask for more information.
Second, the tool finds the best information for the prospect. I did say “kinda”, remember? Well, let’s say that a lead does come in — our tool provides the sales rep to not only present the information in an engaging manner, but, it also helps the sales professional find the best content for that prospect. This means that the rep has eliminated all the research time that the prospect would do — i.e. it not only saves time for the sales professional, it saves a tremendous amount of time for the prospect. Imagine cutting the time down to closing a deal by 50% (or more)!
Prospects today are still going to go and buy the shoes that they want, but, using Illumineto will bring back the personal touch as well as eliminate further research that most prospects do.
Good luck selling!
Pro Tip: Think outside the box. Integrate sources from analyst firms, from media sources, even from your competition. Use the assets that Illumineto returns to help you with your sales pitch. It doesn’t always have to be just about you!
