Sales teams play a crucial role in the success of any business. Their job is to identify and engage potential customers, build relationships, and ultimately close deals.
However, the process of closing a sale is not always easy, and sales teams often encounter a variety of challenges that can impede their progress. From budget constraints to lack of trust, misaligned needs to competing priorities, there are many factors that can make closing a sale difficult.
It's essential for sales teams to understand the common problems that they may face during the sales process and develop strategies to overcome them. By doing so, they can improve their chances of closing deals, build stronger customer relationships, and ultimately drive revenue growth for their business.
It's worth noting that the digital age has transformed the way that sales teams operate. Digital tools and technologies have revolutionized the way that businesses engage with customers, creating new opportunities and challenges. As such, sales teams must also adapt and evolve their strategies to effectively navigate the digital landscape.
Let's explore 5 common problems that sales teams face when closing a sale and provide insights into why these problems occur and offer practical solutions that sales teams can use to overcome them.
Whether you're a sales manager looking to improve your team's performance or a salesperson seeking to close more deals, this guide will offer valuable insights into the challenges of sales and how to overcome them in the digital age.
1. Lack of trust
Lack of trust is a common problem that sales teams face when closing a sale. Customers may be hesitant to engage with salespeople or purchase products because they lack confidence in the company's reputation or product quality. This is where digital marketing can play a critical role in building trust and credibility with potential customers.
Social proof refers to the psychological phenomenon where people are more likely to follow the actions of others when making decisions. Digital marketing strategies can leverage social proof by highlighting customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials on their website or social media platforms. By showcasing positive feedback from satisfied customers, potential customers are more likely to trust the brand and feel confident in making a purchase. Work with your partnership, product marketing, or CX teams to secure reviews from your paying customers. Although this tactic is used for ecommerce and restaurants, having those 5-star raving reviews can provide your SDR with a quick sale.
Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals who have a significant following on social media platforms to promote your brand or product. By collaborating with influencers who have a genuine interest in your product or service, you can tap into their trust and credibility with their audience. This can help increase brand awareness and build trust with potential customers who may be more likely to engage with a brand if they see that it's recommended by a trusted influencer. Leverage influencers' reach and expertise by providing them a product they can try and provide a mostly "honest" review. If anything, use an affiliate marketing program!
Build trust by providing valuable information and educational content to potential customers. By creating high-quality content that addresses the needs and pain points of potential customers, businesses can position themselves as trusted authorities in their industry. This can help build credibility and trust with potential customers who are looking for solutions to their problems. Record monthly virtual lunch & learns about how your product works or the process behind your design. The following day, leverage your YouTube channel and upload the recording there for future viewers. Sometimes, the person that will be working with your product just needs one specific thing solved and by knowing your product solves the problem, it can be an easy pitch to the decision maker.
2. Budget constraints
The customer may be interested, but they don't have the budget to make the purchase. When a potential customer expresses interest in a product or service but does not have the budget to make a purchase, it can be challenging for sales teams to close the deal. However, digital marketing can help overcome this challenge and increase the likelihood of closing the sale.
When a potential customer shows interest in a product or service but doesn't make a purchase due to budget constraints, retargeting and remarketing can be powerful tools to keep the product or service top of mind. By placing a tracking pixel on the website, digital marketers can create targeted ads that are shown to users who have previously visited the website but did not make a purchase and provide a gentle nudge to reconsider the purchase 3-6 months later. This can help increase the chances of the customer making the purchase when they have the budget to do so. Additionally, remarketing can be used to follow up with customers who have expressed interest in the product or service but did not make a purchase. By sending personalized emails or ads, sales teams can continue to build trust and rapport with the customer, making them more likely to purchase when they are ready.
Offer discounts or promotions in exchange for backlinks. Work with your VP of sales and see if a discount can be made if the customer can provide a stellar review, be a part of a few case studies, and write about your company a few times a month to gain rankings in Google's SERP's. If your brand manages to get on the first page of Google for a highly searched keyword that brings hundreds of new visitors a month, that $10,000 would have went to Google anyway to get the traffic. And that's if it's legit traffic!
3. Competing priorities
The customer may have other priorities or projects that take precedence over the purchase being proposed.
Digital marketing can help by creating personalized content that speaks directly to the customer's needs and pain points. By highlighting the value of the product or service in a way that resonates with the customer, sales teams can better demonstrate the importance of the purchase and make it a higher priority in the customer's mind.
Implement retargeting ads in both social, display, and email. In some cases, customers may have competing priorities that prevent them from moving forward with a purchase immediately. In these situations, it's essential to stay in touch and continue to build the relationship. Help by implementing personalized emails or social media outreach, that keep the product or service top of mind. By staying engaged with the customer and offering value even when a purchase isn't immediately possible, sales teams can maintain trust and rapport with the customer and increase the likelihood of a future sale.
4. Lack of decision-making power
The person the sales team is working with doesn't have the authority to make the purchase decision.
Identify and target decision-makers: With digital marketing, it's possible to identify and target decision-makers within a company. By using account-based marketing (ABM) strategies, sales teams can create personalized content and ads that speak directly to these decision-makers. This can help to build interest and excitement around the product or service and increase the likelihood that the decision-makers will advocate for the purchase.
Offer value-added content: Even if a potential customer isn't the decision-maker, providing them with value-added content can still be beneficial. By offering content that addresses their pain points and needs, sales teams can build trust and establish a relationship with the potential customer. This can help to create a positive impression of the company and increase the likelihood that the decision-maker will take their recommendation into account.
5. Long sales cycles
The sales process may be taking too long, causing the customer to lose interest or patience.
Instead of relying solely on sales pitches, create valuable and educational content that speaks to the pain points and challenges of your target audience. This can help establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, build trust with potential customers, and ultimately lead to faster sales.
Implement marketing automation by automating certain marketing tasks such as lead nurturing, follow-up emails, and social media outreach, sales teams can focus their time and efforts on more qualified leads who are more likely to make a purchase. This can help speed up the sales cycle and increase efficiency.
These challenges can be frustrating for sales teams, but understanding and addressing them can help improve sales outcomes and build stronger customer relationships. Digital marketing strategies may not be the team responsible for closing the sale but they are responsible for communicating the value and being top of mind so when the customer is ready to speak to your sales team, they are simply doing so for formalities.