Remington BeggIncorporating your Sales and Marketing Team into one Smarketing Team is one of the best ways to form a cohesive effort to improve overall profits around your company. But what’s next? You can’t just join the two teams and go back t
o the same old habits. In an attempt to take your Smarketing Team to the next level and reach your sales goal for 2016, it’s time to remove some off-putting cliches from their vocabulary:
“Thank You For Your Time”
While you may be saying it to be polite, this phrase implies that they’re doing you a favor by listening to what you have to say about your company. They should give you their time because you were helpful and informative, and they'll continue doing so if you continue to be valuable to them. Not to mention that if the prospect does ultimately convert to being a customer, they should benefit more from the interaction than you or your company. At the end of their buyer’s journey, they should be thanking you for your time and expertise.
“Just Touching Base”
Usually when a member of the Smarketing Team is checking in on someone with this phrase, it's because the Lead didn't show up for their last appointment, or didn't respond to the last email or voicemail. This phrase comes from a place of desperation. Instead of reaching out just to say you haven’t heard from them, reach out when you have something of value for them. This will make you recontacting them beneficial for them, and not annoying.
“Do You Have the Budget for This?”
Today’s buyers are much more empowered than years ago. Long gone are the days when you could call a person you knew nothing about, find out they have a problem they need fixing, introduce your company’s product and ask whether they have a budget for it. Modern consumers, especially Millennials, diagnose their own challenges and find their own solutions. trying to discuss pricing too early in their process will come off as rude and pushy.
“I Want to…”
This phrase has no place in any of your conversations with potential customers because your process is not about what you want, it’s about what they want and how you can provide it for them. This one is actually easy to replace, once you get into the habit of it. Instead of “I want to talk about your website” say “ Would you like to talk about your plans for a website redesign?”
“Are You the Decision Maker?”
From a sales perspective it's very important to make sure they have the "authority" to make the decision, but your success will all depend on how this question is phrased. Consider a more roundabout way of speaking like “Who's a part of the team that is going to help us implement this strategy?”
There’s many more words and phrases that should be avoided. Do you have any that you’ve already removed for your Team’s conversations with Leads? Tell me in the comment section below or tweet me with any of your favorites!
Of course, all of this advice relies on you already having incorporated a Smarketing Team. If you haven’t made that move in your company, we can help you get it started. Download our free eBook Lead Scoring: The Smarketer’s Guide for tips on how to get started and best apply this strategy for your company.
