6 Tips to Master 6 Sales Communication Channels
Guest Author
By Jeremy Boudinet, Marketing Manager Nextiva
—
The modern sales force has more communication channels than ever before to connect with buyers.
This is both a blessing and a curse. While there are more ways to reach buyers than ever before, the market is also noisier and more crowded than it ever has been.
To that end, it’s pivotal that your sales team develop a multi-channel outreach strategy that resonates with buyers.
Here are just a few of the channels your sales team should be using to reach buyers:
- Phone Calls
- Text Messages
- Social Media Touches
- Direct Mail
- In-Person Visits
Nextiva just conducted a massive study on business communication with friends at Poly and the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Results were published in the 2020 State of Business Communication Report.
The findings hold major implications for sales reps of all stripes. This post showcases one important finding for all six of the channels named above. Check them out below and use them in your future sales communications.
6 Tips to Master Sales Communication
Improving your sales communication means knowing how and where to reach your buyers. The benefit of having so many channels available to you is the ability to tailor your messaging and outreach to match the preferred communication preferences of your buyers.
Use these 6 tips to master sales communication in 2020 and beyond.
Use a Cloud Phone System for Calling
If you are not using a cloud phone system to make inbound and outbound calls, you’re missing out big time.
Cloud phone systems enable you to make and receive calls from your business phone number on your smartphone, laptop, desk phone, or tablet. In other words, they free you up from having to be at your desk to communicate with prospects and clients.
In addition, they offer ancillary benefits such as enabling voicemail-to-text, SMS functionality, auto-attendant, and HD hold music. Best of all, most cloud phone systems are incredibly affordable and will actually save you money on your business phone service.
According to the report, businesses are starting to migrate to cloud phone systems en masse, with 69% of respondents using an internet-based voice service.
Get your sales team on a cloud phone system and empower them to make more calls, more effectively, from anywhere.
Incorporate Text Messaging into Your Sales Communication
Text messaging is a great way to establish a friendly rapport with your prospects and customers. One of the goals of a good sales rep is to quickly build trust and intimacy with your buyer. Text messaging is a great way to do so.
According to the report, 74% of respondents use a mobile phone to communicate at work every single day.
By comparison, buyers are much less likely to use a desk phone, with 22% of respondents saying they never use a desk phone while at work.
Reach your buyers where they are most likely to be – incorporate text messaging into your sales communication.
Don’t Neglect Email
Business professionals are getting more comfortable with email. Trends like to say email is oversaturated or “dead”, but respondents in 2020 are nearly half as likely to miss important emails as they were in 2016.
The operative word here, though, is important. This is good news for sales reps looking to use email to push deals along to close. Cold sales emails are, however, more unlikely to rise to the level of being considered “important.”
Keep email in your sales cadence, but supplement it with phone, social touches, and even direct mail.
Social Media Touches
Your buyers are on LinkedIn. And Twitter. And Facebook. And Instagram. If you want to build rapport and intimacy with them, social media is a great channel to use.
Rather than using social media as a place to cold pitch people, we advise using social media as a tool for getting to better know your buyer and staying top of mind with them. Engage with their content, ask them questions based on what’s on their profile, and so on.
If this seems creepy – remember, it’s your job to know as much about your prospect as possible.
The goal of social media engagement is to better understand your buyers so you can know how best to serve them. It’s that simple.
Use Direct Mail for Open Opportunities
Direct mail is not dead. In fact, it is thriving more than ever before thanks to the rise of account-based marketing and companies like Sendoso who empower you to send gifts and goods to customers and prospects automatically – complete with tracking in your CRM.
We advise using direct mail with your largest and most important opportunities. Save them for special occasions and do your best to personalize what you send your buyer. Another great option is to use the service Cameo to send a personalized shout out to your buyers from their favorite celebrities.
Buyers Still Love Face-to-Face Visits
Tellingly, the number one communication method business professionals still love above all else is a face-to-face conversation. Nothing beats an in-person meeting, according to the 2020 State of Business Communication Report.
Only 5% of respondents named face-to-face communication as their least favorite communication method and a majority of respondents named it their favorite.
For important conversations, nothing says “You and this conversation are extremely important to me” like a face-to-face meeting. Work these into your sales communication where possible.
Download 2020 State of Business Communication Report
Looking to get better results from your sales efforts in 2020? Your solution starts with improving your sales communication.
Audit your sales communication tactics and discover new, better ways to connect with your buyers.
The 2020 State of Business Communication Report is a great starting point. Download your free copy here and check out Nextiva to learn how sales teams use our award-winning cloud phone system to maximize their productivity and communicate more effectively with prospects and customers.