Is Guided Selling Software Right For Your Sales Toolkit?
When you think of sales enablement, what comes to mind? A CRM? Content management tools? Refresher training and coaching? People are quick to name the usual suspects. But these sales tools are often rep-focused. And reps are only one part of the equation. The other mission-critical part? Your customers. The customer experience is crucial and if you don’t win their trust, you don’t win sales. Enter guided selling. Guided selling software weighs the rep experience and the customer experience and creates a win-win for both parties.
Benefits of Guided Selling Software
Unlike other sales tools, guided selling software isn't just for reps. It benefits both your reps and customers. Here's how.
Consistent Experience
Guided selling software is configured to reflect your sales process and provides a consistent framework to guide customer interactions and needs assessments.
Benefit for reps For new reps, this framework can help them learn the ropes faster. For experienced sales reps, this is a reminder of “true north” that helps reinforce best practices over time.
Benefit for customers According to the CEB, buying decisions typically involve five to six stakeholders. When a rep encounters multiple stakeholders, consistency needs to be the name of the game. Wildly different interactions with your team mean your reputation’s shot and customer confidence is shattered. Guided selling software will help ensure each and every stakeholder receives a consistent experience and message—and the customer trusts you.
Up-To-Date Information
In sales, information changes at a rapid-fire pace. There’s a lot to keep up with, like new product launches or changes in pricing or availability. With guided selling software, both reps and customers have access to current product or service offerings, features, specs, pricing, and resources. Benefit for reps Guided selling software can help support reps’ training. To be clear, this isn’t a crutch or a replacement for product and sales training. It’s a supplement, reinforcing overarching messages while also keeping reps on top of the nitty-gritty. Armed with current information, reps feel better prepared and more confident. Benefit for customers Would you buy from someone who seems unsure? Confident reps mean confident customers. Guided selling software also helps convey credibility and expertise. Customers see their rep is in the know and using the latest insights, not outdated information.
Personalized Recommendations
The output of guided selling software is a product or service recommendation for the customer. This recommendation is generated dynamically. An algorithm behind the scenes weighs customer inputs to build the best solution whether it's products, services, or other options. The recommendation summarizes the customer’s answers and shows how the solution meets the needs expressed by the customer. The sales rep can edit and fine-tune the recommendation on the fly if the customer has additional feedback. Once the recommendation is finalized, the rep can send an email summary to the customer, if desired. Benefit for reps Guided selling software simplifies the process of proposing solutions. Plus, reps position themselves as customer advocates because they’re equipped to clearly and consistently summarize, confirm, and respond to the customer’s needs. Benefit for customers There’s transparency about how and why certain products or services were recommended. So instead of feeling like a rep is pulling a fast one, or pushing something just to make quota, customers instead see their best interests are at heart.
Digital, Mobile Presentations
Guided selling software makes selling less clunky. Content is digitized and available on mobile devices. This includes presentation and recommendation tools, as well as reference materials and collateral. Benefit for reps Reps save time because they don’t have to hunt for printed brochures and catalogs or create yet another PowerPoint deck. Everything is built into a single, digital resource and is already designed and styled. Going paperless is more convenient, too. Reps can pick up their tablet or phone and get working. Benefit for customers Customers receive a polished presentation every time. And there’s the undeniable wow factor of getting to use a tablet to do a needs assessment and review a recommendation. Plus, customers can get in the driver’s seat and explore interactive modules—for example, they could tap and swipe through a product demo instead of thumbing through yet another brochure.
Recap
Benefits for reps Benefits for customers Consistent Experience Reinforce sales process and best practices See a reliable partner with stable team and strong, shared vision/story Up-to-Date Information Stay on top of ever-changing details and feel more confident and prepared Feel confident by working with an expert Personalized Recommendations Simplify process of recommending a solution Be seen as customer advocate Understand how a product or service meets a business need Digital, Mobile Presentations & Resources Spend less time on non-selling tasks and more time working with customers Enjoy a more interactive and engaging experience
Add Guided Selling Software To Your Sales Toolkit
Guided selling software helps both reps and customers feel supported and empowered to achieve their goals. Guided selling isn’t an extra burden or out to undermine other parts of your sales strategy. It supports and bolsters other sales enablement initiatives, like training. Don’t let guided selling software fly under the radar; integrate it into your sales enablement toolkit. Your reps and customers will both benefit. Want to learn more? Check out Unboxed Advisor, a sales enablement platform with a guided selling tool that connects reps to customers in a high-tech way.
