As a B2B organization, your sales team takes so much of the responsibility with regards to the level of success you can expect to receive.
Selling is an art. It demands a certain type of personality, a specific set of skills and further to this an extreme understanding into the product or service being represented, as well as the industry it is within. Further to this, a knowledge of the customer profiles which can be expected to be dealt with along the journey. From company, to job role and the patterns which emerge such as budgets and the signals that appeal and repel interest and development through the sales cycle.
As a sales team you will want to have a consistent approach as an overall so that you can align all sales members on pathway with a formula that works to get as many sales as possible, and therefore allow them to hit their bonus targets.
Implementing a sales guide can be difficult when you have naturally alternative selling styles within your co-operation and you need to leave them with a level of freedom to find how they are comfortable and what works for them.
Some sales people leverage with their embracing personality which sends positive vibes and addictive reactions. This is persuasive but does it have the end product to get the deal over the line? Pleasant conversation is all good and well and certainly is a tool to progress and generateb2b leads into the deep end of the funnel.
The hard sell alternatively may display a strong personality but will relentlessly chase and push the boundaries to close the deal.
A good business employs the use of both selling methods but it needs to be managed as it will have an impact on your brand as a recognized perspective across the industry. The way you handle your selling campaign will feedback to other businesses and appear within forums and reviews across the internet.
Let’s Start with Soft Selling
You ever received telemarketing calls or promotional posts on your social media, which a business is respectfully requesting you to try your services.
The business doesn’t seem pushy, doesn’t seem edgy and it feels they are giving the customer, utmost importance into making a purchase. This is known as soft selling. Let’s observe its merits and demerits:
Merits
- Earning Trust
The optimistic and respectful words used by a business help in establishing trust. Since consumers are getting respect, they will trust a brand.
- Builds A Bridge for Long Term Dealing
Soft selling tactics are best for a long term approach. Slow and steady, your sales will receive a positive response, thanks to the kinds and humble words you used, during your sales.
Demerits
- Some People May Not Pay Attention
Soft selling is majorly used by all types of businesses. As a result, most words in soft selling advertisement feel like cliché and some people may never pay attention.
- Losing Competition
If you are all in for soft selling but your competitors are using hard selling methods, you may lose the competition. Therefore, you cannot neglect the importance of hard selling methods.
Hard Selling Methods
There are certain posts which use aggressive words like ‘Buy Now’ or ‘What are you waiting for?’ In certain cases, you may see a lucrative discount deal, with prominent words stating ‘limited time offer’
When you feel threatened or become under pressure to make a purchase, it means a brand is using hard selling methods.
Let’s look at pros and cons of hard selling tactics:
Pros
- Effects Short Term Sales
Hard selling methods are favorable on special occasions or when you have received a new stock and want general public to feast upon your latest inventory.
With great energy and enthusiasm, you start your marketing in an aggressive way and this helps you generate sales. However, if you try to do this 24/7, you will start losing sales, as people will think of your business as static.
- Winning Indecisive People
Inside the free world, there is always a fair percentage of people who cannot decide for themselves. When you (as a business) decide for them through your hard selling advertisement, they have no choice but to buy your goods. Therefore, hard selling does an effective job of winning sales for indecisive people.
Cons
- Losing Clients
No one likes to be manhandled or forced. While you may achieve short term success, using such words too often will lose clients.
Besides social media, a person may become furious by use of aggressive vocabulary inside a physical store or on the phone. They may hang up or your business might become a place of nasty fights and people may express their uncomfortableness on social media, resulting in loss of clients.
Even long term permanent clients are lost through hard selling methods.Try creating a balance of both strategies to receive best of both tactics and managing when to use each as and when is ideally suitable.
