6 Steps to Customer-Centric Communication

It’s not about how we want to communicate. How does your customer want to?

I find too many salespeople think that sales is all about emails, emails, emails, social media, emails, emails, social media.

It’s much more than that. If I want my messaging to succeed, I have to be able to master every form of communication.

This blog continues our series on The 7 C’s of Successful Sales Hunting

1. Master every form of communication.

I’ve got a tremendous number of customers that I was only able to reach by phone. That’s an unusual thing. The phone works far more than we give it credit for.

Well, nobody answers the phone. Guess what? Nobody responds to your email either.

Watch this 6-minute podcast about prospecting with voicemail.

We have to master every form of communication, including text messaging and social media depending on the audience, the age, etc. Use the medium that the customer wants to use, but also do it at the time and the frequency that the customer wants.

2. Find your customer’s preferred timing.

What’s their timing? Is it early morning? Late in the day? Is it Monday or Friday?

Of course, this is going to vary by industry and type of person you’re reaching out to.

Don’t think your preferred communication methods are the same as theirs.

3. Fridays and Saturdays might surprise you.

In fact, the best days to prospect might not be what you think.

I love to say that Fridays is for selling. Fridays is for closing deals. I’m amazed at the number of deals I’m able to close on a Friday afternoon because customers want to get this off their plate. Since nobody else is calling them, and afternoon meetings tend to die down on Friday afternoons, this is prime time.

via The Office on GIPHY

I have conversations that I don’t normally get during the week, and it’s the same for Saturday mornings. Saturday morning is a great time to be reaching via email to senior-level people, because they don’t stop working on the weekends. They’re working on their business, and I get great results by reaching out at that time.

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4. Brevity and clarity matter.

Regardless of the medium, you’ve got to understand two things: brevity and clarity. Brevity wins first. You could have the best message in the world, but if it’s too long, forget it. They’re not going to read it, or listen if it’s a voicemail.

Clarity gets them to embrace it, not necessarily to respond, but to embrace it. So many times we get somebody on the phone or we have an email and we want to tell them everything. Wait, have you taken the time to identify their needs yet? If not, you run the risk of oversharing.

Ask yourself, is your communication leading first with questions or is it story time of your life? One of the biggest facets of communication is getting the other person to respond. The conversation can’t be one-sided.

5. Communication isn’t what you say, it’s what you hear.

Here’s a very simple rule of thumb: are my conversations starting off personal or professional? It’s going to vary by the type of person I’m reaching out to, but either way, I’ve got to start the conversation by making it about them.

One way to achieve engagement is in the questions I ask. I’ll only find out the best way I can help them solve their problem if I get them talking.

via ABC Network on GIPHY

6. Choose conversations over presentations.

The best sales presentation ever made is the presentation never given.

Marketing (or you) have created this unbelievable PowerPoint presentation. It’s all the stuff you ever wanted to know. However, the customer doesn’t want to hear that, they want a conversation.

I’ve taken the time to create this presentation, and I know my stuff. That’s good. But then I want you to take a step back and realize that it’s not about giving the presentation, it’s about having a conversation and allowing the customer to share.

I know my stuff. I know my content, but I’m going to share it with you by way of questions and a conversation. That’s what your customer’s looking for.