What steps do you take to get a prospective customer to say yes to buying your products or services? If I had to guess, you take several preliminary steps to both identify and get to know a prospect before you ask for their money. The prelude to a sale usually has some sort of lead generation where you are determining who your prospects are, followed by the narrowing down of those who are qualified leads, and then discovering the needs of those prospects and introducing them to your brand. After that, a proposal is made and refined before a push to close the deal is made. If you are in sales, does this sound similar to the steps you take to make a sale? Let me say that if you can integrate these steps with your marketing plans, you will be more successful in closing the deal.

Marketing is most effective when it is working hand-in-glove with sales all the way through the sales steps. Marketing is all about making your brand look enticing to your target market. What gets lost in a lot of marketing plans is that marketing should keep going after the initial attraction of potential customers takes place. So much of marketing is about getting people to recognize your brand, read your blog, browse your web site and like your social media. That’s all good and very important for awareness of your brand. But too often there is not a next step in the marketing process to help the prospect navigate to the sale. When marketing is working correctly, it gives a clear next step.

For instance, take a look at your company’s web site. If you have a page where you are describing your products, is there a clear way to either add the product to a shopping cart (if you are selling online) or to make contact with a sales representative? If you are at a trade show where you are handing out branded giveaways, are you getting information from the people picking up your gilded marketing bling so that you can follow up with them? If you are hosting a golf event, are you strategically positioning the food and beverages next to your sales staff so they can mix and get better acquainted with your potential customers? A good marketing strategy will work with your sales team to transition prospects past being aware of your brand to actually buying it.

As your sales team begins to make proposals to these potential customers, what is marketing doing to entice them to say yes? First time sales marketing may include special offers if a deal is cut before a deadline. It may also include other incentives to buy now rather than later. A two-for-one deal or a bonus accessory with a purchase are great ways to market for a sale. But one of the best ways marketing can help sales is to counter customer objections and exploit the advantages your brand may have over your competition. This is typically done with what we call a unique selling proposition. It pushes the differences between you and your competition that are advantageous to you. When you couple this with a known need of the customer, you can push the sale forward. That will require your marketing to do two things: one, find out what your current customers are saying about your products and services after the sale. If they have complaints, these are likely the same objections that will be raised with potential customers as well. Fix the issue and market the fix to your new customers. Two, find out where the pain points of your customers are and position your brand as the fix. This will require you to do some marketing research. That can be as simple as talking to a customer and listening for the problem. They will tell you if you ask. Build your marketing to promote your product as a prescription to alleviate their pain. Maybe they have tried to use your competition in the past. Understand where they messed up and don’t make the same mistakes.