To use personalization or automation in B2B sales, that is the quandary, or discussion, or battle depending on the parties involved. At Bop Design, we lean towards personalization but that doesn’t mean what works best for us will work best for your business.
Below are what we consider the benefits of utilizing each one.
Benefits of Automation in the Sales Process
Brand Awareness
You can keep a lead engaged with your brand with a timely, automated response via social media. Curated posts via social media utilizing automation keep your lead engaged with your brand as well. The overall goals of social media automation should be capturing your prospect’s attention and acknowledging an inquiry via the platform.
Touchpoints
Depending on the Buyer Personas, you may need anywhere from 3 to 12 touchpoints before a decision is made. Utilizing a CRM like Pardot or HubSpot ensures you are on task with prospecting, communication and follow up with your leads.
Stay Top of Mind
As leads enter your sales funnel, nurturing them with an automated drip campaign keeps your business top of mind when the time comes to contact potential vendors or make a purchase decision. Create as many categories necessary to ensure your messaging is as specific and as authentic as possible to speak to their needs.
Read more: Easy tips to close B2B website leads.
Benefits of Personalization during the Sales Process
Establish Trust
How can you position yourself as a helpful industry expert to establish trust and build rapport with your prospect? By sharing links back to your B2B website with information or case studies specific to their inquiry, as well as recent success stories and positive client feedback.
Read more: Common mistakes that turn prospects away.
Problem Solver
Develop and nurture a relationship with your prospect by sharing informative white papers that are chosen based on their needs/questions. You are the expert so make sure you demonstrate your resourcefulness in your response to show you understand and can help solve their specific problem.
Authenticity
You want the prospect to feel your genuine desire to help and your messaging should reflect your authenticity. Take time to address their company and them by name, respond with times in their time zone for an initial call and establish a human connection from the beginning. A little research goes a long way in personalizing your emails or phone calls to them.
Choosing What Is Best for Your Clients
Personalization is more time consuming and specific to each prospect’s inquiry. Automation can lack the authenticity personalization offers but is a great way to stay top of mind. If you do decide automation would suit your organization best, make sure to be as granular as possible with your messaging to ensure you are coming across as authentic. The overall message to convey with a personalized approach should demonstrate your resourcefulness and identify you and your organization as the solution for their specific need or problem.
Read more: What happens to your B2B leads after they are qualified?
