Customer communication management connects local businesses to their audience with live chat, SMS, email marketing, and marketing automation to ensure leads aren’t being missed from new or returning customers.

With our Marketing tools you gain access to digital solutions that let you put customer retention and lead generation at the forefront of your business.

Deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time

It’s no secret that today’s customer has a more nuanced approach to buying. There are more decision-makers involved, and there is often more than one path to buying. Understanding the customer journey lets you meet the customer where they are. In turn, you can deliver the right messaging to them at the right time.

The modern customer journey, he says, breaks down into some familiar stages:

  • Awareness
  • Findability
  • Reputation
  • Conversion
  • Advocacy

While the base components remain similar, sales teams need to think about the buyer and how they’re interacting. There are key questions associated with each of these stages:

  • Do I know you?
  • Can I find you?
  • Can I trust you?
  • Do I like you? Do other people interacting with you like you?
  • Can I convert—by making an appointment, etc.?
  • How easy is it to become an advocate?

Answering these questions lets salespeople know what they need to do for the customer at each stage.

Using technology to adapt to customer expectations

Using AI-driven marketing tactics helps sales and marketing be more efficient. If there’s something we’re doing repetitively, let’s get a robot to do it. Using automation can drive the self-serve options your customers look for early in their journey.

A sales CRM can also be helpful, by providing insights about when to follow up. It can also help deliver personalized content, which drives more productive and insightful conversations with leads.

The art of the start

It usually costs a lot to acquire a new customer, requiring heavy investment from salespeople. Existing customers tend to get the cold shoulder, even though it costs less to keep them. Salespeople tend to assume the new client is going to find value, even without continued support.

Identifying your ideal customers

One reason salespeople tend to move on after the “close” of a deal is bandwidth. That’s why you want to be sure you’re finding customers who are a true fit for your business. The wrong customers, after all, can use up a team’s bandwidth—and end up costing your business.

This is where it pays to think about the ideal customer for your business. Discovering who your ideal customers are allows you to create an ideal customer profile. From there, you can go out and look for more customers who “look” like them.

Find the best, automate the rest

The “recipe” for modern sales success lies in answering the question, “Who are my best fit customers?” These customers are more profitable, but salespeople must work to become trusted experts. The customer education is a prime stage and top-of-funnel automation can help customers move through the modern buyer journey.

When you invest more time in your ideal customers, you’ll get a higher return—through increased sales and even referrals.

If you’re not finding the return on your time, then it’s time to automate that customer. Automation allows you to scale parts of your business and grow. At the same time, you can ensure you have the time you need to attend to those ideal customers.

Building trust with your ideal customers

Winning ideal customers and turning them into raving fans doesn’t happen without hard work. Today’s customers are cynical, and that is not going to change.

Your ideal customers want to know that you can deliver. That’s why insight-based selling works. A sales rep who arrives armed with data-backed insights and research is going to be better received than someone who comes in with the product catalog and says, “What do you want to buy?”

Using data can also help you become more innovative. Beginning with data allows your team to create a map for the prospect.