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Jul 16, 2020
. UI UXs .
3 min read
What Makes It Crucial For Us To Apply UX Principles To Sales?
There has been a great surge witnessed in the popularity of User Experience or UX. With every passing day, an increasing number of companies...
There has been a great surge witnessed in the popularity of User Experience or UX.
With every passing day, an increasing number of companies are working towards listening and adapting to the needs of
the users or customers. In addition to the product development teams of companies, it also has become imperative for
the sales department to pay heed to the aspect of UX.
While the key
goal of sales teams is to drive revenue, they essentially are the ones directly engaging and interacting with the
customers. Hence, they must have a good idea about the key UX principles in
order to be able to sell the solutions offered by the company in the most efficient fashion. Industry experts
underline that an enhanced buyer experience can ultimately improve the overall performance of contemporary sales
teams.
Buyer Enablement Movement
The growing demand for good UX gave rise to the
aspect of Buyer Enablement. Companies are slowly beginning to realize that there is a great ROI prospect available
for investing in enhanced UX + CX (Customer Experience). Hence, rather being just limited to UX design, the philosophy of UX is slowly garnering attention in various non-product roles and
processes.
Good UX tends to be Buyer-Centricity
With the development of technology,
the aspect of UX also evolved and became increasingly popular. However, over the years, the customer-centric
approach of UX has always remained around. The whole point of good UX and efficient customer service is to lend ears
to the concerns and preferences of the customers, so as to gain their trust and encourage them to become a supporter
of the brand one is working for.
Asking the Right Questions in Sales
In various B2B product teams, there
tend to be a great deal of research done on the products offered and its discerning users, such as Market Research,
UX Research, Customer Discovery and so on. In such processes, the UX Researchers questions like “how to make the
product better for the users?” or “how to solve the problems users have with the product?”.
In sales, however, customer-centric questions are rarely asked. Most salespeople have the
value proposition of the product memorized but do not have any CVP (Customer value proposition) for their job. It,
however, is important that they try to think about what makes their sales process valuable or necessary to
customers? Rather than just assuming the needs of the customers, empathizing with them and trying to adapt to their
needs would be more in line with the contemporary customer-centric business practices than the typical sales
processes.
Misalignment of Sales Incentives
Several factors influence the sales
processes, including a budget, headcount, product, etc. Hence, there is no single solution for sales teams. While
some sales teams prefer full-cycle sales, others go for split closing roles. Lead quality, lead volume, alignment
with marketing efforts, as well as the ability to score leads are among the million things that influence the
operations of any revenue-making organization. Due to its diversified approach, there can be no perfect way to scale
a sales team, and they are largely left at the mercy of “business needs”. As a result, their processes should also
be modelled after the need for an organization, which is to attract maximum customers and ensure customer
loyalty.
It is crucial for the sales team to understand that each buyer
is unique, and they need a distinguished level of attention. Each and every buyer has their own process for seller
selection that must be accommodated. As per the buyers, listening to their needs, providing accurate and relevant
information, as well as responding in a timely manner without being pushy would be the ideal way to create an
effective and positive sales experience. To properly understand the needs and requirements of the customers,
however, the salespeople need a good understanding of the UX principles and
have to go through the UX research conclusions of their company.
In
conclusion, it can be said that B2B sales can be made more strategic and effective by opting to apply basic UX
fundamentals to the processes.
Categories
UX Design Process
UX Tools
Consumer Experience
UI UXs