It's a Digital World
Every developer wants to maximize profitable sales and get the best return possible on marketing and sales investment, both time and dollars. Two things to keep top-of-mind are:
- Cold calling is time-consuming and it can be hit-and-miss. This is for a couple of reasons; the person your sales exec wants to meet with has to be available at the time your sales exec walks through the door or makes their phone call. Travel time between calls is just that - travel time, not marketing time and not selling time.
- People, whether they are looking to buy a new home in a new residential development or looking to buy or rent a new commercial building, are people first and foremost. People buy from people they know, like, trust and respect. In today's digital world, people tend to prefer to learn at their pace, rather than "be presented to" at the sales exec's pace.
Outbound and Inbound
Successful and profitable sales processes can and do use both, outbound (advertising, prime location billboards, display ads based on someone's online search criteria, etc.) and inbound (social media, content marketing, request-based email campaigns, etc.)
Today's digital media engage prospective customers and clients in ways those prospects expect. Your prospects either work for businesses which use these same methods in their own marketing, or they use them internally to communicate with colleagues. They see old-fashioned sales methods being replaced. They, therefore, almost automatically, expect a developer who is looking to win a contract for a major personal or commercial investment to work the same way.
The Sales Process is also a Learning Process
Prospects also want to learn about a corporate brand, a neighborhood, or a particular property, for example, at their own pace. When they "get to know" the brand or the neighborhood where that brand is building, they begin to decide if they like what they learn. "Like" is a very broad word; it includes building trust in and respect for the way that developer does business, treats its clients, designs and builds its properties, etc.
Helping prospective clients to learn all that, cannot be done as effectively as it needs to be during a cold-call presentation. Learning all that takes time. The prospects who can learn easily and that their own pace are more likely to value the pre-contract relationship they are part of. When they visit your website and request something of use from you, they are giving you permission to build the relationship. When they are ready to meet with a sales exec, therefore, they are pre-sold on much of what is important to them.
They Cold Call You
Some prospects will make an appointment so they can advance their "purchase decision-making", but some will simply visit your showhome or walk up to your trade show stand. Both are sales-efficient and sales-profitable.
Cold calling by the sales exec has had its day; the digital route to a sale is the way to go. It encourages prospects to cold call you. If you would like to learn more about how you can maximize your sales and marketing, please click this link, to contact us. We look forward to building a relationship you will value. If you still have questions, try this resource...
