The ability to read cues is one of the hallmark skills in sales. If you can “read the room”, you’re already ahead of the crowd. It’s a major component of understanding potential buyers’ buying signals, which allows you to pinpoint exactly when a prospect is ready to become a customer. This is a critical part of achieving success as a business or service provider.
A study conducted by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science determined that the majority of buying decisions are made quickly. Think we’re exaggerating? The average buying decision takes just ten to twenty seconds. That means that your solution has one-third of a minute, tops, to close the deal.
With such a short amount of time to close a sale, it’s clear that business owners need to be able to anticipate when someone is ready to make a buying decision. Some brands aggressively push the issue in their sales efforts and end up “overselling”. You may have heard that this practice can actually lose a sale, and it can! It’s crucial to understand prospects’ buying signals because they’re indicators that someone is ready to buy.
What Are Buying Signals?
Oftentimes, buying signals take the form of research. Most potential buyers will start conducting additional research of your solution as they move closer to buying. Frequent research, in particular, is a classic buying signal. The more frequently somebody is on your site or social media page, the more interested they (likely) are in your solution.
Once research has begun, the next step– the one that levels up the buying signal alert– is often a deeper delve into product price and specifics. The more granular the information that somebody wants is, the more likely they are to be nearing a purchase. If a potential customer starts asking questions about the next steps to buy or wants to know about the post-buying process, that should raise a “green flag” that the prospect has a good understanding of your solution’s value.
As soon as a prospect understands your value and starts to see themselves as one of your customers, it’s time to move to close the deal.
Where to Look
One of the most traditional spots to look for buying signals is during one-on-one interactions. These might involve sales pitches, phone calls, or a range of other practices. Even networking events have the potential to yield in-person buying signals.
But it’s 2020, is face-to-face really the only way to go?
Absolutely not.
Technology is becoming increasingly crucial to understanding customers’ purchasing behavior. Now, brands can pinpoint buying signals on the web. Prospects interact with your website and social media pages on a daily basis; isn’t it time you tracked their behavior and treated them the same as your physical clients?
You can even create a digital business card or a personalized app. These are great, forward-thinking tools that allow you to offer clients resources tailored to your business and differentiate yourself from the competition. Not only does it result in happy customers, but it helps you identify prospects’ buying signals with ease.
How a CardTapp App Helps Identify Buying Signals
The CardTapp solution allows brands to chase success through widening their sales funnels. This generates more leads and accelerates sales cycles all thanks to intuitive, real-time alerts about prospects’ activity on your personalized app.
CardTapp allows users to get the most out of their app. It makes it easy to review former prospects’ activity prior to becoming a customer. Before buying, which tabs or information did they click? When? How often? These factors can all help you fine-tune your sales process. Try to identify commonalities in your clients’ buying behavior and capitalize on those signals.
Be Ready to Act
After you know where to look for buying signals, check in regularly. Review activity on your app to determine which prospects should be prioritized– that is, which ones are at the buying stage.
Remember, you have under a minute to close the deal. Buyers’ lives are busy and chaotic. Next time they’re researching a solution, you want to ensure that you’re at the top of their mind.
Want to get a better idea of your prospects’ buying signals? Request a sales demo today!