10 Ways Being Helpful Helps You Win at Buyer Enablement

“Can I help you?”

It’s a classic sales line and opener because we all know, down at the heart of it all, sales is really about helping connect people to solutions. But the “help” the buyer needs has changed over the years. 

A few years ago, the buyer wanted step-by-step guidance from the top of the funnel to the bottom. Today, that’s far from true. The modern buyer knows your product before ever talking to you and doesn’t need spoon fed details. To move this buyer forward, and win at buyer enablement, you have to add value and sell with purpose. That means offering a little help. 

1. Understand the buyer’s problem. If you’re going to offer meaningful solutions, you need to understand the buyer’s problem inside and out. What are their pain points? Where are the snags? And maybe most importantly, where do your competitors fall short? Buyer enablement strategies get to the point quickly so ditch feature sharing and focus more on showing the buyer how your service will solve their problem from the get-go. 
    
2. Qualify early. From the beginning, get the details on timeline, budgets and stakeholders. The modern buyer is quick moving and impatient. They don’t have time for you to try to make a square peg fit into a round hole. 
    
3. Offer meaningful data. Modern buyers are drowning in data. Make it easy for them by combing out what’s important for their unique situation. Information should be relevant, credible and most importantly, useful. Any data you provide should relate directly to solutions and provide value, not quota. 
    
4. Help the buyer do their job. The modern buyer has a lot going on. Not only do they do most of the initial research on solutions before ever speaking to you, they’re busy keeping stakeholders informed and managing details all on top of their existing job responsibilities. Be helpful by providing easy ways for them to get the details they need and share information, whether it’s through an online channel, intuitive communication or efficient marketing materials. 
    
5. Offer diverse communication channels. A key element in buyer enablement is connecting with prospects through their preferred methods and on their timeframe. That means you need to keep the options open when it comes to communication channels. Beyond emails and phone calls, it might be time to explore text messaging, online chats and more. 
    
6. Create helpful marketing materials. Boring, hard-to-digest whitepapers aren’t going to cut it for fast moving modern buyers. Help them out by syncing your marketing materials to the details they want in a medium they love. That might mean converting that whitepaper to an engaging video, adding bullet points or highlighting key details.
    
7. Make details accessible on-demand. The modern buyer works on their own timeframe and virtual sales trends have only solidified that fact. Buyer enablement strategies that offer on-demand access will be a big hit with those leads that like to review details on Saturday afternoons. 
    
8. Keep everything in a centralized location. In B2B sales and complex cycles, you know there are half a dozen key stakeholders to impress before making a sale. Make it easy for them all to access key details by using a central, easy-to-access location. We’ve got more ideas on that! 
    
9. Be the expert, so they don't have to. The modern buyer has done their research, but there’s only so much time in the day. Offer valuable details and research that proves you’re the expert and your product or services mirror that expertise. 
    
10. When in doubt, ask. How can you help move the buyer closer to a sale? Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. This partnership is key to buyer enablement.

There’s a new modern buyer in town and they’re changing how the world looks at sales. If you’ve yet to embrace buyer enablement, don’t be intimidated by the process. A helpful perspective is the key to winning at new sales strategies.