As marketers we should be talking with customers ourselves and bringing research to sales. But whether it’s an enterprise sales rep closing $1 million deals or a retail salesperson in the clothes section helping people buy something that looks good on them, salespeople have orders of magnitude more customer contact than we ever will. So be close to your salespeople and learn from them about your customers.
Take one of your most experienced, successful salespeople to lunch and find out from them what customers really think about your offerings. What do they like? What are their objections? And how does the salesperson deal with those objections? Good sales people listen; this is an opportunity for you to listen to them.
And maybe you can even arrange a ride along and go on some sales calls, or be a “trainee” in the store for a day or two to learn more about how the actual sales process goes and what customers are saying.
This is invaluable research for creating better products, offers and promotions, and also for creating late stage content that can help your sales people close the next deal.
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