There are those who believe that business intelligence driven selling and marketing is leading towards a more depersonalised style of selling – yet in reality, the opposite is true.
The old mode of selling was very much a tactical pipeline of script speak designed to lead a prospect into firstly feeling discomfort with the status quo, framing up a mental solution, aligning that solution to a product the sales person wishes to sell, overcoming objections and closing the sale. The script was very much crafted around raising the needs that directly aligned with the solution proffered, rather than the real needs of the client.
Business intelligence provides evidence of actual needs of the client, often before the client actually recognises that need themselves. It then provides a basis of configuring customised solutions for individuals, rather than whole market sectors. In this way, BI technology provides a more interactive and collaborative style of selling focused on the customer, rather than the product.
This is more in line with the current market values of participation and collaboration, rather than the more confrontational modes of selling used in the past. BI provides revolutionary insight into the lifestyles and buying habits of individual customers. It helps businesses integrate into the customers’ mode, rather than expecting the customer to align with the business mode.
The outcome of this change of focus from the solution to the customer provides far more value to the customer than ever before. And that increases personalisation rather than depersonalises the sales process.