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How to Convert Today's Savvy Consumers with an MBA in Sales
March 14, 2017
Today's consumers are more informed and wary of advertising than ever before, demanding new sales and marketing approaches.
While consumer behaviour has always been characterized by continuous change, the pace of this transformation in the 21st century is unprecedented. Traditional sales tactics that were once reliably effective simply do not match today's savvy buyer expectations. Much of this fundamental shift can be attributed to the wealth of online information now ubiquitously available, empowering consumers like never before.
In this evolving marketplace, marketing and sales professionals need to develop strategic approaches that focus on the buyer's needs and interests, offering convenience, value, and a seamless consumer experience. The most successful companies and business schools now recognize that marketing and sales are integrated functions that can be leveraged to inform the end-to-end buying process.
WU Executive Academy's Professional MBA Marketing & Sales is an ideal foundation for elevating your business career. Here's how some of this learning can be applied to convert today's savvy consumers.
Understanding Today's Consumers with a Masters in Business Administration
With so much data instantly available online, it's easier than ever to learn about products and services, compare available offerings, and search for the best deal. At the same time, the sheer volume of marketing in our society has made many consumers weary and wary of intrusive sales calls and manipulative messaging. Many people use ad blockers online and are accustomed to tuning out interruptive advertising in their daily lives.
In response to these increasingly sophisticated consumers, marketers are using emerging tools and strategies to individualize their pitches, rather than mass marketing. Online behaviour can be analyzed with data analytics tools to develop targeted buyer personas or profiles. By understanding your consumers' demographic information, interests, and expected concerns, you can deliver the most relevant and effective messaging possible.
How Grads with an MBA in Sales Can Develop Customer Relationships with Inbound Marketing
Today's sales and marketing teams seek to support the customer's decision-making process and encourage repeat buying by developing mutually beneficial relationships. They establish trust by communicating their brand story based on transparent approaches and providing value-added content. This is the essence of inbound marketing—creating targeted, valuable content that consumers want to engage with depending on their stage of the buying cycle and amplifying it with search engine optimization and social media messaging.
In an MBA in Sales, participants analyze the importance of brands in a global market, develop integrated marketing communication strategies, and study the best practices of marketing financials, sales planning, customer relationship management, negotiation and selling skills, and channel management. Reducing friction in the sales process by improving website interactions and supply-chain technologies can enhance the consumer experience and shorten the sales cycle.
Sales professionals are most valued by consumers when they provide supportive information that elaborates on their own research and is perceived as helpful and educational. Asking open-ended questions can expand sales conversations to review other benefits or potential sticking points, clarifying the buyer's level of interest and which features are most likely to inspire action. The immediately applicable expertise found in MBA school enables sales managers to continually improve their effectiveness and lay the foundations for accelerating their careers.