Positioning Your Data Center Sales Process to Gain Leverage

When buyers make purchasing decisions—whether it be for data center services or new computer equipment—they prefer dealing with experts. They want a vendor who has a proven solution for their need and understands what they want. For sales team, that means gaining more leverage in the sales process by:

• Positioning themselves as experts in their field
• Making it clear that they understand their buyer’s problem and know how to correct it

For many companies, this requires them to transform the way they position themselves, however, such changes are necessary to remain competitive in today’s marketplace. Every data center needs to establish its brand as the primary choice for buyers seeking the services it offers.

Understanding Prospects

Research by Forrester suggests 76% of prospects have no desire to meet a sales representative because they do not believe a salesperson understands their role and responsibilities.

Sales teams can counter this problem by creating buyer personas, helping them better understand their target audiences. These personas underline their prospect’s goals, problems, and pain points and allow sales teams to speak the prospects’ language with a fluency inspiring confidence and revenue.

Become a Thought Leader

People are no longer interested in talking with a sales representative about their company’s products or services. They want to talk to an expert about a solution for their problem.

Research suggests 92% of prospective buyers will engage if their salesperson is known as a thought leader in their field. 

The best way to become a thought leader? Provide excellent, relevant content.

Content is Key

Sales representatives sharing engaging and valuable content on their social media channels are viewed as authoritative figures by potential buyers, who in turn, will be more willing to engage with them.

When creating content, it is important to note: content should not exclusively focus on the product or service offer. White papers, blog posts, and social media comments should focus on problems prospects typically experience and solutions the company offers.

Sustaining Relationships

Once a sales prospect expresses interest in a data center’s offering, the sales team needs to cultivate the lead by checking in regularly with helpful information, guiding the person with their purchase decision. Certain services require the prospective client to get buy-in from their supervisors and upper management, which can take awhile; letting them fall off the radar is tantamount to losing a sale.

Sending webinar invitations, free eBooks, and informative how-tos will prevent a data center’s offering from being put on the back burner or gradually forgotten.

Bottom Line

The most important thing to remember to leverage when positioning yourself in the sales process is to focus on establishing authority in your field and cultivating a level of trust that will make prospects want to work with you. Without trust, even the most sophisticated marketing campaigns will ring hollow.

How does your data center sales team establish trust and authority with prospective clients?  Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.

To learn more positioning yourself to gain more leverage in the sales process, watch our webinar recording, IT Sales Has Changed. Is Your Team Living in the Past?