Sales professionals drive purchases by adding value, moving people to a better place with information that offers a glimpse into the benefits of its products and services. There is no right or wrong way to do that, just what’s right for your company and the buyers it serves.

Now that artificial intelligence influences nearly every aspect of our industry, sales professionals should be asking how they can add value to the selling experience to retain their relevancy in a data-driven world.

After all, traditional order takers are already being replaced by automation software, with hotel room service being one example. You view a menu, choose your options and select room delivery or pick-up in the hotel lobby. The best-case scenario is a satisfactory experience.

For homeowners or businesses who highly value their outdoor environment, satisfactory service is not enough. You must be thinking about ways to wow your customers. While technology is helpful, the human interpretation that makes it relevant and ultimately determines its true value.

As routine tasks are automated, experienced sales professionals will be highly valued. Those with strong organizational skills will be the most sought-after for getting deals done in a data-driven world.

Show up ready to entertain

It doesn’t matter if your company offers landscape construction, maintenance or snow plowing services. You must understand client interactions for what they are — opportunities to transform hearts and minds to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

Our design/build company’s sales process focused on making every client interaction an event. For this reason, it was necessary to conduct meetings at our offices so we could optimize the experience.

This put the burden on us to give them a show. I’m suggesting the bar for that expectation will only go higher. Everyone’s time is limited, and the way to consistently get it is to develop a reputation for giving incredible value.

One of the secrets of closing sales is to be prepared because people will surprise you. Our team closed our share of high six-figure deals because we discovered preparing for the unexpected seemed to accelerate its arrival.

Let’s be clear about entertaining. It’s not showing off, but rather, showing up ready to help customers enjoy the process of getting what they want. Join my session at the 2023 Equip Expo and we’ll talk about how to do that. I’ll teach you about holdbacks and other tactics to wow your customers and capture every opportunity for growing your business.