Delivering a personalized experience to online customers is key to increasing sales and building your customer base. However — in many organizations — sales and marketing are often siloed functions. They have disparate processes, data sources and technologies. 

As a result, the business lacks clarity and transparency into what’s working and what’s not. When these functions are separate, it can be challenging to develop meaningful decisions. From there, the organization has a difficult time accomplishing its goals. 

Why Digital Marketers Must Know the Five Pillars of Sales

Customer success means understanding their needs on a psychological level. When you’re selling a product, you’re selling an idea that solves a customer’s specific problems. On the other hand, if you’re selling a service, you need to be in touch with the potential client’s pain points to draw interest in the offer.

The five pillars of the sales process are the key components that move your website visitors into a customer. Once a digital marketer understands these five pillars, they can instill a digital marketing strategy that drives your website transactions to success.

To meet customers’ needs and have a successful sales process in the digital world, the five pillars of sales will build and influence the buyer to act into the closure of more sales.

The Five Pillars of Sales

1. Prospecting

The first pillar of the sales process is prospecting. Your virtual storefront must be able to deliver qualified leads, which a digital marketer can achieve through search engine optimization. But first, they need to understand the unique selling proposition to target incoming traffic.

To determine a unique selling proposition, your digital marketing team will need to understand the following:

• How the product or service fills a void in the marketplace.

• How the business sets itself apart from the competition.

From there, you can create high-quality content that engages buyers throughout their sales journey. While each piece of content will serve a different purpose, you can use it to nurture a prospect further and gain qualified leads.

2. Build Trust and Credibility

In a brick-and-mortar environment, trust is established through human interaction. You greet a person when they walk through the door and assist them in finding something. The customer can easily trust you since they’re meeting face to face. 

Plus, they’ll use other individual clues like professional signage, a clean storefront and stocked products to indicate whether you’re credible enough.

You can accomplish this next pillar similarly by building trust and credibility throughout your website. 

The design and the development of your site are the elements that’ll put trust in the visitor’s judgment. When the viewer heads to your site, they subconsciously judge your establishment by looking at the following:

• Professional web design

• Appealing images

• Working links

• Simple site navigation

• Easy-to-locate policies

• Accessible product information and customer support

• Testimonials

• Secure checkout process

3. Guiding the Potential Buyer

Once you’ve followed the first pillars of the sales process, the next part is qualifying your leads. Visitors click on your website to look for a solution to their problem — which can be a product or service. 

However, the majority of your website visitors aren’t ready to make a purchase. So, what should you do to attract and retain your visitors? 

Structure your website so you guide them to resolve their problem. Essentially, there are three types of website visitors — and you’ll need to consider what stage they’re at in the buying process.

The three categories that your site visitors fall into are:

• Customers are ready to buy. Therefore, your products or services should be easy to find.

• Potential customers that are interested but haven’t finalized their decision. You’ll have to convince your buyers the products and services meet their needs. 

• Website visitors aren’t ready to buy yet. At this stage, they’re looking for information. Draw your visitors in with content and opt them in with a lead magnet.

4. Present the Product or Service

The presentation pillar is how you present your products and services to online customers. After you’ve guided them through your website, you’ll show your potential buyers options.

At this stage of the sales process, your visitors have already looked at your website and discovered their needs. Therefore, it’s crucial to hold their attention with digital marketing. Doing so will motivate them to the final pillar of the sales process.

5. Close the Sale

How would you close the sales on your website? Providing all the information your online customers need is one of the effective solutions. Website copy that describes enticing details is required to meet customers’ needs sufficiently. 

Keep in mind that your descriptions should answer visitors’ questions. Plus, it helps if you give online customers guarantees or assurance policies on their purchases. 

Finally, ensure you provide specific checkout information. Do you accept credit cards or personal checks? Anything you can do to eliminate guesswork will effectively close the sale. 

Sometimes it’s impossible to know all your visitor’s questions simultaneously. Therefore, a live chat function on your website will also help provide the information your guests may need. 

Keeping the Five Pillars of Sales in Mind

When digital marketers know the five pillars of sales, it’s easier for them to develop a strategic digital marketing plan. Ensure your website incorporates these levels mentioned and effectively escorts your prospects. 

Once you implement the five pillars, you’ll ensure the success of your small business.

Eleanor is the editor-in-chief of Designerly. She’s also a freelance web designer with a focus on customer experience. She lives in Philly with her husband and dog, Bear.