16 Sales Engagement Strategies to Boost Your Sales in 2024

With the evolution of technology and the human psyche, it is becoming more tricky and challenging to strategize sales engagement workflow. 

What worked in the last year might not be relevant currently. And therefore, it's now time to tweak and upgrade your sales engagement strategies.  

Every new year brings to the table new customer trends and purchase expectations. Smart business leaders will leverage the correct balance of well-established insights and fresh strategies to pique customers' interest and engage prospects. Keeping up with the latest industry news and listening to sales engagement podcasts are important to stay ahead of the curve.

16 Sales Engagement Strategies To Enhance Your Sales in 2024 

At Zixflow, we collected and curated insights from industry leaders and created this ultimate list of sales engagement strategies to boost your sales in 2024 and beyond. 

Explore New Engagement Mediums 

Research and identify communication channels that might have been overlooked. Prepare an analytical report of all the channels you have used in the year. Analyze which mediums did not perform well.  

You can modify some budget in that particular channel and allocate it towards exploring other mediums like sales cadence to improve sales engagement.

For example, during holidays, people generally spend time with their loved ones. And they might not be very eager to communicate through a sales call.   

However, emails and WhatsApp messages are more capable of capturing their attention. Therefore, it’s important that businesses should make use of that opportunity and plan their email and WhatsApp marketing strategies accordingly.

Below are a few examples of how Kotak Mahindra Bank is leveraging WhatsApp marketing to engage with their customers.

Example: 1

Example 2:

• Use The Holidays/Festive Season To Engage Customers In A Discussion 

Don't forget to share the season's greetings or festive wishes. The pre and post-holiday or festive season is a great time to engage prospects in a discussion that goes beyond sales and establishes long-term trusted relationships. You can send these messages with the help of tools for WhatsApp automation with minimal efforts. You can even adopt some popular hacks for whatsapp automation for better results.

For example, in the new year, you can inform your leads about new initiatives, offers, and special activities to engage and help them achieve their ambitious long-term goals. 

Example: Pre and post-holiday engagements

• Include A Cause Or Purpose In Value Propositions

Previously, sales engagement involved considering the functional and emotional needs of the target audience. However, with increasing interest in environmental and social welfare, customers now expect value contributions and commitments from their favorite brands.

Making a value proposition or contributing to a cause will not just appeal to your consumers but also have a good impact on the environment or society. When done correctly, value propositions might even give you a competitive advantage.  

During sales engagement, you can highlight the contributions of your brand through mailers and social media outreach or include them in the last slide of your product demo presentation deck.

• Don't shy away from highlighting the positive impact of your solution. 

A product or service solves one or more pain points in our target audience pool. To gain the trust of future customers, it is essential that you demonstrate how your product or service is having a positive impact on existing customers and will continue to do so in the future. Consider incorporating advanced product software to streamline this workflow that not only enhances the efficiency and functionality of your offering but also allows for continuous improvements and innovation, ultimately leading to a better, more personalized customer experience.

Share infographics or videos in follow-up to trigger the interest of the prospects. Include snapshots of reports in your product demo presentation to get a successful closing.

Create A 'Thank You Message 

For a brand or company, existing customers are the best source for marketing and gaining the trust of prospects. Create thank you videos and emailers for your existing customers to appreciate them for their partnership.  

In the "Thank you" message, you don't just express your gratitude. You offer an analytical insight into how the product or service has helped them and introduce how new features of products can be beneficial for them in the future.  

Such sales engagement endeavors can be beneficial in two ways: 

• Existing customers will gain insights and be interested in investing in additional capabilities or products they are not already using. 
• Highlighting the success of your existing customers and their satisfaction will also motivate prospects to become a part of the circle.

Hyper-personalized engagement is a necessity

Hyper-personalized sales engagement is now a necessity to boost sales. Hyper-personalization can be introduced through any type of sales engagement. From personal emails to push notifications. 

Using a predefined template for all your clients will fail to make an impression and easily misses the mark. 

It is recommended that you perform research on each prospect's preference for creating a more tailored sales engagement experience. 

Equip team members with the required skills 

For successful lead engagement, you need to get serious about training your sales team to talk the talk and walk the walk. 

Let's face it, simply telling your reps to "sell more" isn't going to cut it. If you want to see real results, you need to equip your experienced sales reps with the knowledge and skills they need to sell your unique product or service like hotcakes.  

That means giving them all the information they require to communicate the value of your offering in the most effective way possible. 

But it's not just about what they say - it's also about how they say it. Your sales team needs to know how to make a great first impression with cold calls and craft compelling emails that cut through the clutter. 

Many sales platforms, such as Zixflow, present a great video-uploading portal to upload public and internal company training documents.

Check whether the rep has knowledge of standard selling techniques and whether they need training for the same. Let them join online courses and attend seminars to learn new skills that will ultimately benefit your business. 

Most importantly, you have to track their performance and check whether they can deliver the desired results or not. For example, in the Zixflow tool, you can easily create custom dashboards and reports to track SDR performance.

 Follow-up appropriately

Follow-up is a tricky game. When done correctly, it is an excellent method to fetch positive results. However, incorrect timing or message in the follow-up engagement can annoy your prospects.  

Typically, with the increased digitization boom, almost every online user's email inboxes are filled up with follow-up emails and advertisements.

The best way to leverage follow-up is by creating an optimized strategy. For example, 

LinkedIn 

• Include a subject line by drawing reference from the recent social activity. You can follow their company announcement on LinkedIn with the help of LinkedIn integration and congratulate them on their achievement. 
• Immediately follow up with the prospect when they click on the "learn more" button on the blog or mail. 
• Establish initial engagement through a follow-up call when they submit information through the "contact us" page.  

Reducing the time between prospect activity and follow-up engagement will minimize the chances of leads growing cold. 

 After completing a call, send a summary email 

Want to make a call even more memorable? Make them feel like you actively listened to their queries and understand their requirements with a simple follow-up email. 

After completing a call, write a quick and short summary with a bullet point of your last conversation. Just recap the important pointers. 

It allows you to hold your potential customers accountable for their promises.

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Use technology to help you out.

Sales engagement, or the sales domain in general, involves innumerable variables. And tracking these variables manually is not humanly possible. In fact, a single prospect may include 15 to 20 associated sales engagement activities.  

Using a sales engagement platform such as Zixflow Can help you manage all important sales engagement activities and prospects in a centralized location.  

Engagement platforms can be beneficial for both sales representatives and business development managers. 

• SDRs can track prospects, schedule activities, and eliminate mundane administrative tasks using the platform. 
• Business development managers can track the activity and performance of sales reps, analyze which channels and strategies are working the best and create reports to measure outcomes. In simple words, it can help them with strategizing and team management.
• Managers can also introduce automation in the workflow to increase team productivity. 
• Apart from that, sales engagement platforms allow businesses to integrate third-party technologies and tools to improve efficiency and accessibility. For example, in Zixflow, you can integrate with CRM, spreadsheets, emails, etc.  

Leverage the power of technology to streamline your engagement processes and free up your valuable time. 

With the right platform, you can automate sales engagement activities such as lead capturing and routing, train your sales reps, and more. It's like having your own personal assistant - only better! 

To enjoy the most out of a sales engagement platform, you need to understand and analyze your unique business requirements. This will help you select the perfect platform for your needs and avoid unnecessary features that might end up costing you more money than you need to spend. 

Whether you're an established business or an ambitious startup, there's a sales engagement platform in the market that's just right for you. 

Recreate potential user journey and identify key touchpoints

Creating a prospect persona is an age-old and proven strategy. Creating a customer persona involves defining their basic details such as gender, age, income, interests, preferences, habits, etc.  

After you've developed your ideal customer profile, the next step is to start figuring out what they're likely to do next. Will they hop online and search for your product? Ask a friend for a recommendation? Maybe they have other channels they prefer for learning about new businesses. 

By mapping out your buyer's journey, you can easily identify the key touchpoints where you can target your engagement efforts. This means no more missed opportunities or lost deals because you reached out to a prospect at the wrong time.

Always treat inbound sales calls as hot leads. 

Always prioritize prospects who willingly connect with your sales team.  

Sales representatives are often perplexed by an age-old question during their first interaction– "Should pricing structure be discussed in the first interaction?" It depends on numerous factors, such as the product, the type of pricing structure, the target audience, etc.! 

Modern buyers are financially aware and would like to know the pricing before proceeding further in the purchase journey! However, in certain cases, customers consider the pricing in the middle or the end of the journey.  

Let's consider the following two scenarios: 

Scenario 1 

Product: Real estate.

While selecting a real estate property, prospects want to know the pricing associated with the purchase. 

If the prospect is unable to secure a loan or the amount for the down payment is too high, the prospect might not want to advance into the buying process. They might consider other options immediately. Many prospects are even willing to change the location to stay within the budget.  

Scenario 2  

Product: Skin-care products such as sunscreen 

While purchasing a skin care product, the prospects generally look for customer reviews, doctor recommendations, formulation, ingredients, SPF coverage, water resistance, etc., then check the price to see if it justifies the product value. In most cases, during the purchase of sunscreen, the budget is flexible.  

Therefore, start your engagement with the new prospect depending on your product and the experiences you have gained from previous engagements.  

When prospects willingly connect with you, treat them as hot leads. Because these individuals are genuinely interested in what you are selling or proposing.  

By prioritizing engagement with inbound leads, you are putting your best foot forward and demonstrating to them that you are proactive and considerate of the time. There is no harm or surprise if you manage to close the deal In the very first engagement attempt.

 Introduce a free trial

Introducing a free trial of your product is an efficient and attractive way to convert leads into customers. HubSpot's sales strategy report reveals that free trials demonstrated 76% effectiveness in converting prospects into paying customers.

The free trial uses a simple logic- make your customers comfortable and habituated and then present the deal. 

• Therefore, if your product/service involves a free trial, bring it to the attention of the prospect in the very first engagement.
• Share welcome messages after they signup!
• Follow this with short and sweet emails/ push notifications highlighting product features and benefits they can explore during the free trial period.

Free trials offer potential customers the opportunity to test and know your product before investing. You can always set restrictions on your free versions, such as limited features and caps on the no.of users or usage. 

Don't shy away from cold calling. 

 In the sales domain, cold calling is inevitable. However, you can employ strategies to make cold calling successful. Here are a few ways: 

• Create a cold-calling script or template to help your sales representatives. 
• Promote rehearsing cold calling and training activities to help your SDRs sharpen their skills. 
• Empower your team with sales engagement tools that help them focus on selling rather than performing administrative chores.

Offer a demonstration of the product.

Creating a good sales pitch can have a make-or-break consequence in a sales strategy. The sales presentation should be powerful and compelling. But it should deviate from the customer's emotional needs. Keep a balance between your product features and customer requirements.    

Remember, your sales presentation should not be too strong to scare away the prospect. 

Research and understand the elements of a successful sales presentation. Demonstrate how your product can solve the pain point of your potential customer.  

You can even gather feedback from your existing customers about your product pitching and presentation styles. You can gather insights about what particular elements in your presentation prompted them to select your service. 

Leave room for flexibility. 

During sales conversions and engagements, especially in the B2B sector, you might come across prospects who have unique requirements. This is natural because every business has special requirements and strategies to succeed in the industry. 

Instead of using phrases like "you can't accommodate" or "you won't," make your engagement strategy adaptable. For example, some services (beauty treatments) or products (smartphones) might seem expensive for a customer. However, those similar services might be available at a discounted rate in the upcoming festive season.  

Plan your sales engagement to provide information about upcoming sales. But at the same time, keep them entertained so that your lead doesn't grow cold by the time the special promotion arrives. You can also consider outsourcing your sales efforts to specialized firms to maintain consistent engagement and customer interest throughout the sales cycle. This approach can help leverage expertise and resources that focus solely on maximizing sales opportunities and customer retention. 

Listen to your prospects. 

Last but not least— never ignore what your prospects are saying, regardless if the deal is lost or won. Just because prospects aren't your customers yet, it doesn't mean they can't offer valuable insights or feedback.  

In today's digital-savvy world, it is natural that your prospects might have already engaged with a few of your competitors before considering your brand. They might bring up certain points about your competitors that they actually liked.  

Rather than taking it negatively, you can work on that input and prepare yourself better for future sales interactions.  

Therefore, as leads move through the sales engagement pipeline and eventually drop off, always ask for candid feedback about their overall experience. You may learn something valuable that can help convert your next prospect.

Boost your sales engagement with these proven strategies

Effective customer engagement is the lifeblood of any successful business. It’s important to choose the right engagement strategy along with the right sales engagement model for your business to get the desired result.

Remember, engaging with customers isn't just about making a sale - it's about building trust, fostering loyalty, and creating a lasting impression that will keep customers coming back for more. So go forth, be bold, and get ready to make an impactful difference in the realm of sales and customer engagement!

We at Zixflow truly believe in supporting the sales community with our product and knowledge. And we would absolutely love to hear from you about sales engagement trends and strategies that might have the potential to create noise in the industry.

Also, Zixflow brings you Sales Accelerator Community– a knowledge-sharing community by the professional for professionals. Share, learn, and grow!

P.S. We didn't wait for 2024 trends. We're already offering a free trial for our sales engagement platform.