Strategies for Scaling Sales Personalization in 2023

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Strategies for Scaling Sales Personalization in
2023
Sales personalization has gained a lot of
traction during the pandemic. Businesses that
understood the term had an easier time surviving
and even thrived. A study by McKinsey during
the pandemic revealed that 71 of consumers
expected personalization, while 76 of consumers
got frustrated when they did not receive it. So,
what exactly is sales personalization? In
technical terms, sales personalization aims at
providing a personal experience tailored to the
user. Imagine walking into a clothing store,
where you get greeted with t-shirts of the same
color and design. You wont be ready to even
give a chance to the store. A similar experience
unfolds when you treat your consumers with a
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generic sales communication. It is neither
special nor personal. Instead, a consumer might
find it too commercial for their taste. Sales
personalization targets the emotional aspects of
the consumer journey and customizes the sales
strategy accordingly. Sales Personalization in
2023 In the 1980s, a professor, Leonard Berry,
first coined the word relationship marketing
now known as sales personalization. From the
1980s right up to 2020, companies used various
strategies to leverage sales personalization.
These strategies included using sales calls,
email marketing, targeted ads, and more. You
could have easily used sales personalization to
effectively predict your consumers journey and
gently nudge them towards your products. However,
sales personalization underwent a massive change
during and after the pandemic. As more consumers
opened up to try new products, their loyalties
towards brands began to diminish. Such a shift
in consumer behavior was due to the arrival of
the Gen Z consumer segment. Gen Z consumers are
open to try new products and crave a
personalized experience from the companies. The
sales personalization strategies to target Gen Z
are inherently different and pose a challenge to
companies in retaining their consumers. In 2023,
as AI swept through every industry, it forced
companies to rethink their strategies for sales
personalization and adapt to the changing
world. Why is sales personalization so vital for
companies?
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• Some firms and businesses have flourished for
  years. The sole reason is relevancy. Companies
  adapted to the needs and wants of the times,
  where sales personalization played a major part
  in it. So, why is sales personalization so
  important?
• Customers feel special when recommendations and
  emails seem personally addressed to them.
  Another study
• by McKinsey shows that 76 of consumers tend to
  purchase from brands that personalize their
  sales.
• Brand loyalty is a thing of the past. If you can
  offer a product with better value and
  personalized sales communication, consumers of
  competing brands will switch to your product in
  a heartbeat.
• You can use sales personalization to make your
  brand stand out. While brand loyalty is in a
  downward spiral, brand recognition has been at
  an all-time high. Consumers are more likely to
  recall your brand and recommend it to their
  friends and family based on how good your sales
  personalization techniques are.
• Sales personalization strategies in 2023
• Sales personalization strategies have always been
  volatile as times change. You can incorporate
  certain strategies to help you scale sales
  personalization.
• Utilize CDM to manage consumer data

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• Consumer Data is a key metric through which
  companies design, develop, and launch their
  products. You can use the same data to target
  your sales to your consumers. Companies use
  consumer data management to gather, maintain,
  and revise consumer data. CDM aims at gathering
  consumer data and turning it into usable
  consumer profiles. To simplify the process of
  managing scores of consumer data, you need the
  help of a consumer data platform.
• The digital expansion in 2023 has made consumers
  vary in data privacy. As consumer data is the
  first step towards sales personalization, you
  must educate consumers and assure them of
  strictly following data privacy protocols.
• Analyze consumer behavior with CRM
• While CDM is used to manage consumer data,
  companies depend heavily on CRM tools to analyze
  consumer data. CRM can analyze consumer profiles
  to provide actionable, personalized sales
  communication targeting consumer experiences.
  Fortune Business Insights has forecasted the CRM
  market size to grow by a CAGR of 12 by 2030.
  CRM system can anticipate consumer behavior to
  help your sales team identify touchpoints of
  your consumers journey.
• The sales team can easily craft a personalized
  recommendation or pop-up ad to target consumers
  based on their purchasing journey.
• Provide real-time product recommendation

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• The influx of shopping apps has greatly
  simplified consumer journeys and provided them
  with complete control of their journey.
  Companies face a complex situation providing
  personalized experiences to consumers who have
  multiple touchpoints in their journey. You can
  utilize aspects of the consumer journey by
  offering real-time product recommendations based
  on metrics like search intent, and previous
  purchases.
• McKinsey conducted a survey involving 60
  shoppers. They found that a brand interaction
  commonly desired by consumers was relevant
  recommendations based on their buying intent.
  Consumers in 2023 have a limited attention span,
  leading to more focused buying decisions.
  Without relevant and real-time product
  recommendations, there is a high chance that your
  sales strategy might fail.
• Focus on Digital Sales Personalization
• Smartphones, apps, and digital payment methods
  are as common as horses were in the past, maybe
  more. Nearly every consumer and business has a
  digital footprint in some form. Your consumers
  might even prefer digital sales communication to
  dealing with a sales representative in person.
• Gartners research shows that 33 of all buyers
  hope for a seller-free sales experience. You can
  scale your sales personalization by leveraging
  your consumers desire for a more digital sales
  experience. Provide your consumers with a
  user-friendly buying experience, shopping cart
  reminders, email and text

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• communication, a free trial of the product, AR
  visuals for product verification, and more. Your
  consumers will feel more comfortable with an
  increase in digital sales experience.
• Let AI lead
• As companies have automated most of their
  processes through AI, your sales team can also
  utilize AI for personalized sales communication.
  2023 has seen consumers with zero patience. They
  expect a quicker, seamless, and personalized
  sales experience. You can use AI to automate
  experiences that might take time if done
  manually.
• Suppose a consumer on your app has a doubt, you
  can use an AI chatbot for immediate redressal,
  leading to a better experience for the consumer.
  You can use AI, in almost every stage of the
  consumer journey. The scalability of your sales
  personalization becomes boundless with the help
  of AI. It can provide recommendations, lead your
  consumers to the correct page or product, and
  send out personalized sales communication
  without any constraints of
• human error. While you shouldnt hand over the
  wheel to AI, you
• certainly can let it take the lead.
• Learn where to draw the line with sales
  personalization
• Providing personalized sales communication comes
  at a cost. While consumers want a more
  personalized sales experience, they are
  reluctant to share more than the necessary data.
  Companies must be

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open with the data they aim to collect and its
use. They need to know where to draw a line when
collecting user data. Many consumers feel
creeped out when they find product
recommendations even before searching for them.
Sales personalization in such cases can instead
have a negative effect on the consumers. You can
focus more on consumer satisfaction during their
journey and utilize upstream and downstream
engagement metrics to gather data. Your
engagement with your consumers will
significantly improve without asking for too
much personal data. Conclusion Technological
advancement has made it easier for companies to
provide a personalized sales experience. You must
realize that you can effortlessly increase
revenue generation and better consumer retention
through sales personalization. It is necessary
for companies to understand the nuances of the
consumer journey. Consumers expect sales
communication that they feel is curated for
them. Companies can target their consumers with
personalized communication at specific
touchpoints along the consumer journey. Scaling
sales personalization can be easily accomplished
by keeping consumer behavior in mind, utilizing
the resources at hand, and being adaptable to
market changes. About Ciente ? With Ciente,
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