When you’re in the sales field, up to and including digital marketing, you can’t just wing it when it comes to closing deals and convincing your customers to purchase.
Instead, you need a solid strategy to guide you — a methodology that’s not only smart but proven to work the way you need it to.
SNAP selling is one of today’s hottest, trendiest sales methodologies, and with good reason.
When applied consistently and adequately, SNAP works.
But to make it work for you, you first need to understand what it’s all about, why it’s as effective as it is, and how to apply it consistently for impressive, consistent results.
What is SNAP Selling?
If you think SNAP is almost certainly an acronym for some broader concept, you’re right.
It was first coined by author Jill Konrath in her now-classic 2012 sales book, SNAP Selling, outlining a strategy for quickly and successfully selling to busy modern customers.
Here’s a breakdown of what SNAP stands for.
S – Keep it simple
With the internet constantly at their fingertips, modern consumers really have their work cut out for them to find answers to their questions.
There’s so much information and so many purchasable solutions to their problems, they can afford to be a little picky about which ones they choose.
Such buyers typically eliminate possibilities that are too complicated and difficult to understand first, so the S in SNAP is a reminder to keep things simple.
When communicating with prospects, stick to the point, and look for ways to make your offerings seem more straightforward than the competition’s.
N – Be invaluable
The average consumer is positively bombarded with advertising messages every day, so it’s all too easy for any one company to blend into the woodwork.
That said, a company that can single itself out as a trustworthy authority capable of solving the sales prospect’s problems has a real advantage.
For that reason, the N in SNAP stands for N-valuable (invaluable).
Modern consumers expect more than great products and services from the brands they buy from.
They also expect personal relationships with companies that genuinely want to be part of the solutions they pedal.
A – Align always
A complete understanding of a consumer’s headspace is essential if you’re serious about closing a sale, so the A in SNAP stands for alignment.
What are the person’s worries, fears, and hopes for their future? What values and core beliefs are at the center of how they live their lives and make critical decisions?
It’s your job to find out and demonstrate how the solutions your brand offers are the most closely aligned with what matters to that customer.
The goal is to convince them to buy from you and not your competitors.
P – Leverage Priorities
Last but not least, the P in SNAP stands for priorities.
Most modern consumers are performing a perpetual balancing act regarding all they have going on. However, some things will always be higher priorities than others.
Therefore, a sales rep who can figure out which of a customer’s many priorities is most important has a unique advantage over their competition.
For instance, suppose a prospect’s highest priority is family and home life. You can show how your products and services make it possible to be a better parent, a more attentive spouse, or a more responsible homeowner.
Find out their ultimate goal, and give them a leg up in getting there.
Other Key SNAP Concepts to Know
In addition to the key pillars detailed above, Jill Konrath uses several other buzz terms throughout SNAP Selling.
Each defines and addresses a concept or concern highly relevant to modern marketers today. Here’s a closer look at each.
Frazzled Customer Syndrome
This term refers to the constant state of busyness typical in modern consumers.
Your sales prospects have a lot vying for their attention, and they have a multitude of options to choose from when seeking solutions.
That said, they’re likely also impatient, demanding, and relatively distractible. A sales rep who understands this going in stands a better chance of succeeding.
Buyer’s Matrix
The buyer’s matrix refers to the network of core issues your prospective buyer deals with when making a purchase decision.
Examples include personal pain points and the opinions of other decision-makers involved in the process.
Your understanding of the questions that populate the buyer’s matrix provides the foundation for your sales strategy.
D-Zone
The D-Zone is a term that refers to the dreaded limbo a brand goes to when a sales prospect loses interest in what that brand has to offer.
They may show this in any number of ways that involve the letter D — deleting emails, delaying decisions, or dismissing you, to list just a few examples — but the result is always the same.
They’re not interested, and you no longer exist to them. SNAP is all about staying out of the D-Zone.
Go Zone
For all intents and purposes, the Go Zone is the opposite of the D-Zone.
It’s the place a sale goes once all the key concerns detailed by SNAP have been well-addressed.
You know you’re officially in the Go Zone when all your sales outreach attempts officially result in an interested response.
What are the Benefits of SNAP Selling?
Although all of the popular sales methodologies out there today have their benefits, SNAP is unique in that it leverages a deeper understanding of the way consumers think when considering a purchasing decision.
Consumers respond best to brands with a personal touch in a digital world filled with choices.
They want to feel understood, cared about, and prioritized, so a company that can do that will always have an advantage.
SNAP helps by:
- Preparing salespeople to better deal with the unique needs of busy consumers.
- Emphasizing the importance of demonstrating authority when pitching a solution.
- Facilitating speedy, time-efficient resolutions to a consumer’s problems.
- Fostering customer loyalty by aligning solutions with the person’s most deeply cherished core values.
- Making consumers want to work with you and stay connected to your brand moving forward.
How to Integrate SNAP Selling into Your Marketing Strategy
SNAP is a methodology that provides a uniquely practical approach to winning over stressed-out, busy consumers — a move that can boost just about any business’s bottom line.
The key to making it work for you is to finetune it to fit your customers and the thought processes that make them unique.
Here are some tips for getting started in the right direction.
1. Focus on the decision-makers
The more important the purchase, the more likely it is that you’re not dealing with just one decision-maker.
Think about situations where you’re pitching to several different executives from a B2B standpoint or marketing a domestic solution to a household where spouses or families make purchasing decisions as a unit.
Figure out who the decision-makers are in the situation.
Identify which of them (if any) will have the final say, and adjust your tactics accordingly. Construct personas and a buyer’s matrix for each to help you get into their headspaces more efficiently.
2. Understand how modern consumers make decisions
Many marketers and sales reps make the mistake of thinking a purchasing decision is precisely that — one decision to buy or not to buy.
But, according to the SNAP methodology, it’s actually three distinct decisions a prospect makes throughout an entire process.
- The decision to allow a company access to them in the first place.
- The decision to branch out and do things differently than they have in the past.
- The final decision to switch from one resource or way of doing things to another.
3. Make your customer’s priorities your priorities
If you’re serious about winning over today’s busy, frazzled consumers, you need to be on the same page they are as far as where you’re coming from.
Find out what your customer wants and what’s most important to them. Then align your talking points and sales outreach attempts to those fundamental values.
Resist the urge to go over benefits or perks that don’t align with the customer’s key objectives.
Instead, focus on capturing their interest and building trust by concisely demonstrating how your brand can help them meet their goals.
4. Simplify and organize your communications
The key to leveraging SNAP successfully is to avoid overwhelming your prospects by giving them too much information too soon or making the decision-making process too complicated.
Instead, make sure all your communications are well-organized and get straight to the point during individual conversations.
Provide essential information in increments so that your prospect has adequate time and space to digest it.
And as always, keep the focus on how your company can help the prospect reach their goals and solve their most pressing problems.
Wrap Up: Meet Your Business Goals by Connecting with Your Customers
Sales approaches like SNAP work so well on modern consumers because they facilitate the personalized, people-first connections they’re looking for.
Keeping such approaches in mind as you reach out to new audiences and forge more significant relationships with existing ones encourages brand loyalty while boosting sales numbers.
In fact, learning to better empathize with your customers and anticipate their needs may be the most critical sales skill to master today.
Check out our comprehensive guide on the basics of customer empathy to learn more!
You’ll discover why empathy is so important in selling and how you can successfully implement it for a healthier bottom line and stronger client relationships.
