Sales people are at the frontline force of every business. Whether in B2C or B2B, sales teams represent organizations in every interaction with a direct impact on your brand. Transform them into your top brand ambassadors by arming them with the right tools they can be your top brand ambassadors.
Brand ambassadors help drive commercial growth through brand building, word of mouth, referrals, and by representing the company in a positive light to friends, family, and business associates. The role of a sales as brand ambassador is to do just this by leveraging sales contacts, face to face meetings, and public events to represent a company in the best way possible at all times.
A successful brand initiatives can help drive customer referrals – a process that 72% of marketers do not value or take full advantage of. It has been proven that referrals from trusted sources will be more effective than normal marketing strategies. For example, 84% of US online consumers’ purchase decisions are influences by friends’ social media posts.
Companies can follow a few simple steps to create and tailor a sales ambassador program around a team of salespeople to help drive high-converting leads and connections.
4 Important Steps to Create a Sales Brand Ambassador Program
1. Teach and train staff on brand values
The first step is to train your salespeople to understand the company's brand, brand values, and to ideally build a real love for the product or service. This authenticity will be important in both motivating salespeople as well as relationship building. Sales staff should use a personal voice when describing a brand or company, not a predefined or crafted message.
One of the best ways to train and engage salespeople is through mobile games. Training with gamification allows sales teams to quickly and conveniently learn new material, while being incentivized in the process. It can also be used as a competitive challenge to drive engagement and create a rewards system that is built on results.
2. Provide clear and accessible content for sales staff
Companies looking to build a team of top brand ambassadors need to provide them with the proper training and material. To get started, some essentials include:
- Concise buyer and ideal customer profiles
- Communication templates such as email templates
- Summary of brand values and guidelines
- Customer success stories that are touching
- Internal stories to share with the public
- Best practices on influencing referrals
One company that has perfected this process is online retailer Zappos, who became famous for publishing their internal culture book to the public every year. This raw and honest insider look into the company contains personal goals, setbacks, customer stories, and highlights the values that Zappos employees live by.
3. Encourage social engagement and participation
A 2017 retail industry study by PwC found that 44% of shoppers mentioned that positive interactions with their favorite brands on social media had led them to spend more with those brands over time. By building a team of both internal and external brand ambassadors, your corporate identity will be represented to the masses.
Sales ambassadors can take advantage of this power by advocating the brand’s values to their personal networks. A research study by Nielsen found that 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family. This trust applies to business relationships as well. Marketing or messaging from a known person is better received than cold marketing material. Sales ambassadors should be encouraged to take this passion to social media.
4. Trust and incentivize employees with a clear rewards systemFrom training to day-to-day activities, a clear rewards system can motivate sales brand ambassadors to hit targets and go above and beyond normal expectations. One way of doing so is to tie in incentives with what salespeople do best – sell!
For example, you can provide generous entertainment budgets and access to special events. These events, while costly at first, can be a great place for brand ambassadors to meet interesting prospects and build relationships that can flourish later to provide the company with a positive ROI.
Conclusion
For many companies, salespeople already act as brand ambassadors to a large extent. By creating and cultivating a structured brand ambassador program, you can provide the training and tools to take this initiative to the next level. The result will be a highly-motivated and genuine team of salespeople who are naturally representing the brand and creating valuable connections everywhere they socialize, helping extend your brand's reach.
