b2bSales strategy have undergone a transformation. Cold calls are a passé and the evolvement of Digital Channels opened new ways to reach out and engage with the Customer and the Businesses expect much more without any boundaries of time and at their home turf. It is not good enough to just have a website and the sales person to just have a friendly attitude. The customer expect right information in shortest possible time frame.
Unlike B2C Customers, Businesses do not make emotional decisions. The purchase value is high and the needs are meticulously defined. Impulse purchase is non-existent and the purchase is logical with the long term view. Unlike the decade of 1990’s, the customers expect highly tuned solutions and expect Omni-Channel engagement for a seamless and faster information flow.
B2B sales is of very high stake. There is a limited set of target audience. A loss of few deal can put the Sales Person and the entire Organization in risk.
The following B2B sales strategy can help the Sales Person sail through the entire cycle of Sales Process effectively.
1. Know Your Customer
Research well about the organization. Today a lot of information is available on internet. Know exactly what they do and map the products or solutions that might fit in. Do not sell apple to the organization that is seeking Orange. Know the entire decision making hierarchy well. It is not a difficult task in today’s world. The platforms like Linkedin have made the task very easy. Speak to people in your ecosystem who are connected to the prospect. It will help you understand about the approach of key decision makers and purchase behaviour which will help you strategize better.
2. Get a Holistic Customer View
Every function in the Organization has different set of expectation from the product or solution. Speak to IT, Marketing, Customer Service, Sales, Finance etc.. Understand the functional gaps that they are expecting the product or solution to fill. This will enable you create an appropriate pitch that is inclusive helping you to get a product or solution buy in from all relevant stake holders. If required, run a different presentation cut for each function and an integrated one to the business lead.
3. Use New Age Tools for Assessment
Today there are various AI and Machine Learning tool that help you filter most promising leads, opportunity insights and probability of conversion. Human assessment present personal biases hence improper opportunity assessment.
B2B sales is still an unexplored market in real sense
4. Make Use of Automation and Self Learning Material
Sales persons waste a lot of time in non-sales activities and it’s a major issue that hampers the sales productivity. If automated, proposal building and review by supervisor is one area will save a lot of time. Give self-service option to the customer. Build guides for the customers to reduce dependency on the sales team.
5. Be Prompt in Responding to the Prospect
The prospects expect agility. The competition is standing just right outside the door of the prospect. A slow response may spoil the customer experience and the faith in the organization. It is a world of 24/7 engagement and there is no excuse that works.
“Great salespeople are relationship builders who provide value and help their customers win.”
6. Wear the Hat of an Advisor and Not Just a Sales Representative
In B2B, the purchase is of high value. The prospect has a lot of stake. And the impact of such purchases is across the organization. Therefore put yourself in the shoes of the prospect and share whatever will make implementation of the product or solution successful. Being the domain expert and having met many customers, a sales person has a lot of insights to share which the prospect may be struggling with. At the end of the day, the customers look for an advisor who can help get a right fit of product or solution to address the business problem. At the times, the customer may seek advice about enabling environment, be absolutely open to help.
7. Strike a Good Relationship with the Customer
B2B is a more of person to person selling and they last for longer. Engage with the decision maker personally. Never involve the new comers or juniors for follow up. The world of the prospect should end at the sales person. Have meaningful conversations outside the work area. Don not try to flatter, be genuine in your compliments and wishes.
8. Build Trust
Young generation looks forward to an ethical messaging unlike the old. Altruism is of less importance than the actual cost-value relationship and is a decisive factor for the millennials. The prospect do a lot of research before getting into the purchase discussions. Unless their value system matches, they avoid the engagement. Therefore, the values of the seller should align with the prospect. And this factor is achieved after building a trust factor with the existing customer and industry. Trust factor places the organization for the long term in the industry and shortens the decision making cycle with new prospects.
9. Use Social Media for Continued Engagement and to Build a Brand Recall
Engage with the customers and prospects on the social platforms where they spend time. Run case studies, quizzes and seminars there. Make announcements of the positive development about the organization. Applaud the achievements and milestones of the prospects and customers on these common social platforms. It makes a lot of difference. The organization is seen being active and growing by the customers and prospects. Which builds a positive outlook in the industry.
10. Tell Prospects the Success Stories
Share plenty of relatable customer success stories. In a way, tell how the competition has become better by adopting product or solution and has gained market advantage. The customer or prospect should get a feeling that they are lagging or falling behind. This approach gives a major push to the prospect.
There is a lot happening in B2B space and the above techniques will help the selling organization to place itself rightly in front of the prospect and gr
