Of the two industry sectors, business to community and business to business, there’s no doubting the fact that business to business sales comes with far more layers of complexity than its direct-to-consumer counterpart.
When you’re talking about B2B sales, there’s a lot to consider. You have to find an internal champion in the company to sell the organization on doing business with you. You have to pass any stringent security checks that their security department may impose on you. And before all that, you have to get their attention.
That’s why not many salespeople survive in business to business sales for a long time. B2B sales is a crucible that lives and dies by the survival of the fittest.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this article, we’ll give you concrete strategies you can start implementing at your company today to sales for B2B professionals just that much easier.
Have a Defined Sales Process
The first thing to remember is that you have to have a defined sales process. Over time, you should be able to collect data on what the selling motion in your industry looks like. You should know whether cold approaches or warm introductions are the best way to secure clients in the industry.
You should know how many stakeholders need to be wined and dined, how long negotiation typically takes, and what hurdles you’ll have to pass before getting a signature on the dotted line. Use this data to refine and improve your sales process until you’re able to develop a laser-focused formula that works every time.
Don’t have this data yet? No worries. Here’s an easy way to start collecting it: observe your top-performing sales rep. Figure out what steps he or she takes to initiate and close deals, and then have your entire sales team reproduce that pattern of steps.
Leverage Sales Engagement Software
The next thing to keep in mind is to use your resources. These days, there exists a myriad of different sales software tools to help your team garner more business.
One such software category is the sales engagement industry. Sales engagement tools like SalesLoft allow you to codify your sales process and have all your reps follow it while recording their activity in your CRM of choice.
Business to Business Sales Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
There you have it — business to business sales doesn’t have to be hard. By applying these two simple strategies — codifying your sales process into a time-tested formula and applying it across your team with sales engagement software — you’re ready to break through any glass ceiling that your sales team may currently be frustrated by.
Just remember that none of this works if you don’t hire the right salespeople, so be sure to invest the time and effort into recruiting the best talent upfront if you want to see it pay dividends down the road.
For more business advice, be sure to check out the rest of the articles on the website!
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