Not Sure How to Approach a B2B Client? Find Out Here!
Hello!
The art of selling is not easy. Whether it is the salesman at a mall urging you to check out a new perfume, an elevator pitch or the over-eager B2B sales person at your office trying to sell his company’s service through a long monologue – it takes as much, if not more, effort for a salesperson to convince you as you trying to avoid him. For B2B marketing, the amount of efforts manifolds.
It has become easier to research the clients and find out the preferences of prospective leads but the B2B sales funnel is still in a chokehold and has not eased down a bit.
Of course, selling isn’t easy. Sometimes, on some days, it becomes impossible as the target mounts and pressure increases.
According to this 2018 State of Inbound Report, only 29 per cent of people are interested in talking to a salesperson and know about the product from him.
People don’t want any middlemen. They want to buy from a vendor directly. Fifty-seven per cent of business decisions are made before a telephone call to a supplier.
However, don’t let these statistics deter you from being a good salesperson. Because, hello! Good news is that the fundamentals of B2B selling and client retention are still the same but need to be seen in a different light!
If you are selling B2B products or services for the first time and looking to develop strong sales tactics that could help you approach a client and sell your products, this is an article worth reading. Are you a veteran professional and want to update yourself with the latest trick of the trades? We have got your back! Scroll down and read on to know more.
B2B Sales Funnel
(Let’s start with the basics, guys!)
Research is the keyword.
It is important to figure out who your target customer is and what it wants from your business. It is only possible when you know about your business. As you create a ‘buyer’s persona*,’ you also need to spend time on creating your business’ strong points so that they don’t become a pain point when the clients delve deeper and ask you questions.
What is a ‘buyer’s persona’?
For instance, if you are a data mining company, you would like to take a note of the issues they are facing due to bad data and how your business can address their needs.
Besides, as a salesperson, you would also like to know if the company is based in a metropolitan area or is a tier-2 operation. The idea is to speak their language, address the concerns and offer your business as a solution.
Create an everlasting impression.
How to Qualify B2B Leads
Qualifying leads is a way to generate insights to ascertain the viability of the sales opportunity. You can ask yourself if the offer is profitable for both and if at all you should sell to them. If yes, what’s the best method for client retention? In a nutshell, this phase is about establishing if a business relationship between both businesses is going to be beneficial for both parties or not?
- Is the business a right fit for the services offered by you?
- Do they have the budget?
- Are you talking to the right person who can make a purchasing decision?
- Do they need your product or may stall the deal for uncertain time?
- Are you using a referral or do they need more efforts to push them further down the funnel?
These questions will help you to narrow down your list of potential clients and focus on the ones that matter. A CRM system will help you stay on track with the development. However, it is very important to check the data that is entering into the system and deploy data scrubbing servicesregularly.
Meeting the clients
What is a good, personal B2B sales pitch all about?
Everybody loves to talk about himself. However, a B2B pitch is more about the other person, their needs and challenges and how your business and its solutions or services can help them fill that void.
A good sales pitch should include:
Once you are through with the initial conversation, don’t forget to wrap up the session with a quick review of things you discussed. If you get mixed vibes from the client, end the meeting with an open communication channel along the lines that you would like to meet them again.
Sending the proposal
Be patient if you don’t receive a response right away. Don’t call or initiate a separate communication regarding the same a little too soon.
Closing the Deal
Once you have received a positive response from a potential client (read: business), it is time to create an impactful and meaningful relationship with them. The price you quote is for the value you bring to their business. Always be in touch with them, give them the information they need, follow-up with them for the information they inquire for.
So, now we have understood how B2B sales work, let’s understand the nuances of approaching a B2B client, getting more B2B leads and closing the deal.
The first disruptor of B2B sales funnel is technology. As Millward Brown points out in his report,
“The traditional purchase funnel diagram, one which any marketer could sketch from memory, is officially dead. The singular, orderly sequence of purchase stages has been scrambled, and marketers need to conform.”
This Forrester report suggests that 59 per cent of buyers prefer to search online instead of contacting a sales rep. The fact that the sales reps are still focussing on “selling” the traditional way and not helping their clients along the new path to purchase doesn’t help them either.
The TAS Group report claims that more than 67 per cent of people miss their sales quota and 23 per cent of the companies surveyed for this report didn’t know if their sales team is performing as per expectations and achieving their sales goal or not!
So, here’s the reality bite: Sales quota isn’t dead. A salesperson is still expected to achieve his sales goal and reshape on the selling model.
Tips to Approach B2B Client Successfully
Go Digital
This Forrester report suggests that businesses at least browse through 3-pieces of content that your organisation has online and evaluate their performance.
Invest time and efforts in creating a buyer journey mappingconsisting of five crucial points:
Who: ‘Who’ holds the decision power to authorise a purchase? You might be talking to a senior person, but at the end of the day, he might delegate this authority to a team of mid-level executive ‘Who’ will be using your product.
Why: ‘Why’ a business should take your services/ products? ‘Why’ should he choose you?
When: The ‘When’ describes the purchasing stage of a buyer’s journey! It is important to ascertain this part to understand the trigger that is nudging the company to make that purchase. It will help you to understand the context of the purchase and eventually figure out the barriers that can withhold the purchase decision later on.
What: The ‘What’ describes the information and content you can provide to their questions. It could be digital or offline, but it should be concise, visually appealing, informative and most importantly, HONEST. It could be prescriptive content to help customers research at the right places and make a better, informed decision.
Where: Where are your targeted customers getting information from? Make sure you are everywhere! Google’s recent report, “The Changing Face of B2B Marketing,” explains that more than 42 per cent of B2B customers use their smartphones to look for information during the purchase journey. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you are missing out!
Peer Recommendation
A positive word of recommendation from one client can help you close another deal successfully.
A client’s referral can help you cut to the chase with another client because you have become a part of his trust circle already. He is aware of your business, has an interest in your business and more likely to reach to the bottom of the funnel than the client you are cold calling. No wonder that referrals contribute to up to 50 per cent of B2B sales for a successful salesperson. A referral doubles up as proof for your excellence as a business. A referral client is less likely to push you for negotiations and is the easiest way to client retention.
Don’t just sell it. Explain.
Nobody wants a door-to-door sales pitch. It is time to adopt a consultative approach to B2B sales. The best way to do is to teach them. Go for a “How To” approach and go deeper into “Why!” Look for and devise different ways to tell them why they need you and let them make a well-informed purchase. Rather than selling your product, be the spokesperson of your business that works as a solution and enabler.
Having prescriptive content and information such as webinar, infographics and blogs also makes selling easier. The decision-makers are more informed and more involved in the process than they were two years ago. This study by Harvard Business Review explains how the average of stakeholders has increased to 6.8 from 5.4 in just two years, which implies that an average salesperson has to spend 2X time to pursue a B2B lead and close the deal.
Create a Balance
Pursuing unqualified buyers will waste your time and eat into the efforts that you should be spending with the customers that are more likely to convert. This is why spending time on qualifying the leads and finding the right people to sell is more important than ever!
Also read:
- How Digital Marketplaces Are Disrupting Industries
- What are the Most Vital Security Issues for App Developers to be Aware of?
- TOP 10 Ways boost Your Small Business Can Save Money
Give them options
You don’t have to spoil them with choice, but getting an array of variety is always appreciated. It is the time of personalisation and hence, you can work towards different features and price-points best suited for a client and business. If you don’t have that, the client will fish for a company that can offer them a package, which is more flexible, has options and better price. Nobody wants to pay for features that aren’t of much use for them. Giving them a choice to personalise your package implies that you understand their business and can address the challenge faced by the company.
Why don’t you tell us more about your B2B marketing tips and tricks in the comments? We are all ears!
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