B2B sales success is central to B2B business success. Therefore, if you're spinning your wheels but going nowhere with sales, then you've got more than just a sales problem... Rather, you've got an overall business problem!
However, the great news is that if you're experiencing that stuck-in-the-mud feeling, you can likely and simply get out of the situation yourself!
Don't believe us? We're sharing 7 reasons why B2B salespeople and business owners spin their wheels but go nowhere. Not only are we sharing why you’re stuck, but we’re also sharing how to get unstuck to save your business!
Remember, B2B selling success is central to B2B business success. Therefore, if you don't tackle sales-related issues, you'll end up:
- Crushing your overall business potential
- Sad and upset sitting in the mud forever
No more excuses for feeling stuck in the mud with business-to-business sales... Here are 7 reasons why you feel stuck AND how to simply get out.
1. They Chase Goals
Do you wake up every morning, read your business and sales goals aloud, and then spend all day working to check the boxes?
If so, then that’s okay, but understand that there’s much more to business and sales success than chasing goals.
These days, setting and accomplishing sales goals is made out to be the thing. And while goals are important, making them the central piece of your sales success equation will only lead to disappointment!
Instead of waking up every morning to chase sales goals, what you need to do is wake up every morning to chase your vision.
To achieve sales success, you need to be relentless in the pursuit of manifesting your vision! Otherwise, you'll end up chasing your tail in circles.
Goals Aren’t Everything
What makes a clear vision one of the most important factors to business and sales success?
In short: A vision is crucial because it's the experience that you create through your deliverable. More than that, it creates a clear pathway for your entire business to move in. With a clear pathway, you lay the foundation for a genius B2B sales strategy and ultimately solid sales goals.
Think of it like this… The brilliance behind the iPhone, Steve Jobs, understood the power of visions. In fact, Jobs wasn't even an engineer, but he did have a vision for people living more empowered lives through technology. He found team members who assisted him in coming up with the concept of the iPhone, and then manufacturing it. So, the vision was the starting point of everything, and the iPhone was just the channel for bringing the vision to life.
That being said, goals aren't everything. Rather, your vision is everything! The vision creates the strategy which creates the goals.
With a clear vision at the center of everything, what you're really doing is broadening your perspective for what is possible to create! With a broader perspective, you have a clear path to move in, instead of simply spinning your wheels in place.
Goals Are the Means to the End
From now on, think of your sales goals like boxes you check in order to manifest the vision. They're the means to the end, not the end itself!
Don't make the fatal mistake of viewing achieving sales goals as the ultimate win.
We're not saying that setting and accomplishing sales goals isn't important. But, what we are saying is that when salespeople chase goals instead of chasing visions, they end up:
- Feeling unfulfilled
- Slashing their odds of sales and overall business success
At the end of the day, business is about manifesting a vision, not chasing goals. The vision creates the pathway for sales goals, and accomplishing them brings the vision to life.
2. Solving Only Surface-Level Issues
Here's a question for you: How often do you get angry about being stuck in the mud, think you've found the solution, apply the solution, get unstuck for a second or two, but then fall right back into your rut about three seconds later?
If so, odds are that you may have identified the surface-level issue causing you to get stuck, but you haven't identified the root issue.
Ultimately, you can’t get unstuck unless you address the root problem lurking underneath the surface.Only once you identify and uproot that root cause can you get out of the mud AND stay out for good!
Every Surface-Level Issue Has a Root
Think of surface-level issues like this: Let's say a person has a net income of $10,000 and necessary expenses totaling $5,000 per month. At the end of the year, they take a look at their savings account only to see a balance of $1. Their eyes pop out of their head and they think to themself that they need to do better managing finances. Then, exactly one year later, they look again at their account only to see $2 in there! Again, they tell themself that they need to do a better job managing finances, then immediately return to normal life.
If this situation resonates with you at all, then you understand what it's like to only consider the surface-level issue and never the root issue.
In this particular case, poor financial management doesn't tell the whole story…
Perhaps the person has crippling anxiety which makes them want to spend money to alleviate it. Or, perhaps they have low confidence in themself and resultantly spend money to feel better.
Furthermore, if you're spinning your wheels but going nowhere with your sales progress, then never forget to look beneath the surface at what could be going wrong.
Fear Is The Root Issue Of Almost Everything
It doesn't matter who you are, what your background is, or how long you've been a sales professional for... At the end of the day, fear is the root cause of almost every surface-level sales issue!
Fear manifests in several different ways, including the:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of judgment
- Fear of the unknown future
Not only are these three forms of fear some of the most common, but they are also some of the most detrimental to success.
For example, when you fear sales failure, your sales team starts to pick up on that energy. All of a sudden, they will be radiating that same fear during sales pitches, and potential customers will lose confidence and run for the door!
That being said, in order to solve any surface-level issue, you need to uproot the root issue. And, the first potential root issue you need to consider is fear. If fear is at play, it's highly likely that it's the thing making you feel stuck.
3. Always Giving Up Their Power
It's simple: When a sales representative gives up their power during the B2B sales cycle, they basically shoot themself in the foot to close deals.
Giving up your power is basically like saying, 'Hey, I'm here to sell you something that'll help you, but I'm not going to tell you or show you how I can help, instead I'll let you (the B2B lead) tell me why you want me, even though you don't know why'!
Straight-up... In every sales scenario, somebody is going to be in charge, and that somebody should always be you, the sales rep and expert!
In the end, when you don't exercise power with your sales approach, not only do you not keep the potential customer in your grip, but the customer won't reach a purchasing decision that could potentially improve a pain point.
Moreover, when you aren’t in power, both you and your potential B2B buyer lose.
There perhaps isn't a clearer reason why you spin your wheels and go nowhere than giving up your power.
Someone Is Going to Be In Power, So Why Not You?
Here's the thing, if you're not going to exercise control over the sales situation, then your prospect will. And nothing good ever comes out of a situation where the prospect is in control!
Moreover, somebody will be in control of the situation, so why not let it be you?
Unfortunately, if you're sitting back in your seat feeling a little uncomfortable about the concept of power, it's probably because you see exercising power as something negative.
These days, the world power has a bad reputation. The idea of using one's power is often associated with things like manipulation. However, exercising power and manipulation are not the same!
The real truth is that exercising power means to keep the sales process on track so that both parties get the results they want. It's about keeping all your ducks in a row in order to show the prospect that you are, indeed, the expert with the answers for them.
Someone is going to be in power... If it's not you (the right person to have power) then it will fall into the hands of the wrong person (the potential B2B customer).
No Power = Bad Results
So, why is it so important for you to exercise power throughout the B2B sales pipeline?
Like we mentioned above, when you hold the power, you keep the sales process flowing the way that it's supposed to. Ultimately, you close the deal and show the decision-makers that they have a clear problem that you're capable of solving!
See, here's the thing... Prospects don't necessarily know what their problem is or that they even have a problem in the first place! But, you, the expert salesperson, know that they have a problem AND have the tools to solve it.
That being said, if you don't exercise power over the sales situation by asserting yourself, then the prospect will never know what their problem is or have the opportunity to solve it! On top of that, you won't close the deal for yourself.
Furthermore, power is a sales tool. When you use it and use it correctly, everyone ends up winning! Not only that, but you'll finally spin your wheels and actually get somewhere good.
4. Not Having Sales Processes Set-Up
How often does something like this happen to you: You absolutely smash an initial sales call with an ideal prospect. You immediately set up another meeting for the next day. Then, the moment you hang up the phone, you think to yourself... 'Now what?'. All of a sudden, panic ensues! Without a process, you spend all day running in circles trying to figure out everything you need to do to smash the next meeting.
Unfortunately, not having sales processes ready to go sets you up to endlessly spin your wheels. Without a plan, you scramble and internally panic, both of which ultimately cause the prospect to turn away from you.
That being said, you need to set up processes so you have a game plan to simply convert a B2B lead into a B2B customer.
Not Having a B2B Sales Process Ignites Chaos
Not having processes ignites an internal panic that turns into chaos. And when chaos ensues, prospects begin to run for the door for two key reasons, including:
- Negative feelings drive them away
- Overcomplicated and longer sales cycles
First off, never forget that feelings are infections. Therefore, if you're feeling panicked, your leads will sense it. When they get the sense that you are panicking, they'll immediately lose confidence in your abilities. In their mind, if you were an expert, you certainly wouldn't be panicking!
Additionally, whenever you're in a state of panic trying to develop a process at the last minute, it's only inevitable that you develop one that is more complex and longer than necessary. And, there's no easier way to turn a lead off than to make their buying process more complicated than it needs to be!
Bottom line: Having solid, simple processes that you are confident in prevents the never ending cycle of you picking up a lead, panicking, driving them away, and then returning to square one!
5. Taking Advice From the Wrong Sources
The feeling of spinning your sales wheels yet going absolutely nowhere is pervasive amongst sales leaders. Given that it's such a pervasive issue, you would think that most sales-related resources, including books and online training, would have the kind of information you need to get back on track.
However, that isn't the case in reality.
Instead, what is reality is that more sources out there, while they have plenty of valuable information, don't explain to sales leaders how to apply that information to their situation. In that case, the information is virtually worthless.
That being said, stop wasting your time reading the same old sales books and taking the same old online courses that have never worked for you before. You don't need any more knowledge… The truth is that you’re already more than smart enough!!
Instead of more knowledge, what you need is empowerment. Empowerment is the thing that enables you to apply knowledge to situations when you're stuck in the mud and can’t get out.
Knowledge without action means nothing! Unless you have the right knowledge and know what to do with it, you'll spin your wheels forever.
Not All Training Is Created Equal
Have you realized yet that you've already got all the smarts and now just need the empowerment to apply those smarts?
If so, your best bet at stopping the endless cycle of attaining more knowledge only for it not to help you at all is a top-tier sales enablement course, or online sales training, taught by an industry insider.
And, not just any insider, but one with a proven track record of producing results by both educating and empowering.
Don't just take advice... Instead, invest in sales enablement to empower yourself so that you can dig yourself out of the mud and never get stuck again!
CEO Coaching
Perhaps the single-best best source you can go to for not just sales advice but for becoming a better sales leader is a CEO coach.
Top tier CEO coaching is less about giving you sales-related advice and more about drawing out the skills and knowledge you already have, and then applying it to everyday sales scenarios.
What better person to help you stop spinning your wheels for good than someone who has stood in your exact shoes before and knows exactly what you're going through (AKA a CEO coach)?
6. Spending Time Doing Things They Despise Doing
Remember being in high school and forcing yourself to study for a test on a subject you absolutely hated only to get a mediocre grade? On the other hand, remember studying for a test on a subject you loved and easily getting an excellent grade?
Yeah… Forcing yourself to do something you despise doing makes it much, much harder to be successful at it!
And while you might be beyond high school and standardized testing, that concept doesn't simply go away…
That being said, if you're spending all your time doing sales-related tasks that you despise doing, then don't expect to excel at them! Or, at least expect to find it much more difficult to be successful doing them.
For example, if you despise lead generation but absolutely love working with the top stakeholders in the later stages of the sales funnel, you're much more likely to perform poorly qualifying leads but excel at getting the decision-makers to make buying decisions in your favor.
Yes, you can't always be happy and smile all the time, but happiness isn’t the goal anyway! It's one thing to be happy and a whole other thing to feel fulfilled... You can feel bouts of unhappiness and still be fulfilled, but it's rare to be unfulfilled and happy.
Not only that, but it's okay to be unhappy sometimes, but not okay to slump through life feeling unfulfilled.
Just like in high school, if you despise doing what you're doing, you'll likely spin your wheels forever and go nowhere.
Still Wasting Your Precious Time?
It's not rocket science: If you despise doing what you're doing and simply feel like you're wasting your time in sales, then you're probably not going to get anywhere.
On top of that, if you’re a CEO or B2B sales leader and despise what you’re doing, you’re not really a business leader… Rather, you’re just working a glorified 9-5 shift.
At the end of the day, if you don't feel fulfilled doing what you're doing, you're not only wasting your precious time, but you will likely stay stuck in the mud forever.
Sure, you can hate what you're doing and still perform well at it, but it's not very likely. Additionally, your hard work would certainly pay off better elsewhere!
Sacrificing your time for some piece of the selling process that you despise isn't worth it. If that's the case for you, then you'll probably spin your wheels forever and never make it out.
7. Putting Energy Into the Wrong Channels
You might be spinning your wheels faster than ever before using only the best sales techniques, but it doesn't matter if you're putting all that effort into the wrong channel.
For example, you might be going ham on cold outreach thinking that it’s what you need to increase sales, when in reality your B2B marketing strategy is a total mess and it's pointless to focus on cold calling when your marketing only throws prospects for a loop.
Bottom line: You can spin your wheels as fast as you want, but you won't go anywhere if you aren't spinning them in the right direction!
Use Your Sales Strategy As a Blueprint
So, how do you know which outlets you should be putting your energy into?
Simple... In order to know what you need to be doing, you first need to develop a full-proof sales strategy. Think of the strategy as the element in between your vision and sales goals.
Moreover, the strategy should:
- Act as a blueprint to manifest your vision
- Function as an outline of the tasks you need to accomplish to manifest the vision (AKA, it should determine the sales and other business goals you need to achieve)
When you have a strategy, you not only know what needs to be done, but also the priority of the things that need to get done.
As a result, you'll spin your wheels in the right direction to get yourself out of the mud!
Final Thoughts On Why B2B Sales Leaders Put In Work But Go Nowhere
If you want your B2B company to succeed, then you need to tackle that stuck-in-the-mud feeling with sales, first and foremost.
Bad sales results = bad business results.
Now that you know both why you're spinning your wheels and not moving but also how to start moving forward again, there's no excuse not to get out of the mud.
Business success comes down to sales success! Will you get yourself out of the mud to achieve not just your sales goals, but create the business and life you've always dreamed of?
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