The business world is a jungle. If your company deals in selling products and services to other companies and not directly to consumers, you must be painfully aware of the competitive and brutal nature of the B2B business world. It's a world full of deep-pocketed customers who are the target of multiple sellers. Now, this business environment seems too overwhelming, too frustrating, and too difficult. However, you can successfully stand out among the crowd and dominate sales in the B2B market with a few innovative strategies.
But this is only if your sales are too slow or too insufficient such that you don't see yourself reaching your next revenue target. Because no one wants to be stagnant year in year out. The business world is constantly changing both in technology and trends, so it's only logical that you, as a visionary and innovative entrepreneur, want to move with the current and implement change. So here, we discuss a few practical tricks to help you dominate and boost your B2B sales.
Your B2B Sales Should be Tailored to Solve a Specific Problem
When we experience problems in our daily lives, we look for products or services to solve those problems. A customer will come to you because they have a problem that makes them uncomfortable, so they need your product or service to solve it. A sick person will rush to your health facility to get treatment the same way a car owner will drop by a gas station to fill up the tank and get to his destination. In short, we are all consumers of one product or service. And we often seek these items that act in our best interests to solve our problems.
So when you develop new strategies to dominate the sales funnel, bear in mind that there's a discomfort, a problem somewhere that compels the consumer to buy from you. And one of the secrets to successful B2B sales is identifying the problem, or rather the customer's need. A professional salesperson must be able to identify and assess a customer's needs then recommend the best solution that will eliminate that problem.
Here's how the solution selling strategy works:
In most cases, your targeted prospect may not be aware that they have a problem that requires a solution. In such cases, you must first let the prospect know that they have a problem, a technique known as solution selling. With this strategy, merely recommending a product isn't enough, not if it doesn't completely eliminate the problem. Therefore, go for the root cause of the problem, and create a solution specifically for that particular prospect. This calls for empathy for the client.
Here's an example. Suppose you supply perishable goods to a convenience store. Do you take time to advise the client on proper and safe storage techniques to prolong the product's shelf life? Can you in any way recommend a solution that will help the client cut down on losses? The advantage of solution selling is that it addresses the customer's pain points, thereby bringing value and ROI. If they understand the value you are adding to them, they're likely to buy from you.
Here's how to apply solution selling to your sales strategy:
- Identify the customers' problems and needs. What is the root cause of all these problems? How can you classify these in terms of importance, urgency, and overall impact?
- Demonstrate how your product or service will solve the problem entirely by getting rid of an issue, promoting efficiency, and boosting the company brands, etc.
- If the product can help the customer save time and money, show them how much time and money they'll save. Give them an estimate if need be, anything to convince them. Can your product help lift the customer's brand image? In what capacity?
Your Belief in Your Product Determines the Outcome
Your beliefs in your product or solutions determine the final outcome of the sales. Genuine belief enables you to approach customers and close deals much quicker and confidently. Therefore, you need to train your salespeople to believe in your company's products and services because:
They need to be confident: No one can make a sale if they don't have confidence in what they are selling. And your team can't have that confidence if they don't believe in your products. Maybe the issue isn't with the product. It could be how you solve the customers' problems, how you price the solutions, product availability, or even distribution network. Ensure you pass all this information to your sales reps and managers to improve their confidence. Just so you know, consumers are intelligent and can tell if a person is confident in whatever they are selling based on their presentation. Therefore, consider regular B2B sales training for your team.
Integrity and Ethics: If you are aware that you're not selling anything that brings value but instead you're manipulating people to make a sale, there's no way you'll believe in your solution, leave alone convince prospective customers to buy from you. When your sales team is caught in a dilemma of ethics and integrity, they may fail to maintain persuasion and ultimately fail to close a sale. Therefore, giving customers value helps fulfill your moral obligations to your customers.
Once again, consumers are smart enough to see through a manipulative sales approach. So your belief should be factual and should be demonstrated through honesty. Be ready to answer any questions regarding your products or services, train your sales team on solution selling, and enlist the services of a sales coach or mentor to help your team gain the much-needed confidence.
Show Empathy; Sales are Emotional
Empathy helps you relate to other people's emotions. It's about putting yourself in another person's shoes and appreciating the feelings that support it. When you are empathetic, you can clearly see problems and solutions from a customer's point of view. The trick here is to use emotions to sell instead of logic. This tactic is called emotional selling, and it depends on human behavior or elements.
Emotional selling relies on proven human behavior to close sales. Emotions significantly impact decisions, so you should make the most of them. For instance, you can make a mistake that may make you appear stupid. And since you believe that you are an intelligent person, this may stress you up.
So how does emotion selling work?
Each customer has a specific emotion, and doing a little research into your customers can help you understand them better and what motivates them.
For instance, a customer may be motivated by pride. In which case they may respond to your solutions in a way that makes them appear intelligent. In such a scenario, you should employ a B2B sales language that informs the prospect that the solution you're offering them will improve their perceived image or exposure. Such a prospect might care about their reputation, influence, or prestige. In which case you should reassure them that your solution will maintain that.
On the other hand, if your prospect is motivated by fear, you should emphasize the consequences of inaction. Show the client what will happen to their business if they fail to buy and push them toward quick decision making.
Finally, train your team on emotional selling to help them acquire the best B2B customer service skills and sales presentation. If your sales reps are busy with the same old product description approach, then you are missing out on one crucial B2B sales strategy, which is emotional selling.
Ensure Your Sales are Focused on the Customer
It's so easy to focus on yourself and forget all about the customer. Whenever you interact with the customer, they should be the center of your focus. Meaning you shouldn't be too engrossed in yourself, your needs, your goals and forget about engaging the customer. There are many ways through which you can improve customer focus. These are:
Listening
Part of your B2B sales training for your salespeople should emphasize the importance of listening to your clients. Not only does this help them to gather as much crucial information as possible about the client, but it also helps them understand the clients' problems. Training your sales team to have a customer-focused attitude will make it easy for them to approach, engage, as well as offer helpful solutions to customers. Also, ask questions that encourage the customer to provide suggestions on the ideal solutions they know will work.
Focus on Providing Solutions
We have said it before. But we still feel the need to emphasize the importance of presenting your products or services as a solution to the customer's problems instead of presenting it as a product that the customer must buy. Let the customer explain the challenges or discomfort they are facing. Then prove to them how your product will help eliminate that problem. The key focus should always be providing value.
Understand What Circumstances the Customer is Facing Right Now
Your customer is in a situation that causes them discomfort, and they need a solution that will relieve that discomfort. But be careful. Before promising your ideal solution, first, understand what the discomfort is and address their pain points. Each client has a specific pain point that is unique to themselves. However, you can classify them together in the following criteria:
Financial Pain Point
The customer is losing a lot of money on this particular problem, so they want a solution that will take care of the problem once and for all. That way they will save money. Consider proposing a lower price in such a scenario. If the cost can't be brought down, suggest that they invest in a high-quality product that will save them money in the long run. Explain your pricing models and if you offer discounts on a particular purchase.
Time Pain Point
The customer spends a lot of time on a particular task or issue; hence they need a time-efficient solution. Show the customer how what you are offering them will save their time, e.g., if it reduces redundancy or if it has automated features that performs tasks efficiently.
Process Pain Point
The client needs to boost their internal operations and processes. Demonstrate how your offerings can be incorporated into their processes to minimize communication errors and cut down on time wasted. Prove how your offerings make the job easier for the customer.
Support Pain Point
The client lacks the necessary support. So you have to reassure them that you'll be there for them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Do this by highlighting your communication models. Assist the prospect to understand which channels to use to reach you whenever they need your help.
So how do you know about the customer's pain points?
- You ask them: Ask your existing customers to leave reviews on your website, share their feedback on social media, participate in surveys, etc.
- You evaluate their feedback: Go through the feedback you've shared by clients after some time. Analyze their opinion, suggestions, as well as complaints about your products or services. This will help you identify your weakest points and boost your B2B sales tactics.
Be a Source of Help to Your Customers
Your customers need reassurance that they can depend on you. Best customer service includes going out of your way to provide help for your clients. You can give your customers a better experience when you :
Manage your responsibilities: Being a helpful CEO or leader doesn't mean you should help everyone. Agreeing to assist everyone at any time will stretch your capabilities. You'll be overwhelmed so much that you won't even manage to help out in the first place. And the last thing you want is to fail to meet the customer's expectations since that is one way to lose them to your competitors. To prevent this catastrophe, learn to manage your responsibilities, know when to say yes and when to request more time.
Use these B2B sales tactics in all your customer services. If yours is a shortage of customer service representatives to answer night calls, then don't offer this service. Instead, think of other alternatives such as self-help pages or chatbots. And don't forget to let your clients know that you are only reachable during daylight or work hours
Offer reliable communication: Always inform your clients of any updates beforehand and avoid short notices or last-minute surprises. For example, if you experience a service interruption or scheduled maintenance, let your clients know immediately and reassure them that you're working to resolve the issue. If a customer complains, politely apologize and see how to solve the problem.
Keep your word: With each B2B selling, always finish with the same zeal you started. Let your loyal clients serve as proof that you do what you say and say what you do.
Analyze the Impact
In some cases, your customers may not know that they have a problem that needs an urgent solution. In other instances, they may be aware of it but choose to look the other way. Work toward improving your customer' awareness and encourage them to make quick decisions. Quantifying the impact of a problem helps erase any elements of ambiguity and allows you to create personalized solutions.
An example is when a client mentions that they are recording low sales. Before suggesting a solution, find out about their current customers, leads, and overall target. Once you have the numbers, help your clients on the ideal number of prospects to target in their B2B sales tactics going forward. If you can point out to them the importance of customer retention, the better.
If theirs is a case of inefficient internal operations, encourage them to learn how to navigate their internal systems. The critical takeaway is to identify and clarify the challenges, quantify their impact, and offer result-oriented solutions.
Don't be Afraid to Dig Deeper
Simple or vague questions lead to simple answers, which obviously are unsatisfactory and non-beneficial to your B2B clients. Typically a customer will come to you with a genuine problem but may not be able to express themselves accurately. In which case, it's up to you to create an inviting atmosphere where you can dig deeper into their problems and frustrations, thereby giving you a clear perspective of what troubles them.
Perhaps you can call them to ask how they are doing both in life and business. Or maybe they're struggling to stay in the game, in which case you should refer to our number two B2B sales tactics and employ empathy to earn their trust. Let them pour out their frustrations and respond accordingly. Who knows, maybe all they wanted was someone to listen to them, reassure them.
At this point, you might want to consider working with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to enable you to separate your customers into various categories, save personal information, track your business relationship history, and manage your current relationship. CRM software are reliable tools that make it easy to follow your leads and prospects and utilize their specific data to provide a customized customer experience. Also, let your sales team have access to prospects' information before they begin any sales interactions with them.
Make Offers Where Necessary
After all the work of attracting, acquiring, and retaining prospects, and after ascertaining their pain points, giving them a listening ear, and offering them multiple solutions, a prospect may still not make a purchase. I know; it's both frustrating and unfair.
A client refusing to take your offer may be due to several factors, such as your pricing; the solution may be way above the budget. Or maybe what you are offering may be time and effort-consuming. This is yet another problem which you have to solve.
Suppose the issue is financial constraints; how about offering a discount or a lower pricing mode? Alternatively, discuss a flexible pricing option that benefits both of you.
If the prospect is worried about the time and energy they'll need to invest in the solution, you can offer to help them out to minimize their workload. For instance, you can offer free B2B sales training for their sales team or reliable customer support. Create a simple offer that will compel the client to close the deal right away.
Boost Your Sales With World-Class Sales Training
So far, you've learned some of the best B2B sales tips and hacks. Now is the time to implement each strategy to dominate the sales space and close more deals.
There's no better way to level up your sales tactics and increase business growth than joining one of the top B2B Sales Training Programs on the planet.
If you're hungry for more then check out Deal Flow Accelerator, where you'll acquire proven tactical and actionable training that will accelerate your B2B sales and business growth.
Deal Flow Accelerator happens once per quarter and usually sells out, so we suggest you apply today and see if it's a good fit for you and your organization.
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