Selling to the New B2B buyer?

It’s a fact; selling is not easy!!!

As customers become aware of more options in the market, getting increased sales conversions in a short span has become a challenge. One needs to have a sharp mind to read their psychology and later remodel the sales pitch to target every customer and crack the deal. As per the Harvard Business Review, a prescriptive approach could increase the likelihood of the purchase:

As seen in the below graph, almost 86% of the customers felt comfortable with the prescriptive approach.

Source: hbr.org

But does it apply in all scenarios?

Not really.

Buying decisions in a B2B industry solely does not depend on one person. There is a complete hierarchy of decision-makers who have to give the final nod to sign the deal.

With such a tricky path, how do representatives maintain their sanity to reach the target?

There is no firm and specified answer to that, but yes some of the hacks worked wonders for them.

In this blog, the discussion would revolve around those tactics to alleviate your marketing challenges:

1. Connections on Social Media:

Social media is the powerhouse of getting the right B2B connections. Of late, many B2B organizations are making their presence on this platform to be visible to a new audience. They are sharing good content, answering the relevant questions, and projecting themselves as industry experts. It’s a good initiative and one could grab a considerable number of eyeballs further in the process.

Also, remember, you have to be genuine about your promotional activities. Do not go overboard and make claims that you cannot provide. Customers are smart and can immediately find out the false promises. Not only you lose them but also your credibility.

Ever heard of the adage, “wolves in sheep clothing,” you may not like it but they would put your brand in the list of one of the unreliable ones.  Now, marketers should not overthink, too much subtle and genuine content could kill the creativity, but that’s not the case.

Just as you see, Tim Soulo, CMO at Ahref, made the right attempt to converse with a new customer. This implies you can still pitch your product in a subtle way.

As per a statement by Mark Fidelman, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Fanatics Media:

“78% of the salespeople using social media outsell their peers.” So, it becomes necessary to optimize this tactic for generating excellent results. – salesflare.com

Source: salesflare.com

The pictorial representation showcases the fundamentals of social selling.  It explains different aspects of the social selling such as social listening, research, content development, keeping an eye over competitor, precise sharing, interaction approach, and acting on the right data.

2. Recommendations:

You cannot ignore this part. Recommendations in the B2B industry have the same importance as in any other industry.

Customers want to see how the service helped the business accomplishments of their peers. One thing you need to understand, while your product might be good, potential users still want to know whether it is feasible in their process. And most likely, they would find it from other users having the same requirements as their own.

So, make a point that your existing customer is completely satisfied to recommend your product to others.

3. Train Your Representatives:

Your representatives do not need to be ambidextrous to bring the right sale!!!

They just have to be proactive in finding the best opportunity. It can happen by reskilling every representative with the right practice and technology.

According to a CSO finding, sales representatives who receive proper training and reskilling achieve almost 73% of their target. – criteriaforsuccess.com

4. Finding the Most Important Decision-Maker:

Just as we discussed, there are many decision-makers involved in a B2B deal, but you need to find the one whose opinion outweighs the other. This would significantly tone down the complexity of the entire process. It would also shorten the sales cycle resulting in increased conversions at the targeted time.

Source: foundationinc.co

The B2B sales cycle is not the same as it was a year ago and you can understand it from this illustration. It has increased significantly to add to the challenges of the seller.

Now, let’s acknowledge it’s just not the sellers who find it complex even buyers feel the same challenge. With the more demanding requirements, buyers are checking whether the service is perfectly aligning with their process.

As per a Gartner report, almost 77% of the buyers found their latest purchase difficult. This is because any B2B decision could have a great impact on the process, and results of the organization. Given the cut-throat competition, one cannot afford to make any mistake.

So, as you understand the whole scenario, not only do you need to find the crucial person in the decision-making strategy, but also convince them of the higher output with the integration of your service.

5. Opening the Can of Worms:

Overlooking the issue does not mean that it does not exist!!!

Many representatives fail to recognize, engagement has a crucial role in the conversion rate. Why do you think buyers check 13 pieces of content before going for the service?

Obviously to check the credibility of your service. While the content does not prove it, but a quality content surely makes them believe that the service would also be good.

Making the connection with the customer at the right time does not solve all. One needs to keep the conversation going, and the more the customer spends time listening about your service or reading your content, the more it increases the chances of conversion.

6. Including Important Information in a Sales Pitch:

Here the thing to note for sales representative- before reaching out to the customer, the ball is in their court. They need to draft the best sales pitch to meet the needs of their customer.

The crucial points to be added to it are:

• What customers know about you?
• What are your future goals?
• How your service could help their business accomplishments?

These are the introductory points to set the right ambiance; later you can modify the pitch with the flow.

7. Content is Not Only for the Marketers:

Sales representatives can also use the power of content marketing. Much has been talked about the sales and marketing alignment, so here we can say without a doubt that sales representatives do need to learn the basics to attract prospects via the content.

They need not be experts like the marketers but still knowing the fundamentals of sending the right content aligned with the business interests of the buyer could make their work easier.

They can share various forms of content such as blogs, case studies, white paper, infographics to their high-end customers. It would give the right vibes as the customer would feel the representative understand the ins and outs of their business and have solutions to resolve it.

Conclusion:

Every relationship is built on trust.

When you know the pain points of your customer, half of the challenge is resolved. You can then move on to the next steps to convince them with the best tactics, techniques, and others.

The blog explores some of the useful methods to sell your service to a new B2B customer. You can use it and check how it impacts your campaign!!!