5 Tips for Developing Your B2B Sales Use social media to research your customers, yes, but also research your competition.
By AJ Agrawal Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Your B2B sales campaign is all about being able to attract prospects and keep them there. But winning customer loyalty is easier said than done when the majority of businesses are receiving over ten sales presentations every single day. You need to develop your B2B sales strategy so you can increase your conversion rates.
Related: 7 Ways to Leverage Existing Customers for More Sales
Here are the best ways by which you can develop your B2B sales strategy and take advantage of an industry that's growing by 14 percent per year:.
1. Use social media to know more about your competition.
Social media is often used for researching customers. B2B companies especially should use this tool to find out more about their competition.
The leading social media network for B2B companies is LinkedIn. It's quickly become a hub for professionals in this industry. Follow the major influencers in your niche to learn what they're doing. The more data you can gather, the better.
You don't necessarily have to copy what others are doing, but you can quickly find out what is and isn't working for them.
2. Learn to differentiate yourself from the competition.
The key to long-term success in B2B sales is to constantly differentiate yourself from the competition. Naturally, this is easier said than done. The moment you find something unique, the clock starts ticking down. It won't be long before someone else copies your idea.
But differentiation should still be at the top of your priorities list. You should always stay one and two steps ahead of your competitors.
Leveraging the unique elements you have will help you to stand out from your leads' perspective.
3. Stop cold-calling, start researching.
Everything in the world of sales revolves around data. One area where data comes in handy is in figuring out how likely a business is to respond to you in a positive way. The reality is that cold-calling is no longer the best use of your time. Less than 5 percent of cold calls will lead to anything.
Researching your prospects in advance will make it easy to establish a relationship and to figure out where your offering fits in with your prospect's business model.
The majority of businesses have no time for cold calls. They'll quickly cut you off because they don't want to have to waste their time explaining their company to you.
Yes, researching takes time. You'll have no choice but to reduce the number of leads you're getting in contact with. But you'll be increasing your chances of converting those leads.
Related: Don't Wage a Price War. Win Sales by Eliminating Your Competition.
4. Cut to the chase.
The B2B sales cycle should contain as few steps as possible. Your prospects don't want to listen to the long speeches and sales fluff you come up with. They want to know how you're going to solve a problem for them. They want to know how your solution is going to directly or indirectly make them more money.
Show respect for the time your lead has. Think about an elevator pitch approach and how you can pitch your solution in that same amount of your time. Your solution should be easily explained in less than a minute.
Create a strong value proposition and let your prospect decide if it's worth it.
Improve on your long-term ideas.
So many companies are obsessed with closing the sale right now. This is short-term thinking. B2B companies will live or die based on the number of customers who stick with them through thick and thin. The best B2B companies are concerned with closing the sale, but more so with building their own reputations. That's what convinces other people to approach them and then come back for more.
So, think about how you're going to build your reputation. Have a long-term plan, which will include getting back to people after they've bought into your unique selling proposition.
As the relationship advances, have a strategy for how you're going to upsell.
Conclusion -- developing your B2B sales for the better,
Developing your B2B sales the right way will ultimately lead to getting more customers, including more long-term ones. That's why it's important to change the way you approach lead generation and think about building relationships instead of closing sales.
Related: 9 Ways to Beat the Competition By Selling Less
How are you going to develop your B2B sales campaign today?
