What is B2B sales? That can be a tricky question to answer. In truth, it's a pretty broad term that can encompass a range of industries, organizational strategies, personal techniques, sales process structures, methodologies, and roles — so as you can imagine, the prospect of writing a comprehensive guide on the concept is pretty imposing. But hey! My living literally depends on my ability to make “imposing” sales concepts accessible.
So to those of you who are curious as to what “B2B sales” means, I‘m going to try to cover as many of the bases I listed above as possible and offer some clarity — and to help me help you, I’ve gathered some key data, connected with sales leaders in my network, and put in a gosh darn lot of effort to string together as thorough a B2B sales guide as possible.
Check it out!
B2B vs. B2C Sales: How They’re Different
Trends in B2B Sales to Watch in 2024 [New Data]
How to Create a B2B Sales Process
What is B2B sales?
B2B sales is short for business-to-business sales. It describes the transaction of products and services from one business to another. B2B sales transactions can happen in person or online.
At a high level, the concept of B2B sales is pretty straightforward — it‘s literally in the name. It’s when one or more stakeholders from one business (generally from the sales department) sell something to one or more stakeholders from another business, specifically to serve business interests.
In many cases, B2B sales involve high deal values and long sales cycles — after all, they're conducted at an organizational level. That generally means B2B deals…
- Impact several stakeholders
- Involve multiple decision-makers
- Require significant financial investments
- Revolve around products or services that might require onboarding
…along with several other elements that make them particularly labor-intensive, high-stakes, and finicky. But for all of their value, prevalence, and significance, research from Zippia indicates that they only represented 23.6% of all sales in 2023 — and if we‘re being real, if you Googled "B2B sales," I’m guessing you already know that sales isn't limited to B2B.
But still, for the sake of this article‘s flow and ranking potential, I need to call out that there’s another type of sales called B2C. Now, who wants to see how the two differ?
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B2B vs. B2C Sales: How They’re Different
As a quick refresher, “B2C” stands for business-to-consumer. That means a B2C sale involves stakeholders from a business selling directly to an individual who leverages the company's product or service for their personal needs or interests.
So from as high a level as possible, the difference between B2B and B2C is that the former is used for business needs and the former is used for individual consumption. Shocking — I know.
But if you want to get more granular, here are some more in-depth distinctions between the two — supported by this super neat graphic I made!
But if that doesn't provide enough context, here are a few more things that make B2B selling unique:
- B2B deal sizes tend to be larger than B2C ones. It makes sense, a B2B sale can have massive implications for an entire organization whereas a B2C deal generally impacts one individual consumer.
- B2B sales involve more stakeholders. Again, a B2B deal is conducted on an organizational level whereas a B2C sale is conducted on a personal one, so naturally, B2B sales tend to involve input from an average of five decision-makers (according to HubSpot's 2024 State of Sales Report).
- B2B sales cycles are longer. I keep touching on this, but B2B buying decisions are more complex and higher stakes than B2C ones. In turn, they involve a much more thorough, structured sales process — from prospecting to qualification to pitching to objection handling to closing. Those wider-reaching implications and more labor-intensive stages naturally extend the average B2B sales cycle beyond that of the average B2C one.
- A B2B business generally has a smaller total addressable market than a B2C one. This one is pretty straightforward — there are far fewer businesses than consumers. That automatically limits most B2B companies' markets, relative to their B2C counterparts.
- B2B selling involves higher acquisition costs. This is a natural extension of every point listed here. Selling bigger deals in smaller markets to more stakeholders across longer sales cycles means higher CAC.
- B2B marketing is generally more focused than B2C. B2B products and services are less applicable in daily life than B2C ones — they occupy much more narrow niches, so B2B marketing materials and efforts are much more likely to be channeled into industry-specific events and publications than B2C offerings.
Obviously, this list of differences isn't exhaustive, there are several other differences between the two brands of sales — and if you want some additional context, check out our post on B2C sales.
Now that you have a sense of some B2B sales fundamentals, let's get a picture of what the concept can look like in action.
B2B Sales Examples
While there is a wide range of industries for B2B sellers, there are four primary types of B2B selling: B2B SaaS sales, supplier/producer sales, producer/reseller sales, and Business-to-Government (B2G) sales. Here's a closer look at each one.
B2B SaaS
B2B Software as a Service — most commonly referred to as B2B SaaS — is one of the most prominent categories of products B2B salespeople sell. These solutions might include CRMs, project management software, or conversational intelligence programs. All of those products represent software solutions businesses can leverage for broader business interests.
Examples of B2B SaaS Sales
- HubSpot selling CRM software to small businesses
- Gong selling conversation intelligence software to sales orgs
- Asana selling project management solutions to enterprises
Supplier/Producer
A producer is a business that ultimately produces and sells finished goods — so the B2B sellers that sell into this market generally sell them the raw materials they need to use to manufacture those goods.
Examples of Supplier/Producer Sales
- Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) selling soybeans to food manufacturers
- Aramco selling crude oil to commercial airlines
- Brenntag selling chemicals to cosmetics companies
Producer/Resellers
Resellers sell the goods and services that other businesses produce. Resellers don't make any significant changes to these products, but they improve the visibility and reach of the products they carry and offer more focused distribution channels for finished goods.
Examples of Producer/Reseller Sales
- Kraft-Heinz selling food products to grocery stores
- Small businesses selling through online marketplaces like Amazon
- HP selling electronics through Walmart
Business-to-Government (B2G)
Governments around the world buy products, services, and raw materials to serve their communities. Businesses build partnerships with national, state, and local governments to support programs like highway repair, disaster relief, or public health.
Examples of B2G Sales
- Everstream Analytics selling risk management and supply chain software to government agencies
- Lockheed Martin selling equipment to the US Military
Now that you have a sense of the various forms B2B sales can take, let's look into some concrete statistics that are shaping the B2B sales landscape.
B2B Sales Statistics
To give you a little more context about the current state of B2B sales, we've pulled some B2B sales statistics from our 2024 State of Sales Report.
- 64% of B2B sales professionals offer self-service tools to buyers to help guide their purchase decisions.
- 52% of B2B sales pros say buyers use self-service tools more than they did before.
- 85% of them say self-service tools are effective.
- Sales pros who offer buyers self-service tools are 47% more likely to be performing better than their goals this year compared to those who don’t.
- 59% of B2B sales pros in the U.S. use sales enablement content — up from 48% in 2023.
- 31% say customer testimonials are the type of sales content that resonates most with prospects.
- 31% say its social media content.
- 30% say it's product demos.
- 79% of B2B sales pros who use sales enablement content say it's important to making a sale.
- The median B2B deal size is $4,000.
- 47% of all deals are between $1-$5,000.
With these stats in mind, let's explore the trends that are taking shape in the world of B2B sales.
Trends in B2B Sales to Watch in 2024 [New Data]
1. AI-related resources are becoming increasingly popular (if not essential) — you should probably start keeping up.
Want to hear a secret that you totally haven't been hearing anything about at all whatsoever for the past few years? AI is changing an awful lot of things.
Mind-blowing insight, right?
Regardless of how obvious that statement might sound, it's still worth calling out that AI is radically altering pretty much everything everywhere forever — and B2B sales is definitely no exception.
The game has changed for buyers and sellers alike. According to our 2024 Sales Trends Report, 63% of sales leaders say AI makes it easier for them to compete with other businesses in their industry.
Additionally, our State of AI report found that 71% of sales professionals said AI/automation tools impacted the way they planned to sell in 2023 — and 60% said AI-related tools were important to their overall sales strategy.
All of this to say, AI-related resources are becoming increasingly popular — to the point that it could be argued that these tools are transitioning from a “nice to have” to a “need to have” for B2B sales orgs.
What can you do about it?
As a B2B sales professional, the best thing you can do for yourself on the AI front is keep an open mind and be willing to embrace these resources as they become available to you. If your sales org folds a new AI-related resource into its tech stack, don't hold out from it out of stubbornness or routine.
AI resources can help with several facets of sales life — a lot of which are just time-consuming, grating, and inefficient. Our State of AI report found that the three most popular use cases for AI in sales are automating manual tasks (35%), offering data-driven insights (34%), and helping write sales content or prospect outreach messages (31%).
It probably won't serve you to keep handling those tasks manually — and the reps we surveyed agree. The sales pros who we contacted overwhelmingly said that these AI use cases help reach their goals.
2. You need to bolster your self-service resources.
We just touched on this in the previous section, but we're going to call it out again — self-service resources are becoming absolutely essential in the context of B2B sales. According to our 2024 State of Sales report:
- 64% of B2B sales professionals offer self-service tools to buyers to help guide their purchase decisions.
- 52% of B2B sales pros say buyers use self-service tools more than they did before.
- 85% of those sales professionals say self-service tools are effective.
- Sales pros who offer buyers self-service tools are 47% more likely to be performing better than their goals this year compared to those who don’t.
We‘re living in the era of the empowered buyer, so if you don’t offer your prospects the kind of resources that enable them to understand your product on their own — like demos, chatbots, free trials, and customer stories — you're selling yourself short.
Here's a closer look at some of the most popular self-service tools available.
What can you do about it?
If you have the authority to make decisions about your sales org's tech stack, consider investing in automated resources — like informational and action-oriented chatbots. You should also consider leveraging freemium options or free trials for your offering.
You should also invest in creating sales collateral like customer stories and case studies. Additionally, sales teams should work across departments to create and maintain product-oriented hubs like knowledge bases and FAQ pages.
Simply put, if you have the bandwidth and authority to invest time, energy, and capital into resources that make it easier for your buyers to acquaint themselves with your offering on their own time, do it.
As an individual rep, you can start capitalizing on this trend by making the buying process as seamless and simple as possible for your prospects — you want their experience with your product to start off on the right note.
From there, stay in touch with them. Ensure that everything is going smoothly on their end. Once they've officially gotten their sea legs with your product, ask them for reviews — positive customer testimonials can be some of the most effective self-service resources you can leverage.
As I said, we're living in the age of the empowered buyer — so naturally, you need to empower your buyers if you want to keep up.
3. You still get a ton of mileage out of happy customers.
It pays to keep your existing customers happy, and I mean that literally. Making an effort to keep customers delighted, engaged, and onboard is objectively more lucrative for B2B organizations than deprioritizing them.
According to a 2023 report from Zippia, customer referrals account for 54% of all B2B leads — and it might go without saying, but happy customers are much more likely to talk you up than ones who feel like they've been cast by the wayside.
But happy customers' value extends well beyond helping with lead generation. That same study found that returning customers, on the whole, generally have shorter sales cycles than new prospects — making winning repeat business particularly cost- and time-efficient.
And in our 2024 State of Sales Report, we found that 28% of sales professionals point to drawn-out sales processes as the biggest reason prospects back out of deals — meaning shorter sales cycles close more reliably and take strain off the reps involved.
What can you do about it?
One way you — as a sales rep — can capitalize on this trend is by consistently following up with prospects after closing. It might not seem like much, but letting prospects know you appreciate their business, providing them with support and relevant resources, and checking in every now and then can go a long way in retaining business and making room for upselling.
At an organizational level, businesses should invest in effective, reliable support and customer success infrastructures. It's a little bit of a cliche buzzword at this point, but “delighting” your existing customer base is essential if you want to minimize churn and generate additional revenue from the people you already serve.
4. You need to educate your customers.
The Zippia report I just referenced also found that the number one selling point for B2B buyers is insightful content, with 51% relying on content for pre-purchase research. Zippia's research also found that buyers are five times more likely to engage with a sales rep who imparts new insights about their business.
Buyers are becoming less receptive to aggressive marketing and more inclined to buy from companies that tailor their approaches and add value at every stage of the sales process. Personalization is the future, and this point is a key byproduct of that trend.
What can you do about it?
So what does this mean for you, as a sales rep? Well, simply put, you better know your s***.
You can start by developing extensive product knowledge. Understand everything you possibly can about your solution — its features, its key benefits, its shortcomings, its strengths, its pricing structure, its place in your competitive landscape, who usually buys it, who never buys it, your ICP, your buyer personas, and virtually anything else you can think of that might clue you into the questions prospects might ask and the answers you should give.
From there, you need to conduct extensive research before any viable sales engagement. What is this prospect dealing with? Why are they looking for a solution like yours? Do they already leverage a product that does what yours does? What is their budget? How is their company faring financially? What is its mission? How does it present itself? Who are its competitors?
Scour public-facing resources for any kind of context you can get on your prospect's business. Look at any content it publishes. Brush up on its industry and competition. One way or another, gather enough context to offer insightful guidance, explain the specific benefits your prospect can expect to see and why, and thoroughly address any concerns they might have as they arise.
5. You need to thoroughly prepare before dealing with prospects.
The 2023 report from Zippia I‘ve been referencing also found that prospects often find that B2B sales reps haven’t done their homework well enough — 82% of B2B buyers complained that the sales professionals they deal with are underprepared. More specifically:
- 78% were unhappy with the complete lack of case studies or examples sales reps could share with them.
- 77% don’t believe sales reps understand their issues or how the B2B’s products could solve them.
- 75% say that reps didn’t come prepared with knowledge of their business.
I'm sure there are plenty of B2B sales professionals who might resent those sentiments, but you know what they say: “The customer is always right.” They‘re the ones paying, so it’s on you to adjust.
What can you do about it?
The short answer? Your homework. You need to prepare as thoroughly as you can ahead of your engagement with prospects — but I understand that might be tricky, especially in certain sales roles.
For instance, if you're an SDR, you might be reaching out to a (ridiculously) high volume of prospects every day. It might not be 100% viable for you to memorize the mission statement and leadership team of every organization you connect with.
If that‘s the case, make sure you understand your vertical as well as you possibly can. Know the kinds of businesses you’re engaging with. Understand the pain points they most commonly run into. Have a bank of relevant examples and case studies, and take any other strides you can to make sure you can improvise insightfully.
If you‘re further up the ladder, it’s on you to go in-depth on the accounts you‘re looking to close or manage. Zero in on the public facing materials you can find, diagnose your target’s issues via the insight you gather both through those resources and more involved knowledge you accumulate throughout the sales process, and go into every conversation thoroughly prepared.
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B2B Sales Strategies
1. Be likable, but remember you‘re not trying to be your prospect’s best friend.
Zach Drollinger, Senior Director of Sales at Coursedog, says B2B salespeople need to toe the line when getting familiar with prospects. He says, “You can't do well in B2B sales if you're not likable, but there's a line. I've seen reps get too caught up in being liked by a prospect that they forget to be professional. You're trying to convert them into a customer, not a new best friend.”
How to Do It
This can be tricky, but you need to bear in mind that a B2B sale is a professional engagement — and it should be treated as that, above all else. Frame yourself as a consultative, helpful resource, and prioritize educating your buyer above socializing with them. Don‘t be cold, callous, or rude, but don’t sacrifice too much frankness or authority either.
2. Sell yourself (not literally).
Bryan Berlier, Senior Sales Executive at Oracle, stressed the importance of selling yourself beyond your offering when conducting B2B sales. He says, "When selling B2B, you‘re not just selling your product, you’re selling yourself (not literally).
“You have to sell your prospect on you if they're going to trust you enough to buy. So show them that you actually care and know what you're talking about beyond your pitch — be confident, empathetic, and prepped.”
How to Do It
Come ready and composed — and be able to speak to the context around a deal that might not be covered in your immediate plans for the conversation. Successful B2B selling starts with you framing yourself as a thoughtful, consultative resource for a prospect. So avoid coming off as a rigid, transactional sales machine.
3. Ask for referrals.
Former HubSpot Sales Director Dan Tyre stressed the importance of following up with prospects for referrals in B2B sales. He says, “This is so important but so easy to skip over. Call current customers and ask for referrals. When was the last time you got a call from a vendor who thanked you for your business? Never? Exactly. Wouldn't you be impressed if you got a call?”
How to Do It
Tyre offers this example of how to approach this kind of call: “Mr. Fuchs, this is Dan from HubSpot. I am calling you to thank you for being a great customer. Over the last few months, you've seen some solid growth. I'm calling to thank you for your business, give you my cell phone number, and let you know that if you ever have a question, you can call me directly. We hope to be a great partner for years to come. By the way, do you know anyone else who might be a good fit for our product or services?”
4. Be an expert on all things your product.
Sunny Sandhu, Account Executive at Ascent Cloud, suggests that all B2B salespeople take the time to really know their product. He says, "Know what your offering does inside and out. It pays to know every small nuance about what makes your product or service the best choice for the person you're speaking with and how it differentiates from solutions like it.
“I used to dread hopping on the phone in the first few days of starting a sales role. But as I learned more about my industry, product, and the value we could bring, I became that much more confident. Calls became exciting when I finally knew I was fully equipped to address concerns and answer even the most technical of questions.”
How to Do It
Like so many other elements we‘ve touched on in this guide, the key to delivering on this strategy is doing your homework. Take the time to develop extensive product knowledge, a thorough understanding of your competitive landscape, and a top-to-bottom picture of your vertical. With all of that in mind, you’ll be able to craft a compelling value proposition and conduct more effective B2B sales efforts.
6. Focus on improving lead targeting.
Tyre also emphasized how successful B2B sales can rest upon the quality of your leads. He says, “Great leads generate reliable sales. Not-so-great leads can leave you hanging on for days or weeks while you put in the effort — only for them to go with another brand.”
How to Do It
According to Dan, the best way to deliver on this point is to “[refine] your lead targeting process with a focus on eliminating leads that are unlikely to buy or may take significant time to convince. By creating a set of qualifying criteria for B2B leads such as their current position, previous purchase history, and how the lead was generated — did they reach out or did you contact them — your team can pinpoint leads more likely to purchase.”
Now let’s walk through what a successful B2B sales process could look like.
How to Create a B2B Sales Process
- Conduct market research.
- Determine your ideal buyer persona.
- Map out the buyer's journey.
- Qualify leads.
- Meet face-to-face.
- Close the deal.
- Track your results and improve.
1. Conduct market research.
Begin the B2B sales process by performing high-level market research to understand the current state of demand for your offering. Get clear on who your competitors are in your segment, and familiarize yourself with their techniques and strategies to understand what messaging your prospects are hearing from other sources.
2. Determine your ideal buyer persona.
Take time to figure out what companies fit your buyer persona. Besides considering what your prospects sell or offer, be on the lookout for contextual information about how business is progressing. For example:
- Have they recently launched a new product?
- If you are selling to startups, did they recently close a round of fundraising?
- Have they had any leadership changes in the past six months?
Utilizing an email finder tool can significantly streamline the process of finding the right buyer, ensuring efficient outreach and maximizing your sales efforts. This information can help you find out if companies are ready to invest in your offerings, and is a helpful addition to your buyer persona information.
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3. Map out the buyer’s journey.
Now that you are clear on who your audience is and how your offering will serve them, it's time to map out how the customer will purchase your offering. To do this, walk through the steps a potential customer could take to reach your product or service.
Typically, prospective customers go through the following stages when making a purchase:
- Awareness: The buyer realizes they have a problem or pain point.
- Consideration: The buyer figures out how to solve the problem, and is researching different products or offerings that could help.
- Decision: The buyer compares available options, and decides which course of action to take.
As part of your sales process, you should be able to identify and track where your prospects are in the sales journey. Doing so empowers you to strategize so you can put forth tactics that will meet them where they are in the process.
For example, say a company is in the awareness stage of a buying decision. Inundating them with pricing or product information wouldn’t be appropriate because they have not decided to make a purchase to solve the problem yet. They are simply acknowledging that the problem exists.
4. Qualify leads.
A sales-qualified lead is a lead that is ready for a direct sales pitch. Everyone who shows interest in your offering won’t turn into a qualified lead. When you’re figuring out if a B2B prospect is sales-qualified, ask them questions like this:
- What problem are you trying to fix? — This question will help you find what product or offer to recommend as the sales process progresses.
- Have you tried to solve this problem before? If yes, why didn’t the previous solutions work? — This question will give you important context about what will and won’t work to solve the customer’s problem. Additionally, you’ll know exactly what pain points to speak to if your product is the right fit.
Who makes the final purchasing decisions? — In B2B you’re not selling directly to a consumer. So, you may have to work with several points of contact to close the deal. Understanding who you need to involve to make the final decision, what that process will look like, and the total budget can help shape your sales strategy.
5. Meet face-to-face.
If your customer’s needs and your products or services align, try to communicate face-to-face as much as possible. As we’ve discussed, B2B sales are higher-stakes in nature, and it may take more time to close a sale.
Meeting face-to-face (in person, or through video) to answer the customer’s questions, deliver your pitch, and address concerns can help you build trust with the customer. That relationship is harder to create over the phone or through email.
6. Close the deal.
As the sale comes to a close, the work isn’t done. If the result is a sale, now is the time to facilitate an agreement outlining the payment terms. You may also want to coordinate with your company’s service organization to make sure that onboarding and support are ready for your customer.
If the result isn’t a sale, thank the prospect for their time and offer to stay in touch to support any needs they have in the future. Sometimes a “no” is simply a “not right now” and you gained valuable insight that will support future sales.
7. Track results and improve.
High-performing sales teams are constantly measuring the results of their processes to improve. When you are regularly measuring and striving to improve the results of your organization’s B2B sales metrics, you and your team are able to improve productivity and overall performance. Key metrics B2B sales teams should be tracking include:
- Sales Productivity Metrics — Measuring sales rep productivity will help point out inefficiencies in your processes that may be costing you sales.
- Average Lead Response Time — In B2B sales, every minute matters. The sooner you can respond to a lead inquiry the more likely you are to land the sale, making average lead response time an essential metric to track.
- Marketing Qualified Leads to Sales Qualified Leads Conversion Rate — This measures how many leads brought in through marketing efforts become sales qualified. While it’s often tracked by marketing organizations, it’s helpful data for sales teams to be aware of to support pipeline creation.
- Closed won Opportunities — This metric signifies a successful end in the sales process. It’s when the lead becomes a customer by making a purchase. Tracking how many of your total closed deals result in sales (versus closed lost opportunities — how many closed deals did not result in sales) can help you understand the overall success rate of your sales process.
The following 9 selling strategies are real-world tips from insiders who routinely close huge B2B sales. Use these account-based selling tips and you’ll develop an approach that helps you close more B2B sales — right away.
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B2B Sales Tips
1. Subscribe to your prospect’s content.
Does your prospect’s business have a blog, newsletter, or social media feed where they regularly share content? Give them a follow and check out their updates.
This will help you understand their business priorities and how they engage with their prospective customers. It will provide valuable insight that will aid the B2B sales process because you can speak to how your offering will help your prospect serve their customers.
2. Skip straight to the real decision-makers.
Most businesses put their buyers and purchasing managers at the front of buying situations — but they’re not actually qualified to make any buying decisions. That’s why the most successful B2B salespeople skip right over those folks, and straight to the real decision-makers.
Don’t waste your time developing relationships with buyers or purchasing managers, no matter how convenient or comfortable it may feel. They simply don’t have the budget — or the authority — to make an actual investment in your product or service. Instead, sell only to stakeholders who have the authority and budget to actually make buying decisions.
3. Sell actual business results and outcomes.
Businesses aren’t interested in your product or service. They’re interested in the results and outcomes you can help them achieve.
In the past, salespeople could close B2B sales by pitching the benefits and features of their products. Not anymore. Today, you need to focus on selling tangible, bottom-line business results if you want to dominate your competition in B2B sales.
4. Be crystal clear about your value proposition.
If you’re going to sell to a multi-million dollar business, you’d better be ready to quickly and clearly articulate your value proposition. Many B2B sales go down the gutter simply because salespeople fail to show what sets them apart from the competition — and what value they bring to the businesses who buy from them.
When engaging with prospective businesses, make sure you are clear on your offering’s unique value proposition. B2B sales deals tend to have higher dollar values and higher stakes by nature.
To win the sale, you have to be able to articulate the value your offering brings to the potential customer. Any prospect you engage with should be able to understand the problem your offering intends to solve. When put into words, this is called a value proposition.
A value proposition identifies what your prospect’s problems are, and how your offering can help you solve their problem. If you serve multiple customer segments that could be looking for solutions to different problems, you should have a value proposition in place for each segment.
The most successful B2B salespeople script and memorize their value propositions, so they can easily rattle them off at any given moment.
5. Get face-to-face with decision-makers.
We’ve already talked about selling directly to decision-makers and skipping over those buyers and purchasing managers. But now it’s time to talk about how to sell to decision-makers.
When you’re selling high-end products or services that need serious investment, you have to meet your prospects where it’s most convenient for them. Being available when and where your prospect is looking for you can make all the difference between closing your sale — or losing it.
6. Stand behind your premium pricing.
Successful, profitable businesses don’t care about your prices — in fact, they only care about the value you provide and the final results. If you lower your prices when selling to businesses, you’ll only attract prospects who can’t afford to invest in valuable solutions.
To dramatically improve your B2B sales, stand behind your premium pricing, and watch as you close bigger sales more often — with better prospects.
7. Dig deep to discover challenges.
Seek to truly understand what’s going on at the business you’re selling to. What key frustrations are they dealing with? How much do those challenges cost the business on a monthly basis? How about on a yearly basis?
The answers to these questions can propel your B2B selling strategy to be more lucrative than you can imagine. It’s as simple as that.
8. Keep your emotions in check.
Selling to successful businesses is tough. Dealing directly with powerful decision-makers at those businesses is even tougher.
That’s why one of the best tips for closing B2B sales is to keep your emotions in check. Don’t take things too personally. Stay calm, and don’t get intimidated when you’re inevitably working with a difficult customer. If they sense you’re scared or nervous, it could jeopardize your sale.
9. Give three options in your B2B proposals.
Don’t make the crushing mistake of only offering one option in your proposal to B2B prospects. If you do this, decision-makers are exponentially more likely to shop around looking for other options, better prices, and different services.
Instead, give each business three options that vary in price and value. Let them choose whichever one fits their budget and best address their needs. You’ll be surprised by how many go with the priciest option.
Use B2B Sales to Reach Your Business Customers
B2B sales doesn‘t look the way it used to — but that’s (mostly) a good thing. There are more channels for customer conversations. You have broader access to decision-makers. And your team has more data than ever to help you find the most important problems to solve for your customers.
All of those changes make for a range of exciting, lucrative opportunities — you just need to stay on top of the right trends and strategies to keep up.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
