B2B sales is a constantly evolving arena. The rapid digitisation of the sales process has added a new dimension to streamlining complex sales processes, along with the fact that every B2B buyer now has easy access to information regarding potential partners and their offerings. Potential customers have clear expectations of the products and services they want to buy, and they actively seek reviews, testimonials, and other product information before making a purchase decision.
This requires B2B salespersons to be vigilant about buyers’ positions in the B2B sales funnel, and constantly tailor their sales strategy, messaging, and approach to win more deals in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Only trusting your gut or an on-the-fly approach doesn't work anymore. This new B2B sales landscape calls for a compelling sales strategy guided by timely, accurate data and a good grasp of customer needs. Here’s how you can build a robust, effective sales strategy plan:
1. Understand the buyer’s journey at a granular level
A good B2B sales strategy involves an in-depth understanding of the buyer’s journey, their pain points, needs, and expectations. By gauging the unique needs of the customer and where they are in the sales funnel, a good B2B salesperson can:
a) Customise the approach and adapt the messaging to convince the buyer to make the purchase quickly. For example, you may see that many prospects who land on your website are looking for a specific answer. By using a blog post or a whitepaper, you can provide a response to this query and move the leads quickly through the sales funnel.
b) Help the customer uncover needs they may not have identified yet, and provide different solutions
However, to provide such relevant and personalised responses, you need to have a comprehensive and consolidated overview of the customer. With the help of a CRM solution, you can collect, store and analyse data around the many unique encounters that customers have had with your brand. Using this data, you can interact meaningfully with customers at different stages of the buying journey and tailor your marketing and sales efforts accordingly.
a) Customise the approach and adapt the messaging to convince the buyer to make the purchase quickly. For example, you may see that many prospects who land on your website are looking for a specific answer. By using a blog post or a whitepaper, you can provide a response to this query and move the leads quickly through the sales funnel.
b) Help the customer uncover needs they may not have identified yet, and provide different solutions
However, to provide such relevant and personalised responses, you need to have a comprehensive and consolidated overview of the customer. With the help of a CRM solution, you can collect, store and analyse data around the many unique encounters that customers have had with your brand. Using this data, you can interact meaningfully with customers at different stages of the buying journey and tailor your marketing and sales efforts accordingly.
2. Align different business functions for a unified customer experience
While sales teams interact directly and frequently with customers, other business functions -- like marketing, product, and customer service-- also play a vital role in the purchase experience. It is important to have cross-functional alignment across business functions so that the buyer’s interactions with the company are meaningful and unified. Take advantage of the synergies between these departments to build relationships and serve the target market better. For example, sales reps can inform product teams about what the customer wants, resulting in a product that actually addresses needs; marketing can channel more leads towards sales; customer service can communicate common customer pain points to sales; and so on.
3. Use various touchpoints to meet customers where they are
A good B2B sales strategy factors in the need to contact buyers across multiple touchpoints. This helps leverage the best features of all platforms and lets businesses reach buyers where they are. Engaging buyers in this manner also ensures that your company or brand is always at the top of their minds. For example, say a customer views a blog of your brand on social media (touchpoint #1). After reading the blog, they click a link that takes them to your brand's website (touchpoint #2). The website then asks them to register for a physical event (touchpoint #3), for which they have to provide their email id. After the customer completes the process, the company sends them a thank you email (touchpoint #4) confirming their seats for the offline event and also requests them to sign up for a weekly newsletter (touchpoint #5), which will provide them with all the latest information on new products and discounts.
4. Review and learn to optimise sales efforts
It is hard to perfect your sales strategy at the first try; mistakes do tend to happen. (But not if you read our go-to guide on how to avoid common mistakes in the B2B selling process). What is needed is that B2B sales teams measure outcomes and evaluate all their decisions and customer interactions to understand what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be fixed. Analyse how and when leads are being converted, the kind of communication customers are best responding to, channels that are offering the best lead generation, etc.
5. Embrace sales automation tools
Every sales team needs a suite of tools that allows them to find, inform, and convince buyers. This is especially important for B2B sales, where sales cycles tend to be longer, and salespeople must keep track of multiple buyers at different stages of the purchase cycle. Sales automation tools help simplify complex sales processes like lead management, quoting, contract management, data collection and reporting, forecasting, etc. Moreover, they help salespeople communicate with customers at the right time with the most relevant messaging.
Salesforce Sales Cloud enables you to formulate and execute foolproof B2B sales strategies. With Sales Cloud, sales teams can track buyer behaviour across channels, collate customer data, use this data to inform their sales interactions and ultimately, drive conversions.
Sales Cloud also helps boost sales rep productivity with automated workflows and a handy mobile app, allowing them to respond to leads on-the-go. Detailed reports and real-time dashboards help in sales activity tracking, letting sales teams focus on building relationships and engaging customers, without letting any leads slip through the cracks.
Read more:
What is a Sales Funnel? Stages, and How to Build a Sales Funnel
Complete Guide to B2B Sales: Processes and Tip
What is a Sales Process? Why Does Your Business Need One?
Top 10 B2B Sales Mistakes that Your Sales Team Must Avoid
Use These 4 B2B Sales Techniques to Grow Your Business Faster
Boost your B2B Sales Outreach by Creating Powerful Sales Email Templates
