7 tips to close your B2B sales. Expert Advice!

Here's what a successful B2B sales process might look like:

 

Start the B2B sales process with high-level market research to understand the current state of demand for your product or service. Understand who your competitors are in your segment and familiarize yourself with their techniques and strategies to learn what messages your prospects are receiving from other sources. 

 

Take time to identify which companies fit your buyer persona. In addition to considering what your prospects sell or offer, look for contextual information about how the business is progressing. Have they recently launched a product? If you sell to startups, did they close a fundraiser recently? Have they had a leadership change in the last six months? This information can help you determine if companies are ready to invest in your offering and contains useful data for your buyer persona.  

 

Now that you are clear on who your audience is and how you can help them with your offer, it's time to map out how the customer will buy your product or service. To do this, walk through the steps a potential customer might take to reach you.

 

Typically, prospects go through the following stages when making a purchase: 

 

As part of your sales process, you should be able to identify and track the stage your prospects are in. Doing so allows you to create a strategy in advance with tactics that will meet them wherever they are in their buyer's journey.

 

A qualified sales lead is a lead that is ready for a direct sales offer. Not everyone who demonstrates interest in your offer will become a qualified lead. To determine if a B2B lead is sales qualified, ask yourself the following questions: 

 

What is the problem you are trying to solve? This question will help you define which product or offer to recommend as the process moves forward.

 

Have you tried to solve this problem before? If so, why didn't previous solutions work? This question will give you context on what will and won't work in solving the customer's problem. Plus, you'll know exactly what pain points to mention if your product is the right fit. 

 

Who makes the final buying decisions? In B2B, because you're not selling directly to a customer, you may have to work with different touch points to close the deal. Understanding who needs to be involved in making the final decision, what that process will look like and how much the budget is will help shape your sales strategy. 

 

If you identify the customer's needs and your products or services are aligned, try to communicate directly as much as possible. As we have already mentioned, B2B sales are high risk by nature, and often involve significant deliberations.

 

When you meet face-to-face (in person or via video conference) to address customer questions, deliver your proposal and answer concerns, you are able to build trust with the customer, which cannot always be established over the phone or email. 

 

When you close the deal you have not finished the job. If the end becomes a sale, it is now time to facilitate an agreement that outlines the payment terms that will be exchanged for the product. In addition, you may want to coordinate with your company's service organization to ensure that the customer has been received and feels supported in using your product. 

 

If the end result is not a sale, thank the prospect for their time and offer to stay in touch to support them with any future needs they may have. Many times a "no" is just a "not now" and you will have gained valuable insights that will help you in future sales. 

 

• Sales Productivity Metrics. Measuring sales rep productivity will help you pinpoint inefficiencies in your processes that may be costing you sales. 

• Average lead response time. In B2B sales, every minute counts. The sooner you answer a lead's questions, the sooner you will secure a sale. Make this metric one of your essentials.

• Conversion rate of marketing qualified leads to sales qualified leads. This measures how many of the leads that came in through marketing efforts become sales qualified. Although marketing organizations generally track this, it's useful data for sales teams to take into account when creating funnels.