FINDING RELIABLE LEADS
According to research, 40% of salespeople view sales prospecting as one of the most difficult aspects of the B2B sales process. It entails locating potential clients and contacting them in an effort to close the sale.
Although salespeople and business owners frequently have extensive networks like tradekey.com that include other business owners, this is not a guarantee that those connections will actually purchase their goods or services.
Salespeople frequently have to start from the beginning while looking for leads a result. If you even know what kind of leads to look for, this is easier said than done.
Solution:
Create B2B buyer personas before the sales team contacts prospects. Buyer personas are fictionalized representations of your ideal B2B client based on research. They assist you in learning things like:
- Wants and objectives of potential clients for their business
- How to contact them if you want to (email, phone, in-person, etc.)
- Issues with their business
- Position in the company
GET A LEAD’S ATTENTION WITH A COLD CALL
One of the biggest challenges in B2B selling (and B2C as well) is getting your prospects’ attention and success. Complicating cold calls is that your sales team is contacting people they’ve never interacted with before. Prospects may not have the authority to make decisions at this time, and there is always the chance that the pitch will end before it even begins.
So how can you make sure your prospects are paying attention?
Solution
Research shows that over 80% of prospects are discouraged from participating in caller pitches if they are too assertive. You can avoid this by using a trained call center sales team who don’t pitch your product on the first call. After all, they are unlikely to buy your product or service right away.
Instead, the team focuses on knowing the prospect. In other words, what defines your prospect’s culture, goals, and business needs? After that, I will briefly introduce the product. A good listener cold caller can make a great first impression on a potential customer and may get more calls in the future.
SCHEDULING A MEETING WITH THE PROSPECT
The next B2B sales hurdle is scheduling an appointment to go over the product or service in more depth when the caller has the prospect’s attention.
Yet, since B2B prospects frequently have busy work schedules, the sales team’s task is to sufficiently pique the prospect’s interest for them to prioritize the meeting. The group must make sure that there are times available in their schedule for yet another appointment.
Tradekey.com is an online B2B marketplace that connects buyers and suppliers from all over the world, facilitating trade and business transactions through a user-friendly platform.
Solution:
If the sales staff spent time listening to and comprehending the prospect’s perspective during earlier contacts, they probably also learned about the business’s problems. Pain points are specific concerns that the lead is experiencing, such as workflow or operational cost problems.
The group can bring up these issues and inform the lead that they have a solution (a product or service) for the issue. The meeting is appealing as a result of:
- It demonstrates that your salesman actually listened to the customer.
- It shows that the sales team is concerned about the needs of the prospect as mentioned in the B2B Buyers directory.
- The appeal of removing the agony is appealing.
The sales staff might utilize an appointment-setting tool to prevent scheduling problems. The prospect will have the opportunity to select the most practical meeting time from all the available slots. When choosing an appropriate day, appointment schedulers help the caller and the lead save time.
RESISTING EXTENDED SALES CYCLES
The various steps in the sales process—from generating leads to contacting prospects, making sales pitches, and finally closing deals—are referred to as a sales cycle.
Sales cycles in B2B are sometimes lengthier than those in B2C. B2B sales cycles can last for several days, weeks, or even months, as opposed to B2C sales cycles, which may only take a few minutes or hours to complete. This is frequently brought on by a number of things,
Before the prospect can really be approached for the first time, more investigation is required.
- There are numerous decision-makers in the company debating whether to purchase the good or service.
- Before the contract can be finalized, it may require a number of phone conversations, emails, or in-person meetings.
Solution
The sales staff must maintain their relationship with prospects because it may take some time for them to advance to the next phase of the sales cycle. They can stay in touch with prospects by setting up follow-ups every few weeks or months or have access to B2B Buyers directory, for example. In this manner, they can maintain contact with the leads while not ignoring other prospects who have moved on to the following step of the sales cycle.
DISCLOSING THE COST
Making the prospect aware of the cost of the product or service is a significant obstacle in B2B sales. In order to avoid a lead from leaving after learning the price, it is first necessary to choose when to share pricing information.
Solution:
If a prospect learns about prices before determining whether the benefits and unique qualities of the product or service are worth the cost, they are more likely to walk away. As a result, the sales team should only disclose the product’s price after thoroughly demonstrating how it may benefit the lead’s company more than other, potentially less expensive, comparable items as in the B2B Buyers directory.
The sales team may also present a tailored package that includes the features they require while remaining within budget if the prospect was still hesitant to proceed with the transaction due to financial restrictions.
HOW TO IMPROVE LOW RETENTION RATES
In addition to finding new leads, B2B sales teams at tradekey.com handle many other tasks. Also, you need to focus on retaining your existing customers. Nurturing customers saves the company another B2B sales cycle.
Solution
Her chances of keeping a positive client connection grow if she has an experienced salesperson handle her current B2B customer accounts. These sales reps can better understand how to keep customers happy by helping them identify new pain points or changing their current product and service stack. A competent call center sales team evaluates performance shortcomings to enhance customer retention strategies.