As a business
owner, you know that selling to other businesses is tricky, to success in B2B business;
you have to entirely unique approach from direct-to-consumer selling.
Personal selling
is a method that personalizes and humanizes the selling process. Companies use
it to get higher profit, as personal selling is most commonly used for
business-to-business (B2B) selling, although it’s also used in retail and trade
selling, too.
Personal selling
is highly effective as it allows for personalized communication with your
potential customers and it gives your sales team the chance to answer
any question or objections potential customers may have.
The term B2B
sales refer to business-to-business sales instead of selling a product or
service from business to consumer, which is needed a higher cost and longer
sales cycles.
Elements that you
should consider to ensure a successful B2B sales process:
Conduct 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.
Determine your
ideal buyer persona to identify what
companies fit your ideal buyer persona. In addition to considering what your prospects
sell or offer, be on the lookout for contextual information about how the business
is progressing.
After recognizing
your potential customers, you have to map out the buyer’s journey, how they will purchase your offers and try to
communicate face-to-face, to answer the customer’s questions or objections and
build trust with the customer, which is something you can’t establish over the
phone or email.
Close the deal, if the end
result is a sale, now is the time to facilitate an agreement outlining the termination
payment will be exchanged for the product. But if the end result is not a sale,
thank the prospect for their time and offer to stay in touch to support any
needs they have in the future, as in business "no" is simply a
"not right now".
Finally, High-performing
sales teams are constantly measuring the results of their processes to improve.
When you are regularly measured 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.
