If you’re in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, you know that there’s a difference between selling straight to consumers and selling to other businesses.
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B2B marketing brings along its own set of challenges, struggles, and bumps in the road. Here are three easy ways to remove friction in your B2B sales process to make more sales and build more relationships within your industry.
- Skip to the decision-makers. This isn’t always possible, but is there a way for you to get face time with decision-makers over other assistants or team members? Communicating with decision-makers means you get to talk to the people you really need to convince. If you give a presentation or pitch to a lower-level manager who then has to communicate the message to higher-ups, part of your value will likely be lost in translation. You’ll have the highest chances of booking the business as a client by meeting with decision-makers first. Remember: Face to face wins the race—in-person meetings will excel over e-mails or phone calls almost every time.
- Focus on results. Businesses probably don’t care about your three-step method or how exactly your package looks. They want to know what results you’re going to bring them and how you can provide better outcomes. When you’re selling B2B services, make sure to focus on the actual numbers and results you’ve been able to provide in the past. That will eliminate a lot of questions about what you can do for them and what your experience is.
- Offer tiered experiences. One of the most common things you’ll hear from businesses is that they don’t have the budget for your product or service right now. That may be true, but an easy way to save a sale is to offer various tiers. Instead of one comprehensive pitch for one package, consider showing the results you’ve been able to secure for other businesses before offering two to three packages at varying price points. By offering a few different experiences, you’re opening the door to helping a business of any size or budget. If your company provides personalized experiences, this will still work—you can create specialized packages at multiple price points and send them over in the proposal. This will save you from an awkward pricing conversation and show that you’re willing to work with companies of all financial states.