Sometimes it takes a bit of time to really adjust to the constantly changing B2B prospects that are buying. People want to learn but they aren’t necessarily ready to hear a pitch. A great way to do this is to give them some consulting. All the while, creating a better B2B sales experience.
You need to understand your buyer if you’re going to make a good sale. This is because people are very different now than they have been throughout history, and it’s important to accommodate the changing personalities of people when you’re making a sales approach.
There are a few tips that you can integrate into your sales approach that will probably help you make the sale that you’re looking for. Hopefully the following information will help you make the sale that you need.
1. Research
The most important thing before jumping on a lead is that you need to do your research.
All sorts of things should be researched before you jump into your sales approach. The following are just a few of the (firmographic) basics that you will want to know before you get into your sales approach.
- Who is the company?
- How large is the company?
- What are their needs?
- How can you answer these needs?
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You can start researching a lead even as they call you on the phone. Detective work is key. It’s harder than ever before to reach an actual prospect, but fortunately, it’s a lot easier to actually research one than it’s ever been before.
Research is also the preliminary factor that’s necessary for the next few steps.
2. Ask Questions
It’s quite simple to see how research is important for this step. The more you know about a prospect, the more information you get, and the more questions you can ask. The more questions that you can ask, the more you’ll be able to help them, and they will set you far and above the rest of the competition.
The goal here is to ask open ended questions that will teach you about the company you are working with. Rather than asking yes or no questions, try some of the following:
- Who does your company seek to serve?
- What are your company’s goals?
- When did your company start?
- Where is your company located?
- How can we help you serve your customers better?
The point here is to promote conversation and make the company you are working with feel like you are invested in them rather than just using them for a sale.
Remember: start off general and then get more specific with your questions — build on the responses they give you. Odds are, you’ll get a little more insight than your initial research offered.
3. Listen
What’s the point in asking a question if you’re not going to listen to the answer? Don’t get impatient and wait to ask your next question — pay honest attention to the answer that you’re being given.
If you don’t, you won’t be able to absorb the information that you’re being given which you could use later to help further your B2B sales experience.
What you are really listening for is details about their company that you can use. For example, if they say they provide a certain service to their customers, use that again; say something along the line of “Our company can help you do that by {how your company’s product/service can help}.”
Relate everything you say back to them and make them feel like your sales pitch is for them, not just a practiced script.
The best way to prove that you’ve listened is to repeat what you’ve heard. This will help both you and the buyer know that you’re doing a good job listening.
4. Instruct
Teaching new information is the new kind of sales pitch. While you pay attention to the potential buyer and begin to hear what they’re interested in, you begin to experience opportunities to teach them about things that they’re generally interested in.
This helps them know what they want and what they don’t want. This will also help you further flesh out what you can offer them and will help direct the conversation in a good way for both of you.
All in all, you should aim to do only about 30% of the talking — let the company you are selling to drive the conversation; you’ll be surprised at how successful the results can be.
5. Expect Challenges
Even when you’re asking a fairly routine set of questions, sometimes you can get hit with a surprise answer. Be prepared for challenges when you’re speaking to a buyer because you need to make sure that you’re on your feet.
If they throw a curveball, make sure that you maintain interest in them.
6. Be Humble
One thing that people don’t like is having a pitch shoved down their throat. For this reason, it’s important to remember to be humble.
If you act like you care more about the sale you are trying to make than the company you are selling to, you quickly adopt a mindset of “there will always be another buyer.”
However, you should remember that when you do this, you may have the option of finding another buyer but your customer company will also have the option of finding another seller.
7. Plan
What do you know about the prospect? What questions can you plan out? When during the conversation should you drop these questions?
Planning ahead is a great way to help you prepare for a conversation and can help you make sure that you’re always in control of the conversation.
8. Stop “Always Closing”
The strategy of “always be closing” is getting pretty old and doesn’t really fit in today’s society anymore. People don’t like being pressured, especially not near the beginning of a conversation.
This means that you should always be receptive. Your goal here is to find out what their goal is, and to figure out ways that your product can solve their problems.
You can’t do this if you start trying to close right away, pushing a product’s benefits on someone who may not have any need for the particular benefits you’re describing.
9. Give More
Just like anywhere in life, it’s important to give more than you receive. There are a few ways that this can be applied in business.
First off, try to make sure you give more of your time — spend a lot more time listening than you do talking. This shows that you’re genuinely interested, willing to make sacrifices, and looking out for the buyer.
Not only that, but customers will be much more loyal once they recognize that you are a generous individual. This will help build your brand name and will also improve other areas of your life, such as your personal relationships.
10. Practice
It’s good to be able to think on your feet, but it’s also good to have a relatively well-practiced sales script. However, one sales script doesn’t make a B2B sales experience — it’s important to recognize how different people are, and recognize the futility of vomiting a single script at strangers.
However, your script should cover the following points:
- Greeting
- Introduction
- Branding
- Purpose
- Gather their contact information
- Closing
Have several scripts practiced, or several dozen. This way you’ll be prepared for all sorts of situations and ready to answer a wide variety of questions. The more you sell, the more you know what to practice. However, you can start practicing with the basic skeleton of a script that we have provided below:
“Hi, my name is {your name} with {your company}. I would like to speak to the Marketing Manager about {what your company is offering them}.”
From there, you will either be transferred to speak to the person in charge of marketing or you will be told they are unavailable.
Upon getting in contact with the Marketing Manager of the company, you will want to explain what your company is offering them in more detail, using everything that this article has taught you thus far. It’s hard to give an exact script for this as it should be tailored to your specific company.
If they are interested, make sure to get their contact information at the end of the call.
If the Marketing Manager is unavailable, though, you will want to gather their contact information from the person that you are speaking to. The following questions should cover your bases.
- What is their first and last name?
- May I have their email address?
- What is their full job title so I can address them as such?
- And is your company still located at {their address} (if the answer is no, collect the correct address)
You can close the conversation with something as simple as:
“Thank you for your time and have a nice day!”