What is B2B Sales?
Learn the definition of B2B sales strategy.
What is B2B Sales
B2B (business-to-business) sales can be defined as transactions performed between business entities rather than a business with an individual consumer (B2C). B2B would involve one business selling products or services to another business. Generally speaking, B2B sales are larger deals with longer sales cycles from the point of initial contact to closed sale for the vendor and buyer due to having a greater number of decision-makers and more complex decision-making processes than B2C sales.
🔑 Core Concepts B2B Sales Strategy
Understand Your Ideal Customer (ICP)
Determine the type of business that receives the greatest value from your product or service.
Think about: industry, number of people or company size, budget, challenges.
Relationship-Led instead of Transaction-Led
Relationships are more important than transactions since the latter can deliver faster wins.
By the time the buyer makes a purchase decision, more than likely, you’ll have delivered value along the way at every point in the buyer’s journey.
Consultative-Based Selling
Be sure that you’re an advisor and not just “another salesperson.”
Uncover the buyer’s pain and provide solutions.
Understand the B2B Sales Funnel
Typically consists of the stages: Awareness → Interest → Consideration → Decision → Retention.
Align your messages and tactics on a each stage of the B2B sales funnel.
Account for Multiple Decision-Makers
B2B deals require more than one decision-maker to create a stakeholder buy-in.
Potentially, you’ll have to pitch or present to multiple stakeholders or an executive team and/or technical lead and then procurement.
Data to Track and Optimize
CRM and analytics tools to understand current pipeline health and performance.
Always be revising strategy based on real-time data.
💻 How Sales Software Increases B2B Revenue
Sales software equips B2B teams to work faster, work smarter and scale:
CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot): Tools to manage lead and deal pipelines, and client relationships.
Sales Enablement (Seismic, Showpad): Tools to deliver customized content and enablement forms across the B2B team.
Automation (Outreach, Salesloft): Tools that deliver email sequence campaigns and follow-up sequences.
Analytics & Reporting: Tools to allow your B2B channel to monitor KPIs and forecast revenue.
🚀 Final Thought
At the end of the day, B2B sales happens through solving business challenges through trust. A solid strategy and sales tools can help shorten the sales cycle, increase deal size or volume, and grow sustainably. Are you ready to take your B2B sales strategy to the next level?