Six effective B2B sales approaches you must incorporate today

What do you do when a manager provides negative feedback about your sales performance?

Do you give excuses, stay mum, and ignore their feedback or promise to work harder?

Well, if you decide to work harder, how do you do it. 

Do you try to change your approach or just work a little extra?

If you continue using your old sales approaches, you’ll keep getting the same disappointing results. 

“Old ways won’t open new doors” – anonymous    

So explore new sales approaches to increase your win rate. 

Successful sales approaches you must implement today 

Sometimes change is essential to break the cycle of failure. Winners make things happen. They find new ways to persuade a prospect to purchases a product. 

Such efforts are required to climb the ladder of success. Besides, there are many challenges in B2B sales. Businesses are well informed and have good knowledge about the current market trends. They know about your competitors, and they read a lot of reviews before making a buying decision. 

So, your sales approach needs to effective enough to convert modern prospects into paying customers. 

Here are a few B2B sales approaches that you must consider incorporating to walk on the path of success. 

The network sales approach 

In sales, you need to target the right prospect. By chasing leads that won’t convert into sales, you’ll just end up wasting your time and effort. So, it is extremely important to fill your sales pipeline with qualified leads and then nurture them for successful closure. The networking approach can help you in it. 

Use your networks of personal and professional connections to reach new opportunities. Leads generated from a trusted source has high chances of converting into sales. Approach your networks who can acquaint you with a potential prospect who needs your product. Do not hesitate to ask referrals from friends, family, and satisfied customers. 

You can also employ this sales approach to establish a new relationship with a potential buyer. Once you get the referral, use social media channels to connect with the potential prospect.  

“Networking is simply the cultivating of mutually beneficial, give and take, win-win relationships. It works best, however, when emphasizing the “give” part. – Bob Burg 

The investigator sales approach 

Investigate and inquire to learn about a business and its challenges. Businesses don’t easily invest in a new solution. You need to convince them that your product is the best for their business. For that, a good understanding of their business pain points and goals is essential. 

Besides, you need to determine whether your product can address the prospect’s needs and provide value. So, for that, an in-depth research is needed.

Try to garner as much information as you can. Be curious about the prospect’s business needs. The more information you gather, the better you can help and close sales. 

Curiosity is the endive of achievements – Ken Robinson

The friend  sales approach 

This sales approach focuses on building a healthy relationship with the prospect. Earn the prospect’s trust and confidence. 

Only when a prospect is comfortable, they will speak about their business concerns. Have a warm and friendly approach. However, make sure you do not cross the line. 

If people like you, they will buy from you. 

Try to connect with the prospect at an emotional level. Be genuine; businesses understand when you are faking it.

It is amazing what doors can open if you reach out to people with a smile, friendly attitude, and a desire to make a positive impact. – Richard Branson

The consultative selling sales approach

This sales approach emphasizes on, acting as a consultant to a potential prospect. This sales approach helps in understanding whats going on in the prospect’s business to present the solution effectively. 

Through relevant questions, you try to find out what problems is the potential prospect facing. Sometimes the prospects aren’t fully aware of their problems. The questions help in bringing to light those problematic areas that are affecting the prospect’s business. 

Get close than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize themselves. – Steve Jobs 

Have a meaningful conversation with your prospects. Listen to the prospect answers. Do not be in a hurry to ask the next question. Interruption can make a bad impression on the prospect. Active listening is important in consultative selling. Once you understand what they want, guide on what they should be doing to overcome the roadblock to success. Make them visualize how your product can be helpful here. 

The solution selling sales approach

This is a simple sales approach where you discover the prospect’s needs and recommend a solution to address those needs. Unlike the traditional sales approach, solution selling focuses on educating the prospect. 

Here you give prospect tangible reasons for not only why their business should use your product but also how their business will benefit. You must give real-life examples to help the prospect understand how your solution will provide value to them. Share case studies of your satisfied customers. Show the potential prospects, how your solution helped a business solve a similar problem. 

The premium sales approach 

With this sales approach, sales reps offer a giveaway or promotional item that captures the prospect’s interest.

You can offer a gift or provide some non-monetary benefits as well, like mentioning their business in your blogs or magazine. You can even give them a free banner ad on your website to increase their business visibility. 

This sales approach is often useful while negotiation. However, make sure you do not end up saying things you can’t fulfill later as might annoy the prospect. Businesses normally have a huge network, so if they write a negative review it will spread like wildfire and jeopardize your company’s reputation. 

Conclusion 

B2B sales need effective approaches, as selling to a business is no easy task. Be determined and explore new ways to attract B2B buyers. Invest time in understanding your potential buyers. Till you don’t understand the prospect’s problem, you can’t offer an effective solution. So, ask relevant questions about their needs, challenges, and goals. Connect with your prospects through social media sites, send helpful content, and try to nurture relationships. 

Keep an eye on every activity of your deal. Use a smart CRM to manages your deals. CRM software like Salesmate provides a pipeline view of all your deals so that you can take real-time action to convert them into paying customers. Through insightful reports, you can find out your performance gaps and work on improvement areas. Besides, you can track your outbound emails and even automate your follow-up emails with this advanced sales software. Salesmate CRM is an all-in-one sales solution that can help you manage sales and close deals faster.