B2B marketing is all about being able to coax a prospect into your palm and then keep them there. Of course, gaining loyal customers is much easier said than done when you’re reaching out to other business owners, who spend a large chunk of their time sitting through sales presentations. In order to get the conversions you need so much, you need to be developing your sales strategy. Here are some tips for going about this…
Stand Out from the Crowd
As I mentioned above, a lot of the people you’re going to be pitching to have already sat through countless other sales presentations by the time you’re going to reach them. Due to this, it’s exceedingly important that you’re able to differentiate your business from your closest competitors. This is one of the more challenging aspects to B2B marketing. From the moment you find some unique feature about your company that you can flaunt, the clock starts ticking. Soon enough, another firm is going to copy your idea. Obviously, it’s going to be easier to stand out from the crowd if you’re selling say, bespoke software, rather than something more universal like dust collection duct work. However, you’re going to have to find a way around the challenge if you want to make those sales.
Research When You’d Usually Cold Call
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Cold calling, despite what a lot of you may have heard, has no place in the world of modern B2B marketing. Today, everything in the world of sales, both in the B2B and B2C arenas, relies heavily on data. The data you’re able to draw on from your specific target market will give you a clearer idea of how a certain business owner is going to respond to your pitch. A tiny proportion of cold calls lead to anything these days, so make sure you’re not wasting time and money on them. Sure, conducting thorough market research also takes time and money. The more time you’re going to spend researching leads, the less time you’re going to spend getting into contact with them. In the long run though, you’re going to have a much better chance of actually converting those leads.
Trim Down Your Pitch
In any B2B business plan, the sales cycle should take as little time as possible. The execs you’re targeting aren’t going to want to listen to any long ramblings or hazy sales fluff that you might be tempted to use. All they want to know is how well you understand the problems they’re facing, and what you can do to solve those problems. Your leads’ time is valuable, so show them some respect and stop wasting it! If you’ve been working with a slightly long-winded sales pitch, then trim it down to something more like an elevator pitch. If you can get it down to a minute or less, then you’re really onto something. Obviously this won’t always be possible depending on what you’re selling, but it’s still a good marker to aim for!