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B2B sales is a complicated and often confusing process. In this article, we’ll provide you with an overview of the three most common ways businesses do business: B2G – Business-to-Government (including franchises), B2E – Business-to-Enterprise, and B2C – Business-toConsumer.
B2B sales is the process of selling products or services to other businesses. This can be done through a company’s website, a trade show, or even in person. B2B sales is often considered a more difficult form of business-to-business selling because it requires a lot of time and effort on the part of the seller. Read more in detail here: b2b sales strategy pdf.
Selling a product or service to another firm is known as business-to-business (B2B) selling. B2B sales, as opposed to business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, are typically for higher-cost, higher-profit-margin products and services, place a greater emphasis on developing relationships with potential customers, and require a higher level of sales expertise about the products and services being offered.
Business-to-Business Sellers Come in a Variety of Shapes and Sizes
Because B2B sales are aimed at other companies, any solutions that assist them in generating revenue, mitigating risk, managing finances, or improving operational efficiency are beneficial to them. B2B companies may do this by selling goods or providing services to other companies.
The following are some instances of companies that sell to other businesses:
- Accountants and tax preparers are professionals that assist businesses in managing their finances by providing accounting and tax filing services.
- Lawyers: Experts that assist firms with litigation and contract analysis.
- Organizations that manage other businesses’ IT infrastructure, technical assets, and cybersecurity initiatives are known as IT management or consulting firms.
- Marketing companies provide telemarketing, media content generation, and digital marketing services (website design, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, and social media management) to assist businesses generate leads.
- Professionals who advise or manage another company’s strategy, operational activities, or human resource departments are known as management consultants.
- Manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors, as well as transportation, logistics, and distribution organizations, are all part of the supply chain.
- Insurance agencies are companies that offer property, liability, and workers’ compensation insurance to other businesses.
- Recruiting, staffing, and temporary employment firms are examples of hiring services.
- Commercial property management, vending, food services and catering, commercial cleaning and janitorial, pest control, security, and related services are examples of commercial property services.
- Customer relationship management (CRMs), virtual and voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) System of Telephones, lead generation directories, human resources and benefits management platforms, email marketing providers, web hosting providers, social media management platforms, and more are examples of software and business service platforms.
Business-to-Business Sales Tools
When a new salesman learns about B2B sales, they find a lengthier sales cycle and fierce competition in the B2B market. Companies that sell to other businesses profit more from particular forms of business technology than businesses that sell to consumers, such as a grocery store or a restaurant. A grocery shop, for example, would not utilize a lead generating platform to recruit consumers, yet a marketing firm would benefit greatly from a lead generation platform to obtain B2B leads.
Some typical business-to-business selling tools are listed below:
Software for Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a tool that your company may use to keep track of lead, prospect, and account contact information. CRMs also provide tools for engaging with your contacts through email, phone, live chat, and social media.
You may use a CRM system to monitor your sales funnel and see which possibilities are close to being closed and which ones require further nurturing. Users of popular CRMs like Pipedrive may accomplish this in a Kanban-style layout, which is a visual layout that places possibilities in a draggable box under various phases of the sales cycle.
Pipedrive is a sales pipeline software. (Image courtesy of Business2Community)
The main advantages of using a CRM for B2B selling are the ability to visualize a business lead’s journey to becoming a customer, pinpoint the best opportunities to pursue, nurture leads using the CRM’s communication tools, and automate various workflows such as automatically adding contact information to the CRM database when a lead submits an online interest form.
System of Telephones
Business-to-business sales generally require more telephone activity, such as cold calling, responding to lead inquiries, and conference call meetings. Business System of Telephones allow sales reps to place and take incoming calls, automate call routing, manage calls more efficiently, and track call history.
Today, most business System of Telephones are voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) System of Telephones, which also integrate with CRMs. RingCentral is a VoIP system that integrates with many popular CRM systems, such as Zoho CRM.
More advanced business phone systems include features like prompts to assist your agents with upselling and cross-selling, as well as pop-up alerts with client account information (when integrated with your CRM). They also contain capabilities like call whisper, which allows a management to teach sales agents while on the phone without disturbing the client, and barge, which lets a manager to take over a conversation.
Integration between RingCentral and Zoho (Source: RingCentral)
With our Zoho CRM product review, you can learn more about the sales tools and integration possibilities that Zoho can provide for your company.
Tools for Email Marketing
Businesses often send mass email campaigns to other businesses to advertise their services or promote a sale. Tools for Email Marketing like Mailchimp allow businesses to design and deploy emails to other businesses, and can do so on an automated basis through drip campaigns. Drip campaigns automatically send emails to prospects based on their actions, such as downloading something or continuously visiting a web page.
Just like business System of Telephones, email tools integrate seamlessly with other CRM platforms. This allows businesses to have access to workflow automation for email activities, contact updates, and informative metrics that show potential buying signals like how many times a prospect opened an email.
The main advantage of utilizing email marketing to interact with B2B prospects is that it is the most cost-effective method of communication, with a return on investment of $42 for every $1 invested. Customers also prefer it to other means of communication, with 72 percent preferring it.
Dashboard for Mailchimp (Source: New York Times)
To learn more about how Tools for Email Marketing can integrate with CRMs, as well as some of the best CRMs for email marketing, check out our article on the six best CRM software for email marketing.
Tools for Scheduling Appointments
Tools for Scheduling Appointments allow users to easily schedule appointments that sync to their calendar. Businesses selling to other businesses often need to schedule appointments to demo a product, present an offer, or consult a potential customer on solutions for their business. Calendly is a popular scheduling tool that is easy to use and integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and popular CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce.
Any B2B selling company that needs to showcase a product or process, as well as provide an initial consultation for their service, would benefit the most from an appointment scheduling tool. Staffing firms, software firms, and consultants are all examples of this.
These tools might also benefit any salesman who meets with prospective customers on a regular basis. Reps may send scheduling portal links to their leads through multiple channels, such as LinkedIn messaging and emails, as well as publish the links on websites, social media profiles, and online advertising, using an appointment scheduling tool. This eliminates the back-and-forth communication that occurs when attempting to locate a time that is convenient for both parties.
HubSpot connection with Calendly (Source: HubSpot)
Calendly has a page dedicated to different sorts of events (Source: WP Amelia)
Platforms for generating leads
Developing a list of potential business customers is the first step to starting the B2B Sales Methodology. Platforms for generating leads help compile contact data for leads in the form of contact lists. For example, UpLead is a platform that identifies and compiles B2B lead lists, as well as offers data enrichment for lead data.
UpLead may be integrated with CRM software to export contact information to the CRM database automatically. Pipedrive, Salesforce, and Zoho are some of the main CRM systems that interact with UpLead.
Zoho CRM contact export from UpLead (Source: Zoho)
Pro tip: In B2B sales, generating leads to keep the sales funnel filled is an important stepping stone. Check out our post on 17 methods to produce B2B leads for your organization for more information on lead generating tactics.
LinkedIn is another lead generating site that firms can employ. Businesses may develop a variety of adverts that can be put on another user’s home page or delivered to them through LinkedIn chat. The ad may direct a visitor to a website where they can fill out a form and submit it to the company, resulting in a lead.
Salespeople may contact prospects directly on LinkedIn using search tools and filters based on industry, job title, and business size, in addition to adverts. They may connect with prospects and obtain their connections list for email marketing, where they can promote their product or service, attempt to set up an appointment, or engage them to learn more about their company.
Designer of a LinkedIn lead generating form (Source: Venture Harbour)
Components of Business-to-Business Sales
Aside from the sorts of firms that participate in B2B selling and the tools they use to produce sales, there are a few more factors that distinguish B2B sales management from B2C sales management. These elements include how sales are made, what occurs after a transaction, and the sales process as a whole.
Selling to Individuals
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution for any company. B2B selling need a tailored strategy throughout the sales process, even after the sale.
Sales professionals must discover each customer’s specific difficulties during talks with prospects and explain how your product or service might assist. To do so, your salespeople will require extensive product or service sales training, good listening skills, and the ability to convey how your company can fulfill the prospect’s needs—particularly how they can meet them better than your rivals.
Here are some instances of companies that tailor solutions to individual customers:
- Insurance agency: Various businesses have different risks, which need different insurance coverages. To provide coverage alternatives, insurance producers (sales representatives) must first assess their customers’ risks, then their risk tolerance and budget to select which insurance policies to offer.
- Tax preparers: Varied firms have separate tax filing needs, so you may need to engage with a different company for certain tax files. Payroll services, for example, are often in charge of payroll tax filings. A tax preparer must be familiar with the company’s unique demands as well as any gaps in filing regulations that they can fill.
- IT management firms: Companies vary in size and breadth, and many employ on-staff IT people or hire consultants to help with particular technological issues like cybersecurity. As a result of these circumstances, IT management organizations must build a service package that meets the expectations of their clients.
Management of Accounts Activities
Customers who shop at a clothes or food store don’t usually need any account management; they just purchase what they need and go. What happens when a new client is brought on is a big part of B2B sales. More onboarding activities, customer support, and client administration through invoicing and billing are all required.
To utilize a platform, certain accounts need regular training. In the software as a service (SaaS) market, this is quite frequent. Businesses may also need to keep track of their accounts by giving new or enhanced goods and services to its current clients on a regular basis.
A customer relationship management system (CRM) may be used by firms to both acquire and maintain client accounts. Businesses can manage customer support operations, continually market new goods to existing customers, and handle recurring invoicing all from their CRM system, thanks to a variety of built-in features and connectors.
Setup customer billing in Zoho CRM (Source: Zoho)
Due to the high time and money commitment necessary, the negotiating process (if applicable), and the necessity for decision-makers to interact when selecting B2B goods and services, the B2B Sales Methodology is generally substantially lengthier than the B2C sales process. Turning a fresh lead into a paying client in a B2B Sales Methodology might take months or even years.
B2B Sales Methodology
The sales process is a series of stages that lead up to finalizing a sale. Every business’ process is different depending on their product or service, sales operation, company culture, and tools they use. A typical B2B Sales Methodology consists of anywhere from four to 10 stages. Moving from stage to stage can range in time, taking as long as a few years or as short as just a few seconds.
Here are some examples of stages in the B2B Sales Methodology:
- Prospect research: This is the first step of the process, in which you undertake study to find possible companies that might profit from your goods or services. Prospect identification may be done manually at this level. Some firms, on the other hand, may choose to employ paid lead generating services at this time.
- This step is aimed to raise awareness of your unique selling offer and may be achieved through a variety of approaches such as cold calling or introductory emails.
- Lead qualification: This step entails identifying and categorizing leads so that your sales staff can concentrate on the ones that are most likely to close, such as decision-makers with purchasing power and a suitable budget.
- Lead nurturing: After your sales and marketing teams have qualified leads, they must be nurtured with things like email campaigns, follow-up calls, and instructional material.
- Provide engaging sales presentations: Once prospects have agreed to a sales pitch, sales professionals deliver engaging sales presentations to persuade prospects that their goods and services are a suitable match for their small business requirements.
- Sending proposals: If the prospect is still interested after the presentation, sales agents will offer a price quotation or a more thorough business proposal that includes pricing, terms, and conditions.
- Negotiating terms: After reviewing the business proposal, the prospect may have conditions to discuss, such as price or an onboarding timeframe. To help negotiate terms, salespeople often need aid or permission from a sales manager.
- The transaction is concluded when everyone is pleased with the terms and conditions, and the sales agreement is signed. After that, the transaction is usually transferred to the onboarding step and allocated to a customer service or onboarding representative.
- Retaining clients: It’s just as crucial to keep pleased customers as it is to convince them to sign the initial sales contract. Loyal customers are an important component of increasing sales income and a great source of new customer recommendations. Learn how to keep customers by using your CRM.
In this post on sales pipeline phases, you can learn more about the sales process and get advice on how to get a lead through each step more quickly.
Costs of Selling to Businesses
Although business-to-business sales have larger profit margins, there are extra selling expenditures that aren’t usually present in the B2C market. Here are some instances of B2B selling charges to think about:
- B2B salespeople are often compensated on commission or via sales incentives in order to encourage them to make more sales.
- B2B selling involves substantial training since it requires in-depth understanding of the product or service that sales people are marketing.
- B2B sales staff employ a variety of media, including business brochures, product brochures, email campaign templates, and films, to give images to help prospective clients make purchase decisions. Each of them has significant production and deployment expenses.
- Sales technology: Sales technology like CRMs, business System of Telephones, scheduling applications, and lead generation tools are needed for an organized, collaborative, and efficient sales operation. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us companies aren’t afraid to make big purchases online, so sales teams must continue to invest in tools that streamline online selling.
Conclusion
B2B sales are more difficult than B2C sales because they need a more thorough sales procedure, higher selling expenses, specialized sales tools, and personal interactions with clients. Because sales personnel must have a foundation of technical understanding for what they are selling, B2B sales requires a level of specialty. Provide your sales personnel all the tools they need to succeed, such as sales training, powerful sales technology, and a consistent lead-generation strategy.
B2B Sales is a process of selling goods or services to businesses. It differs from B2C sales in that the target audience is other businesses, not consumers. The ultimate guide to business-to-business selling includes how to set up your business for success and what you can expect as a salary. Reference: b2b sales salary.
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