Selling is tough; it is beyond handing over your product in exchange for some money. For impactful sales, a sales leader must be confident, disciplined, and must carry a strong gut instinct. Nevertheless, trusting only your gut will lead to painful business mistakes.
B2C and B2B sales operations work differently. B2B sales is said to be tougher and yet, must be more precise. There are chances of committing more mistakes in B2B sales. What are these mistakes? How can you avoid them? What makes for a great sales ops process? Are there any tools that can help?
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Let’s explore:
What are a few common B2B sales pitfalls?
- A focus on selling rather than building relationships
Today, customers want to make their own choices. It is there important for B2B sellers to not force products on them, but to focus on offering them what they want, share solutions and ideas, and let them choose.
- A focus only on products and not the needs of the customers
We understand you sell a product, which took years of research and months of hard work to reach the market and build. Unfortunately, the customer does not want to know all of this. The customer just wants you to focus on their core problems and give them a solution that can work. Do that and build a lasting relationship, this is the need of the hour in B2B sales.
Takeaway: Let them know what your product or service can do for them.
- Rushing to the client and creating urgency when it’s not needed
You can’t let any of your prospects go, but is rushing to them the only solution? Remember that a pushy salesperson is a turn-off;
Do a follow-up, strive to understand your customer’s hesitations, and be ready to respond as needed, understand where they are in their buying journey with the right intent data.
- Making promises that you cannot fulfill
That is a typical salesperson; making false promises. This is one of the biggest mistakes B2B salespersons make. Do not create expectations that you cannot fulfill in time.
Be clear with what you can offer, and how much the client should or can expect from the brand.
There are several common mistakes that even experienced B2B sales people end up making, the good thing is, there are solutions for all of them as well. If you were only focusing on selling your product, you must now change your strategy and strive to build long-term relationships.
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What makes for a great SalesOps process?
Do you know who are coxswains? They are team members who sit in the stern of the boat to guide the boat, steer its path, and direct the rhythm of the rovers. The sales operations team is just like the coxswains for sales teams.
The sales operations team has a broader purpose, and their primary role is to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of the business. Sales ops is all about handling behind the scene activities. The following are the best practices to ensure that your Sales ops unit flows smoothly.
- Determine and understand KPIs
As far as B2B sales are concerned, there is no dearth of metrics and KPIs to track. The challenge lies in measuring the most meaningful ones.
Use your magnifying glass, break the numbers, and examine them thoroughly.
- Identifying trends before they get out of control
After a detailed view of your sales ops team, uncover the trends, bottlenecks, and challenges in your sales process. With an aerial view of the entire sales process, great sales ops can identify the trends early.
As you identify a trend; inform as soon as possible.
- Do not handle all quick-fixes like fire drills
Sales is meant to be fast; you will come across more problems than the actual time to solve them. Rushing to tasks can derail your routine. Thus, identify the root cause and work on it.
Unsustainable fixes do not work; try to fix the real problems.
- Make sure sales data is accurate and up-to-date
No sales ops team can work in the absence of accurate and reliable data. As a sales ops leader, you must ensure that all the data is fed into the CRM error-free.
Establish clear guidelines and rules; so everyone follows the same to work on the CRM or cloud.
Tools like Salesforce Sales Cloud, Cloud Comp, Badger Maps, Xactly AlignStar, and many more are some of the top tools to improve the everyday working of the sales ops teams.
However, before investigating the sales ops tools, it is worth checking their features, whether they match with the CRM you already have. Once you have all the information, you can then decide which tools are most compatible with your marketing and sales ecosystem.
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