Often times, B2B sales is considered challenging. But one of the greatest things in B2B sales (or sales in general!) today is that, with the array of sales technologies that sales people and customer facing teams are exposed to, as challenging as sales can be in a crowded marketplace, there is a lot of opportunity to drive impactful selling conversations and business relationships with a mix of creativity and salestech.Â
A few reasons that sales people attribute B2B sales to being very challenging is because of the longer sales cycles that it involves and the fact that there is usually always more than one decision maker making a final tech buying decision.Â
While B2B technology trends evolve and the market becomes a lot more consolidated with the need for technology platforms to offer more integrations, the future of B2B sales can actually turn out to be more interesting amid all of this.Â
For B2B salespeople to stay on point in the midst of these constant evolutions, newer tactics in every sales operations step and sales process are integral to the overall ROI.
Read More: A Quick Overview Of The Fastest Growing Salestech Categories
Let’s start with a few innovative ideas to help drive better B2B Sales pitches:
Making use of Short Videos for 1-Minute Introductory Messages
One of the biggest truths or hardships surrounding sales and marketing is that the usual consumer is attuned to tuning out of marketing or sales messages! This requires marketing and sales teams to not only enhance the relevance of their campaigns but to ensure they identify prospects who are currently in-market for the product or service that they are trying to market or sell. A more targeted approach is a basic fundamental in a dynamic marketplace that already offers no dearth of options and choices.Â
While doing this, crafting innovative marketing campaigns and sales pitches that stand out from the crowd are another important step in trying to grab the prospect’s attention, so what can help?Â
Every B2B salespeople today knows how impactful videos can be in conveying a deeper message, quickly. At a time when the digital and online selling marketplace faces an abundance of promotional content, deploying short videos, up to a minute long or slightly longer can be useful in trying to generate initial interest in your product and getting the prospect to agree to a longer meeting or demo call.Â
While on the one hand the use of videos in B2B sales has been increasing, with studies suggesting that 32% of businesses now use video for sales, sales teams have to remember that with this growing use of video will come a time of ‘’too much video’’ too! And to stand out and make a difference, there have to be newer tactics put into play to help achieve faster turnarounds and engagement from prospects, here are a few things that can help:
- Create a series of short video messages that follow a central brand theme and message
- Have a reputed technology leader or influencer play the key host or spokesperson in some (or all!) of those B2B sales videos
- Create one core video message with product/service benefits that is slightly longer but can be repurposed and broken down to portray one single feature or capability of the product at a time
Capitalizing on Core Product Benefits Viz a Viz Competitors
For every B2B tech platform out there, in today’s market there will be a host of others offering other capabilities or similar features, all of which are jostling for the same market attention.Â
B2B prospects today are not just spoilt for choice, they are wiser than before, have their own ways of comparing platforms and products and usually already know what kind of product or service they would like to invest in next.Â
B2B salespeople can actually use this to their advantage by learning how to craft sales pitches that focus on strengthening how they portray their products’ core benefits viz a viz that of their top competitors or other smaller players in the market, in a healthy way!
Comparison charts, usage statistics, capitalizing on other human elements like 24/7 after-sales and customer service can all play a role in diversifying and solidifying the B2B sales process today. This is where sales leaders and other key company stakeholders also need to come together to ensure they create and build a product offering that can help differentiate them in the market and urge prospects to invest in them for the long-term. Building strong platform capabilities is one part of the game, the other lies in structuring processes like customer support, tech support, after-sales, etc.Â
Read More: What Will Your B2B Sales Strategy Need More Of In 2022?
Offering Value and Offers Catered to Each Prospect
As reiterated in the first part of this article, a targeted approach to sales and marketing is integral to pushing boundaries and eventual ROI. When sales and marketing teams get this right, they will have the right customer data and buying intent information in place to help them know what exactly prospects are looking for.Â
This is where sales people and sales leaders can collaborate effectively on extending special offers catered to each prospect’s requirement. A discount may work for one prospect or target account, for another, an add-on facility like 24 hour tech support may be more useful especially if they have a lean team and lack of in-house technical support to drive the use of a new tech platform. Customizing sales offers towards the end of a the sales prospecting cycle can help drive more prospects to thinking about investing in your product.Â
Give Traditional Sales Collaterals a Rejig
In a dynamic market where trends and technologies are constantly set to evolve along with changing customer expectations and needs, traditional sales models and collaterals need to get a rejig. Less text, more interactivity, building out creative use cases, case studies in formats that can be consumed across platforms and quickly by prospects, using online events or online product sessions to drive interest… there is a lot sales leaders and sales teams can do to build impact and long-term value in the market.Â
Stay tuned for more innovative tips and roundups by SalesTechStar!Â