The Ultimate Guide On How To Increase B2B Sales
Boost your B2B sales with tips and strategies in our ultimate guide. Learn how to attract leads, nurture relationships, and close deals.
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Sales don’t just happen; they take time, strategic planning, and research. That’s especially true in B2B sales, where the average deal takes 6 to 12 months to close, according to a HubSpot survey. Along the journey, prospects visit your website, engage with your content, and interact with your sales team. By the time they’re ready to buy, they’ve already done a ton of research and may even have a good idea of what they want, if not a predetermined list of criteria to evaluate your offerings. Using sales acceleration software, you can increase B2B sales by making this process easier, faster, and more organized for your team and buyers. In this article, we’ll explore how to increase B2B sales.
Aomni’s sales intelligence software provides actionable insights to help you improve your sales process and increase performance to close deals faster.
How To Increase B2B Sales With these 13 Tips
1. Sales Enablement: Aligning with Buyer Goals
Sales enablement is a strategic framework that allows sales teams to use their resources better, work smarter, and win more deals. Sales enablement starts by aligning your organization’s goals with your customers’ needs.
Following are the five key action steps
- Develop a process map outlining how specific business processes work.
- Embrace sales enablement technology.
- Implement sales automation.
- Apply analytics to gain insight into customer behavior.
- Manage customer success.
How Sales Enablement Drives Conversion and Relationship-Building in B2B Sales
The impact of this strategy can be seen in the B2B industry, where companies can create highly effective sales enablement programs. The key results of this are increased conversion rates and more leads generated. The sales team is on the front lines of customer care.
They have a unique opportunity to use sales enablement. This process also helps them get more customer information and build stronger relationships. Sales enablement has proved to increase conversion rates by 15%. It can also help you reach new potential by identifying customer pain points and providing solutions.
2. Empower Your Sales Team to Sell Smarter
To win more customers, salespeople need to plan:
- Where they want to go
- Who do they want to target
- How they can get more hot leads
Empowerment in Sales
- Empowering salespeople helps your sales team realize their full potential by converting leads or closing deals.
- Empowering salespeople also helps many companies outperform the competition and grow their business.
- Empowering sales is about understanding your customer’s needs and effectively addressing them. It also includes building trust with your customer by empathizing with their needs and wants.
- Empowering will help you gain new customers because it enables you to understand what motivates people to buy from you.
When a company has a team of salespeople, each employee must have individual skills and competencies. If the group collectively has substantial expertise, they are better equipped to sell effectively and win more customers. Sales managers must understand the importance of empowering their teams with individual skills. One of the most important ones is time management for sales reps. Getting reps to read sales motivational quotes is also an excellent way to perk them up, leading them to win more customers.
3. Know Your Prospect Well
B2B sales is a complicated process that takes time and effort. It is also one of the more challenging jobs to succeed in this field. One way to succeed is by understanding your prospects well enough to know what they seek. This strategy can help you succeed at winning more customers and increasing revenue. Professional services firms such as law firms, consultants, and accountants often use this strategy to win new business.
As they know, their target audience is not easily found through traditional cold calling or networking methods. A well-executed B2B sales outreach is the backbone of successful marketing. It is important to know your prospects well before you even start to create content that will interest them. According to a study, 86% of B2B marketers have found it challenging to contact prospects they want. Therefore, some companies use different content marketing strategies and tactics. This allows them to connect with their target audience and build relationships.
4. Align Sales And Marketing Teams
One of the biggest B2B sales strategy trends is aligning sales and marketing teams. It’s proven that when sales and marketing work together, they can help their companies succeed. The two teams play complementary roles in this approach. The marketing team supports customer acquisition strategies and content ideas, while the sales team works on customer retention and revenue generation strategies.
Leading companies have mastered this approach to increase revenue, brand awareness, and adoption rates for their products/services. They do that by implementing product adoption software in their company, making improving adoption rates for your new product much easier. One of the most effective ways to get sales and marketing teams on the same page is by aligning their objectives and goals. Sales teams have been trying to access a customer’s content, while marketing has been focused on getting brand value.
Aligning Sales and Marketing Goals to Drive Revenue and Collaboration
Many things can be done to improve this relationship, but one proven strategy is aligning sales and marketing objectives and goals. The goal of a sales team is to close a deal. The purpose of a marketing team is to acquire new customers. These goals are not entirely different, as the ultimate measurable outcome for both the sales and marketing teams is making revenue – it just comes in various forms for each department. This alignment allows both departments to work together towards similar goals with an open line of communication between them all along the way.
5. Create Your Ideal Buyer Personas
It is essential to have a good understanding of your market before starting any sales efforts. Creating a well-rounded buyer persona is crucial to building trust with your customers and getting their buy-in on your idea. An ideal buyer persona is a fictional representation of the person your target audience would most identify with if they were buying from you. By understanding these buyers, you’ll better understand their motivations and what concerns they might have for your product or service.
This will allow you to create content that appeals specifically to them, which attracts more customers and increases revenue for your business. To direct your marketing strategy towards the right person, you need to know who they are. And this is where buyer personas come in. They are a proven B2B sales strategy that will help you identify and target potential customers, increasing your chances of winning more customers.
Developing Targeted Content Strategies for Real Estate Investor Personas
Let’s take an example of a real estate company and its customer persona. The avid real estate investor is seeking more education on investing in the market and reducing tax liability. The company would create content for this buyer persona, such as educational articles about investment strategies, tax tips, etc.
6. Be Far-Sighted
Being far-sighted can help you win more customers. This is true for B2B sales as well. In some cases, patience is advisable to avoid churning your clients and losing them to the competition. Being far-sighted in online marketing can prove beneficial for your business. This is best done by creating a customer value proposition that goes beyond the immediate benefits of your product or service.
Long-Term Perspective in B2B Sales
B2B companies should take a step back before they start offering their services and shop around at what other companies are doing. They should not lose customers in a competitive market by focusing only on immediate benefits. Being far-sighted is a proven B2B sales strategy that helps you win more customers.
Achieving Far-Sightedness in B2B Sales
Being far-sighted is not new, but it has been given a new meaning in the business world. It has been extended to include a view beyond what is happening and see the bigger picture. Far-sightedness can be achieved by having a vision of the future, which includes understanding your company’s key strategies. It helps reach out to your customers in ways they would appreciate and know how to get backlinks from third parties.
7. Listen Actively
Active listening is a must in B2B sales. It helps build customer relationships and gain trust, essential for sales success. Active listening involves being aware of the customer’s needs and wants, as well as their level of understanding and concerns. You should also be attentive to non-verbal cues and body language, as it can help provide feedback on how the customer feels. When you listen actively, you can ask more meaningful questions, leading to better conversations.
Actively listening to the customer helps provide a good solution. Moreover, customizing their pitch to the customer’s needs can give you an edge over the competition. Listening actively is a B2B sales strategy that can help increase sales and customer satisfaction.
8. Avoid Being Aggressive While Selling
Unsurprisingly, overly aggressive sales tactics can repel potential customers, leading to lost sales and a damaged brand reputation. Customers value their ability to make informed decisions without feeling pressured or manipulated. Adopting a less aggressive approach focused on:
- Understanding customer needs
- Providing relevant information
- Guiding customers through their purchase journey fosters trust and long-term relationships
It allows customers to:
- Feel valued and respected
- Leading to higher satisfaction
- Increased loyalty
- Repeat business
- Positive word-of-mouth
9. Don’t Forget Existing Customers
A strong customer base is essential for success in the business world, and existing customers can be key to that. They will already be familiar with your product and services and be more likely to trust you and your company. Existing customers are also great for word-of-mouth promotion and can help to bring in new customers if they’ve had a positive experience. As part of any sales plan, it’s important to nurture existing customers with email marketing, social media, or other methods of communication.
Offering discounts or rewards to existing customers can help you retain them as customers and keep them from switching to a competitor. Taking good care of existing customers is crucial for the success of any B2B sales plan.
10. Sell Solutions, Not Products
Successful salespeople are selling the solution’s benefits, not just the product. They can engage their audience with solutions and not just products. This will lead to increased customer loyalty and long-term relationships. Solution sellers have more difficulty convincing their customers that they need a product or service than those who sell products alone. They often have to rely on skilled salespeople who can do this for them, but solution sellers need to know how to sell their solutions in:
- Person
- Over the phone
- Online
It’s a great idea to get a free number and offer it to your customers as it improves communication with your customers. B2B sales is a competitive game, and the competition is getting tougher as companies try to win over customers by selling solutions rather than products. There are several reasons why this strategy is so effective.
One reason is that there are a lot of companies who offer similar solutions to different industries, possibly your sector as well. When you sell an answer, you can differentiate by focusing on the key itself and highlighting its benefits. Apple and IBM’s salespeople are the best examples of this strategy.
11. Nurture Leads On Social Media
Whether you collaborate with reputable social media marketing companies or carry out your campaigns in-house, every B2B company should have a dedicated social media strategy. One of the most essential parts of building and nurturing leads on social media is understanding the different types of people visiting your company’s website. A recent study reveals that social media allows companies to reach more customers than ever. Using tools like Social Media Activity Log, companies can create a deeper connection with their customers and personalize the experience.
It can help them maximize sales opportunities with this new way of reaching out to potential customers. “Nurture leads on social media” is a proven B2B sales strategy, especially in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This is because it allows companies in this space to build relationships with their target audience and ultimately generate more leads.
12. Analyze All of Your Data
If you’re committed to making your B2B marketing campaigns work, you must monitor and track all data collected from and about your prospects. With this information, you can learn more about your ideal customers, their origin, and what converts them.
You’ll need a tool to gather and analyze it so you don’t waste precious time and money doing it manually. Just be sure you’re looking at metrics that matter, not vanity numbers that don’t directly relate to macro conversions.
13. Launch a Referral Program
In B2B industries, it’s all about networking. So, it’s common for businesses to refer others to service and product providers they’ve had success with. Why not incentivize this behavior to get more referrals?
Creating a referral program formalizes this by offering a “commission” to customers who refer prospects to paying customers. You can offer incentives, such as a 50% discount on their next purchase or a free month on their subscription.
Related Reading
Why Is B2B Lead Generation Important For Businesses
Consumers like to buy from brands they know and trust. Establishing this level of familiarity takes time, and lead generation helps you build visibility and a good reputation for your brand. B2B lead generation efforts often consist of tactics to help with this. For example, you can use your blog to establish thought leadership. When visitors view you as an expert in your industry, it makes you more trustworthy.
You can do the same with social media — sharing insights and tips on these platforms (vs. selling and promoting products), you can generate a following. According to Content Marketing Institute, 80% of B2B marketers use content marketing for lead gen. According to a HubSpot report, 13% of blogs are 13x as likely to have positive ROIs.
B2B Lead Generation: The Path to More Sales Opportunities
B2B lead generation strategies are all about building relationships with your target audience. You start by demonstrating your business as a go-to source for information. Then, once you trust prospects, they’re more likely to consider your products or services when purchasing. This leads to more sales opportunities and revenue for your organization.
B2B Lead Generation: A Win-Win for Everyone
B2B lead gen is a win-win for both parties involved. On one end, you’re driving awareness and prospects to your business. On the other hand, prospects are getting much-needed information about their problems and possible solutions to resolve them. This is why all of your lead gen campaigns should consider prospects’ needs.
B2B Lead Generation: Driving More High-Quality Leads
What sets digital marketing apart from traditional advertising is that you have more control over who sees your content. By using SEO, you can target people based on their interests and needs. By incorporating topics and keywords into your content, you can garner interest from prospects more likely to buy your product or service. You can do the same with pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
You can use retargeting and audience targeting to display ads to specific groups of people. In the case with B2B, you’d focus on firmographics:
- Company size
- Industry
- Tech used, etc.
Demographics:
- Age
- Marital status
- Income, etc.
When done right, lead generation can drive more high-quality leads. This is especially true when you adopt marketing automation tactics to drive leads. One report shows 80% of marketers think marketing automation drives better leads. And 77% convert more leads than those who don’t use marketing automation.
B2B Lead Generation: Learning More About Your Target Audience
During lead generation campaigns, you’re gathering much information about your target customers. With this intel, you can better understand their needs so you can improve your marketing message and content.
For instance, you can learn about your audience’s questions and then focus on answering them on your:
- Blog
- eBooks
- Social media
- Other lead gen content
Analytics tools help capture data and even analyze it (with the help of AI).
B2B Lead Generation: Cost Efficiency
Advertising can quickly turn into an expensive endeavor. To get your ads in front of large audiences, you’d normally have to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. This is why you’ll only find multi-billion dollar companies advertising during the Super Bowl and NBA Playoffs. And it’s the same with billboards. Even digital advertising can grow expensive. Partnering with big-time influencers can cost a pretty shiny penny and ad campaigns can be costly when competing for high-competition keywords.
With lead generation, your marketing efforts are cost-efficient. You pay once for content creation (either with your time or money), and then it works for as long as it’s published. Numbers show content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing.
B2B Lead Generation: Appealing to Your Target Audience
People don’t like being advertised to, which is what makes lead generation efforts impactful. Rather than selling, you’re delivering value to prospective customers. So, all of your promotions are done indirectly, making it feel like the user is deciding to look at or purchase your product/service.
Empowering B2B Sales Teams with Aomni: Features and Benefits for Enhanced Performance
Aomni is an AI agent platform designed specifically for B2B sales intelligence software. Our solution empowers enterprise and strategic account executives to execute account-based sales and marketing strategies with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. Our key features include:
- AI-powered prospect and account research
- Comprehensive account mapping and planning
- Data-driven sales strategy development
- Automated call preparation
- Personalized AI agents for sales optimization
- AI chat interface for streamlined sales processes
- AI-assisted Account Based Sales/Marketing campaign execution tool
Aomni addresses critical pain points for sales managers whose Account Executives, Account Managers, and Customer Success Managers must perform better and include quotas. By leveraging our advanced AI technology, sales professionals can significantly enhance their preparation for customer conversations, leading to the following:
- Larger deal closures
- Increased promotion opportunities
For individual sales professionals, Aomni provides the tools and insights needed to:
- Elevate their performance
- Close more substantial deals
- Accelerate career progression
Our platform transforms the way B2B sales teams operate, ensuring they enter every customer interaction:
- Fully prepared
- Strategically positioned for success
Try our sales intelligence software for free today!
Related Reading
- Sales Industry Trends
How Do You Measure the Performance of a B2B Sales Performance?
Pipeline Velocity: Measure Sales Performance by Mapping the Journey of a Lead
Pipeline velocity measures how quickly leads move through the sales funnel. It reflects the efficiency of the strategy. Tracking how long it takes from lead generation to closed deals. A slow pipeline may indicate bottlenecks in lead nurturing or ineffective outreach methods.
Win Rate: Track the Percentage of Opportunities That Convert Into Customers
This metric tracks the percentage of opportunities that convert into actual customers. A high win rate shows that the strategy aligns well with the target market and that the sales team is handling objections effectively.
Customer Lifetime Value: Assess the Long-Term Value of a Customer
CLV measures the total value a customer brings over the duration of the relationship. If the B2B strategy focuses on retaining high-value customers, an increasing CLV reflects repeat purchases and customer loyalty.
Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio: Measure How Well Leads Qualify Into Opportunities
This KPI measures how well leads are qualifying into opportunities. It helps evaluate the targeting and lead nurturing processes. A low ratio indicates that the sales team may need to refine lead qualification criteria or improve outreach efforts.
Contact Quality and Engagement Metrics: Assess How Well Sales Data Performs
Especially in data-driven outreach, it’s essential to measure how accurate and engaging the contact data is. Metrics such as call connect rates, email open rates, and engagement with direct dials can reveal how relevant the data is and whether the sales approach resonates with prospects.
Forecast Accuracy: Gauge Sales Performance Against Business Goals
This metric reflects how well the strategy aligns with business goals by comparing sales forecasts to actual results. Poor forecasting indicates that the strategy needs adjustment in terms of targeting or outreach efforts.
Customer Acquisition Cost: Calculate How Much It Costs to Acquire a New Customer
CAC measures the total cost involved in acquiring a new customer. Lowering CAC while maintaining high conversion rates reflects an optimized strategy.
5 B2B Sales Best Practices For Boosting Sales
1. Unpacking Your Prospects’ Goals and Pain Points
Understanding a prospect’s business objectives, problems, and challenges can help you personalize your sales approach and build rapport. Rather than making assumptions, research to understand what your prospect cares about.
Then, during your sales conversations, ask specific questions to uncover their goals and pain points. The better you empathize with your prospects’ issues, the more effectively you’ll be able to articulate how your solution can help them.
2. Connect with Decision-Makers
In B2B sales, it’s not who you know; it’s who can approve the deal. If you want to shorten your sales cycle, you need to skip the formalities and immediately connect with the decision-makers. Research your target accounts to uncover the hierarchy of the business, and use LinkedIn to help identify who your sales should be focused on.
Then, personalize your outreach and mention any mutual connections or relevant information to help build trust before you even get to your pitch.
3. Focus on Selling Solutions, Not Products
Prospects don’t care about your product; they care about how it will make their lives easier. To reach people and make a lasting impact, it’s important to sell them not on your product but on how your product will improve their lives.
The proof is in the results, so show prospects how your product can solve their problems and increase their bottom line through:
- Data
- Success stories
- Firsthand knowledge
4. Keep It Simple
Businesses want to know how your product or service will make their lives easier, not more complicated. For example, emphasize how easy it is to integrate your software into their existing processes. And make sure they know you’ll provide training and ongoing support. The simpler your solution is, the sooner they can start using it and see results.
5. Be Mindful of Their Time
Yes, you want to make a sale, but you must know your prospect’s busy schedule. Never show up unannounced at their offices or call out of the blue, and expect them to have the time (or desire) to talk to you.
Make it a rule to set and keep appointments, both phone calls and face-to-face meetings and be flexible enough to accommodate your prospect’s schedule when necessary.
Related Reading
- Gong vs Salesloft
- Fathom vs Gong
- HubSpot Sales Hub Features
- Gong vs Chorus
- Salesloft Alternatives
- Gong Alternatives
Try Our Sales Intelligence Software for Free Today
Discover Aomni: The B2B Sales Intelligence Software That Will Transform Your Sales Processes
Aomni is an AI agent platform designed specifically for B2B sales intelligence software. Our solution empowers enterprise and strategic account executives to execute account-based sales and marketing strategies with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. Our key features include:
- AI-powered prospect and account research
- Comprehensive account mapping and planning
- Data-driven sales strategy development
- Automated call preparation
- Personalized AI agents for sales optimization
- AI chat interface for streamlined sales processes
- AI-assisted Account Based Sales/Marketing campaign execution tool
Aomni addresses critical pain points for sales managers whose Account Executives, Account Managers, and Customer Success Managers must perform better and include quotas. By leveraging our advanced AI technology, sales professionals can significantly enhance their preparation for customer conversations, leading to the following:
- Larger deal closures
- Increased promotion opportunities
For individual sales professionals, Aomni provides the tools and insights needed to:
- Elevate their performance
- Close more substantial deals
- Accelerate career progression
Our platform transforms the way B2B sales teams operate, ensuring they enter every customer interaction:
- Fully prepared
- Strategically positioned for success
Try our sales intelligence software for free today!
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