It’s no secret that selling to other businesses can be tricky. You simply won’t be successful if you don’t take B2B selling for what it is: a high-stakes game that requires a completely different approach than direct-to-consumer sales.
However, before knowing how to make a successful B2B sale, we must start by knowing its concept.
B2B sale, what is it?
In general terms, B2B sales is an acronym that refers to commercial transactions between companies (business to business), not directed to the end customer, but distributors, importers, and partners.
And, contrast, B2C sales refer to the set of commercial transactions and marketing strategies that a company establishes to attract its final consumers (business to consumer).
Strategies to achieve a successful B2B sale
Meet your quality contacts
In B2B sales, we know that not all the contacts of a company have the same possibility of buying from us. It is important to define which functions or jobs are the ones that really decide to purchase our product, as well as the phases of your purchase process.
In addition to this, you can establish other characteristics to complete the profile of your buyer or buyer persona, such as gender, age, marital status, place of residence, and hobbies.
Use inbound marketing
In inbound marketing, you are in charge of identifying your segments and attracting them through quality content, so that they are the ones who look for you. The idea is that they think of you when they are finally ready to make their purchase.
And when we talk about quality content, we are not referring only to texts. You can also attract them with a business event that offers them value and shows them, at the same time, the quality of your product or service, this is one of the most effective strategies of a B2B sale.
Offer a competitive deal
As in B2C commerce, in a B2B sale you must offer a competitive deal, through a positive shopping experience and agility in all your processes; Also, that you comply with the administrative and fiscal standards that your clients ask for.
Thus, it is important to highlight that with an administration or ERP system you will always have an advantage because it allows you:
- Accept payments online
- Manage your customer catalog
- Offer an online self-billing portal
- Comply with the addenda
At this point, you should review the platforms that offer specific benefits for marketers. A good management system makes it easy for you to control and continuously monitor your business clients.
Increase your customer satisfaction
To optimize your B2B sales, you need to measure and control the level of satisfaction expressed by your customers. Only then can you know their loyalty and identify where you should improve. Additionally, satisfied customers attract new prospects and opportunities.
Remember that loyalty is key in your sales strategy to companies, so you must contact your customers, at the times and through the means, they prefer: by phone, by chat, via email, personally, or even by social networks.
Focus on selling results
Just as you are not interested in products that do not help you with something, neither are others willing to hear from you if you do not tell them what needs you solve for them.
Therefore, focus on communicating the tangible results and objectives that you will help them achieve.
Use the metrics
To direct your efforts to the segments and channels that do pay off, your sales strategy must be guided by metrics. Some basic indicators are:
- Average ticket: it is the value each customer spends on average on their purchases.
- CAC or customer acquisition cost: it is the investment that you must make to acquire a customer, in general, and by channel.
- Churn: refers to the loss of income or customers.
