7 Tips for Effective B2B Sales: A Guide for Export Managers
B2B sales, or business-to-business sales, is the process of selling products or services to other businesses. It is different from B2C sales, or business-to-consumer sales, which involves selling to individual customers. B2B sales can be more complex, challenging, and rewarding than B2C sales, as it often involves multiple decision-makers, longer sales cycles, and higher-value transactions.
As an export manager, you need to master the skills and strategies of B2B sales to succeed in the global market. You need to understand your target market, identify your ideal customers, build trust and rapport, communicate your value proposition, negotiate effectively, and close the deal. Here are seven tips to help you improve your B2B sales performance and grow your export business.
1. Do your research
Before you contact a potential customer, you need to do your homework and learn as much as you can about their business, industry, challenges, needs, and goals. This will help you tailor your pitch and offer a solution that meets their specific requirements and expectations. You can use various sources of information, such as their website, social media, industry reports, news articles, trade shows, and referrals.
2. Qualify your leads
Not every business that shows interest in your product or service is a good fit for your offer. You need to filter out the prospects that are not ready, willing, or able to buy from you and focus on the ones that have the highest potential to become loyal customers. You can use a lead qualification framework, such as BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing), to assess the suitability of each lead and prioritize your sales efforts accordingly.
3. Build relationships
B2B sales is not a one-time transaction but a long-term partnership. You need to establish trust and credibility with your prospects and show them that you care about their success and satisfaction. You can do this by listening actively, asking open-ended questions, providing valuable insights, offering testimonials and case studies, following up regularly, and delivering on your promises.
4. Communicate your value
Your prospects are not interested in the features of your product or service but in the benefits and outcomes that they can achieve by using it. You need to communicate your value proposition clearly and convincingly and show how your offer can solve their problems, improve their situation, or help them reach their goals. You can use stories, stories, demonstrations, comparisons, and testimonials to illustrate your value and differentiate yourself from the competition.
5. Negotiate wisely
Negotiation is an inevitable part of B2B sales, as your prospects will likely try to get the best deal possible from you. You need to be prepared for this and have a clear idea of your minimum acceptable price, terms, and conditions. You also need to understand the other party’s interests, motivations, and constraints and try to find a win-win solution that satisfies both sides. You can use techniques such as anchoring, framing, conceding, trading, and closing to negotiate effectively and confidently.
6. Close the deal
The final step of B2B sales is to get the customer’s commitment and signature on the contract. This can be the most challenging part of the process, as there may be some objections or hesitations that prevent the customer from making a decision. You need to overcome these obstacles by addressing their concerns, providing reassurance, creating urgency, proposing incentives, and asking for the order.
7. Follow up and follow through
After you close the deal, you need to make sure that the customer is happy with their purchase and that they receive the expected value from your product or service. You need to follow up with them regularly to get feedback, provide support, resolve issues, upsell or cross-sell additional products or services, ask for referrals or testimonials, and maintain a positive relationship.
B2B sales is a challenging but rewarding career for export managers who want to grow their export business and achieve success in the global market. By following these seven tips, you can improve your B2B sales skills and strategies and increase your chances of winning more customers and generating more revenue.
B2B Sales: A Growing Industry
Business-to-business (B2B) sales are transactions between two businesses rather than between a business and an individual consumer for the consumer’s personal use. B2B sales are characterized by larger transaction amounts, more educated buyers, a multistakeholder approval process and thus a longer sales cycle . B2B salespeople use strategic sequences and specialized selling methods to engage corporate buyers .
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global B2B e-commerce market size was valued at USD 12.2 trillion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5% from 2020 to 2027 . The growth of this market is driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of digital technologies, the rising demand for online ordering and payment solutions, the growing need for cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and the changing customer preferences and expectations .
Some of the key players in the B2B e-commerce market include Alibaba Group, Amazon.com, JD.com, Walmart, Shopify, Rakuten, IBM, and Microsoft. These companies offer various platforms and services to facilitate B2B transactions, such as online marketplaces, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics.
References:
https://www.infosys.com/about/knowledge-institute/insights/Documents/future-customer-engagement.pdf
http://fortune.com/fortune500/2015/
https://archive.org/details/ecommerceformula00plan/page/26
https://www.outreach.io/blog/what-is-b2b-sales
https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/glossary/business-to-business-b2b-sales
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/business-to-business-b2b-e-commerce-market
https://www.export.gov/article?id=Business-to-Business-Sales
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/06/30/five-tips-for-successful-b2b-sales-in-2020/?sh=5c8f9a9a4d8f
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/b2b-sales
