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Did you know that even the top rated B2B companies manage to close only 30 percent of their sales with potential prospects?
This is despite investing heavily in marketing as well as leveraging technology in an effort to boost sales.
As such, you need to closely scrutinize your sales pipeline to identify leaks in order to get the growth your company deserves.
After a thorough analysis, here are some fatal B2B sales mistakes made by most companies; and how to fix them:
1. Foregoing Customer Relationship
Often, B2B companies are easily swept away by the desire to increase sales to a point of being oblivious to building customer relationships.
While offering high-quality products and customer service is the first step toward building a good rapport with your prospects. You’ll need to do more if you want to successfully close a sale.
You need to connect with the prospects by engaging them in conversations about their business and needs. This way, they feel like they’re making a choice rather than being sold a product or a service.
To do this, you’ll have to do research on the client company and organize a meeting to learn more about them.
2. Too Much Emphasis on Your Product
Unfortunately, today’s prospects don’t care much about the features and benefits of your product. They care more about the results they’ll get from using your product.
Therefore, you need to sell your product by laying out a problem and defining how your product can help mitigate the problem. This creates a sense of value around your product which increase B2B wholesale sales.
Similarly, you have to proactively and consistently cultivate the perception of value to build customer loyalty and reduce churn.
3. Trying to Sell to Everyone
Most B2B companies mistakenly adopt a wide market approach without realizing its adverse effect on their brand name.
This often leads to force-selling, which means that customers buy a product or service they don’t need. Consequently, they’ll be dissatisfied and tarnish your company’s reputation through negative word-of-mouth, thus harming your future sells.
More so, trying to sell to every possible business client results in a waste of financial resources and valuable time spent on lengthy sales cycles. Thus, you need to identify your ideal clients and channel your resources to sell your solution to them.
This not only cuts down prospecting costs but also generates more satisfied customers who are likely to recommend your products to others.
4. Rushing the Client
While it’s a good idea to follow up with your clients after each meeting, you need to give them space and time to digest your proposal. Frequent calls and rushing them to make a decision makes you seem like a pushy salesperson and may eventually reduce your sales conversion rate.
When it’s time to make a follow-up, make sure you understand the client’s needs and be ready to respond to any objections that may arise.
5. Giving Proposals with Only One Option
Presenting a limited business proposal to your prospects with just one choice makes them feel cornered. This prompts them to shop around for options in search of the best value.
Moreover, a single option could limit clients to a lower-tier solution, yet they may want the premium option with the most value.
An ideal proposal should consist of at least three options; an affordable one, a slightly pricier choice, and a premium option. This boosts your average sales and the number of deals you close, while discouraging clients from shopping for more options.
6. Deals and Discounts
Deals and discounts may not seem bad on the surface. After all, they’re a great way to attract more clients.
Unfortunately, the only type of customers it attracts are the low-paying clients. And if your product is premium level, attracting low-paying prospects makes it lose its value in the eyes of other prospects.
Additionally, it’s almost certain that you may not generate much revenue from your sales when offering low deals and discounts. As such, be confident and offer a premium solution in the market without being swayed to give discounts or cutting the price of your products.
7. High Dependency on Online Platforms
Given the wider market outreach a B2B business enjoys by having an online presence, it can be almost impossible to resist the frequent use of online platforms to communicate with potential customers.
However, too much dependency on these platforms can do more harm than good. Prospects will appreciate it more if you talk to them face to face about your solutions. It’s better than just feeding them information on your web or social media account.
Also, a physical meeting gives you a valuable opportunity to understand the client’s needs and discuss ways your product can meet their needs.
8. Making Promises You Can’t Keep
It’s easy to be tempted to over-promise on the benefits and solutions your product offers to land a sale.
However, this jeopardizes your brand and frustrates your customers with unmet expectations. Frustrated customers mean fewer sales.
Therefore, it’s recommended that you let your salespeople know how far they can go when presenting your products to prospects. Make sure they clearly highlight the solutions your product/service provides and give alternatives to needs that aren’t addressed. This nurtures honesty and a good reputation which builds your business in the long run.
9. Targeting Executives Only
Even though the final approval on a sale is with the executive board, you can’t overlook the need to present your proposal to lower-level employees.
In some businesses, employees are tasked with seeking solutions for their companies’ needs. Presenting them with your solution will prompt them to refer you to the executive for the final purchase, provided your product addresses their needs.
Thus, targeting a company’s employees can be a better way to speed up the process of closing a deal and allowing you more time to hunt for more sales prospects.
10. Not Learning from Your Mistakes
With all the pressure to increase your business’ sales, it’s understandable why you may not have time to examine your sales mistakes and learn from them.
So, be sure to schedule a time to scrutinize your sales strategies and try to come up with better solutions to address the loopholes. This way, you’ll grow your sales and discover new ways to stay ahead of the competition.
Up Your B2B Sales Game Today!
Crushing B2B sales can be difficult despite putting in all the effort and resources required, but by actively avoiding the above common B2B sales mistakes, you can overhaul your sales, increase client satisfaction, and build your brand’s positive reputation.
