How to Boost Sales by Becoming a Better B2B Seller

b2b seller

Selling to business customers is not the same as selling to individuals. When selling products or services to businesses, you have to first learn how to appeal to them. To learn how to become a better B2B seller, take a look at the list of B2B marketing tips below.

A Good B2B Seller Will Know What Customers Want

Whether you’re selling to business customers or individuals, an understanding of your customers is paramount. So before you even start selling, you need to determine who your target customer is, what they sell, what problems they have, what you can do to help and what other options they have in that area.

Darrin Fleming of ROI Selling said in an email to Small Business Trends, “If their business model or the problems that they have don’t match something that you can do to help them then you shouldn’t be wasting your time chasing them. Even then, if the financial impact of the problems that you can help them to solve is too low relative to either other problems that they have or the cost of your solution then you should walk away.”

Understand How They Make Money

More specifically, Fleming says that understanding your potential customers’ business models is especially important. If your B2B offering isn’t going to help your customers’ bottom line in some way, no one is going to buy from you. So you need to look closely at the business models of your target customers and make sure that your offering can help.

Don’t Rely on Emotional Marketing

Selling to businesses means that you’re often marketing to more than one person at once. So you can’t rely on the same selling techniques as you would when marketing to individuals.

Fleming explains, “One of the big differences is that B2C decisions are usually either one person (or a couple of people at most for a more major purchase). B2B decisions are often much larger and thus more people will be involved in the buying process. Even if you were able to play to the emotions of one person, there are many others that may not feel the same way. Typically it comes closer to a rational economic decision in B2B because there are more people evaluating the decision.”

A Savvy B2B Seller Will Identify Business Problems

Another way you can examine your target customers is by looking at the business problems they have. Do they need help streamlining a certain process? Do they need to save money on outsourcing? If you can’t identify a common issue among your target customers, you might not have a market for your offering. But if you can identify a problem, that means that you can potentially entice business customers to do business with you.

Help Them Understand the Financial Impact

However, helping customers with a general problem isn’t always enough. A good B2B seller will need to help customers in a way that impacts their bottom line. So you basically need to either help them save money or make money. Even if your offering is something that can help them make more money over time, you need to keep that financial impact in mind when coming up with your offering and communicating it to potential customers.

Show Them How You Can Help

Once you have a handle on your target customer and a way to help them solve a problem, you need to show them exactly how you can help. Always keep real dollars in the conversation. And show them how your offering can solve their problem and either save or help them make more money.

Fleming says, “Show them how you can reduce those problems and either help them increase revenue or reduce costs. This then helps to cost-justify your solution and increases your chances of getting an order.”

Always Keep Money in Mind

Through all of the steps in this process, the most important thing you can do is keep the financial aspect in mind. If you can’t help them make or save money, no business customer is going to buy from you. Even if your offering is about something like improving the office environment, you need to sell it in a way that promotes the financial benefits. So your argument could be that improving your workplace environment makes employees more satisfied, which makes them work harder and stay at your company longer. That lower turnaround and improved productivity can ultimately make a company more money. And if you’re able to do that, you’re likely well on your way to becoming a successful B2B seller.

B2B Blocks Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "How to Boost Sales by Becoming a Better B2B Seller" was first published on Small Business Trends

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