15 Ways to Improve Your B2B Sales Strategy – A Sales Tip Sheet from Sales Momentum
(PRWEB) October 30, 2013 -- In B2B sales, major accounts have a disproportionate impact on the revenue. So, getting major account sales strategy in B2B sales right matters.
"Top sales performance is not about just doing things faster and better. Successful major account salespeople sell differently – starting with crafting sales strategy," says Dr. Janet Spirer, co-founder of Sales Momentum.
15 B2B sales strategy tips are:
1. Get the right information from the right people at the right time during the sales cycle.
2. Move from “filling out forms” to analyzing information gathered.
3. Focus on a few pivotal goals - then delineate what needs to be done and how to do it.
4. Recognize that the future doesn’t look like the past - changes driven by global marketplaces make the past a bad predictor of the future – from buyer requirements to competitive advantages.
5. Network - know who is playing which role, the relationship between the players, and what they think about you and your competition.
6. Leverage institutional resources – B2B major account selling is a team sport.
7. Develop and rehearse internal champions – so they can tell the seller’s story since most of the time the major account salesperson isn’t on site.
8. Document good news since it doesn’t document itself - make sure everyone in the buying process knows the good news story. Unfortunately bad news will document itself!
9. Deal with passive competition - when the buying process stalls by crafting strategies to overcome the no-decision momentum.
10. Be proactive - complacency in Public Enemy #1.
11. Focus on the customer’s needs, challenges, and concerns - top B2B sales performers focus on the customer and manage the competition.
12. Broaden the definition of competition - competitors include everyone competing for the same budget dollars – not just direct competitors.
13. Differentiate by adding value - since the product or service being sold may not vary much from one company to the next, profiling the value of all of the other services and assistance extended to the customer (often called the value adds) is critical.
14. Sell to the c-suite - the probability of capturing the business is significantly reduced if B2B major account salespeople cannot successful sell at the senior level.
15. Make the business case - it’s unlikely a major account sale will be closed without making a strong business case to prove the business returns for investing in the solution.
To dive deeper into how these 15 sales tips are deployed by successful, B2B major account salespeople you can download the white paper – Getting Sales Strategy Right in Major Accounts - in a pdf file.
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About Sales Momentum- For more than 30 years Dr. Richard Ruff and Dr. Janet Spirer – the founders of Sales Momentum – have worked with the Fortune 1000 to design and develop sales training programs that make a difference. By working with companies – such as UPS, Smith & Nephew, Textron, the Center for Creative Leadership, and Robbins & Myers – they have learned that today’s standard for a great sales force significantly differs from yesterday’s picture. Janet and Richard co-authored Mastering Major Account Selling and Parlez-Vous Business. They also publish the sales blog - Sales Training Connection. Richard co-authored Managing Major Account Selling and Getting Partnering Right. The books are available here.
©2013 Sales Momentum® LLC
Janet Spirer, Sales Momentum, http://www.salesmomentum.com, +1 (480) 329-4182, [email protected]
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