It is no news that selling to businesses is entirely different from selling to customers. B2B sales cycles are usually much longer and complicated than B2C.
Did you know that 79% of B2B leads fail to convert? B2B customers are looking for products that satisfy their specific requirements. Hence, B2B sales requires more strategic planning and implementation approaches.

Moreover, sales techniques are always evolving. What worked last year might not necessarily work next year.
9 Proven B2B Sales Techniques for Any B2B Company
Hence, if you are looking for some proven B2B sales techniques that will guarantee your growth in 2021, then read on to learn more. If you enjoy all of these tips and think you can be a good salesperson then consider meeting the CulverCareers best sales headhunters so they can match you with a company. You can implement all these techniques and increase your sales year over year!
#1. Sell Tangible Outcomes Instead of your Products
One of the most common mistakes that B2B businesses make today is trying to sell their products. Yes, you should not try to sell your products. Instead, you should focus on selling the “why” behind your products.
Your customers are least interested in your products. They want tangible business outcomes. If you show them that, they will be interested in your sales.
For example, suppose that you own an email marketing software. When you approach businesses with your sales pitches, you shouldn’t be boring them with all the features that your tool has.
Instead, if you tell them about how your email marketing tool can help them grow their business and get good ROI, you will have better chances at conversions.
So, how do you do that? There is no secret strategy for this. All you need to do is understand your customer persona in and out.
Ask questions like why is your product important to them? Why would they choose your brand over your competitors? How will their business benefit after using your product?
It is also important to segment your customers. For instance, customers pertaining to healthcare businesses may need your software for different reasons than businesses in the IT sector. So, figure out the “why” for each of your customer segments and use these as the foundation for your sales pitches.
#2. Ensure Quick Response Rates with Prospects
Today, most people are impatient and value their time more than anything else. So, if you fail to respond to your prospects on time, they will move on to your competitors without any second thoughts.
In fact, studies show that 35% to 50% of sales go to vendors that respond first. And surprisingly, responding first is not that difficult. Because only 37% of companies responded to their prospects within the first hour.
Therefore, there is a lot of room for improvement. Even if you set up systems to respond within the initial hour, you have a definite chance of winning over your prospects.
Quicker response rates aren’t just about impatience, it reveals a lot about a brand. It shows your prospects that you look after your customers and value them more than others.
Quicker response times also show that you are prompt and are available to your prospects whenever they are in need. Hence, it is natural for these prospects to pick you over your competitors.
#3. Subscribe to your Target Customers’ Content
If you haven’t realized this yet, your target business content is gold for your sales strategy. How? Because this is how you can get a deep understanding of how they work with their target audience and resolve their pain points.
- Subscribe to your target business’ email newsletter to understand their offerings and what kind of relationship they have with their prospects. You can also get an understanding of what types of blogs and website content they produce.
- Monitor and follow your prospects on social media. This way you’ll have an idea of their sales cycles and product launches, so you can reach out to them with timely sales pitches.
- Analyze the kind of language that your prospects use in their emails, blog posts, case studies, videos, etc. Once you know this, you can use these exact phrases to address them. This can work wonders for your conversion rates.
#4. Head Straight to the Decision Makers
While interacting with your prospects, you must reach out to the right people. Right people are those stakeholders in your target companies who have the authority and budget to make decisions in your favor.
You need the right mediums to reach out to the real decision-makers. Failing to do so will lead to a waste of your resources and you’ll end up being undervalued.
LinkedIn is a great way to reach out to decision-makers directly. Stats show that 80% on LinkedIn drive business decisions in their companies.

Of course, do not directly send a connection request to them with a direct sales pitch. Instead, build a genuine connection with them.
Try to engage with them on their posts through comments. Also, create and share relevant content that directly caters to their interests. You can create infographics, videos, or any other types of content that is engaging and adds value to them at the same time.
Try to understand and solve their pain points. And then you can then reach out to them through their emails.
#5. Integrate Live Chat and Chatbot Options with your Website
Premium customer service is very crucial for increased conversions for any business. Hence, you must consider integrating options such as live chat and AI chatbots with your website.
If your prospects land on your website from cold emails, cold calls, or social media, you want to ensure that you don’t turn them away.
They might have numerous questions and objections when they land on your site. And, attending to them on time can be the best start to their buyer journey with your brand.
#6. Use a Customer Relationship Management Tool
Your business will consist of numerous touchpoints, especially if you have an omnichannel marketing strategy and use various platforms to reach out to prospective buyers. Managing customer data becomes super-important for smooth sales operations.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can be extremely useful to streamline all your sales operations and manage customer history.
For instance, if any lead starts a live chat interaction, a CRM tool will help your sales team to pull up the lead communication history, customer journey stage, and other details.
Hence, a CRM tool will help you to effectively manage leads, reach out to prospects, and close pending deals. Using a CRM will help you see a massive improvement in the sales and revenue of your B2B business.
#7. Share More Case Studies
Case studies are a must-have medium for better B2B sales. Like it was mentioned before, you need to sell your prospects their “why” and not your products. And, case studies are the best way to sell these tangible outcomes that your prospects can achieve with your products.
Case studies clearly state what and how you have helped various businesses to achieve their goals.
For example, if you have an email marketing product, you can showcase real customer case studies that have results such as increased open rates, increased sales, and increased ROI.
You should consider creating different case studies for different customer segments. This way you can cater to all your customer persona because your case studies are laser-targeted to each of their specific needs.
#8. Spy on your Competitors on Social Media
Social media is a great way to gauge your competition and strategize ways to beat them. Social media is one of the most expressive content platforms. Most users tend to complain, appreciate, compare, and review products on social media channels.
By following your competitors on social media, you’ll understand what things are they good at and what they are bad at. You can learn, adopt, and improvise on the good product features they have.
Through social media, you can also identify gaps in your competitors’ products and use them to your advantage. This way, you can fill in the gaps in the market, and thus your sales strategies will perform better.
Understanding your competitors will also help you get clear on your value proposition. You must think about what is unique in your products. What value can your products provide that your competitors’ products are currently missing?
Distinguishing your products from your competitors’ products this way will help you establish your brand’s authority in the market.
#9. Use Account-Based Marketing
Account-based marketing is a brilliant B2B sales approach to make a massive difference to your customer acquisition and retention rates. This approach involves a close alignment between marketing and sales teams.
Account-based marketing requires you to curate a list of highly qualified businesses or accounts that exactly fit your ideal customer profiles (ICPs).

Unlike the traditional approach where the sales team will come into the picture a bit later, account-based marketing requires the sales team to be involved in the process right from the start. Hence, the chances of making wise decisions in favor of sales teams significantly increase.
Since an account-based marketing approach targets only a handful of accounts, the sales strategies are highly targeted and personalized.
The interaction between your sales team and the decision-makers of your target accounts will be highly customized to fit their specific needs. This is why more and more B2B businesses are adopting this sales approach apart from a broad-based marketing strategy.
Hence, if you’re seeing increased churn rates and lower ROI for your B2B business, you must try to adopt account-based marketing in 2021.
Start Implementing these B2B Sales Tips now To Grow your Business in 2021
The strategies provided in this brief guide are actionable and effective. Many successful B2B businesses have used these strategies and are winning the market.
Hence, it’s time for you to take the wisest sales decisions today. Implement as many of these tips as possible, and have a definite chance at increasing your ROI.
About the Author!
Hiral Rana Dholakiya is a Digital Marketing Consultant with over 10 years of experience. She’s passionate about all things Digital & Social Media and has conducted training programs at institutes like GLS University and L.J. Institute of Media & Communications. Hiral also shares her insights and knowledge with the audience of publications like AdWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Social Media Today, and Social Media Examiner to name a few. In her free time, she loves pouring her imagination into stunning creatives using free editable templates by Mind the Graph. You can follow her on Twitter @IamHiralRana.
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