Increasing sales is the holy grail for many companies worldwide. However, where B2B sales are concerned it can present a considerable challenge to business owners and their salespeople.
In an industry as old as the sales industry, you would expect that most company owners would have the keys to increasing their sales numbers but the reality is different.
With the advent of technology, has come a huge influx of new ways in which sales should be handled. Some may say that this influx has caused the industry to become more fragmented. Others say it makes the industry more competitive. We say, “maybe we need to go back to basics!”
Five Ways To Smash YOUR B2B Sales Targets And Beat Your Competitors
The key to significantly increasing your company's B2B sales can be found in these tips with help from some of the world's top sales pros.
Extend Your Company's Reach By Forming Strategic Partnerships With Self-Employed Sales Professionals
"But We already have a sales team!" we hear you say. However, if you're not utilising an independent sales channel you're seriously missing out.
Self-employed sales agents offer a wealth of industry experience, extensive client lists and a network of contacts you can leverage for your own ends.
In most cases, independent sales agents also offer a much faster and more cost effective route to market than relying solely on in-house sales staff because they already have extensive networks of contacts that they do business with regularly in areas that extend beyond the reach of your employees.
This isn't to negate the effectiveness of in-house sales teams but rather to encourage diversification and reach new markets where your existing sales force don't have a presence on the ground or existing relationships with your target clients.
Self-employed sales representatives are essentially highly experienced sales professionals with entrepreneurial drive; and in many cases, have existing networks of contacts that have been build up over the years. This is not unlike lawyers and accountants who do freelance work on a pay-on-work-completed basis.
In many cases, utilising self-employed sales agents is a quick route to market for a company whose existing in-house sales force may not have contacts or experience in a particular sector." - Ryan Mattock (@Inventive_Ryan), Co-Founder of CommissionCrowd
There are many reasons that a company should consider outsourcing all or part of their sales function to independent sales reps.
Here are just a few:
Less financial risk than taking on in-house sales employees
Quick route to Market by partnering with reps that have experience and contacts within your industry
The ability to manage cash-flow more effectively as you are only paying on closed business
Access to a much broader sales talent pool when geographical restrictions don’t apply
Help Your Sales Reps Understand Your Buyers
Whether you work with commission-only sales professionals or employ in-house salespeople, the most important thing you should do as an employer is to empower your sales team by giving them the information they need about your buyers.
According to Mark Lindwall (@MarkLindwall) - VP Sales Effectiveness at DecisionLink
“Executive buyers tell us only 20% of the salespeople they meet with are successful in achieving their expectations and creating huge value prior to the sale. Only one in four of these salespeople secure an agreement from executive buyers to meet again.”
To further illustrate this point, Mark conducted a study and asked Executive buyers if vendor sales people are prepared when they meet them? Below are the results:
The chart shows that there is a massive knowledge gap among sales agents and accordingly, their ability of reaching their sales targets will suffer. Not knowing a buyer impacts on your ability to present your added value which is another point altogether.
A good salesman will want to know everything there is to know about a buyer and it's down to the company to provide the adequate information.
With the knowledge given about Buyers, Sales Agents can then plan their charm offensive to build trust and rapport with buyers. As the owner of a company, you can help your own sales team’s productivity by developing a buyer profile which you disseminate among your employees or sales partners.
Sales Enablement teams, anyone?
Offer AMAZING Value EVERYWHERE
Selling value is the one thing that all salespeople, operating without benefit of the lowest price, absolutely, positively, must be able to do well in order to consistently earn the business. Dave Kurlan (@KurlanAssoc) - Understanding The Sales Force*
Dave goes on to explain
"Of the 6 most important factors required to sell value, most salespeople have, on average, only 2 of them as strengths or skills"
This wonderfully insightful and easy to watch video webinar recorded by Dave will help you to understand how to maximise your ability to sell on value (running time 45 minutes).
Another value based sales expert
Amy Porterfield (@AmyPorterfield) is a social media marketing expert. She's an absolute authority in her field and is known, liked and trusted by her prospects way ahead of them ever placing their first order for one of her paid Marketing courses.
Why?
Her entire website is one value packed resource of goodness. Her site is somewhere you go to learn and increase your knowledge of the topics you're trying to get better at mastering yourself. Amy gives you the ability to solve many of your business related problems before you even think of becoming a customer of hers.
And you know what?
She's not a pushy saleswoman. Amy provides so much value for her prospects - whether you watch her videos, listen to her informative podcasts or read her blog posts - that you know who your going to give the business to when it comes time. If you think she's crazy for giving away so much for free you'd be wrong. She's working her sales funnel perfectly!
In fact, at the end of this article you'll see that there's a special piece of content that we've spent a lot of time and effort on creating and are giving it away for free to our readers. This type of content is called a 'lead magnet' and it's thanks to this video from Amy that gave us the inspiration.
Know, Like and Trust:
If your prospects know, like and trust you, you'll win their hearts as well as their business. The only way to achieve this is by offering great value everywhere!
Utilize Social Media To Drive B2B Sales
Your prospects are everywhere, social media gives you the gateway to reach them without physically having to do anything more than tap a few buttons, use a little brain power and dedicate some time.
In a Social Media Examiner article, Ric Dragon (@RicDragon) shared the following advice:
The next part of the puzzle is to understand that not all social media efforts are the same. There are some really big differences in approaches, and thus outcomes.
The five big approaches are:
Brand maintenance - monitor your channels and respond when appropriate, and perhaps post a bit here and there.
Community-building - whether it’s internal advocates, external brand ambassadors or groups of people who share the underlying passions of the brand, in this work you endeavour to join and nurture community.
Influencer outreach — identify and engage the people who are influential around your passion points or industry.
Reputation management and development - the project wherein you either repair or develop thought leadership or positive reputation.
The big splash — these are the big creative campaigns that garner a lot of short-term attention.”
Understand where you are focusing your efforts and more importantly, understand your bottom line. If it is prospecting, then your social media manager (if you have one) should be proficient enough to be able to identify prospects and pass them on to your sales team.
Maximize your efforts - share content of others who share the same ideals or offer similar insights in order to boost your own credibility and also receive more traffic.
Social Media is flowing with opportunities, don't miss them because you aren't utilising it properly.
Empower And Enable Your Sales Team/Agents with a Multi-Channel Approach
The best salespeople are always learning and at the same time looking for that chink in the armour of hard buyers. And for that, they need relevant information.
As a company Principal it's your job to ensure that they receive this information in a way that's convenient to them. This is why you create a multi-channel approach to enable your sales teams. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to enabling and empowering.
Mark Bajus (@MarkLBajus) from Trap!t (@TrapIt) rightly point out that:
Your buyers have their preferred communication channels, and so do your sales reps.
After all, sales reps are busy people. They are juggling the needs of 40 to 50 prospects. They are generating their own leads, answering emails, making phone calls, and setting appointments.
Learning has to be convenient for your sales reps, which requires you to share information across multiple channels.
Email newsletters – Send information directly into the inboxes of your sales reps, indicating when there's new content to share and telling them why those assets are important
They suggest that companies start with the following channels in which to engage their sales agents:
Email newsletters – Send information directly into the inboxes of your sales reps, indicating when there's new content to share and telling them why those assets are important
Mobile devices – Choose a sales enablement platform that allows you to reach your salespeople – on any device
CRM – Your salespeople live in your CRM; consider using your CRM as another point of contact with your sales rep
We would also suggest considering using amazing new tools like Slack which enable easy team communication in a friendly and productive environment.
Share Your Thoughts With Us...
We would love for you to share any of your personal tips, stories or anecdotes that came to mind when you read this article in the comments below or tweet us your tips to @CommissionCrowd or just use the official hashtag: #CCSalesTips The best tips will be featured and shared in future articles.