With the New Year approaching, sales executives are looking ahead for how to meet their 2019 sales targets. It’s a perfect time to take stock of how your business is operating and set achievable B2B sales resolutions for the New Year that will be worth sticking to.
Today’s B2B buyers are informed, digitally savvy, and look a lot like B2C customers. They are searching for a good B2B sales experience and long-term client relationships. They are empowered with self-service tools and research, but they also want help solving problems from sellers who add value throughout the end-to-end sales experience.
To start the New Year off right, here are five B2B sales resolutions for 2019:
1. Create B2B buyer customer journeys
Identify the preferred way that buyers want to purchase. Some may want to move the process quickly, while others use a longer sales cycle. Some customers will prefer more digital and self-service tools, while other will want a more consultative and guided sales approach. Understand different customer journeys at the segment level and customize the journeys accordingly.
2. Provide sales content to help potential buyers, not just sell to them
With a customer-first mindset, sales organizations can offer expert advice and helpfulness, not just a hard sell. It’s important to provide a variety of content to help potential B2B buyers see your organization as an expert who can help solve their business challenge. Popular content types include analyst reports, case studies, white papers, articles, e-books, and videos.
3. Follow a buyer-driven sales process
Take an outside-in approach to B2B sales strategies and tactics. Look at the buyer’s needs and attributes, and follow their lead, rather than trying to force each prospect down the same path.
When possible, match how sellers sell to how their buyers purchase. Hire and train customer-centric sales reps who lead with empathy. And don’t forget to break out of the traditional sales tactics to get more personal.
4. Engage with analytics at key points in the sales cycle
Many companies are drowning in data, but starving for insight. With a customer-driven approach to analytics, sales insights can be drawn across the purchase cycle to personalize interactions and discussion. Valuable insight about sales prospects and current B2B customers will allow you to focus on the prospects with highest propensity to buy and guide how best to work with them.
5. Activate inside sales to improve early stage activity
The inside sales team is a hidden treasure of any B2B sales organization. It can help drive customer engagement, allowing field sales reps to focus on developing deeper relationships with current clients. With the right training, development and culture, the inside sales team will have knowledge and support to cultivate relationships at the top of the funnel, then seamlessly transition the relationship to field sales further in the process.
Activate sales accelerators for B2B sales success
More than 80 percent of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by February. Keeping them requires diligence and a plan. A mix of people, process, technology, and measurement will keep those B2B sales resolutions in focus throughout the year.
Learn more about how sales accelerators drive focus for B2B sales initiatives, and see the results of companies that used such an approach for small- and medium-sized business (SMB) clients in the eBook, “5 New Year’s B2B Sales Resolutions Worth Sticking To.”
