Today’s B2B landscape is constantly evolving. The information available is plenty and easy to access, and buyers are getting more educated. Buyers want to be made feel valued and properly tended to and not just another name on the list.
B2B sales strategy is often neglected or let’s say, don’t get the traction they really need. Your B2B sales strategy needs a lot of homework before you proceed.
To make sure you’re yielding the results you desire, you need to put a lot of focus and effort into your B2B sales strategy research.
Be it social selling or strategic selling, there are endless strategies out there and you may be feeling overwhelmed by so many choices. Among the various B2B sales strategies available, strategic selling has proven to be effective particularly in today’s complex B2B world.
In this post, we will be exploring the strategic selling strategy and how strategic sales research can help your B2B business. And later we will also be focusing on how you can strategize your whole B2B sales process with a sales strategy that will actually work for you and your business.
What is strategic selling?
Strategic selling is one of the most effective B2B sales strategies which has been around for decades. It is effective in complex B2B sales environments with large decision-making groups and often lengthy buying decision journeys.
It is a tactic that helps businesses win complex deals. Suppose you have target accounts that you want to secure as customers, and also think that they will benefit from using your product or service. In that case, you not just want to approach the person who is responsible for the buying decision, but also anyone who might influence the buyer’s overall decision.
Here’s an example: A marketing firm needs graphic designs for its advertising campaign. Instead of only reaching out to the marketing manager, you also reach out to the creative manager. While the purchasing decision is mainly made by the marketing manager, the creative manager has a huge influence on the buying decision too.
This strategy works because you’re not just prioritizing one prospect but also creating trust and building a relationship with someone who impacts the buying decision.
How do you develop a B2B strategic sales plan?
To make sure your strategic selling strategy yields the results that you desire, you need a plan. After all, a well-researched plan works right?
Here are some steps you can take to create your stellar sales plan:
- Embrace sales enablement:
Research is a critical aspect when it comes to a B2B buyer’s journey. For your prospect to make an informed decision, you need to make sure that you’re the one serving them the information they need. Focus on arming your sales team with insight that can help them sell effectively.
- Create your ideal buyer personas:
The concept of buyer personas has become commonplace in B2B sales and marketing. Creating such profiles can help you understand which stakeholders of the account you are targeting have the most influence on the decision-making process. Not just that, you will also be able to personalize your outreach efforts towards them and create trust.
Want to learn more about buyer personas? Do definitely check our blog on 5 buyer persona statistics you need to know in 2021.
- Align your sales and marketing teams:
Your business might be losing a significant amount of potential revenue by not aligning your sales and marketing teams. Get your marketing team to create content assets regularly, share them with the sales team, and harmonize efforts.
However, a major challenge to this is having accurate data and insight on your target accounts.
Why is research so important in sales?
Be it embracing sales enablement, creating ideal buyer personas, or even aligning your sales and marketing teams, a common thing each of them requires is having accurate insight on the accounts you are targeting. First things first, with research, your salespeople will be armed with information to sell effectively.
Moreover, it helps buyers trust them because they wouldn’t want to trust someone who doesn’t know what they’re selling otherwise. Similarly, research helps understand your target accounts and industries better, and that way you can personalize your outreach efforts towards them.
You will also be spared from wasting your time on accounts irrelevant to you and only focusing your efforts on relevant prospects.
Not just that, as mentioned above, a lack of accurate insight can pose a major challenge in aligning your sales and marketing teams. With research, you can gain access to important information on your target accounts and industries with which your marketing team can build captivating content assets and harmonize efforts with the sales teams.
Conclusion:
While information is abundant, insight is not. Your business might not be reaching its full sales potential because you don’t have access to the right insight. The actionable insight that can help you easily secure your target accounts can be sourced in different ways. That’s where Business Brainz comes in.
Strategic research companies like us support your data and insight requirements to power your sales and marketing campaigns so you can sit back and focus on having intelligent and meaningful conversations with your prospects.
Are you ready to win? Leverage your B2B sales strategy with the strategic sales research provided by Business Brainz. Contact us today!
Like what you read? Check out some of our other posts:
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FAQs on B2B sales Strategy and Research:
What is strategic sales?
It’s a process of helping businesses win complex deals with an insight-driven approach. You identify different points of contact at the company you’re prospecting, based on how much they impact your sales process.
What are some examples of sales strategies?
Some examples of sales strategies include strategic selling, social selling, and account-based selling. Strategic selling involves focusing on the concerns of the buyer with the aim of creating a long-term relationship. Social selling involves direct interaction with prospects mainly through social media channels. Account-based selling involves targeting companies or ‘accounts’ rather than single contacts or leads.
What is B2B sales strategy?
Any strategy that helps you win complex B2B deals. B2B sales involve larger and more expensive products, longer sales cycles, multiple stakeholders contributing to the buying decision, and a smaller potential customer base than B2C.
How can you improve sales research?
While salespeople may be engaged in research, they might not necessarily derive research that a professional would. This deviates them from their core job. The best way to improve sales research is to let salespeople focus on selling and allow research professionals to provide insight to win.