B2B sales strategy for business success in the Year of the Ox
As we celebrate the Year of the Ox, we can use the Yu Sheng tradition as a metaphor for how to achieve business success in today's global environment.
When I was a kid, my dad was a traveling B2B salesperson for millwork and textiles. We’d get in the car with his briefcase, sample book, and our thermoses (of coffee and hot cocoa respectively), and head off to meet customers. At the sales calls there would be laughter, talks of kids and vacations, and then writing up orders on carbon paper-all finishing with a handshake.
Customer relationships were a huge part of my dad’s success.
Fast forward to today’s B2B sales experience. There’s much debate about the role of salespeople in a digital world. But as B2B organizations are deciding their sales strategies, there are several points to consider about how, where, and when to leverage sales relationships (handshakes) vs. digital self-service (hands-off).
B2B sales experience: 3 core elements
According to McKinsey & Company, three traits have emerged that should be core ingredients of every B2B sales team’s optimal human-digital blend:
- Speed
- Transparency
- Expertise
Let’s unpack these elements in the contextual order of the sales funnel to help you prioritize how to invest time and resources into creating the right digital/interpersonal mix for B2B sales success.
For speed’s sake: Getting digital right
For a majority of customers, digital is the preferred method for when they want quick access to top of the funnel activities or self-service product support such as:
- Product research, including specifications, videos, reviews, product comparisons, and FAQs
- Simple purchases & replenishment
- Asset tracking
Lesson learned from experience: Don’t try to overdo your digital presence. This is where many B2B organizations fail or falter. Get to know your customers and find out how they’ll use your online tools.
With the rise of B2B marketplaces, what happens to traditional sales?
B2B marketplaces are springing up across a variety of industries. What are they, and how do they impact traditional B2B sales?
You don’t have to keep up with the B2C environment when it’s not reasonable or your customer’s don’t expect it. Ask them what they need before over-engineering and adding complexity to your digital tools.
B2B sales experience: The human factor
In B2B, sales professionals are the face of your brand. As your customers move through the sales funnel, they can heavily influence conversion by offering expertise and focusing on:
- Brand confidence, including partnership, personalization, and customer understanding
- Deep product knowledge such as custom solutions and industry application
- Answers to specific customer business challenges
From my experience, it’s best to empower your sales team and encourage them in their roles as experts and brand ambassadors. So many articles and internal discussions suggest eliminating sales teams, but they are a critical element of B2B interactions and transactions.
The shift to digital channels shouldn’t make sales reps feel like they’re being replaced. Instead, they should feel that they’re being funneled into more meaningful, value-added activities that directly touch customers. Not every customer will need the personal interaction, but many will.
Tying it all together for the best CX
The back office ties together your online and interpersonal sales interactions with customers by ensuring:
- Document accuracy of contracts, orders, and invoices
- Real-time information of inventory and pricing
You risk killing customer experience if the front office doesn’t have back-end integration. This often happens when business units involved in the activities listed above are not included in digital and sales strategy planning.
CPQ tools: Bridging the CX gap during COVID-19 and beyond
Organizations are leaning heavily on CPQ tools to help them build bridges to customers during the pandemic. An industry analyst provides insight into how CPQ is helping sales reps help customers.
Including them in customer experience mapping and digital transformation efforts will allow them to feel their connection to the customer journey and create better integrations to support your sales objectives.
As you work to define your sales customer experience, this hybrid sales framework can help you shape and prioritize where to invest in digital and where to leverage the expertise of your sales and support teams to amplify your brand.
