Generating high traffic but not enough conversions? That’s frustrating when your products are great, but people are not inclined to buy them. Usually, this happens when you don’t have the right sales strategy in place.
In this article, we’ll share what B2B strategies are, why they are important, how are these B2B sales strategies related to better conversions, and what are the top 5 B2B sales strategies. All of this will help you close more deals or win you more conversions. Let’s begin!
What is a B2B sales strategy?
A B2B sales strategy is devised to help business owners close deals effectively and make potential customers/prospects buy your products and services. These sales strategies help businesses generate the maximum number of new and existing sales. So, you and your business’s sales team (if you have one) should be well aware of B2B sales strategies.
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Why are these B2B sales strategies important?
As we mentioned earlier, sales are the driving force for every business. Low sales volume means low profit generated, and a high sales volume means a higher profit generated. It is as simple as it can get.
On top of that, B2B sales strategies usually have high transactional values, the sales cycle is longer than it usually is, and these sales are more complex than B2C sales.
Therefore, if you are functioning in the B2B industry, you need to get hold of stellar B2B sales strategies so you don’t miss out on any benefit these sales can bring your business.
In short, B2B sales strategies are the backbone of your business’s success. And you can not miss out on this one for sure!
How are B2B sales strategies related to better conversions?
The answer to this question is quite simple. A sales strategy’s effectiveness is determined by its convertibility rate. The convertibility rate shows how many prospects and leads are successfully converted into paying customers. So, having an effective B2B sales strategy is important for better conversion rates.
Top 5 B2B sales strategies for better conversions — the simple and easy way around
Implementing these strategies is the best thing you can do for your business. If you follow these strategies, it is guaranteed that your conversion rates will go up. Here’s all you need to know:
1. Diversify & engage your audience via B2B Marketing
Research shows that almost 90% of online B2B buyers purchase based on internet searches and results. So, if you’re aiming for better conversion rates, you should work towards spreading your web presence on multiple platforms.
Here’s an example for you. Ader Sporting Goods has been the premier importer and distributor of fitness equipment in the United States. Besides maintaining an offline store in Dallas, Texas, the company has diversified its presence by:
- Building its private eCommerce website.
- Creating a highly-converting storefront on a B2B marketplace that lists its products in different categories.
Just like Ader Sporting Goods, you can also engage with a wider audience beyond your local market. When you meet your customers on their preferred channels with the right message, they begin to know, like, and trust you. And that’s what drives sales and conversions.
Here are some ways you can use to make your prospects sales-ready through B2B marketing:
- Email marketing to engage with the users.
- SEO and PPC to bring in the right organic and paid traffic, respectively.
- Blogs and articles to provide valuable information to your audience.
- Infographics to share complex information in a visual form.
- Videos to capture your audience’s attention within seconds.
- …and so much more!
Know that some of your prospective customers may convert over the internet, while others may prefer to examine the products physically. Therefore, you must streamline your offline presence with the online presence as it will set your business up for more conversions and revenue streams.
2. Use sales funnels for your business
Do you ever wonder why customers choose your competitors over you? They do this one thing you might miss out on: Mapping the customers’ journey. As a business owner, you should be using various touchpoints to reach where the customers are in the sales funnel (illustrated below).
Here’s how this goes:
- Top of the funnel: Your business uses videos, blogs, online ads, and other media to raise brand awareness and attract relevant traffic to your website.
- Middle of the funnel: Here, your business interacts with the prospects and provokes a desire in them to claim your offers (using infographics, chat support, case studies, etc.)
- Bottom of the funnel: In this stage, when the journey of your customer is almost at the end, your sales assistant tries to inspire the leads to purchase via many discounts, offers, etc.
This way, the chances of conversion are high!
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3. Simplify the buyers’ journey by optimizing your product pages
Imagine you’re running ads on Google or Facebook. Your campaign is performing well — lots of visitors are clicking on your ads and landing on your website. But the sad part is — they are leaving without buying anything. That’s indeed hurtful!
Mostly, this happens when your landing or product pages are not optimized for conversions. Here’s how you can reduce your bounce rate and boost your conversions:
- Make your landing pages load fast (within 2-3 seconds); otherwise, your potential customers will quit your page without even knowing what you’ve for them.
- Use persuasive copy and clear call-to-actions that convince the visitors to take the buying action.
- Make your website mobile-responsive to catch up with the shoppers that prefer buying using their mobile phones.
- Offer a great user experience with a clean web structure and quick checkout process.
- Focus on benefits instead of features so that the user can get maximum value out of your products and services.
The more you simplify the buying process for the users, the more likely they will stay on your page for longer and eventually buy from you.
4. Highlight previous customer reviews and testimonials
No matter how great your products are, your prospects need some driving force to make a purchase. And this can come through customer reviews and testimonials.
Here’s a stat to back this up: According to Martech.org, 90% of B2B buyers are likely to buy after they find a positive review online. That’s because reviews build up social proof and people consider websites that have reviews and ratings more authentic than those that don’t. They trust others’ opinions and experiences regarding your offerings and hit the ‘Buy’ button.
So, you can use this as a powerful sales strategy for your business for better conversions. You can post your reviews and testimonials on your website, send them out in your newsletters, and share them on social media.
5. Start using sales automation tools if you aren’t already!
Relying on manual sales methods wastes a lot of time and effort. Think about manually generating leads, building an email list, and sending invoices & follow-up emails – that’s a lot of work to do.
There’s a good alternative to all this — use a sales automation tool that suits your business needs. It will help you with the following:
- Prospecting.
- Lead scoring.
- Lead nurturing (with automatic follow-ups).
- Invoicing.
- Data collection.
- Reporting & Forecasting.
With automation, you can track buyer behavior and collect customer data. Moreover, the data you gather can be further used to perform sales interactions that lead to conversions.
Another considerable benefit of sales automation tools is that you can get your hands on detailed reports and real-time dashboards. Looking at them, your sales team can better focus on building relationships with the customers.
Challenges you might face in implementing these B2B sales strategies
We won’t lie here. Not everything is a smooth ride in life and the same is the case with the implementation of these B2B sales strategies. Some challenges that you might face are:
- You might get bored of doing the same thing over and over again but don’t worry, as hard as it might seem, the sooner we accept the fact that the sales process in B2B is monotonous the easier it’ll get for us.
- You may have to deal with a lot of data, but that’s the gist here. More data means more customer insights and that way you can equip your business with the right set of information and you can deal with your customers in a better way.
Given that you follow the strategies mentioned above, it is very likely that you won’t face any major challenges on your sales journey. Just remember, keep going no matter what and stay consistent. Practice makes a man perfect. This way you can benefit your business in unimaginable ways!
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In a nutshell
Conversions are a dream and goal of every business but many business owners struggle to transform this dream into reality. They don’t get as many paying customers as they’d like, despite running paid ads. But we have saved you from becoming one of them! So, to save your marketing dollars from going down the drain, implement the top 5 sales strategies we’ve mentioned above for a better conversion rate.