As a business owner, you’re in business to sell products or services, whether you manufacture, import, or establish a retail operation. Sales is not taught in school so you must learn to sell or at minimum establish a top notch sales team that can sell what you offer. A business may produce the best products in the world; however, if you cannot sell it, your business will not survive. Business-to- business sales is a complex game. A small business may have a single person so there is only one decision maker that you speak with; however, there is a very good chance they just do not have the budget to make a purchase. Medium sized businesses most likely have the means to purchase from you; however, they also will seek out their options, and make decision on price, or supplier location, or ease of transaction. A large business becomes very complex as they generally are broken into strategic business units which do not follow each others purchases. You may sell to one department or business unit; however, other areas in the business may purchase the same item from another business. The point here is that there is no easy road to travel.

While it is important to recognize that once you close a B2B sale, factors such as price, reliability, competence, and integrity are elements that you must demonstrate; what can you do to get to the sales pitch and close the sale? In my over thirty-years in B2B sales, the one word that sticks out is trust. When you call a contact in a business, if they have not heard of your business, or your business has a poor reputation, there is little to no trust. With zero trust, your chance of closing a sale is far diminished. Why? Think about buying a car. You find a make and model that you like. You negotiate a price that works for you. You make the purchase. Within a few years you start getting hit with repair bills. The cost of repairs increases each time. At some point you cut your loss and look for another car. Would you buy the same brand again? How much trust do you have with that brand of car? How much trust would you have with a brand of car that no one that you know owns or ever owned? You are buying based completely on emotions. No one is able to provide you with any kind of feedback about the car - either positive or negative.

As you grow your business, earning a good reputation, as well as receiving positive feedback from clients is the key in B2B sales. Let’s now take this concept a step further. If you are the one that is selling your products or services, you need to work on developing relationships with each of your clients. If you have a sales team, you must empower them to develop those relationships. In my past, I have operated three businesses in which I sold each one of them for a nice profit. My first business, I used the concept of Regional Representative for the sales professional responsible for a territory. Their job was to find new sales and maintain the relationship with each client. The next two businesses, I expanded my sales team to break down the role into two parts - a hunter and a farmer. The sales team worked together. The hunter would find new clients while the farmer would nurture and grow the relationship. In addition, the farmer would work to identify new opportunities for our business with each client.

This may seem like quite a bit of work. Let’s look at what my sales team accomplished. First, our business received many referrals. Referrals are the best way to gain new clients. Second, as working professionals moved from one business to another business, either in a similar role or in a higher-level role, our sales team would receive calls from people wanting our services in the business that they now work at. What an unexpected, yet excellent benefit. And one last result, as our sales team worked on selling to a business that we are not currently servicing, many times we would hear from established clients that they provided feedback about our business to someone they know in their industry. It is surprising how many people know other people in each industry. The way you conduct business and the way to take care of your clients often comes back to the very people that you are looking to sell to.

What can you do today to start building relationships with the clients you serve? First, make a promise. Keep a promise. A small, yet important step is when you tell someone that you will call them to follow-up in a day, a week, or a month – do it. When you agree on a deadline for a product delivery, an installation, a service to be performed, or anything else – maintain the deadline. If some unforeseen event happens and you must push out the date – communicate to your client. Most important is to resolve issues that your clients bring to your attention. For example, when someone calls your business to complain, take this as a good thing. Imagine if you have the opportunity to fix a broken process within your business; however, you do not know it needs to be addressed, and yet, none of your clients tell you about their frustration. Instead, they just leave you for another provider. When someone calls you to complain, they are doing so because they want to work with you. They care enough to bring an issue to your attention. This should be seen as opportunity to improve your process, better your business, and increase your reputation.

Building relationships with clients happens at several levels. The personal level, where you get to know your clients and genuinely care about their success. The performance level, where you demonstrate your commitment to them by meeting their needs, delivering on promises, and checking back with them to ensure that their expectations have been met (with the goal of exceeding expectations.) Lastly, the value level where you understand their industry, the challenges they face, and know how to package your product or service to each unique business. In addition, the value level is where you identify additional opportunities to sell other beneficial products or services. For example, product training, warranty support, and cross-promotional products and services.

Corporation Associates offers sales training for individuals and teams. Our Associates can help you gain valuable insight into your sales process, your target market, and offer packaging - all based on the cyclical waves faced by businesses.