11 Ways to Grow B2B Sales: Tips for Sales Teams, Marketing & More

Perhaps you're coming to the end of Q4 and you’re behind on your targets. Perhaps your sales are stagnating, and you need some fresh ideas to improve your sales process.

Either way, there are some reliable methods you can employ to grow business to business sales, applicable to both marketing and sales teams.

In this guide, I’ll cover how to increase B2B sales, with enough tips that you should be able to find something new. I'll look at lead generation, sales strategy, marketing strategy, and one tip you might not have thought about when crafting your sales pipeline.

Read on for more!

General Tips Before You Begin

You already know the basics when it comes to B2B sales. The following might stray into 101-level stuff, but regardless, let's review some simple tips about building a B2B sales engine.

Employ multiple strategies & channels

B2B requires more than one approach to generate sales. The overall process includes lead generation, marketing and the sales process itself. You should have multiple strategies and approaches for each step.

You'll also want to employ multiple channels and touchpoints.

These channels can each benefit each other. 61% of B2B transactions start online, according to Finances Online. So if someone sees an ad on LinkedIn for your business and then later you call them to pitch the same product, that may tip them into saying yes because they’ve already heard of your product or service before.

Make sure your team is on the same page

As mentioned, there are multiple facets of a B2B sales machine, and you may only be responsible for one area.

It's important that all are working together and towards the same goal.

If you’re primarily in lead gen, get in touch with your marketing team so everyone is on the same page. This keeps your messaging consistent and on-brand.

Reputation matters

There is no one strategy that helps build your reputation. It requires multiple proven satisfied customers and may happen slowly. But it’s vital. According to Marketing Charts, 93% of people trust friends and family above all else as their source of information on what to buy. The power of word-of-mouth cannot be denied.

Therefore, ensure your reputation stays high. Always engage respectfully during every sale and ensure you’ve researched your client’s business thoroughly.

Understand your target audience

It's very basic, but make sure you know your potential customers, how they communicate and what they're looking for.

Take time to understand their pain points and desires. Then you can address them directly, showing how and why your product or service is the best way to tackle them.

5 Ways to Grow B2B Sales (for Sales Reps)

Let’s start off with tips relating to lead generation and the sale process. Dealing with other people is inherently unpredictable and messy, but there are some general trends and best practices you can follow to ensure the best results, in terms of the most sales leads and closed sales.

1. Create accurate personas

According to Hubspot, 96% of prospects do their own research before speaking to a sales rep, and 71% prefer to do that research alone. So, in order to convince them, you need to know who they are and how working with you would benefit them.

That means creating accurate personas. Basically, you create a fictional character that is your ideal customer. That includes who they are, their age range, location, and motivating factor. Also remember to include the size of the company they work for, goals, and the challenges they face in their job.

Research their business thoroughly and understand common problems that you can address. Consult your marketing department for additional details, speak with the account managers of your existing clients, and look at the strategies you used to land your existing customers to help understand how to land new ones.

2. Keep your leads list up to date

Having a good idea of your ideal customer is great, but the next logical step is knowing who to contact and how. That’s why your list of contacts should always be accurate and up to date.

Ideally, this list should contain a target’s name, the company they work for, how to contact them, what hours they are generally available, and any quick notes about them. 

Your leads list should never be static, either. Do you feel like you’re closer to a sale with one client than another? Move them up the list.

Remember to track how many follow-ups each person has received and if you do make a sale, remember to turn that person over to your customer care and support team as soon as possible.

3. Cold calling still works

You’ve created a persona, gathered a list of leads, and now it’s time to get in touch with them. Ideally, you’d be able to start off with warm calls, but don’t discount cold calling. Only around 46% of B2B sales reps say they do cold calls, according to LinkedIn’s research. So, if you do, you’ll stand out from the crowd.

Even more good news: 82% of buyers accept meetings with sales people, according to the RAIN Group. Don’t pass up the opportunity to pitch yourself either in-person or virtually. As always, do lots of research before you call. Remember that it’s about their pain points and needs, not about you. 

After you listen to their needs, then you explain how your product or service can help them address their specific problems. Cold calling may feel awkward, but it might lead to B2B sales you’d never have gotten otherwise.

Creating a cold calling script can help ease some of that awkwardness. Of course, you don’t know exactly what shape and form any conversation will take, but knowing the basics of what to say is essential.

4. Follow up, and do it more than once

According to Invesp, 60% of customers will say no four times before they say yes, but only 48% of sales reps ever make a follow-up call. That disconnect is likely a major reason why you’re not seeing good B2B sales results.

Furthermore, 44% of salespeople give up after just one follow-up. With these kinds of statistics, you’ll stand out from the crowd by following up more than once. Most buyers prefer to be contacted via email, according to LinkedIn’s research, at around 66%. So you should obviously use that channel. But don’t discount phone calls, either.

Whether you are following up via email, phone call, video chat, or any other method, even in-person, remember to listen more than you talk. Ask meaningful questions that show you’ve done your research. And don’t push for a sale too hard, especially during your first follow-up.

5. Get your sales and marketing teams on the same page

Consistency is key, everyone knows that. If you’re not on the same page, it can lead to lost sales and unsatisfied customers.

Marketing sets out to attract customers and get your brand and the products or services you sell out into market awareness. Sales reps work one-on-one with people and pitch these products and solutions. They should both be using the same talking points, highlighting the same features, and promising the same sorts of results.

Ideally, this is a two-way street. For example, marketing can create a whitepaper or webinar that reps can then use. Likewise, reps can come back with ideas for additional content. Try setting up a time where the sales and marketing teams meet to discuss shared strategies and goals. This will help align your social media ads, content, and other channels.

How to Increase B2B Sales (for Marketing Teams)

We’ve covered some tips for sales staff, so let’s turn our attention to marketing. As mentioned, the top tip for everyone is to be consistent. Keep everyone on the same page and discuss your entire strategy regularly with both sales reps and marketing staff. Beyond this, here are some other things to keep in mind.

6. Utilize social media

Everyone is on social media these days in some form or another. According to Sprout Social, 78% of consumers are more willing to buy from a brand after a positive experience on social media, and 77% will pick that brand over a competitor. With numbers like these, it’s clear you need solid social media strategies in place.

Beyond “business” social media, like LinkedIn, remember that your customers may stumble across your company on other sites, too. Try placing content on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms. Make sure your ads highlight specific pain points and clearly address how your company can address them. 

Try linking to content you have already created using these sites. For instance, send a click from Facebook to a whitepaper, webinar, or blog. And even if you don’t get clicks, keeping your company in your potential customer’s minds is invaluable.

7. Content is still king (yes, even after the arrival of ChatGPT)

Blogs, articles, whitepapers, webinars, videos, and all forms of content are still vital for establishing trust and your reputation. B2B sales rely on putting you as the best option out there, and customers are reassured that’s the case if it’s clear you know what you’re talking about.

According to Prezentor, 95% of B2B buying decisions are directly influenced by content. So, make sure your content directly addresses your target audience’s pain points and needs. Make it clear it’s written by human beings, and establish authority.

Remember, your sales team can use these resources too. Always have a two-way street of feedback in place to keep your content timely and ensure it addresses topics your sales reps bring up, too.

8. SEO everything

Consider search engine optimization (SEO) as you invest in content. SEO remains one of the best and most cost-effective channels to generate sales leads, and should be part of your strategy, even if it's not your core focus.

You cannot discount the power of a client Googling one of their problems and stumbling across your website as the solution. Remember, 96% of customers do their own research before ever speaking with a sales rep.

Create content to target the low-hanging fruit keywords related to your business. Whatever your customers' pain points are, there's a piece of content you can write that describes the solution you provide.

Start with content targeted towards those further along their buyer's journey. These bottom of funnel keywords will generate a higher percentage of sales-qualified leads. From there you can branch out into more generalized keywords that sit at the top of your funnel and, with some nurturing, can end up generating more sales leads down the line.

9. Self-service options are essential

'Try before you buy' still applies in B2B sales just as much as for business to consumer. According to Hubspot, offering self-service options results in 47% better results for B2B sales professionals.

You can try various different options depending on what your company offers. These include demos, free trials, a knowledge base, and many other options.

A chatbot to answer questions is a good start, but an even better option is live customer support. This lets customers address pain points as they come up and help make you more trustworthy. 

This includes pricing. If you can offer price estimates or calculators up front, do it. That way, you can lessen sticker shock and your sales reps won’t have to break the news.

10. Have social proof

If you're doing what you say you'll do, solving customer pain points and providing value to customers, make it known.

Social proof is an essential part of a B2B sales funnel. Social proof helps reassure customers that your product or service is worth the time and many and helps bolster your reputation.

Having a reviews section on your website is a good start, but ideally you want to think bigger.

Share positive customer testimonials that show potential clients or customers what you can do for them.

Create detailed case studies that explain why your solution is the best one out there for the businesses you’re targeting. According to Marketing Charts, 70% of buyers trust company websites, as long as they are high-quality.

Again, you can align your sales reps and marketing team here, too. Your reps can bring up companies you already work with to prospective clients and share case studies. Likewise, reps can tell marketing the inside details they can use to make marketing content more relevant and authoritative. Reps can also prompt clients they’re successful with to leave a review of your company.

General Tip to Get More B2B Sales: Build a Mobile App

One more way to generate more sales for your business, is to build a mobile app.

This is particularly valuable for businesses that rely on their website to make sales, those with self-service options and those who rely on repeat business.

Mobile is not the future; it's the present. 58% of internet traffic globally is on mobile devices, and mobile commerce spending constitutes 38% of all digital spending in the US alone.

Apps are a better way to interact with businesses on mobile. They offer a more convenient user experience, designed specifically for mobile, with fewer distractions.

They're also inherently powerful for retention; someone is far more likely to buy from you again if they download an app, with an icon showing up on their homescreen and push notifications you can use to reach out and re-engage with users.

Your B2B customers will enjoy how easy it is to come back and make repeat purchases - if it makes their workflow smoother, you'll become their default option.

If you're already selling through your website, it's simple and affordable to just convert your website into a mobile app with MobiLoud.

You'll get an app that feels like a fully custom native app, with minimal effort and expense. We do all the work for you to build and maintain your app - you just keep your mind on generating more customers and more leads.

We've created high-quality mobile apps for more than 2,000 companies, from startups to Fortune 500s. Impact Wholesale is just one example of a B2B ecommerce company that used us to improve their sales process without the hassle of custom-coding an app.

Remember that increasing B2B sales is not just about generating leads or converting leads into customers. It's also about getting more from your existing customers, and a retention machine like a mobile app is one of the best ways you can do this.

Want to see how easy it is to build your app with MobiLoud and get more B2B sales? Book a free consultation now.

How to Increase B2B Sales: The Bottom Line

There is no one strategy that will instantly improve your B2B sales, but you can get better results by optimizing a variety of areas, from your marketing funnel to sales funnel and post-sales nurturing process.

Make sure each area of your business is in harmony and working together, and that all your decision markers are working towards the same goal.

The best way to increase B2B sales now, without needing to hustle for more sales leads, is to get more from your existing customers with a mobile app. An app makes it more likely for your current customers to become long-term, loyal customers with a high LTV.

Contact us today to find out how simple and easy it is to turn your existing website into an app.

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