Sales Chump

We see it all along the internet but what does it mean?  B2B Sales (Business to Business) can be defined from Wikipedia as:

Business-to-business (B2B) is a term commonly used to describe commerce transactions between businesses, as opposed to those between businesses and other groups, such as business-to-consumers (B2C) or business-to-government (B2G). More specifically, B2B is often used to describe an activity, such as B2B marketing, or B2B sales, that occurs between businesses and other businesses.

Depending on your industry your primary contact may be with other businesses (B2B Sales).  There is nothing wrong with B2C (Business to Consumer) sales but we will focus on selling to other businesses for a moment.  The type of buyer is different.  There are different needs that motivate each and within each different business there are different motivators or needs that will cause a business to buy.

I will sound like a broken record but it is important to realize what is important to the business when selecting the service that you offer.  Do you make it about price?  Well you should stop making it about price.

A consulting firm I know surveyed 1000 Canadian CEO’s two years ago. They asked: “What are the criteria you look at when making a buying decision. The first criterion was “trust”. Number six on the list was “price”.

There you have it, price is not a deciding factor in most circumstances.  While there are ultimate times where price is a factor, there are several other things.  As above, trust is a big concern.  It looks to me that if the person you’re dealing with trusts you, the price is the least of their worries.

So how do we figure out what compels them to make their decision?  We ask!  Yes it really is that simple.  If you don’t ask, they won’t tell. 

B2B Sales is normally a longer sales cycle than B2C due to the fact that you’re working with businesses rather than individuals.  Now that’s not always going to be true depending on the industry, customer, etc.  There will be short sales cycles time to time but be prepared for longer sales cycles with businesses.

What has worked for me in the past is not even talking business the first couple times.  Get to know the business and the person you’re working with and gain their trust.  This is the first step to a successfull B2B Sales process.  As stated above, trust was the top concern of buyers and can normally wipe out the idea of price being a factor.  Price is only an issue when you make it one.

We’ll hit many other topics in this multi part postings of B2B Sales over the next several weeks.  Please reply with topics or areas that you would like covered in this multi part saga covering B2B Sales.

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