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.

Are you a sales professional who likes to help other sales professionals by sharing sales tips?  Well we at Sales Chump have a great program that will work perfect for you!

Not only do you get to write sales articles and share them with others, you can promote your website or service if you have one.  We will provide a link on all pages to your website or service at no cost for your contribution (on a regular basis).  If you would be interested in this you can email us at saleschump[at]gmail.com for further information.

Below are links to tools that we have found that are good to use.  Feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment of useful tools or websites for sales professionals.

2009 Sales Day Calendar - This is a calendar that will show you the break down of sales days per month and quarter.  This is a general calendar and your company may differ.

What is this you ask?  Well you will be able to send us your questions regarding your pitch, how to approach a certain customer, how to peak interest, etc.  Send us your questions throughout the week and we will answer as many questions (hopefully all) as we can every Sunday evening.

We look forward to helping you out with any road blocks you run into and hope we can help you see from another perspective to a situation on what can be done. We will have more information on this later.

At some point in your sales call you will have to deal with a gatekeeper.  Unless you have a contact for this particular company, you will come into contact with someone other than the decision maker will be dealing with in your sales process.  Whether you stop into the business or are cold calling, you’ll most likely run into the receptionist.  Hitting it off with the gatekeeper is very important.  If you piss off the gatekeeper, your message may not make it to the decision maker.

Let’s think about this for a moment.  You’re an outsider, they know the decision maker and work with them every day… who is the decision maker going to believe?  Take some time to build rapport with the gatekeeper. I don’t know how many times having a strong relationship with the gatekeeper has paid off.  There are even a few customers where the gatekeeper and I talk more than the decision maker.

I know, you’re asking how do I do this?  Well there’s no one way to do it and it’s more of a combination of things in order to accomplish this.

1. Make them feel important! - There job isn’t always just answering the phone and blowing off everyone who calls for the decision maker.  Even when their only job is to answer the phone, make their job important.  Treat them with respect as if they were the person making the decision.  Get to know them if you will be calling to talk with the decision maker a lot.
2. Gatekeeper to Hero - They hear the decision maker talking all day about complaints. One day a complaint about something you can provide a solution for may come up.  If you haven’t spent time with the gatekeeper explaining what you can do, they wouldn’t be able to bring your service up.  The gatekeeper may be able to present your service better than you can as they know what is top priority for the company better than you do.
3. Distinguish yourself - Don’t be like every other sales person that calls asking for the decision maker.  Make yourself stand out.  When you state your name and company, you want them to respond like you’re a friend who they haven’t talked to in a while.  Use humor and creativity to accomplish this.  I have a co-worker who does this very well by talking about things non-related to our business or theirs.
4. Turn them into your assistant - No, don’t have them do your job for you.  Use the gatekeeper to get information about the company, decision maker, how things work around there.  The better you understand the company, the easier to realize what is important to the.  The gatekeeper can assist you with this greatly.

Now there are a lot of other ways to turn the gatekeeper into an ally rather than an adversary. With the gatekeeper on your side, you are a lot better off than the other way around.  Feel free to share a technique that has worked for you in the past by posting a comment.