B2B buyers have changed their buying behavior. They compare the prices of different organizations on the websites, expect sellers to be able to instantly provide answers to their questions. Easy for them to select a supplier without speaking to any seller. The B2B buyer now expects the same level of service and experience as in the case of B2C. To boost their b2b sales, B2B companies will now have to take into account changes in buyers’ expectations.
CUSTOMERS HAVE GONE ON THE INTERNET. AND YOU?
By 2020, 85% of customers are expected to have a business relationship without any personal interaction. Around 75% of B2B customers find online shopping particularly convenient, while 93% prefer to buy from a website rather than through a salesperson.
In order to improve B2B sales and remain competitive, traditional stores will have to be present on the internet if they are to satisfy the current professional buyer. But beyond an additional presence via e-commerce, companies will also have to take care of changing the role of the seller.
THE B2B ONLINE SELLER IS DEAD … LONG LIVE THE B2B ONLINE SELLER!
According to Forrester’s forecast, by 2020, more than one million B2B sellers could lose their jobs to online self-service commerce. With this sales process, self-service sites effectively reduce the number of sales teams that take orders. But if new technologies are calling into question the role of salespeople within B2B commerce, it is to transform it. As businesses move to the internet, B2B sales teams need to focus on buyers rather than sales. That means:
- Have a vast knowledge of the client’s activity in order to fully understand what he is looking to obtain
- Become an authentic strategic partner for the client
- Maintain long-term relationships in order to provide real added value for the client
- Possess multiple skills in “social selling” (sales via social networks)
- Turn effectively on online shopping data and signals
- Align sales with the actions of the marketing team
- Use content to facilitate closing sales
- Solve customer issues instead of just focusing on presenting sales
SPEND LESS TIME ENTERING DATA AND MORE TIME ANALYZING IT
Instead of spending time and energy collecting and entering data manually. B2B online sales teams can work to build stronger relationships with their customers. Obviously, knowing a buyer’s purchase intention is a nugget for a salesperson, but identifying the true intention is sometimes the most difficult task. So why not entrust business applications with the tedious job of collecting all the information about a customer? Salespeople will be able to focus on what machines will never take away from them: communication and creativity in sales. But of course, to be able to proceed in this way,
USE OF “SOCIAL SELLING” TO BOOST SALES
It is certain that the evolution of the professional buyer does not only influence sales strategies. If someone is looking for best b2b platform then I would seriously prefer them eWorldTrade, It should also be a wake-up call for marketing executives. On average, an outbound marketer will need to contact at least 18 different people to have a meaningful conversation with a prospect. If they send 5 emails, only 1 will be opened. Businesses need to review both the areas they invest in when it comes to marketing, and the way their sales reps connect with prospects.
According to surveys, 82% of buyers currently say their purchasing decision was particularly influenced by the supplier’s social media content and around 84% use referrals and peer reviews to confirm their choice. Obviously what must be seen behind this state of affairs is that social selling has taken on a phenomenal scale. Not only do sales reps need to engage with their customers on social media and leverage the insights they gain from their presentations, but marketing teams also need to ensure that company profiles and content posted on media social make it easier for the sales team to gain the trust of customers. At the end of the day, that’s the ultimate goal of B2B marketing: to close sales faster.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
With the advancement of online technologies and the evolution of corporate clients, the role of sales in B2B has changed. B2B customers are turning to online sales. It means that in order to be able to retain their customers, businesses need to take their digital switchover strategy very seriously.
Gone are the days when sales teams just took charge of taking orders. Today, all the difference is made by exploiting the information obtained through data-rich technologies. Such as (e-commerce, ERP – integrated management software – and CRM – customer relationship management) to facilitate the conclusion of a deal.
Salespeople are now expected to have more strategic conversations with customers, and to act more as advisers or consultants rather than product presenters. Intelligent use of online customer data systems and CRM handsets allow a new generation of salespeople to connect with their customers, and get great feedback from them.
