When you talk about b2b sales, Every business is different, but there are some common traits among brands. There are a number of challenges that businesses will typically face as they attempt to sell their products or services to other companies. This article discusses seven of the most common.
1) The market size may be too big for you to handle alone
If your product is designed for a certain industry, such as IT security, you have probably already identified which companies would be the best fit for your offering. As a result, it can become overwhelming when you try to contact all of those businesses individually by phone and email. It just doesn’t scale! Unfortunately, if you’re not able to send out a wave of emails or make a bunch of phone calls, you’ll be missing out on business.
There is no easy way to conquer this challenge. It takes time and effort to build your network and relationships with people who can help you get in touch with prospects that you’re not connected with yet. The good news is that as your brand awareness grows, the number of potential leads for your business will also increase. By working hard now, you won’t have to work as hard later!
2) You might not know exactly who should be buying from you
If there isn’t a clear decision maker at the company you want to do business with, finding a qualified lead can become difficult. Figuring out who makes the purchasing decisions requires research. If possible, you want to get in touch with a person who has the authority to cause a purchase order to be issued. According to ethiopian black seeds buyers, For a B2B salesperson. This is often not an easy task since many companies have complex organizational structures.
There are different strategies that can be employed based on what you discover during your research. You might want to target mid-level managers or department heads so you can tell them about the benefits of your product and see if anyone else needs it too. In other cases, it’s important for salespeople to find someone who will convince their peers at other companies that they need to use your offering as well. The more people that are using your product. The easier it becomes for others to justify purchasing it themselves!
3) No decision maker means no deal
In some cases, you might be able to contact a large number of people at one company, but they will all turn out to be the wrong person. Even if there is a need for your product within the organization. If nobody has any power over approving a purchase it’s not going to happen. That’s why it’s so important to gather as much information about your prospect as possible so you don’t waste any time chasing unqualified leads.
There are many approaches that can be used to qualify potential prospects before spending too much time reaching out. You could send an email requesting more details or call them directly and ask questions during the initial conversation. The goal here is just to find out what barriers stand between the prospect and your product. If they are not the person that can authorize a purchase. Don’t waste your time trying to convince them to buy it!
4) The information you’re given might be out of date
Some salespeople find themselves in situations where their contact at another company is unwilling or unable to provide any useful information. This challenge applies when someone who previously bought your product no longer works there. So you have nobody left within the organization to speak with about it. This is particularly common for smaller companies where turnover is high and people join and leave frequently.
Once this happens, prospects need to be approached from scratch. But because research wasn’t completed up front, you’ll now have trouble getting past gatekeepers who are unfamiliar with your offering. You might need to ask the gatekeeper questions about their company like what products they currently use. If another product is being used, you can provide proof that your offering is superior by sending them a report with detailed information about why it’s beneficial. That way, this important person will know how your solution can help solve their problems!
5) You’ve got too many people to talk to
This problem often occurs at larger companies where there are multiple divisions and various departments. Since there are so many people involved, if you want to do business with the organization as a whole (rather than just one department). You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. And even if your contact only has control over one division within the company. Talking to them regularly can be difficult. If this happens, you might want to consider making contact with the other people in leadership positions. So they feel like your product is something their colleagues are using.
It’s not uncommon for large companies to have complicated hierarchies with multiple managers and directors all reporting up the chain of command. These types of organizations also tend to be more bureaucratic since they need processes in place that ensure that everything gets completed on time. This means it will most likely take longer for something to happen too. Which can make it harder for salespeople to keep up motivation when dealing with larger customers!
6) You’ve got competition
Competition within B2B markets is fierce – if you don’t anything your competitors do (or better), your product won’t sell. But sometimes, even if you think you know what your competitors are up to. There’s nothing you can do directly about it. Whenever this happens, you need to be able to demonstrate the unique value of your offer so that buyers see why they should choose you over somebody else. You might need to compare your offering with others on the market and highlight. Which ones are stronger in order for your prospect to understand where you’ve got an advantage.
7) Your product is too complicated
This last common problem is similar to “the information they gave was out of date”. It means that people don’t fully understand. How your product works or its benefits due to lack of internal communication within the organization. If this is a challenge you’ve faced in the past. It might be a sign that your prospect needs more time to learn about your product. To solve this problem. You’ll need to find out why they haven’t already used (or bought) it before and get them up to speed on how it works.
These are all challenges you’ll come across at some point or another when selling B2B products. But if don’t know what they are, you’re not going to know how to deal with them! That’s why I wrote this guide. So that next time one of these problems arises, instead of avoiding the situation, you can take care of it like a pro.
