“Begin with the end in mind.” This insight from Stephen Covey describes the importance of setting trade show goals before the event to ensure successful outcomes. Who are your targets? How many meetings do you want to schedule? How much revenue do you need to generate to justify the investment?
Engaging channel partners can be an effective strategy to grow your company, enter new markets, and increase your sales volume. A good partner can help you build credibility by providing introductions, referrals, and access to their customers and prospects, and expedite their entry into your sales funnel.
No longer can a single executive make buying decisions on behalf of the entire company. According to a survey by CEBGlobal, the average number of people required to make a B2B purchase has risen to 5.4.
Before you can build a successful business case, you need to know your audience. The first thing to know is that each individual has a different agenda and different concerns. Everything they experience is based on his or her level in the company hierarchy.
This has been said many times in the past, but it’s always worth repeating: Buyers will go through the first half or more of their journey without you. According to research from Forrester, 67% of a buyer’s learning is made before engaging with a member of your sales team.
The Challenger™ Sale methodology provides an overall framework for complex sales providing not only a definition of a Challenger but a complete approach to address each step of the sales cycle.
What is it about your offering that makes it stand out from the pack? What do you bring to the table that makes your product or service of unique value to your buyer? It’s your differentiator.
One aspect of successful sales, B2B or otherwise, is anticipating your prospective buyer's alternatives. This allows you to have strategies in place to rebut objections and differentiate yourself. To determine which questions are topmost in their minds, understand how they evaluate their alternatives.
Whenever I hear someone talk about finding their unique selling point, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. If you are in complex B2B selling, don’t waste your time looking for a unique selling point. Instead, deeply know your value proposition, which includes all the unique things you do.
Buyers tend to take the same journey every time they make a high-commitment purchase. They realize there is a problem and begin researching potential solutions. Unfortunately, they are not always methodical in their search.
