B2B (business-to-business) sales refers to one business selling products, services, or solutions to another business. The dynamics of B2B sales tend to be more complicated than business-to-consumer (B2C) sales because they often involve higher dollar value solutions, longer sales cycles, and multiple decision makers.
B2B sales is complex. No two sales are exactly alike, and sellers must adapt to changing circumstances while moving buyers through the process. With higher stakes and longer sales cycles in B2B sales, missteps can be costly.
And B2B sales has only become more complicated. Increased competition, new technology, and more informed buyers have made it necessary for sellers to rethink the ways they connect and engage.
This complexity comes with a fundamental question all sellers must answer: how do you differentiate and make your value clear to buyers?
B2B buyers are more prepared than ever. CMO Council research shows that B2B customers will research and compare solutions before talking to a seller, often completing 50-90% of the work beforehand.
To keep up, sellers must be just as prepared from the first touch to the close of the sale. These tips will help provide structure, consistency, and clarity to your sales process.
All sellers talk about providing value, but few actually do it well. To drive value, you need to have a plan to create it. You need to be obsessed with the value you bring to buyers in every conversation and every touch. The companies and sellers who do this experience wildly better sales results.
But what does value look like? We’ll cover some of the ways B2B sellers can drive value for buyers, but the following are some of the many ways you might provide it throughout the selling process:
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Seek to understand what each individual buyer values most and provide that in your sales interactions. (Hint: value goes above and beyond the product or service you are selling.)
In the world of complex sales, information is king. Your buyers will research you and will go into conversations with some idea of what they’re looking for.
As a baseline, you should already have an idea of what your ideal customer looks like in terms of industry, location, size, and type. Educate yourself on potential prospects and qualify your leads before spending too much time on any one opportunity.
Of course, success in B2B sales relies on your ability to learn about your buyer and explore their needs. But when 71% of buyers want to talk to sellers when they’re actively looking for new ideas and possibilities to drive stronger business results, it pays to proactively identify those who are the best fit for your solutions and offer ideas to help them succeed.
In addition to the set of needs specific to each buyer, buyers have a range of communication preferences and buying styles. If you can identify which applies to your buyers, you can plan your sales activities to match.
Six buyer personas define these preferences, though buyers often display a mix of preferences and buying styles. With these personas as a starting point, you can dig deeper into which your prospects resemble and use that information to help guide your conversations with them.
One of the biggest challenges of B2B sales is navigating the levels of customization and complexity that come with selling solutions.
A canned pitch won’t cut it. You’ll need to answer buyer questions, mitigate risk, and lead compelling proposal presentations. By anticipating common questions and having deep knowledge of your full suite of offerings, you can open up new possibilities and build confidence with buyers.
Your sales funnel (and by extent, your sales process) must be constructed to account for the buyer journey. You want to meet buyers when they’re looking to solve a problem or explore new possibilities and align your selling process with their buying process.
Notably, across the sales cycle, no single capability distinguishes the best sellers from others. Top-Performing Sellers outperform across every stage, mastering the key skills necessary for each.
The complexity and number of decision makers involved in B2B sales affects the dynamics of your sales funnel. It takes longer to move from stage to stage, so understanding the status of your buyers and how you can move them along the funnel is a must.
Grab a piece of paper and pen and write down the following:
If you're serious about sales growth, tap into one of the biggest untapped opportunities in B2B sales and look first to your existing clients.
Of course, this is a simple start. Create a strong strategic account plan and execute it, and you might just find yourself flooded with new business.
Read: 6 Tips to Sell to Existing Accounts
According to our What Sales Winners Do Differently research, the #1 factor most separating sales winners from the rest—according to the 700 buyers we surveyed—is that sales winners bring new ideas and insights to the table. Doing this helps you drive value for buyers and generate new opportunities in your existing accounts.
Buyers want your ideas and are looking for your insights. You can do so by leading a thorough needs discovery and using this information to explore and communicate the impact you can make on their business.
Download: How to Change the Buyer Conversation with Insight Toolkit
According to buyers, sales winners don't just provide new ideas and perspectives.
Buyers strongly agree/agree they choose sellers who:
These are also among the factors most separating sales winners from second-place finishers.
When it comes to the top two factors—bringing insights and collaborating with buyers—sales winners sell radically differently than second-place finishers. None of the remaining factors—understanding needs, listening, persuading buyers you'll achieve results—are new, it's simply that winners do a better job of them.
Evaluating your own skills can be a challenge—there’s a notable gap in perception between how sellers perceive their own skills and how buyers pursue them. Taking the time to reassess your sales fundamentals is worthwhile, even for a seasoned seller.
For every 100 times you find advice to "sell the ROI," you might find one piece of advice to minimize the perception of risk for the buyer. Risk plays an important role in a buyer's decision process. Buyers are naturally skeptical, especially given the high price point of many B2B deals.
It's your job to minimize this risk and overcome the hurdles. However, this doesn’t mean avoiding talking about risk entirely. If you bring up risk in your conversations and demonstrate how you can reduce it, you can improve trust with your buyer.
The buzz in B2B sales is that buying committees are growing. While this may be true, we've found that by and large, buying teams have one person who has profound influence over the ultimate decision: The Domino.
Whomever plays the role of Domino should receive special attention from you. See if you can get one-on-one time with them and inspire them with your solution.
Often, the Domino is a senior executive or similar. Because of this, learning how to sell to senior executives and understanding their preferences and buying styles can dramatically increase your odds of winning the sale.
Opportunities are out there. Buyers are making strategic investments more frequently and they're open to switching providers. They want your ideas and they want to talk to you early in the buying process.
Approach buyer conversations with value and provide new insights and ideas, and you can blow away your sales goals. But you must do this proactively. Conversations with buyers aren’t going to fall into your lap.
This is also true for conversations about new opportunities with your current accounts. You must proactively create conversations with your existing accounts if you want to grow them.
For the greatest B2B sales success, you need to maximize your time and motivation and get the right things done every day. Begin to track your TIME and where you're spending it. Then make a plan for how you want to be spending it. The sooner you figure out where your time is going, the sooner you can start maximizing the time you spend on what's really important.
The top 3 sales skills possessed by sellers at Top-Performing Sales Organizations are:
Take the time to focus on improving your fundamental consultative selling skills, put a process in place to win your most important sales opportunities, and seek to proactively drive account growth. Do these three things well and you may find yourself among the Top Performers.
Best practices are useful, but metrics provide the critical insight necessary to elevate your sales activities.
The number of sales metrics can be overwhelming, and not all metrics deserve the same amount of attention. Take the time to identify your:
Once you know what you want to track, set up mechanisms for tracking. For example, if account growth is a priority, identify how many accounts you’ll reach out to, how many opportunities you expect to create from this effort, and ultimately how much in pipeline and closed sales you expect to generate. Then be sure to track this activity and review it regularly to gauge whether or not you are on track.
There are also several organizational factors that play a vital role in enabling B2B sales success. Here are three key imperatives that set top-performing organizations apart:
Research shows that sales success correlates strongly with three interconnected factors: effective management, regular coaching, and comprehensive training. Sellers thrive when given ongoing support through structured onboarding, skill development, coaching, and continuous reinforcement of best practices.
Sales/revenue enablement has evolved from a nice-to-have into a strategic imperative. Organizations that achieve the greatest success treat enablement as a long-term change management initiative rather than a short-term fix. This approach emphasizes building an adaptive culture focused on sustainable performance improvement.
Download: The Ultimate Sales Enablement Toolkit
The most successful sales organizations put value creation at the center of everything they do. Our research shows that 81% of Top-Performing Sales Organizations prioritize driving maximum value for buyers. This focus on value manifests in multiple ways.
Value-Driving Sales Organizations consistently outperform their peers across key areas:
The complexity of B2B sales demands both individual seller excellence and organizational commitment to success. To achieve sustainable results:
Develop core capabilities in:
Create an environment that enables sales success through:
Track both leading and lagging indicators to:
Organizations that combine strong individual selling capabilities with the right organizational support position themselves to achieve higher win rates, stronger account growth, and better overall sales performance.