MarketStar Blog

See the Buy vs. Build ROI infographic summary here

Despite rapid market changes, looming economic disruption, a continual battle for talent, and increasingly complex product and service offerings, one thing never changes for sales: you must hit your number. In 2023, the mantra tied to revenue is “adapt and evolve if you want to succeed and grow.” 

The ongoing war in Ukraine caused by the Russian acts of aggression has made the devastating consequences of war a reality for thousands of families. With the frigid winter temperatures compounding the severity of war, we knew we had to do more than stand with Ukraine. The MarketStar Bulgarian team knew something had to be done to help the Ukrainian people.

Transformation is not the easiest task for large businesses. It has been said by MANY enterprise leaders that for their organization to fully transform an old sales model into a digitally driven NEW model, it would take an act of God. Cue the pandemic of 2020. 

Among the numerous lessons of the past three years, one that can’t be ignored is that nothing transforms the way we interact with prospects and customers like the complete disruption of face-to-face contact. Sales was particularly hit hard by “these trying times” – but it also opened a striking opportunity: the opportunity to transform a traditional outside sales team into a digitally driven, blended, inside/outside sales force. 

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The temptation for any B2B sales team is to hunt for whales. If you can land that one big deal, you get a big payoff. But while you are spending all that time and energy hunting whales, dozens of smaller fish may slip past you. Too often, the focus on enterprise deals eclipses the profit potential from SMB sales. SMBs deals can be easier to land, and they can have greater lasting value.

Selling technology is never easy, and when you are dealing with enterprise sales, there is nothing simple or fast about this selling process. Enterprise sales are complex because enterprise technology is complex. There are many variables, interdependencies, and integrations to worry about—let alone matching the technology to the customers’ needs.

Ensuring customer success is at the heart of consultative selling isn’t just fluff. When you are selling technology, selling the product alone isn’t enough. You must sell a solution for a problem that your technology can solve. That means much deeper customer engagement that delivers an immediate return and more ROI over time. That’s why leading companies invest in customer success.

Every company wants a faster sales cycle. The challenge with selling technology is that selling complex solutions requires a more complex sale process, which means a longer sales cycle. The length of the sales cycle also depends on your target customer.

You know that selling B2B technology is hard, and selling B2B enterprise technology is even harder. Enterprise sales, like enterprise infrastructures, are more complex with higher price tags, and that means higher risks for buyers. Making the wrong purchasing decision can have a domino effect that can affect the entire enterprise infrastructure. That’s why enterprise buyers are more cautious and deals require more stakeholders and take longer to close.

The nature of small- and medium-sized business (SMB) sales has changed, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, and sales reps have to adapt their sales conversations accordingly. With the disruption in operations caused by the pandemic, SMB concerns are different. Business is slower, cash is tighter, and the future is uncertain. SMB operations need to solve a new set of problems.