MarketStar Blog | Best Practices (4)

In the world of B2B sales there are different types of distribution partners, and each one plays a distinct role in reaching and servicing customers. Value-added resellers, for example, are high-touch partners that sell goods and services as part of a complete solution. At the other end of the spectrum are direct market resellers (DMRs), distributors that sell directly to businesses online or via telephone orders. DMRs maintain catalogs of goods to sell through online storefronts or by taking phone orders. DMRs can be an important part of any vendor’s value chain if you know how to provide the right support.

You have no doubt heard the phrase, “People are your most valuable resource.” Nowhere is that more true than in the world of B2B sales. Experienced, committed, savvy sales professionals are your most valuable asset, especially if you empower them to be valuable. Good sales reps are not service bots or order takers simply tasked with achieving quotas; they are skilled professionals who understand the value of what they are selling, how that value proposition meets customer needs, and the lifeblood of your revenue generation engine. When it comes to managing sales reps effectively, empowering them to succeed always yields better results.

Numbers don’t lie, but they can inspire. If you know where to look, you can find thousands of statistics on the web related to sales and selling. Although these statistics can be interesting, they don’t mean much when taken strictly at face value. However, when you start to assimilate data and compare numbers from various sources, you start to see patterns emerge. Then, if you correlate these numbers, some of your findings might make you a much smarter sales rep.

Business growth is your goal, but sales is holding you back. Sound familiar? When companies struggle to expand their revenue and scale their business, it’s not always because they lack opportunity, but often because their in-house sales team can’t keep pace.  

Based on what we have seen in our more than 30 years of experience in the outsourced sales industry, companies that scale an in-house sales team often take upwards of eight to 12 months to ramp up their small team into a thriving, productive operation.

You need different sales processes for different types of customers, especially when it comes to selling technology solutions. If you are selling to enterprise customers, their needs and expectations are vastly different than when you sell to small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Those differences extend well beyond budget and include differing attitudes about their strategic needs, what they expect from you as the solution provider, and what you should expect from them in return. Understanding those differences is essential to sales success.

Hiring and training staff is expensive. SHRM (The Society of Human Resource Management) estimates that the cost-per-hire is $4,129, and that replacing an employee can cost between six and nine months of their salary. When you consider the cost of searching, hiring, and training sales personnel, hiring an outside sales team can eliminate talent acquisition headaches.

Ideas are meant to be shared, especially when it comes to B2B selling. It’s always useful to hear from old pros who have “been there, done that,” and also hear about what works for them in a tough selling situation.

If you are selling enterprise technology, then you probably are selling cloud services. The cloud is here to stay, and everything-as-a-service sales are outpacing traditional enterprise software sales. Cloud services are faster to deploy, less expensive, and easier to manage. Cloud computing is being used to handle data storage, business applications hosting, custom development, and more. The cloud is driving most of today’s technology buying decisions. Migration to the cloud is also taking decision-making out of the hands of IT since you now are selling business solutions to multiple stakeholders.

More companies are using live chat for leads. You are undoubtedly familiar with live chat as a sales and customer service tool. How often have you visited a website looking for information only to see a live chat box pop up in the bottom corner? These chat boxes aren’t sales bots; they are live sales reps looking to provide business-critical information that could turn a curious website visitor into a viable prospect. This is how you apply live chat for leads, and it is changing B2B sales.

Whom would you rather buy from? The slick sales rep with the aggressive sales pitch who wants you to decide today, or the sales rep who asks questions, listens to understand what you need, and takes the time to work with you to find the right solution. The answer is easy, but the reality is there are still too many quota-driven sales reps out there who put closing the deal ahead of the needs of the customer. Sales reps with happy customers and long-term success are the ones who master the art of selling without selling.