Friends have you come across a B2B (business to business) selling situation when you gave a very good presentation; you noticed that the entire team of the prospect was very satisfied with the features and the benefits of your product. You also handled their objections very well and they were convinced with your responses. But they kept on haggling about the price and you ultimately could not get the order?
Could you analyze what went wrong? Can you think of how the situation could be handled differently? There is definitely a better way of handling such selling situations which will not only convince the customer better but also help you bag the coveted order.
Today I am going to share with you this idea and the complete strategy of its execution. This is some real powerful stuff friends; therefore do read this article till end.
My name is Rakesh Sharma and I support the business owners and the sales people to grow their business and maximize their profits.
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A single idea-a sudden flash of an idea- may be worth a million dollars… Robert collier
Friends you must have noted that there is a huge difference between the sales approach for B2B selling and B2C (business to customer) selling. B2B selling works typically on “consultative selling” model. In consultative selling you position yourself as a consultant an advisor or an expert. The prospect expects you to solve his problem. Actually he is not buying your product rather he wants to buy the solution of his problem. Therefore you need to ask very appropriate questions first to understand his problems thoroughly and then win over him with a convincing solution. If you are able to do this you will be able to close the order.
Therefore, when you are selling to a business, you need to bear in your mind that if you are able to explain to the prospect how your product is going to save him money he will be convinced to buy your product. You need to show to the customer that how after using your product he’ll be financially better off.
Based on my experience of 30years in the industry, I have seen in that most of the B2B selling situations the sales person pays very high attention to features and benefits and so many other related things about the product. But they generally miss this one important area that how their product/service shall be able to reduce the cost, or make profits or save time (time has a cost) for the company, and how that is particularly unique feature of your product only!
Here I am going to share with you three steps which you must implement to ensure that you take advantage of this idea. I call it, “FOR THY BUSINESS APPROACH”
1. Position yourself as unpaid member of you buyers team
This is a game changing approach. While the prospect may think you as a typical seller, you need to position yourself as a member of his team, and give him the confidence that you are going to talk in terms of resolving his problem. You are going to offer a solution which is ultimately going to help him save cost or save time so that he is able to add value to his profits. You are going to help him for increasing his sales and reducing the costs thereby boosting up his profits. You need to show him that ultimately your product actually is paying for itself.
2. Ask questions to understand the prospect’s business: for positioning yourself as the member of his team you need to understand his business fully. For this purpose you need to ask questions which can help you understand how the revenue is generated, how the cost and the expenses are incurred and how the profits are made. You need to put yourself in the position of the business owner and evaluate whether your product is a proper fit in the prospects business situation. You need to evaluate whether your product is going to help the prospect in making more money. For this purpose you need to learn how to ask the intelligent questions.
3. Sell in financial terms: If you ask appropriate and intelligent questions you will be able to learn a lot about prospect’s business and now you need to start selling in financial terms. Lot of Companies uses the internal rate of return for their return on investment approach. If as an expert sales person you have understood the customers business very well by asking the right questions and you also know your product then you will be able to evaluate whether it is the best fit for the situation. And if you are really convinced that your product is going to offer him the best solution then at your level you should be able to help the prospect understand how your product is going to save a lot of money for him in the long run. Even if your product seems costly at the moment, the prospect is going to be really glad about the purchase in the long run. This you can do by calculating the internal rate of return (IIR) or return on investment. You must determine that time to payback. All the prospects have four key questions – spoken or unspoken and you must answer these questions-
A. How much does it cost?
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- How much do I get back in return for my investment
- How fast I get this amount back?
- How sure can I be that what you say is true?
Greater the clarity you provide to your prospect the better will be the chances of him taking a decision in your favor. However, if your answers are vague, then you have high risk of losing the order. If the prospect is not able to figure out the rate and the speed of return the sale might not take place at all.
Friends if you to use this “FOR THY BUSINESS APPROACH” as I have explained, each of the three steps involved in this approach, then you will be able to position yourself as an expert. Only when you will be considered as the expert of both your own product as well as an expert of the business will you have an infallible streak of success! And you will get tons of B2B orders. For Sure…!
Friends my mission is to support more than 1 lakh business owners and sales people during next three years by enabling them with quality and affordable business and sales growth tools. You too can become a part of this campaign by sharing this article with the all your business friends.
So next time you are selling in B2B situation follow the “FOR THY BUSINESS APPROACH” and get the order!
Until next time…Happy Selling!
