B2B Sales: Meaning, Development and Strategies

1. B2B Sales: Definition
2. B2B sales vs B2C sales: 5 Differences
3. Examples of B2B Sales
4. 5 Tips for a successful B2B sales strategy
5. In the past, B2B sales took place offline between B2B buyers and sellers. Trust was key and was built through personal contacts. Today, digitization
6. To meet modern requirements and make your B2B business future-proof, you need a sales software
7. Selling products and services to other businesses is usually more challenging than selling to individuals. Unlike normal consumers, Business-to-Business customers (B2B) usually have more at stake and the sales process takes more time. In addition, you must convince multiple decision makers to close a deal.

The potential of the B2B industry is enormous. It is expected that B2B sales will increase from 1.8 trillion dollars in 2023 to 20.9 trillion dollars in 2027. However, selling to businesses is not easy - the customer journey is complex, the sales cycles are long and multiple decision makers are involved. In addition, modern B2B buyers are independent and want little to do with sales employees. But what exactly does B2B sales mean? How does it differ from B2C sales? And how do you develop a successful B2B sales strategy? We answer all these questions in our article.

B2B Sales: Definition

In B2B sales (Business-to-Business), a company sells products or services to other companies. The transaction is often complex, extensive, and expensive. Furthermore, multiple decision makers are required, leading to a longer sales cycle. B2B sales are especially common among manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers.

B2B sales vs B2C sales: 5 Differences

You can already recognize the difference between B2B and B2C sales by their definition. B2B sales is about selling to other businesses, while B2C targets end consumers. Apart from the target market, the two differ in the following aspects:

1. Sales cycle: B2B sales have a longer sales cycle than B2C sales and involve a group of decision-makers and more complex requirements.
2. Transactions: B2B sales involve fewer but more valuable transactions. B2C sales, on the other hand, consist of many transactions, but they are of little value.
3. Sales strategies: B2B sales typically involve a consultative approach, customized solutions, and ongoing customer support. All of this is aimed at maintaining long-term customer relationships. B2C sales, on the other hand, are more transaction-oriented and focus on addressing the desires and needs of individual customers.
4. Marketing tactics: B2C marketing employs emotional advertising, brand awareness, and price promotions to attract and retain individual customers. B2B marketing, on the other hand, focuses on content marketing to inform leads and customers. It also includes building relationships and networking to establish a B2B company as a trustworthy industry leader.
5. Number of leads per salesperson: In B2B sales, contracts are more extensive, customer communication is regular, and sales cycles are long. B2C sales is the exact opposite. Here, contracts are less complex, communication with customers is less frequent, and sales cycles are shorter. As a result, B2C sellers can handle more leads at once than B2B sales teams.

Examples of B2B Sales

Below you will find common examples of B2B sales:

• Companies that manufacture car windows, to sell them to car manufacturers.
• Supermarkets, that order goods at wholesale prices to sell to end consumers.
• Law firms and marketing agencies, that offer their services to companies.
• Companies that offer SaaS solutions such as CRM systems, accounting software, and HR programs.
• Companies that sell paper, ink, printers and similar products to other companies.

5 Tips for a successful B2B sales strategy

1. Understand your target audience

To win more customers, you need to generate qualified leads. To do this, you need to scrutinize your potential customers. What challenges are they currently facing? How does their buying process look like? Who are the decision makers in their company? How can you reach them? Based on these insights, you can develop a marketing strategy that appeals to your target audience and presents your product as a solution to their problems.

2. Provide value to your leads and customers

Research is one of the most important steps in the B2B customer journey. Indeed, B2B customers contemplating a purchase spend 45% of their time on independent online and offline research. On the other hand, they only spend 17% of their time meeting with potential providers.

To win leads, it's therefore important to provide them with information they need for a purchase decision. For example, you can create a content database with articles, whitepapers, product reports, case studies, e-books, and demos. These content should aim to solve their problems or answer questions that can arise at any stage of their customer journey.

3. Use storytelling

When salespeople communicate with potential customers, they usually focus on bringing all the facts about their offer to the table. However, they often forget one thing: information is worthless if it's not conveyed in a memorable way.

One way to appeal to your B2B audience is storytelling. It paints a vivid picture for your customers and illustrates the contrast between their current situation and what is possible. This helps them understand better what their company lacks and how your solutions can help solve their problems.

4. Support your salespeople

Modern B2B buyers are skeptical of salespeople, who often have their own motivations: making sales, meeting quotas, and earning commissions. In order to increase the credibility of your team, you must provide evidence for your product claims. Does your product really last longer than your competition's? What benefits can your customers experience from your offer? In addition, it's important to conduct regular sales training to educate your team and strengthen their confidence in your product.

5. Bring your sales and marketing teams together

It's undeniable that sales and marketing share the same goal - to promote company growth and increase revenue. However, conflicts often arise between the departments, usually due to opposing priorities. The main goal of sales is to generate higher quality leads to close more deals.

On the other hand, the priority in marketing is to generate leads at lower customer acquisition costs. The result: Marketing sends cheap, but low-quality leads to sales. Since sales cannot convert them, revenues decrease, and marketing is forced to further reduce customer acquisition costs.

To unite your sales and marketing teams, you can hold regular meetings between the departments. Here, they can update each other on their goals, explore growth opportunities and provide feedback. This promotes communication between the teams and encourages cross-functional collaboration.How digitization affects B2B sales

In the past, B2B sales took place offline between B2B buyers and sellers. Trust was key and was built through personal contacts. Today, digitization is shifting to online communication. This offers several advantages for B2B sellers. So gathering data about your target group and getting to know their companies is no longer a witchcraft. AI solutions and sales systems also help your team to create accurate sales forecasts and prioritize key leads. They facilitate collaboration among your team members and also promote communication with customers.In addition to these advantages, digitization also brings challenges for B2B companies. For one, the behavior of modern B2B customers has changed with technological advances. Gone are the days of marketing calls - today more than

44% of B2B buyers prefer to close a deal, without interacting with sales experts. This means that B2B providers have less control over the sales cycle. In fact,

54% of salespeople admit that it's more difficult today to get in touch with potential customers than it was five years ago. Moreover, salespeople need to adapt to new trends such as virtual events and online conferences.Which tools are suitable for B2B sales?

To meet modern requirements and make your B2B business future-proof, you need a sales software. It helps your sales team manage B2B leads and prioritize those that are likely to become customers. The best sales programs have an integrated CRM, which manages the interactions with leads and customers. This allows you to track various touchpoints personalize your marketing and sales efforts, and monitor deals and payments. Among the most popular sales software with CRM features are:B2B Sales: Summary

HubSpot Sales Hub

Salesforce Sales Cloud

CentralStationCRM

Pipedrive

TecArt CRM

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

BSI Customer Suite

SuperOffice

Selling products and services to other businesses is usually more challenging than selling to individuals. Unlike normal consumers, Business-to-Business customers (B2B) usually have more at stake and the sales process takes more time. In addition, you must convince multiple decision makers to close a deal.

With technological advancements come additional challenges for B2B sales. Modern B2B customers today prefer to limit their interactions with salespeople. In addition, they come into contact with their suppliers through various touchpoints. To capture these leads, you should digitize and optimize your B2B sales using one of the software mentioned above. Apart from that, you need a sophisticated sales strategy to address leads at each stage of their journey and convert them into customers.

Mit dem technologischen Fortschritt kommen weitere Herausforderungen auf den B2B-Vertrieb zu. Moderne B2B-Kund*innen ziehen es heute vor, ihre Interaktionen mit Vertriebsmitarbeiter*innen zu begrenzen. Außerdem treten sie über verschiedene Kontaktpunkte mit ihren Lieferanten in Kontakt. Um diese Leads einzufangen, solltest du deinen B2B-Vertrieb mithilfe einer der oben erwähnten Softwares digitalisieren und optimieren. Abgesehen davon benötigst du eine ausgefeilte Vertriebsstrategie, um Leads in jeder Phase ihrer Reise anzusprechen und sie in Kund*innen zu verwandeln.