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The B2B market is undergoing changes, which also affect methods of attracting and retaining customers. And Internet marketing plays an important role here. According to the B2B Marketing Trends research group, Internet marketing costs in the field of B2B products in 2017 increased by 14%, in the field of B2B services - by 20%.
Current situation
Almost all B2B companies today have corporate and product websites, but most of them do not work to achieve one of the main business goals - attracting and retaining new customers. There are two reasons for this situation:
1. B2B companies try to create their websites according to the rules of the B2C segment, which is why they lose potential customers. The problem is that the difference between the audiences of B2B and B2C markets is not taken into account: the first includes business representatives who make decisions on behalf of the company, and not end consumers who make purchases for themselves. Therefore, sections and special services of websites that have proven themselves to attract end consumers often do not work for business clients.
2. B2B company websites have traditionally focused more on products and technology than on sales and customer service. Therefore, most of them are, at best, well-illustrated product catalogs with little information about the company. However, in the B2B sphere, it is very important to establish communication with potential clients, of which there are not many and each client is especially valuable. Therefore, the lack of services aimed at organizing sales and customer feedback often becomes a critical mistake.
Are the recipients of B2B marketing companies or their employees?
B2B sites are a valuable source of replenishment of the customer base, therefore they should contain both forms of a direct call to make an order, and forms that guide the visitor along the buyer’s route, for example, forms for subscribing to a newsletter, requesting a project calculation, requesting technical documentation and other services aimed to obtain information and establish contact with this client. It is important to remember that despite the fact that companies enter into business relationships in the B2B market, decisions about choosing a partner and placing an order are made by people - managers and employees of the client company.
In fact, we are talking about the H2H (person to person) model, in which the central place is occupied by the relationship between representatives of the seller and buyer companies. Many experts note that nowadays products, and even business models, are copied very quickly. The only thing that cannot be copied and produced is customer relationships, customer knowledge, which remains the only competitive advantage of many companies today.
Therefore, the reputation of the company and its products, confirmed by reviews of unbiased persons - that is, real consumers, becomes a very important factor in choosing a buyer. Almost all potential buyers trust most of all the opinions of consumers who are already using these products. The more complex the product and the longer the period of its use, the more attention potential B2B consumers pay to studying reviews: both the actual experience and period of use of the product by the consumer, as well as the official or expert level and authority of the person who signed the review are assessed.
At the same time, of particular interest are reviews presented not only in the form of letters of recommendation, but also in the form of specific examples of successful use of products by other companies, indicating the benefits and benefits that they have received from cooperation with the supplier company.
How buyers look for suppliers in the B2B market
When it comes to customers, remember that B2B purchasing managers have changed, increasingly relying on digital sources of information—supplier and third-party websites, videos, reviews from other buyers, blogs, and social media. Thus, according to Forbes, almost 90% of B2B purchasing managers use the Internet to find clients, viewing an average of 10-12 supplier sites on the first page of search results. In this regard, more than 70% of B2B companies plan to abandon printing catalogs in the next five years, completely switching to electronic catalogs.
Half of all buyers today expect that the supplier company’s website will be informative and, most importantly, a reliable source of information about the company and its products/services. Along with this, they expect convenient site searches, ratings, reviews, product personalization, service recommendations and ease of purchase. This trend will intensify as young people join purchasing departments who grew up with the Internet, are accustomed to online shopping for themselves and their companies, understand the value of reviews and take them into account when making purchasing decisions.
Where do customers find reviews?
Customer reviews can be divided into two groups - those left by consumers on third-party independent resources and those published on the websites of the companies themselves.
The first group includes:
Reviews on online store sites, where the ability to add a review is offered directly on the product card page. On B2B websites, the review function is often complemented by a service for selecting analogues and products for comparison, as well as examples of a real solution to a specific problem using the proposed product.
Reviews on sites with product catalogs with a service for posting customer reviews and sellers’ responses to them, as well as the ability to transfer reviews to the latter’s sites.
Reviews on message board websites about the purchase and sale of goods with the possibility of reviews and mutual comments between sellers and buyers. B2B segment websites offer services for reviews and ratings of companies, which are formed by the participants in the transaction themselves.
Reviews on online auction sites that provide a review exchange service and a rating system for sellers and buyers. B2B segment sites usually specialize based on industry and contain additional services for verifying the counterparty.
Reviews on specialized sites where only buyers can post a review of a specific product or service.
Reviews on search engine/sorter sites that collect reviews from all over the Internet, including social networks, with the ability to transfer reviews to the sites of selling companies.
Reviews on sites with interactive maps and search and information services that allow you to find a company on the map and post reviews on its page.
Reviews on the pages of consumer groups on social networks, united by common interests and sharing their experience of interacting with a particular company, product, technology.
The second group includes:
Official consumer reviews that are published on the company’s website by the company itself. B2B websites usually post scans of official letters of recommendation with seals and signatures from the heads of client companies.
Informal reviews proactively posted on the company’s website by customers. B2B market companies rarely provide consumers with such a service and even less often leave negative reviews on the site.
The benefits of reviews for attracting and retaining customers in the B2B market
Along with the task of increasing trust in the selling company and its products, reviews perform a number of other important functions. For example, helping a potential client identify himself as a target consumer of the company's products. Reviews from companies close to the buyer in the market segment, especially well-known and reputable ones, remove concerns about the qualifications and reputation of the supplier, as well as the quality of its products. Another serious motivating argument for a potential buyer is the reviews left by his direct competitors, especially those leading in the market.
Reviews also perform an important function of personalizing the brand of the selling company, distinguishing it from many others, opening access to the real experience, emotions and results of the work of consumers with the supplier company. In traditional B2B sales, a big role is played by the personality of the seller, how much he stands out from the sales representatives of competing companies. Nowadays, the individuality of the seller replaces the individuality of the company website.
Another important function of reviews is the preventive removal of objections from potential buyers: by reading reviews of other consumers who, with the help of the supplier company, solved a problem similar to the problem of the potential client, they can cast aside any last doubts about choosing a supplier in favor of the selling company. According to Forrester research, 60 percent of B2B buyers prefer to conduct research online rather than interact with a sales representative. This is due to buyers' belief that the salesperson is focused on the sales process rather than helping solve a problem. Customer reviews are a great way to demonstrate what a company can offer its customers and how it does it in practice.
From an online marketing perspective, reviews are valuable and unique content. We must not forget that search engines index reviews, and often reviews are specifically shown higher in search queries.
Reviews are a practical tool for increasing the loyalty of existing customers. Even if the reviews are negative, they allow the company to understand the situation, make the necessary corrections and communicate this to the customer who left the review. Constructive negativity implies that the client criticizes the real-life problems of the supplier company. All suppliers make mistakes from time to time, the main thing for the client is the companies’ willingness to admit and correct them. Such reviews are the most valuable for the company, as they not only allow you to return and retain customers, but also indicate “weak links” in the chain of interactions with customers. If the client has written a positive letter of recommendation, then if he asks for a recommendation for a supplier from other companies, he will undoubtedly name the selling company.
Solving the problem of review credibility
A huge challenge for online marketing is the reliability of information, including market reviews and consumer reviews. In the case of posting letters of recommendation from clients on the site, the problem of reliability is, in principle, solved, but with unofficial reviews everything is not so simple. Unfortunately, today the practice of buying reviews is widespread, and quotes posted on a website without indicating the author look implausible. Therefore, it is very important that the published review is not anonymous, but also truly reflects the experience of using the product/service.
In the world
There have been review sites based on the SAS model on the market for more than ten years. The main players are of course international. Some of them offer review authors authorization through social networks. This is, of course, better than anonymity. For example, the company TrustRadius, which specializes in the IT market, allows you to leave a review only to those registered through the Linkedin network. In North America, this network is considered a "business community." It can be assumed that in this way TrustRadius wants to show its B2B clients that it cares about verifying the identity of the review author. But even this cannot guarantee complete reliability. After all, the fact of purchasing a product or service is not verified by these review services.
Market leaders
The situation is better for trading platforms that control payments themselves. Examples include Amazon, Booking, Airbnb. But even they have a high percentage of fake reviews.
What do we have
The Russian aggregator Yandex Market also began to pay attention to this unresolved problem. So, in 2017, some reviews on Yandex Market were marked “Verified Buyer”. It means that a review of the store was left by a person who made a purchase using the service. And in the spring of 2018, they announced that they would change the approach to creating store ratings. And that in the future, ratings will reflect the actual experience of interaction between buyers and sellers. It is stated that the rating will take into account the ratings of users who actually made a purchase in the store. To do this, they will estimate the likelihood with which the author of each assessment placed an order. And if the probability is high, the rating will be taken into account in the rating. The Yandex Market team does not say how this probability will be determined exactly. Allegedly, the probability assessment will be carried out using special technology using Yandex data on user behavior.
As for Russian review sites, they mainly accumulate reviews left via email messages, that is, essentially anonymous.
Small thing, but important
Even one negative review can affect the effectiveness of a company's investment in online marketing. The Yandex and Google rating systems are very sensitive to negative reviews, as they very quickly report problems in the company. At the same time, Google not only shows negative reviews more often when asking for reviews about a company, but also shows everyone who is interested in a company based on a branded query its rating, and sometimes the rating of competing companies.
As a result, a situation is possible (using the real example of our company, a large Russian industrial and construction holding), when the company has been earning positive reviews about its products/services online for many years, and then a random passer-by with his complaint sharply spoils the entire rating, which will now be broadcast to thousands of potential consumers requesting feedback about the company. Our company's rating from 7 to 5 out of 10 was sharply lowered by a simple resident of the house next to the office, who was angry that company employees were occupying parking spaces that, in his opinion, “belonged” to local residents. If we assume that the company receives one or two “recommendation” orders per day, and the rating was corrected only after a week, then the company could have lost from 6 to 10 potential orders.
Many services still advertise their solutions for checking the authenticity of reviews, but in practice they do not always solve the problem of anonymity. In fact, reviews authored by an unknown nickname, or even the first and last name of an unknown consumer, cannot be considered reliable until the authorship and reality of the author, his relationship to the purchasing company and the fact of purchasing the product are not confirmed from other sources.
The solution to this problem could be the new Trusted Reviews service offered by the TruView team. Their desire to leave fewer fake reviews for future generations is at least worthy of attention. And the declared unique 2-stage solution to the problem of reliability may turn out to be exactly what the market requires.
More information about the TruView solution for B2B users can be obtained on the company’s website (https://trv.one/demo1vc1r1).
In the next article, we will look at the maturity model of review sites.
Ruben Chinaryan
Director of Development and Marketing of Promstroykontrakt Group of Companies, editor-in-chief of the magazines "Sales Management" and "Clienting and Client Portfolio Management"
Content marketing is booming. In 2017, 39% of companies increased investments in this area of internet marketing.
Yet most companies don't create effective content. Want proof?
SiriusDecisions and Forrester claim that conversion rates from an inquiry to a closed deal often below two percent in most industries, even for those who use best practices.
There are many reasons for such low conversion rates. Every day the Internet is covered with an avalanche of new content. And let's face it: there isn't much good in it.
In short, the market believes that content creation is enough. This is wrong. Do you really need correct content.
Learn five important steps to dramatically improve the quality and effectiveness of your content.
Step 1: Determine your niche
Media companies, marketing agencies and our own egos often push us to expand our target market. This is a topic I've heard thousands of times from thoughtful, smart people.
We do this because we are afraid of losing income. What if this business, as it is, goes out of business?
Do not do that. Focus on one thing at a time. Start by taking a hard look at your current customers and whether the solution you're trying to sell is right for them. Start with quality information collection. Talk to your team and sales managers:
Who are your most profitable clients and why?
Which clients have been with you the longest and why?
What do they have in common?
Which clients are unprofitable and why?
How can we avoid them?
Then do a quantitative analysis.
Share results with key stakeholders to reach consensus on the ideal customer profile. Define the characteristics. Divide your market into two or three segments based on their potential value. If you can only afford to work with one of the segments, choose the most valuable one.
Remember that things change over time. So do this annually, for every solution you sell. For new categories, finding the perfect customer profile will be challenging. And, of course, use different ways to test and optimize your hypothesis.
Find doors for other things you sell.
For example, Microsoft started with tools for programmers. They attracted tech-savvy people.
Then Microsoft created the operating system (well, Microsoft bought and licensed it to IBM, to be precise). The operating system created a platform for selling desktop products such as Word and Excel, and their relationship with developers allowed them to encourage the latter to create other programs and utilities.
Step 2: Understand Your Audience
Once you clearly define your target audience and the value you offer, it's time to understand how your target audience makes decisions.
Don't forget that this is a B2B industry, and your clients are other organizations.
Who is most likely to make the decision?
You really need to find one of those rare people within the organization who can influence others. Many are trying. Think about functional role, relationships, personality type, credentials, likely beliefs, etc. This persona is who you will be talking to. Even when your message reaches others in the company, they will find that person for you. Let them know who to look for.
What events are of interest?
Triggering events can be positive or negative. These events can occur internally or externally to the company. They can happen during the day or over a long period of time.
The fact is that these events often force companies to resort to your services. In many cases, these are problems that your company can handle. You need to understand what trigger events are, such as layoffs, management changes, new regulations, rapid growth, competitive intrusion, employee turnover, or customer churn.
You can then use one or more of these events as triggers to show how your company can help. You can also research the prevalence of these trigger events in your target market to estimate the potential volume of demand that may exist.
What non-obvious problems can you solve?
Generally, in order to change something, people must feel that the status quo is unsafe. And you have to show them what they don't see.
Help them see their situation with new eyes. This is the heart of the story you have to tell.
You really have to understand the consequences of these unmet needs.
If you can quantify the problem in financial terms, you will imbue your proposal with the universal language of money, a language that everyone understands.
What evidence can you provide?
Again, you're not trying to sell anything right away here. You're just trying to get the prospect interested in talking to your company.
However, you must provide evidence to make your promise convincing enough. To do this, you will need to gather facts to address key objections.
Ideally, you obtain most of this information through direct interviews and/or focus groups, supplemented by simple research. Typically 5-10 interviews will give you what you need. If the information you hear becomes redundant, you'll know you've talked to enough people. One piece of advice: talk to these people during the buying process or shortly thereafter while the experience is fresh.
Step 3: Clearly Articulate Your True Value
How often do you see words like “leading”, “exceptional”, “biggest”, “greatest” and other incredible, vague, empty claims? One of the reasons social media has become so popular is that people need another source of information they can trust: information from their friends or someone other than the salesperson.
Part of the problem is that there are many things you can say about your offering and your company. But the verbosity is confusing and boring.
To find your value, you need to look at your product objectively, and through the eyes of your customer. At the same time, look for what your competitor doesn’t have.
If your customers don't want it, your product is worthless. If your customers want it and your competitors can also provide it, you will fall behind. Instead, look for something unique—something your customers need and that only your company can deliver.
Find three values that define you, and then craft your messages and stories around those three values.
Step 4: Define Your Goal
This is important: before you start creating content, find your purpose. But this is not creating a brand. This can certainly be something that happens as a by-product of your efforts, but it is not the goal. The role of content is not to generate clicks, traffic, inbound calls or even leads. It is also not to sell your product or service.
The main goal is to create demand. Show your values to get people interested in your product. Within the demand generation framework, each element must support this goal. If not, trim off the excess using your target as a knife.
Step 5: Love Your Prospects
It may seem obvious, but there's a reason why sales and marketing often get a bad rap. Loving your customers means treating them with understanding, respect and sensitivity. And that means being authentic and honest, even if your tone has to be playful. Treat them the way you would like to be treated. The more deeply you connect with them, the more effective your content will be.
This connection with your audience will usually help you find the right tone and voice.
Using these tips, you can create and tailor content to the most appropriate contact method(s) (blog, social media…).
But you'll have a good foundation for cutting through the noise in an ever-changing market because what you offer will be rare, honest, and true.
The road to conscious B2B management is littered with many who have tried and failed. Don't be one of the fallen. How to stand out among competitors, how to become an industry leader? Or is it not worth striving for the front line if the essence of your company is shadow work?
Of course no! You can succeed and become a great leader—no matter what your company does.
In this article, we will share ways to make your company popular and visible. Clients will begin to trust you, which you rightfully deserve.
1. Choose a niche in which you are an expert
The biggest mistake is trying to be an expert in every aspect of the industry. This is simply impossible. This is too big a goal to achieve right away. If you want to succeed, choose a niche in your industry and then show your class.
Don't take on general topics. The narrower your specialization, the more attention you will attract, the more you will stand out from your competitors. For example, a marketing consultant cannot cover all aspects of marketing. This can end up talking about everything and nothing. Instead, you should focus on automation or marketing measurement - this will make it easier for you to demonstrate all your qualities and skills. And it will be absolutely great if you can narrow the topic even further - for example, work on marketing automation for small businesses or, conversely, large corporations.
After some time, you can expand your competence.
Conscious leadership is more than an article, book, lecture or award. This is management of the space of thought.
2. Start your own b2b blog
In it you can share knowledge, in it you will acquire a loyal audience. Try to tell something useful and interesting in every post. Answer questions, share discoveries, start conversations - a blog will provide you with all these opportunities!
Keep your finger on the pulse, monitor what your competitors publish, which of their posts become the most popular. Then, if you have anything to add to their articles, share your perspective on the issue.
Once you've settled into your blog, it's time to write guest articles on other blogs and resources. This will expand your audience and show people your knowledge (and they will be impressed and come back for more articles on your blog).
« Showcase knowledge that no one else can boast of", - Michael Brenner, expert in the field of b2b and PR.
3. Never forget about SEO
You have created a blog and filled it with quality content. Don't let it go unnoticed. Consistency and quality are the keys to good results and popularity in search engines.
You've worked on the content, now you can't miss traffic and get lost. If a person once found your blog and liked the content, he will definitely come back for more.
« We invest in quality content. Be sure to make sure it is easy to find" - Lee Odden.
4. Be more active on LinkedIn
Get started with your LinkedIn account right now. This is the first thing people will see when they land on your page. It may attract absolutely no attention, or it may even hypnotize the person who enters. Show your authentic personality, but remain professional.
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If you publish the same content, add a link below indicating the resource where the article was first published. This will let Google know that you are not spamming by posting the same content everywhere.
5. Join the discussions
You don't live on a desert island, so don't isolate yourself. Connect with other people on different platforms. Look for discussions that relate to your area of expertise, and don't be shy to join the conversation. This will earn you a name and reputation as an expert.
It is best to start with communities such as the Directors Club and VC. You can answer questions and, when possible, add links to your site that will provide users with more detailed information.
Whenever you see a forum or discussion where you have something to say, do so in a non-intrusive and polite manner - this way you will be perceived as an expert rather than a know-it-all.
6. Collaborate with the media
B2b and PR companies can also appear in the media.
An effective (and inexpensive) tactic is to sign up for a platform like PressFeed, where reporters contact business owners for interviews or story writing. Register and wait for a topic on which you can express your expert opinion.
These techniques will take the company from the shadows of anonymity into the light of popularity. Your b2b company can easily become an industry leader.
The same question always sounds: “Where are the new clients?” The question is more than topical. Existing customers may, for one reason or another, leave the company or move to a competitor. Where to get new clients in the B2B segment? The standard answer: “On the market!” But as?
Of course, knowledge of sales techniques and cold calling is important and necessary. But most often examples are given when there is already a dialogue or relationship with the client. And there are very few examples where completely new clients are needed. The need for new clients is constantly heard. But what needs to be done in this case is kept silent. Let's look at this issue in this article.
“A detailed study of individual organs makes it difficult to understand the life of the whole organism.”
Vasily Klyuchevsky
The purpose of the article is to compare the capabilities of the Sales System and a group of experienced salespeople not united by the Sales System in the context of searching for completely new clients for the company. That is, when solving problem No. 1!
- Sales stages. The goal is to show the complexity of sales.
- The proposed author's Sales System.
- A refined example of the above task of finding completely new clients.
- Conclusions: comparison of the capabilities of the Sales System and a group of experienced salespeople in solving this problem.
Sales stages.
Almost every sale goes through 4 stages (Fig. 1).
Rice. 1. Four stages of selling.
Let’s take a not-so-simple, but well-known sales technique. For example, sales using the SPIN method. The four stages are:
- Beginning the Meeting: Establishing rapport early in the meeting.
- Research: finding out facts, information and needs. In sales using the SPIN method, this is a sequence of questions: Situational, Problem, Extracting and Directing.
- Demonstrating capabilities: Shows that the company has something worthwhile to offer.
- Obtaining a commitment: obtaining consent for the next meeting (or transaction).
A comment. The SPIN sales model was developed from a large-scale study of 35,000 sales meetings conducted by Huthwaite. The study sought to answer the question: “Are there specific skills that bring success in large B2B sales? Or is selling just selling and the fundamental skills for big sales are no different from those for small ones?” It turned out that the skills are different. These skills formed the basis of sales using the SPIN method (this is an almost verbatim quote from Neil Rackham’s book “Sales using the SPIN method”).
The difference between a big sale and a small one is that small sales are more emotional sales, short-term and of very small volume. For example, selling some inexpensive items. I liked something, bought it - and that’s it. Big sales have a number of stages, each of which is important. The decision to purchase is not made emotionally and quickly, since the budgets for such sales are significant and deals, as a rule, are not concluded just like that, without a balanced decision.
So, the stages of sale:
1. Start of the meeting: establishing contact at the initial stage of the meeting.
In theory, everything is simple: you came, met, established contact, talked, asked a number of questions, found out the needs and, satisfied with the meeting, left to prepare a proposal.
In life: “Who are you? What do you want to offer me? Why should I date you?” Dot. Paragraph.
You still need to get through by phone, arrange a meeting, explain the purpose and necessity of the meeting, etc. And even after that, at the meeting you can no longer hear, but see in the client’s eyes all the same questions.
Let us consider the subsequent stages using the example of sales using the SPIN method.
2. Research: finding out facts, information and needs.
In sales using the SPIN method, this is a sequence of questions:
S (Situation) - Situational (revealing the current situation).
P (Problem) - Problematic (revealing hidden needs).
I (Implication) - Extractive (developing hidden needs).
N (Need-Payoff) - Guiders (forming explicit needs and benefits that lead to payment for an explicit need).
The essence of the SPIN methodology is that any client has hidden and explicit needs. Psychologically, when answering the seller’s questions, the client, as a rule, voices hidden needs. But not obvious ones. Either it’s easier this way, or the client himself may not understand what his obvious need is. This is fine.
Therefore, the first group of questions identifies hidden needs, and the second group identifies explicit needs.
Thus, the salesperson first asks situational questions in order to find out the existing situation of the client. You shouldn’t ask a lot of situational questions - that’s the lot of less experienced sellers.
This is followed by elicitation questions that are aimed at identifying the consequences of previously voiced problems, difficulties and dissatisfaction of the client, as well as the hidden meaning of these problems. These questions are very important. It is with the help of extractive questions that hidden needs develop.
Finally, there are guiding questions that identify the client's explicit needs. The “scale” on which the “importance of the problem” should significantly outweigh the “scale” on which the “cost of the solution” should weigh.
Next we talk about the benefits of the proposed solution. Benefit shows how a product or service satisfies a clear need expressed by the customer. This means identifying explicit needs as deeply as possible. And if the client says that this is what he needs, then it's probably not that hard to provide it to him.
3. Demonstrate capabilities: Shows that the seller has something worthwhile to offer.
Only after conducting research (extractive and guiding questions) does the client's clear need become clear, and then the demonstration of capabilities should show benefits. Namely: how the proposed solution satisfies a clear need. In the best case, there will be almost no objections, since for the client it will be exactly what he needs.
4. Obtaining Commitment: Obtaining consent for the next stage of the meeting.
Let's say that at the meeting there was interest in Solution 1. The seller offered to make a presentation - showing the solution. The presentation was a success. There was no further dialogue, since the client simply did not need Solution 1. He needed another solution, but the seller did not figure it out, because there was not even a reason for this. And this happens often. Further interaction ceased. There are many examples, and they can be completely different.
It must be admitted that the SPIN sales methodology is quite complex. It is not so easy to master, and its application is not at all trivial, but it is effective.
Conclusion: going through the transaction stages in big sales is a lot of work! And in our example, it’s a new industry, there are no clients, and there is no clarity about the needs! There is nothing! Problem!
Author's Sales System
The sales system for design companies is shown in Figure 2 below. In the article “”, the system is described in sufficient detail.
The bottom line is that it consists of certain functional Responsibility Centers (levels, roles), each of which solves its own problems and performs its own functions. Also, the entire sales system is linked into a single business process, has a clear subordination of levels, input and output data.
It is worth adding that high-level sellers are heads of divisions of the Sales Department.
Rice. 2. Sales system for design companies.
A refined example (a frequently encountered task).
We need to increase sales by 20% and start working with a new industry. This means that the company has no established clients in this industry. The company has a wide product line and implements large and technically complex projects. The main sales are direct B2B sales.
So, there is an example problem and experienced salespeople using SPIN selling effectively and competing with each other. They are simply given a new task - and that’s it (as happens when there is no system).
Let's compare: a group of experienced sellers vs. Sales system.
Comparison: group of experienced salespeople vs. Sales system.
A group of sellers will solve this problem 100% spontaneously, since there are no other mechanisms. In this case, the power of each seller is 1, since each is a loner. And the complexity of the transaction cycle in the “Stages of Sales” section is described, I hope, quite clearly.
Some list of problems for comparison. Under the next question below is the reaction (solution) of the Sales System.
1. Which industry should you work with?
a. This decision is definitely not at the level of the seller! This is the function of the commercial director and his level of competence. He must decide.
2. What are the needs of the industry? It is clear that the industry consumes almost everything, but what is the industry consuming the most now? What exactly to offer? What to go in first? What, every salesperson goes to the marketing department to negotiate a little industry research? It won't work!
a. At this stage there are many more questions, since there is no clarity at all.
b. This is the level of a high-level salesperson (department manager). He must identify the needs of the industry together with the marketing service, and also organize work to identify needs among his employees - distribute tasks. He has employees (sales people, telesales, assistants). He must include everyone!
c. Also, the HR service will be tasked with finding 2-3 specialized sellers to work in the new industry.
3. Who should I call? Who not to call? Who to meet? Who doesn't make sense to date?
I'll make the situation a little worse. We started to work not systematically. It soon became clear that three sellers went to one client at once. Then it turned out that each of them offered the client different solutions from different subcontractors, because the company does not have these solutions, etc., etc. Does it happen? Quite!
a. This is the level of a high-level salesperson (department manager). He must organize the preparation of a list of target clients with the help of his employees, coordinate this with the commercial director or do it together with him.
4. What to find out? It is clear that none of the clients will be able to withstand 30 situational questions, especially if they are not prepared, and they will yield little.
5. What problematic, as well as potentially extractive and guiding questions to ask?
a. This is the level of sellers and managers. It is their joint work to decide how to act as a whole. Details are already in progress.
6. One seller conducts the first meetings better, the second is much worse, but he is technically stronger. That is, alone, neither one nor the other will be able to penetrate deeply enough into the client (before the pre-sale).
a. This is the level of a high-level seller (department manager) - to place the right people. Including by customer lists, to divide territories, etc.
Let's get back to working in the Sales System. Next, the sellers will formulate tasks for the telesale, who will begin calling. By the way, this stage at the beginning of sales in a new segment is always the longest and it is the telesale that will shorten it as much as possible. Telesale will formulate for assistants which clients and what information they need to call. All! The system started working! Then, through joint efforts, everyone, according to their role, will be able to manage changes and adjust the work.
Would a group of disparate salespeople take on such a challenge? He'll probably pick it up. Question: “When and how?” The answer will probably be: “It will take a lot of time, and the effect is unlikely to be noticeable (but maybe you’ll be lucky, this also happens).”
Conclusion.
So, where and how to get new clients? Build sales systems aimed at covering the market and finding new clients, and you will definitely have them! The author is confident that a group of disparate sellers is completely unable to complete work of such volume and achieve significant results. It just doesn't happen that way!
Of course, building a working Sales System is much more difficult than inviting another salesperson to work and setting him a sales plan. But the returns are completely different. Especially in conditions when the main task is to find new clients.
“It makes no sense to continue doing the same thing and expect different results.”
Albert Einstein