What are the challenges of B2B sales?

When it comes to selling a product or service to a big company, there are many factors to consider, and the sellers need to be prepared to go through multiple processes before they can actually achieve their goal.

There are a couple of challenges that hamper the success of B2B sales. If you acknowledge and address them accordingly, closing business deals will become much easier. So what are these challenges? Keep reading to find out.

Resistance to changes

A contemporary business environment is very dynamic. If in the past, the companies would go through only one or two serious changes in a few years, right now, the changes happen on a constant basis. What is more, transformations are a lot more complex these days. They usually spread to adjacent areas, and it’s not enough to mitigate a problem in one place anymore because it will most certainly affect other places. Companies won’t buy anything from you if implementing your product or service into their operation might initiate changes at multiple levels. In this regard, understanding if this is the case or what are some other reasons why some particular organization is resistant to change must be a top priority of B2B sales.

Failure to focus on the right opportunity

Given that the industries are constantly changing, false opportunities pop up like mushrooms. A very common problem for many sales agents is the inability to tell which conversation is a potential opportunity and which is a waste of time. Oftentimes, sales reps get carried away talking to a friendly and knowledgeable prospect only to find out that he is not a decision maker. The conversation can be very informative, but it worth nothing if the final goal is not achieved. Hence, it is critical that agents are taught how to get through to the right people.

Search for more complicated solutions

Making a buying decision is much easier for an individual customer than for B2B buyer. The reason for this is that business buyers are constantly looking for more versatile solutions that would help them reduce operation costs, increase revenue, or ideally, do both. However, such solutions are also not simple. It requires time and expertise to explain the value and applicability of a completely new technical or technology-oriented product to the customer and persuade them that it fits their business strategy. Another challenge is that every single company wants to get the best price, but this stops being a problem once they acknowledge the value of your product to their business.

An abundance of decision makers

Another reason why individual customers make buying decisions faster is that they don’t have to reckon with others, whereas in business environment things are much more complicated. There are multiple stakeholders and each is involved in the process of deciding whether to buy or not to buy. What is more, these people usually come from different departments or even different companies, and each of them has their priorities to set and goals to achieve. As a result, the sales rep has to convince many people from numerous departments before one manages to close a sale, which leads to the next challenge typically faced by B2B agents.

Lengthy buying cycles

Naturally, an abundance of stakeholders makes a buying cycle much longer. Sales agents need to be really patient and convincing in order to carry out a meaningful conversation with every person at stake and persuade them of the value of their product without offering a discount at the same time. Such lengthy and time-consuming discussions are dangerous in a way that the agent might lose touch with the customer, which will inevitably affect the quality of pitch and hence the conversion. In such circumstances, it is quite difficult to proceed with sales without looking somewhat hard-nosed. That is why preparation is vital. Sales agents must research their prospects before making any calls so that they could leverage this knowledge during the conversation; otherwise, they risk losing an opportunity to get a good business deal. Likewise, agents shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a follow-up. The communication can last for years, activating and stopping, but the company will eventually get this deal signed. Alternatively, if the key stakeholders change, the agent might have to go back to the start.

All in all, B2B sales is not the easiest thing to accomplish, but if the company recognizes the challenges and works hard to overcome them, their business reaches a whole new level. It is also very important to have an efficient technological base, such as Voiptime inside sales software. It will enable your business to skyrocket sales by automating routine activities and letting your agents focus on closing deals.