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B2B Sales & Marketing Basics: Starting the New Year Right

I’ve written about how B2B companies rely too much on digital marketing to identify, qualify, and close opportunities. 

In business-to-business (B2B) markets, an inbound strategy is a lead generator and a brand builder. It generates leads but is not merely a question of putting things on autopilot.

Invariably, your sales team must maximize its customer face-time to close sales. So, to help you hit the ground running in the New Year, here are some strategies to get your marketing and sales back to basics.

B2B Sales: Customer Price vs Cost to Purchase – Exposing Your Competition's Hidden Costs Within their Offers

As a B2B salesperson, how do you go about explaining to your customer that their cost to purchase is actually higher with your competitor, despite your competitor’s lower price? Answering this question comes down to doing a comparison of your customer’s price versus your customer’s cost to purchase. These are two entirely different things and helping your customer understand this important difference can help you win business.

Five Ways Your Competitor’s B2B Sales Team is Kicking Yours to the Curb

I have done multiple projects with companies who are thoroughly convinced their B2B sales team lacked the “killer instinct” to close sales. I've heard all kinds of ridiculous statements such as “we need closers”, or “we’re not fast enough”.

Over and over again, I've listened to business owners and management directly point the finger at their salespeople. Well, here are five reasons why it’s not your sales team – it’s you the business owner, your management team and your company’s outdated and antiquated approach to selling in B2B markets.

Business Development Rule: Don’t Think Globally Until You Dominate Locally

Don’t misinterpret the above title. The intention isn’t to imply that focusing on international markets isn’t important. Instead, it’s to say that a company shouldn't pursue overseas markets to the detriment of its local market.

Ultimately, it's less about how to pursue overseas customers and more about when to pursue those customers. Do you do that now, when so many opportunities remain in your own backyard, or should you just plow ahead and hope for the best?

Five Costs of Low Inventory: How Being Too Lean Can Cost You

Most companies assume that lowering inventory levels is a good thing. These companies believe that reducing how much they hold within their warehouse will ultimately help them to lower costs. Unfortunately, it simply isn’t true. These companies fail to recognize that there are two main categories of inventory costs: There are costs that come from holding too much inventory and there are costs that come from not having enough inventory. Here are five reasons why low inventory counts are rarely, if ever, a good thing. 

Why B2B Bartering is Alive and Well in Today’s Marketplace

Bartering isn’t something only relegated to history. Companies today still trade goods and services in lieu of payment. Unfortunately, we’ve been programmed to associate money as the mechanism that makes this exchange possible. However, money doesn’t need to be exchanged in order for a bartering transaction to occur. So, why do companies still rely upon swapping goods and services in today’s marketplace?

Five B2B Customer Management Strategies That Increase Profit & Grow Business

The best salespeople not only close the first order, but they continually grow the customer’s account until they become the primary vendor of choice: That position gives them the right of last refusal on quotations. The goal is to become the customer’s most trusted adviser, the one salesperson the customer always turns to for guidance and support. So, here are five critical B2B customer management strategies that increase profit, help you become that all-important incumbent supplier and position your company for the long-term.

10 Simple Solutions for Selling to Uncreditworthy Customers

Nothing is worse for a salesperson than to have an opportunity to close a sale and not be able to simply because the customer doesn’t qualify for credit. However, selling to uncreditworthy customers need not be a painful process.

There are some simple solutions that can help you get that new relationship off on the right foot. It’s merely a question of matching up the solution to the new customer you’re pursuing. Don't let your customer's credit problems stop you from winning business.

Top 5 Pareto Principle Applications in Business: A Simple Rule That Affects So Much of What You Do

The Pareto principle is one of those universal rules of business that has far-reaching implications for today's enterprises. It can help companies mitigate risk by allowing them to identify potentially dangerous outcomes of existing strategies. The focus is simple: Be proactive instead of reactive. The rule originated in 1906 from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who found that 80 percent of land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of its population. How does this apply to businesses?

 

Invoice Factoring Isn’t a Loan and Won’t Affect Balance Sheet

Can invoice factoring be the solution to the credit crunch companies are facing today? It might just be! After all, factoring isn’t a loan and won’t appear as a liability on the company’s balance sheet. This makes it a clean transaction and one of the reasons why many businesses have come to rely upon to manage their daily expenses. With the economy mired in a long recession and customers taking longer to pay invoices, every company is left struggling to find a solution.

Unfortunately, as the situation has deteriorated, banks have been less than accommodating by raising interest rates and imposing tighter lending restrictions. It’s a vicious circle where late payments mean tighter credit. Therefore, if invoice factoring is indeed the solution, what must companies do to make sure they use it properly?