In order to maximize your success in a B2B environment, you need to think like a sales ninja. You need to be smarter, more flexible and quicker than your B2B sales colleagues. Here are three things that every B2B sales ninja does differently:
1. They don’t just focus on technical specifications, they also focus on the business case for the product
If you’re tasked with selling incredibly sophisticated or complex products, your first impulse is probably to learn as much as you can about that product. And that starts with the product’s specifications – all the details and information that determine how well a product works. When the time comes to sell, the thinking goes, you’ll be armed to the teeth with all the key selling points of your product and understand precisely how it differs from those of your competitors.
There’s just one problem with that approach – you’re completely ignoring the real reason why any company buys an incredibly sophisticated (and expensive!) product — it’s to solve a real business problem. That’s why any B2B sales ninja spends way more time learning about the pain points of a client, and way less time learning about the product itself. In short, it’s all about “you” not about “me.” Once a sales ninja knows these “pain points” – it’s easy to sell a client because every single thing you say is based around the needs of your customer, and not about you and your product.
2. They use emotions rather than just cold, hard facts
There are many ways of selling a product. You could use product demos, case studies, or research studies to demonstrate why a client absolutely has to buy your product. And, yes, these methods can work. Rambling off complex data, detailed case studies, and names of impressive sounding research institutions is really just a way of using cold, hard facts as a way to sell your product. According to this line of thinking, the best facts win.
But what does a B2B sales ninja do? They realize that they are selling to a real, live person. And people, as we all know, are not always rational. They may say they love facts, but they always grab the “bright shiny toy.” They may say they love research and data, but they’ll always buy what looks and sounds sexy. That’s why B2B sales ninjas are so successful – they absolutely throw a client off-balance by appealing to the emotional rather than the rational part of the brain. Clients walk away with the feeling that they absolutely must buy a product, even if they can’t precisely say why.
3. They constantly test, tweak and fine-tune their selling methods
If there’s one thing that B2B sales ninjas are good at, it’s constantly refining their selling methods. They are always trying new things, testing, and trying out new approaches. That’s what makes them so good at selling – they realize that there’s not one tried-and-true system to master. That’s also what made the ancient Japanese ninjas so successful – the opponent never knew what to expect.
By mastering these three approaches, you’ll be on your way to becoming a B2B sales ninja. You’ll be quicker, faster and smarter than your competitors. And best of all — you’ll sell more while working less.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.