A sales handbook to closing more B2B deals.
strategy
/ˈstratɪdʒi/ | noun
a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.
There is a reason industry veterans recommend that you have a well defined (and written) strategy before committing to an idea, a partner, an initiative or anything else that leads to a desired result in a certain time frame.
Do you walk into an investor presentation without a well thought through deck? Then why go about something as important at sales and closing deals, without a defined direction or a thought through strategy.
Multiple sources via a simple google search will ask you to “use this subject line” or “call at a certain time” to achieve more closures - but unfortunately, these tips or tricks aren’t actual strategies.
You need a sales handbook - that you then A-B test and customise for your startup or business, to achieve growth and ultimately lead to more closures.
LET’S GET STARTED
Astonishingly, close to 40% founders regarded getting more closures as the biggest challenge at their companies - even when most of them agreed that it was their top priority during the survey. (CSO Insights Report).
So then how can you go about improving close rates? We recommend the following:
Set objectives
Get qualified leads - frequently and predictably
Create a pitch that sells
Automate where you can
Communicate better - and proactively
Track, analyze and adjust
Set objectives
Before you start with the handbook, lay down objectives or end goals that you will be tracking to. When you look back at these objectives/goals, you will know if you and your team have been effective and successful.
It all comes down to determining what can you achieve realistically based on the size of the market, your company goals, and the resources available to you. In general, follow the SMART principle to define your objectives:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
A quick callout - define these objectives for each individual involved in the process - your sales team, a partner you are working with or yourself. And for each individual, take into account the difference among each of them before defining their objective. For example, if someone closes more deals in your team but doesn’t do a lot of prospecting, give them the objective for improving that.
Get qualified leads - frequently and predictably
The first challenge in closing more is not having enough qualified leads, to begin with. As a result, most of your, or your sales reps time is wasted on searching for leads, data entry, etc. instead of closing more deals for you.
You can read a lot more on how to go about lead generation here. Just know that no matter how good a product or a sales team you have, if you don’t have a good lead generation strategy, you are not going to achieve business growth.
Create a pitch that sells
A sales pitch can greatly improve your closure rates by preparing you with the best lines to say and strategies to handle objections. Start by creating a sales script that works for every type of prospect. Then make it more effective by adapting your questions and points to specific prospect personas.
Remember that customers buy benefits, not features or services. Don’t talk a lot about yourself, or your company. Instead, focus more on:
The customer’s pain points
Your value proposition
Timeline for the value you will delivery
Competitive strength etc.
In the end, always remember, never walk away from a pitch empty-handed. Walk away with the close, or a learning to improve your pitch.
Automate - where you can
Your goal here should be to make the entire sales process a pleasant experience for your sales rep and for the prospect.
By providing the right tools and automation, you can facilitate more closures by letting your sales team focus on their objectives (that you defined above) and in-turn helping them elevate the prospect’s experience while interacting with your company.
Things like automated sequences, real-time open/read/click notifications, automated data updating, etc. go a long way in achieving your goals and should be a no-brainer.
Communicate better - and proactively
For B2B companies, identify where your customers prefer to communicate. A great buying experience for your prospect is the fastest way to close more deals.
We have worked with customers where everything starting from the first follow-up, through to the closure has happened on iMessage.
Some prospects prefer to be contacted on non-commercial and off-beat channels. Do that research, and learn/tune your process to align with your customer’s preferences.
Track, analyze and adjust
And the last thing to do is to feed the process back! Just because you have thought through and implemented this handbook, doesn’t mean you get to sit back and watch the deals flow in.
Listen to demo/call recordings, review emails sent, analyze results from your A-B tests, understand what is working and what is not.
Remember, your plan is a living, breathing document and just like your product or service, needs to account for and adapt to new features and technologies, market trends, campaign results, or even new sales reps that you hire.
Review progress regularly (at least monthly) on your sales plan, analyze the data that you have collected, solve issues, re-align your efforts based on real-world feedback and evolve your sales plan as needed.
AND IF YOU NEED A HAND ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, OR WANT TO TRANSITION FROM WHERE YOU ARE TODAY TO A PREDICTABLE, REPEATABLE SALES FIRST ORG, WE ARE ALWAYS A PING AWAY.
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