Last Updated on September 6, 2024
In B2B sales there is nothing worse than seeing a promising lead fizzle out into nothing. It can seem like you have wasted a lot of time on chasing something only to get nothing out of it but disappointment.
And let’s be honest, that really is the end result, isn’t it? You might learn a few things along the way, but the truth of the matter is, in B2B sales every interaction and customer is unique. You can do everything right and still end up with a promising lead fizzling out.
However, with the right strategy in place, you can greatly reduce the risk of this happening. But how do you do this? Well, there are actually a lot of ways you can go about improving your chances of turning a lead into a sale when it comes to targeting leads and B2B sales.
Don’t take the scattergun approach. Think carefully about which tactics you employ. You need to think carefully about how you approach a lead. You can’t throw everything at potential customers and see what sticks. You need to do your research and carefully analyse your target consumers to help you achieve success when it comes to B2B sales.
Below, I’ve outlined some tactics you can employ to help increase your odds of turning a B2B lead into a sale.
The Personal Approach
Any business serious about B2B sales should not be using pre-made templates to talk to potential customers.
Yes, typing out a unique message to any potential customer is going to mean more time, but if you want to make a sale you need to take the time to be more personable.
Rather than sending off a copy and paste email to market your services to other businesses, create a unique email that talks to each potential customer more personably. Target them with information that is actually relevant to them. Think about it like – how many times do you receive an undesired template email in your inbox at work?
And we all know that the vast majority of people will delete those emails before even reading half of it. If you want potential customers to actually take notice of your business, then you need to be personable and stand out. So, take the time to craft something of quality that actually gets the attention of the recipient. This will get your journey of turning a lead into a sale of on the right foot.
Sales and Marketing Teams Should Work in Tandem
Sales and marketing teams often have the same goals in a business but the way each aims to achieves its goals can be quite different. Which is why it’s important that your business’s marketing and sales teams work together closely.
Their goals should be shared, and they should work together in tandem to achieve them. This way you can ensure you are crafting quality marketing content that will appeal to potential customers and help you generate more leads. Focus on building a collaborative process between the two teams to ensure a more harmonious and efficient working relationship.
Adapt Your Approach When Necessary
Turning a lead into a sale will require an adaptive team. B2B sales are incredibly competitive so you need to ensure you adapt when necessary. Generic sales pitches and cold calling will get you nowhere fast, so you need to adapt your techniques across all levels. This follows on from what I said earlier about the importance of personalization.
Adapt your communication to prospective clients and adapt your sales techniques to capture your potential customer’s attention. Remember your potential clients are going to be very knowledgeable so be adaptive and be prepared to tailor your approach when necessary.
Remember Micro Conversions
With B2B sales your main focus should be on converting your leads into sales. However, it shouldn’t be your only goal. Micro conversions are very effective when it comes to B2B sales and they help you engage potential customers.
Micro conversions come in many forms. They could be as simple as getting a potential customer to follow you on social media or to subscribe to your newsletter. Basically, if you get a potential customer to interact with you in some way you are in a small way prepping them to actually do business with you.
Micro conversions are all about keeping your name relevant and engaging potential customers in some small way. You can do this by producing valuable content for them to see, like blog posts or videos. A small commitment today can turn into a brand-new lead tomorrow. So, don’t forget to keep building micro conversions whenever you can.
Produce Valuable Informative Content
I mentioned this briefly in the last point, but it is worth delving into a little more detail about why producing high-quality content is important when it comes to turning a lead into a sale. By producing high-quality content, you are dramatically increasing the reach of your business.
A potential customer might see a blog post on your website and be so impressed by what you have written that they decide they want to do business with you. Yes, that isn’t very likely, but it could happen. However, that’s not all producing high-quality content will do. It will also help you convince potential clients to take the next step as well.
If a business is thinking about opening up a dialogue with you one of the first things they will do is, do more research about you. They’ll do this by looking at what content you offer and the better it is the more likely they will be to want to work with you.
You can also use content to help build up trust and make yourself stand out from your competition as well. So, building an effective content strategy is essential when it comes to turning leads into sales. It might not seem like it makes much of a difference, but it does.
So, that is a look at 5 distinct ways you can improve your chances of turning a lead into a sale. B2B sales is often a long process and nobody wants that process to end in failure, do they? Some of these tactics can be used in tandem while others might be better used sparingly it all comes down to the lead you’re pursuing.
Not every lead will turn into a success story but when you approach things correctly and focus on delivering a high-quality service you can dramatically increase your odds of making a sale. So, ensure everyone is working towards the same goal, be personable and adaptive and always generate high-quality content.
