The world of B2B e-commerce is expanding exponentially! COVID-19 and its aftermath has changed online commerce in countless ways, with consumers flocking to e-commerce for essentials, and business shoppers accelerating their transition to e-commerce to continue business operations. That’s why we’re going to take a look at 10 B2B sales mistakes sellers make.
To accurately process the huge volume of data points on Amazon.com, B2B companies should use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and machine learning, said Rohan Thambrahalli, president of DimeTyd.
B2B e-commerce: unprecedented growth
The B2B e-commerce market has experienced a wave of unprecedented growth. A recent study by Insider Intelligence estimated that US B2B e-commerce sales will cross the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2022. When it comes to the world of B2B e-commerce, Amazon takes the lead as the online shopping leader. By 2023, RBC Capital Markets expects Amazon Business, the Amazon B2B marketplace, to take over the $67 trillion B2B industry and generate $52 billion in sales.
While Amazon serves as a conduit for billions in B2B e-commerce, countless inefficiencies lurk in e-commerce accounting processes. Amazon Marketplace is a layered mosaic of complex data flows, opaque vendor rules and agreements, and a labyrinth of shifting regulatory policies often invisible to Amazon vendors. This can easily lead to lost profits and damage to profits.
To maximize profits, B2B product companies are trying to solve the problem of unnoticed accounting errors, profit leakage and overbilling among thousands of complex transactions that are almost impossible to challenge manually. In fact, the time it takes to track down and fix Amazon accounting errors can take years. Even the largest vendors are unlikely to have the capacity to manually process the equivalent of millions of data points on the Amazon platform.
10 B2B sales mistakes Amazon sellers make
B2B mistake #1: focusing on sales and forgetting relationship building
B2B selling is about building relationships. Most salespeople focus on direct push sales without realizing that repeat and satisfied customers are what they should be focusing on.
Push selling comes from a lack of preparation and a desire to do proper research.
How to fix this problem?
Instead of looking at B2B sales as quick and easy, approach them as a lengthy process to warm up leads. One way to do this is to use the sales rhythm. As you develop relationships and different points of contact, you are more likely to get a yes. But this is easier said than done.
- Reach out to the right people
Always focus on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and find the market segment that matches your product. The more relevant your approach, the better the results.
- Invest time in detailed analyzes
Analyzes are needed at every stage of the sales cycle. Before approaching prospects or leads, make sure you do proper research on their pain points, goals, and preferences.
- Ask more questions
Many salespeople are afraid to ask big questions, thinking they might scare away leads. On the contrary, you can make a stronger impression by combining courage with sincerity. Ask questions about what the lead is currently struggling with, what solutions he is looking for, whether he has a budget, how many people are involved in the decision-making process.
B2B sales mistake #2: dealing with too small customers
Often this happens – your monthly plan is conditionally $13, and clients come to you with a check for $20, $30, $50. It’s good if they buy right away, without long discussions and 1000 questions. But, unfortunately, it is these clients who like to “choke”, for example:
- ask 283 questions that big clients often don’t ask
- constantly make unnecessary amendments to the contract
- ask you for 5851 supporting documents about your business (up to the passport details of your great aunt)
Sometimes it takes longer to work with these clients than it takes to sell to a client with a $10 check.
How to fix this problem?
Define your ideal client criteria (based on previous successful transactions) and don’t work with clients that don’t meet them.
Let’s say you sell traffic tracking software. Analyze the last 10 transactions made in your company. If each of them suits you for the average check, analyze how much transport costs for each of your clients. Let’s say it’s an assortment of 100 to 700 cars.
This means that now you need to clearly filter and not communicate with companies with less than 100 machines.
But what about small potential customers? In this case, you can:
- come up with a simplified product with a lower price for small customers and allocate a separate sale for this product
(if there is no such product and is not planned) transfer the client to its indirect competitors. It is possible that such - partners in the future will give you customers just big customers full of partners.
- automate the process of issuing a price offer and signing a contract as much as possible, as well as answering all the questions “sorry, we are making changes to the contract only for a transaction for 100+ cars”.
B2B mistake #3: Rushing Leads
B2B sales require a lot more effort as they take time to build trust and relationships with potential customers.
Many sales reps tend to push potential customers into a deal, which leads to the opposite result of losing the deal.
How to fix this problem?
You must give people time to invest in your product or service. In this regard, respectful persistence works best. Write great follow-up emails, but don’t send them three times a week.
Instead, try to figure out why the potential client is hesitant to make a commitment, and if they are checking out the competition, in what areas can you get ahead of yourself. When you have answers, add more value to each subsequent email to convince them.
It could be a new market report, a demo showing a real use case, or just a free solution. This is a great example of what follow-up emails should look like:
By taking the time to nurture each potential customer, you will make a strong impression. Even if they don’t want to buy your item right now, you will be their focus when they want to buy it later.
B2B sales mistake #4: there are not enough qualified leads in your sales funnel
You can draw an analogy here – sales are like driving a car, and qualified leads are like gasoline. Gasoline needs to be topped up regularly to get to the right place.
When it comes to sales, the logic is simple – if you have the same $30 monthly sales target and you know that your estimated lead-to-deal conversion is 20%, you should have $80 leads in your funnel each month.
How to fix this problem?
It is important that potential clients must be qualified.
For this you need:
- Create ad
- Hold business meetings every week
- Call clients from webinars
- Communicate with clients with whom you once communicated at exhibitions, etc.
- Make cold calls
If you understand that at the current moment in the funnel a month ahead there is less than the required 5,000 rubles, just increase the time for searching for customers from 2 hours to 3-4 hours.
At some stage, you can hire dedicated employees who deal only with cold calls (in English terminology, this is Sales development reps or SDR) and put an experienced manager to work only with incoming leads.
B2B mistake #5: only highlight your product features
Nowadays, businesses don’t care too much about product features, but more about how a particular product can solve their key problems and challenges.
That is why it is important to turn our attention to them. Go the extra mile and learn about the main concerns of your potential customers, their competitors, and the industry as a whole.
For example, if you’re a professional cold email writer, you need to focus on results, not features. Find the connection between your business/product and their problem, and how they can help them gain a competitive edge in the industry with your help.
The best way to do this is to provide testimonials from real customers and numbers to back up your claims.
User-generated content is one of the best ways to build trust and credibility. If you can create emails that avoid the feature-benefit cycle, don’t overuse strong words, and show real difference, you’ll get more responses. This will greatly improve your bounce rate and set your sales strategy up for success.
Stay tuned for the rest of the 10 most common B2B sales mistakes!
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