7 B2B sales trends in 2021 you should know
B2B sales techniques are changing. To stay up-to-date and to know how to sell effectively one needs to understand these tendencies. Now we’ll consider 7 new and the most relevant B2B sales trends in 2021.
Relevant sales trends in 2021
1 – B2B to learn from B2C
We used to think that B2B and B2C sales technologies are very different, and we shouldn’t combine them. Yes, we need to clearly understand the difference between these technologies, but sometimes B2C sales technologies are very relevant for B2B.
Trust to the company-seller is the reason why the company-buyer decides to buy the product. To achieve trust we should impact on the emotions of people who make the decision about the purchase. Good advertising, name, design, the quality of content, the quality of website, – now all these things are more important than earlier. Furthermore, the world’s largest companies, such as Microsoft or IBM, are hiring sales and marketing experts from B2C sectors.
B2B can learn from B2C how to construct the emotional connection with the customer.
2 – Human & digital interactions
It’s necessary to understand in which situations personal interaction is more relevant and productive, and when you should prefer digital interaction.
According to the research of Finances Online and McKinsey, 76% of companies-buyers prefer to speak to salespeople when they’re going to purchase a completely new product. 52% of companies-buyers need to speak to salespeople when they buy something they have bought previously, but now they’re facing a set of specifications. 15% of buyers prefer to communicate personally when they’re buying the same service or product. And only 4% of buyers want to communicate only digitally.
The combination of personal and digital communication technologies is the best decision for effective sales.
3 – Social selling
B2B sales in social media is a new approach to selling that builds relationships with targeted prospects through social networks. It helps to achieve trust, to make the loyal client’s experience more individual and to personalize every interaction. Use social networks to give these benefits.
4 – A salesperson is a trusted expert
Aggressive door-to-door sales techniques are in the past. Many clients feel inconveniently when salespeople impose their production and behave obtrusively.
A salesperson is the expert in his/her specification, who can explain all the details of the production and advise the best choice for any loyal client. It’s the specialist who is able to rationally argue why a loyal client should buy the production, why this production is useful for improving the income, and persuade that benefits prevail over the risks.
5 – Self-service knowledge portals
Not all and not always your loyal clients want to interact with your salespeople personally. More than 70% of customers want to solve their issues themselves. As a rule, it helps them to save time. Maybe somebody is more introverted or just wants to understand something on his/her own.
A simple and easy-to-use self-service portal is a very useful thing which helps to show that you appreciate your clients and their time. Post FAQ, Q&A, different practical advices or how-to videos.
6 – CRM is really very helpful
CRM will help you to handle the sales conversations, their uniqueness and all the data about your sales. Furthermore, CRM helps to improve the sales techniques.
Many sales experts are sure that data is new gold. CRM helps to accumulate the data around your prospects to close more sales.
7 – Sales educational events are really necessary
Different sales events, training and workshops are really good investment in the development of the company. The majority of B2B salespeople receive very little or no sales training and miss the relevant basic sales skills, don’t know about new sales trends and anti trends and don’t follow the latest information. It’s proved that salespeople who receive continuous B2B sales training can show at least 50% better results than earlier.
