When it comes to B2B sales, many things that can go wrong. From disorganization to poor leadership, plenty of mistakes can stand in the way of success. And while some missteps are obvious, others are more difficult to detect.
Read on for a list of the most common pitfalls in B2B sales.
1. Inadequate training.
Sales training is indisputably expensive. But the businesses that prioritize training see an increase in revenue up to 106%. Even if you aren’t in the position to invest a lot of money in training, you can still communicate regularly with your sales team. And you can encourage your managers to share best practices with trainees. Most businesses offer some form of training to new employees. But it’s important to remember that even your experienced employees will benefit from the occasional check-in. When you evaluate your sales process, make sure you share your findings with your sales staff. It’s crucial that everyone on your team is on the same page.
2. Neglecting sales.
Sales reps have a lot on their plate. As a result, it’s not uncommon for them to spend up to two-thirds of their time on non-selling activities. That’s a crazy amount of time spent performing tasks that aren’t directly related to sales. Consider what tasks are eating away at your time and automate them.
3. Targeting the wrong people.
Despite your best efforts, there are some deals that will never close. You should be targeting the accounts that are most likely to become customers. Otherwise, your efforts will go to waste. Developing an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) will help you concentrate your efforts on the leads you have a good chance of converting.
4. Inability to contact prospects.
Imagine you’ve identified the perfect lead. Without accurate contact data, you have no way of contacting them. Even if you can find an email address or phone number for one of the employees, how do you know it’s the right employee to contact? With Visual Visitor, you won’t have to dig for contact information. Our B2B Prospect Database is equipped with over 600 million contacts. By typing a company name into our database, you can access a list of all their employees including their contact data. This in turn will allow you to choose which employee is the best person to contact. Visual Visitor can help you contact the right person at your prospective companies. Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting your time and blowing an opportunity to sell.
5. Relying too heavily on automation.
Sometimes technology and automation make tasks easier. Sometimes they make things more complicated. Evaluate your current sales process and determine which tasks are best done manually. Once you’ve established a system that works, invest in the technology that supports that system.
6. Failing to align departments.
Your marketing and sales teams should be aligned and working towards the same goals. Why? Companies with poor marketing and sales alignment see a 4% decline in revenue while companies with strong alignment see a 20% increase in revenue.
Hoping to boost your sales figures? Visual Visitor is a powerful Sales Intelligence platform which can help you identify and pursue leads. Our platform is equipped with:
- Buyer Intent Data. We can detect which businesses are in the market for your products or services.
- B2B Prospect Data. Our database has more than 600 million contacts.
- Website Visitor ID. We can tell you which businesses are browsing your site.
- Email Tracking. Our email tracking tool will tell you who’s opening your emails.
Interested? Sign up for a free demo today.