Tips for Fine Tuning Your B2B Strategy – Issue #3

Leaders avoid status quo thinking. They continuously apply ideas for elevating a feature of their business to the next level. This issue offers new ideas for you to consider in nine “smart tactic” categories.

1. Always Be Looking for Ways to Improve the Customer Experience [CX]

Create a favorable first impression by teaching new customers how to get the most from your business relationship. A thank you letter from a company officer provides contact information along with a private website link to the launch meeting agenda, future status meetings and information related to important processes such as order placement, invoices and how to request warranty and maintenance services.

2. Continuously Innovate

Develop an inventory of business processes that impact customers. Grade each process on its degree of excellence. Improve each process and automate where it makes sense in a prioritized fashion.

3. Apply Intuitive Sales Competencies

Complex B2B purchase decisions involve multiple buying influences and a formal process. Strengthen relationships when you’re not doing work for key accounts. Understand their organizational and personal needs and wants. Add this information to your CRM database and use it to always have a “next step” in your account development process. You’ll be rewarded for this diligence.

4. Account-Based Marketing Drives Repeat Business, New Apps and Referrals

Invite a SME as guest facilitator for theme-based forums. Customers will learn from each other by sharing their approach for solving a problem and the results that they enjoyed.

5. Indirect Marketing Will Optimize Lead Generation

Buyers are more open to ideas they receive from their influencers than what you say to them. Build rapport with influencers in each target market. Optimize ROI by investing 80% of your indirect marketing energy on influencers and 20% on innovators and early adopters.

6. Complementary Vendors Contribute to the Total Solution and Provide Referrals

Coach complementary vendors and channel partners to deliver an excellent customer experience when they offer your products and services. They will be loyal to you when it comes time to influence a buyer.

7. A Strong Business Acumen Sets You Apart From Competitors

Conduct sales interviews to understand a buyer’s situation, the challenges they need to overcome and the results they want to achieve. Then, apply StorySelling, a very powerful technique that helps buyers to envision receiving similar benefits that you refer to in a success story that connects your solution with their situation.

8. Predict Success

When employees and partners consistently contribute valuable information and also take the time to advise you about what competitors are doing, you’ll be confident that they are vested in your business.

9. Improve Success

After each important engagement schedule a Quality Review that compares your proposal with the actual result. You will also gain valuable customer insight into your competencies, competitive advantages, logical next steps and gaps that need to be filled so that you can do better next time.

Would you mind sharing ideas that have worked for your business?

Earlier Issues Issue #1 Issue #2