5 B2B sales mistakes your businesses must avoid

The best way is to think about your sales conversations is in terms of identifying problems and suggesting solutions. Engage your prospective customers in a conversation about their business and their needs. To get ready, make sure you prepare for your meeting by researching your prospect’s company and preparing for your interview.

Ask big questions such as: What keeps you up at night? Where do you see your company within six months, one year or five years from now? How do you plan to take it there?

Mistake #2: Focusing on your product, not the prospect’s needs

You’ve spent months, even years developing and marketing your product. But the harsh reality is that prospects aren’t interested in what you have to sell. They’re interested in what your product or service can do for them.

Once you’ve discovered a need your customer wants to address, you can respond with your best solution to meet it. But instead of selling your product’s features, focus on the benefits it will bring to the prospect.

Keep your presentation short and simple. Prospects should be able to understand immediately what you can do for them and why they should do business with you.

Mistake #3: Rushing the client

While it’s always a good idea to ask your prospects for a next step and follow up after each meeting, you also need to give people enough time to consider your proposal. A pushy salesperson is always a turn off.

When it does come time to follow up, strive to understand your customer’s hesitations and be ready to respond to any objections they might have.  

Mistake #4: Being disorganized and inconsistent

Scheduling meetings with prospects without a structured sales approach will backfire. Successful salespeople are disciplined when it comes to generating leads and adding prospects to their list on a weekly basis.

Make sure your prospects are apt to buy your product and organize leads into categories: excellent, average or weak. Build a calendar for contacting potential customers based on their needs and the interest they expressed in your offering.

Mistake #5: Making promises you can’t keep

One of the biggest B2B sales mistakes salespeople make is to overpromise in order to get a deal. Creating expectations you can’t fulfill when time comes to deliver the product or service will frustrate your customers. That will keep them from coming back for repeat business and hurt your reputation in the market. 

Make it clear to your salespeople how far they can go when discussing your product with prospects.

By becoming a trusted advisor who asks questions and listens closely to what prospects have to say, you’re setting the stage for a lasting customer relationship. Not only have you helped them clarify a problem, you’ve offered a solution to fix it.