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B2B sales are not being taken seriously… without it we can't reach our potential


Business-to-business (B2B) sales are vital for companies and Scotland – delivered correctly it can support growth, in revenue and customers, as well as Scotland’s GDP.

So it needs to be taken seriously. Particularly with the effects Brexit will have at the macro and micro levels.

Investor groups are finding it increasingly more difficult to recoup their investment from companies due to lack of focus from these companies on an exit strategy. Funds are tied up for longer leaving less available for new ventures.

The problem is B2B sales isn’t taken seriously – very few UK universities include sales in their course offering. The University of Aberdeen includes it in its Masters courses, as does University of Portsmouth. So most people fall into it without proper training, with the inevitable mixed results.

 

B2B sales is being pushed to the periphery in many industries because it’s being labelled as a cost rather than an investment. In its place has come a succession of marketing programmes, online offers, digital platforms, promotions etc designed to engage customers at what seems a fraction of the cost.

This engagement may work with some customers but not the majority of B2B customers. In my experience, B2B deals are most effective when done face-to-face. This comes down to one word – TRUST.

My experience of negotiating contracts for global blue-chip brands has seen a range of scenarios – from taking nine months to have a single set of truck tyres installed on a prospective customer’s vehicle to signing a $1m deal within the first five minutes!

When asked why the decision was quick or took so long, in almost all the cases the answer was the same – I TRUST you. Some trusted me straight away, others took time to gain enough confidence to engage with me. Trust can be very difficult to achieve but once won, it delivers a strong connection with your customer.

We’re trained in sales to build rapport with the client – develop an understanding to create the relationship that will lead to continued business success. This is absolutely crucial when developing new business opportunities, but how do we know which will succeed and which won’t?

The article Who Can You Trust? by Professor David DeSteno in the Harvard Business Review offers the following four points to keep in mind the next time you’re deciding whether or not to do business with a new partner.

1. Power Does Corrupt – so when deciding who to trust, you have to consider power differences.

2. Integrity Can Vary – trustworthiness depends on circumstances.

3. Confidence Often Masks Incompetence – too often we mistake people’s self-confidence for true ability.

4. It’s OK to Trust Your Gut – look for a set of cues – gestures that together can more accurately predict or reveal motivation. The good news is most of us do this instinctively.

Philosopher Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve has found we should look at three traits to assist in deciding who to trust – “A person should be competent, reliable and honest in order to have trustworthiness.”

Companies, not just in Scotland, tend to gloss over the relationship dynamic between themselves and their customer when working with their sales teams – being more focused on sales technique, needs analysis, product knowledge and closing and ‘we need to hit our numbers’. True, but maybe there’s a way to enhance the opportunities for success.

Listening is fundamental when working in B2B sales – we need to be communicating with our colleagues (internal customers) and our external customers.

Peter Waggott, of Vertical Motives, conducts a sales coaching workshop

What’s your role within your organisation? – The Internal Customer

When working with a new client I find this elicits great feedback which generates a conversation which takes us to areas not thought of, or considered not relevant. The main aim in asking this is to understand the communication structure within an organisation.

Communication is a key component to any successful business or organisation. If you cannot communicate your wishes in one sentence, then it’s not effective. When we do communicate are we listened to or just heard?

Understanding your role within your organisation will allow you to develop. Once you begin to develop, you’ll begin to communicate and to understand the role of colleagues.

Over a period of time you build up a knowledge of the organisation and what each person’s role is. This is invaluable if a customer has an issue or a change in working practice is being considered. As you know each person’s role, you can help smooth out any issues as you understand quickly where the issue might lie.

Similarly, a change to working practice may have consequences in other parts of the organisation. Understanding this, options can be offered to smooth a transition or make alterations to avoid conflict.

Working with each department to discuss its structure and to make each person aware of where they are within the organisation, is instrumental in building revenue and morale.

Imagine how much better Scotland could be if sorting out a problem with an organisation was in most cases, a relatively smooth process because everyone involved understood each other and their roles.

Why do customers buy from you? – The External Customer

Organisations have got into a habit of asking questions but, unfortunately, not listening to the answers. They tend to hear what they want to hear and the customer’s opinion is not fully taken on-board.

Asking questions is great, but we need to listen to the answer. If all we do is ask questions, then the feeling from customers is one of being interrogated rather than one of having a conversation or discussion.

This is something I come across on a regular basis – sales teams want to ask questions to illicit information which they feel will help them and their company. I work to switch their perspective – to try looking at it from the customers’ viewpoint. What is it they, the customers, are really saying?

Always when I’m with a customer, one question keeps me focused, “Why do they buy from me?” This allows me to structure my questions more accurately – as I’m listening to their answers and developing my next question based on their answer. I’m listening from my customer’s perspective, not mine.

By keeping things simple we can better understand our customer’s business.

Imagine how much better Scotland could perform if we all focused on understanding our customers!

Hearing is a courtesy, Listening is a compliment.

This simple takeaway, if implemented, would help Scottish organisations begin to understand their customer.

The Bamboo Principle – Growth

The idea for this came from recounting an experience where a successful organisation had fallen on difficult times. The topic of having a solid foundation came into the conversation. It moved on to bamboo and how it grows.

When bamboo is planted, it spends the first three to four years underground developing a root system while only just breaking the surface of the ground. This Rhizome System can grow between three to five feet each year, for the first four years or so.

Once the Rhizome System has been established, its above-ground growth is unmatched – it’s one of the fastest-growing plants in the world. This growth is sustained year-on-year, the rate of growth dependent on the surrounding environment.

We’re not the only ones benefitting from the Bamboo Principle

Not only does the Rhizome System support unprecedented, sustained growth, the bamboo itself is strong enough to be used in construction.

One of my focus areas when working with organisations is to support them to adopt their own Bamboo Principle. Organisations with aspirations to grow need to have the sales knowledge necessary to develop their own ‘Rhizome System’. This focuses on your internal and external customers.

Sales is all about communication, the sales person being the conduit between their company and the customer. Taking time to understand your customer’s processes and structure will lead to sustained growth.

Work on building patience within your organisation. With patience comes manageable growth. Scaled-up to the national level, imagine what a difference this could make to Scotland’s economy.

Sales and Marketing – traditional B2B sales processes are ineffective

There’s an inter-connectivity between sales and marketing. They’re equally important, but current practices are ineffective, so there needs to be some new thinking.

When discussing trust I said we need to build relationships. However ‘relationship sales people’ aren’t the most effective in B2B. Let me explain.

I’ve been fortunate to attend a number of sales masterclasses given by Neil Rackham. Neil pioneered consultative selling with his book SPIN Selling and founded Huthwaite International.

One of the topics covered was this relatively ‘new’ thinking called The Challenger Sale. The book written by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, looks at the B2B sales process and, most importantly, which sales person profile is the most effective and why.

Dixon and Adamson found the least effective B2B sales profile was the ‘Relationship Builder’! The most effective was the ‘Challenger’ profile.

Neil Rackham explained customers now want to learn and be challenged. They want to be asked “Could this be done differently?” and “Why is it done this way?” They want to know what’s happening globally, nationally, locally as it may affect them. So they want to be ready or they want to look at some new way of doing things.

If there’s a process in place where there is a consistent level of factual feedback from sales to marketing about customers, then marketing has a chance to develop a programme that fits with customer needs.

Taking it a step further, regular face-to-face communication between sales and marketing will build a more comprehensive picture of what the organisation’s customers want.

Sales and Marketing need to communicate and have an agreed strategy for each customer. They need to build trust. Without this, neither will be completely effective. If we can fix this across Scotland, imagine how much our GDP could grow through new routes to market, both at home and abroad.

Sales as a career

Sales is generally seen as the “the unruly child”, “the maverick” within most organisations – a perception we as sales people have done much to embed and little to change over the last 20 years.

Sales is a great career, yes a career, and if delivered correctly can support companies to grow.

Sales needs to be taken seriously as it’s a big part of any company’s strategy, with the caveat that it be delivered correctly.

Sales is not about selling a product – it’s about understanding how you can help your customer’s business.

Too often sales people fail to listen to customers

Good sales people have a growth mind-set, while mediocre sales people have a fixed mind-set. Growth mind-set includes the following:

• Sales is all about failure

• Sales involves trust

• No Experimenting = No Failures = No Trust

Too many times I’ve cringed when, as a customer, I’m being ‘sold to’ – lack of listening, too much self-interest, too focused on a single product, little time to talk as the sales person needs to get to the next customer. No wonder sales has a bad reputation – most of our sales experiences are mediocre at best.

This is why, I’m sure, businesses have labels such as business development manager, commercial manager, key accounts manager, as they don’t want to put ‘sales’ in the title.

Sales is not for everyone – there’s little or no training and support given. There’s also a lack of emphasis on how difficult it can be to sell. The popular misconception is that if you’re confident at talking you’ll be good at sales, it’s the exact opposite!

I regularly work with students at the University of Aberdeen Business School. The main focus of the first day is to put together their personal ‘elevator pitch’. This is a chance for them to begin to understand the question ‘Who am I?’

 

We explore many areas and topics – there are discussions, questions and reflection. However there is a reluctance to begin with. We lack confidence when we talk about ourselves.

This is something we all need to conquer, especially if we are to be looking for employment or to grow our business.

By the end of the session we have some wonderful, colourful images, all centred on their story – why do they do what they do.

Next we focus on beginning to understand customers, again the ‘Why’ question. The idea of this session is to get everyone thinking from the customer’s standpoint, not the sales person’s.

If as sales people we understand who our customer is and how their business operates, then we have a much better chance of addressing their needs.

These skills should not just be for good B2B sales people, we all need to be using them. If we know who we are, we become more aware of ourselves and our surroundings. If we learn to understand someone else’s perspective, then we begin to open our minds to other options.

This is why I firmly believe B2B sales skills are key in today’s business world.

Scotland has lots of companies with excellent products and services. If we can change our attitude to and practice of B2B sales, we can maximise potential for our companies and the nation. ■

Peter Waggott is the managing director of Vertical Motives , a consultancy that supports business grow and retain their customers.



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