Scale your business in 2020 with a proven startup sales strategy. Learn about the top strategies B2B startups are using today.
Particularly in the early stages of a B2B startup, sales can be like rocket fuel. But these sales can be the toughest ones to make because you’re still developing and refining your sales process.
To streamline your efforts, consider borrowing the top startup sales strategies that entrepreneurs use. You can apply these strategies to your processes — and help your sales rocket take off.
Key Takeaways:
- For startups, early-stage founders are often the ones securing early sales.
- The B2B sales cycle can take months, so use a well-designed startup sales strategy to maximize your efforts.
- Ultimately, you won’t use just one sales technique, but a combination of the most effective strategies.
How Long is the B2B Sales Cycle?
As a B2B startup, your approach to sales will differ from the sales process for established businesses. When devising your startup sales strategy:
- Research your potential buyer before making the initial contact.
- Educate your target market so they understand how your product or service will benefit them.
Because so much learning and nurturing happens throughout the sales process, the B2B sales cycle can be long. Survey data collected by business software provider Databox shows it normally takes a least a month to close a deal; more than 30% of deals take between one and three months.
During the sales cycle, never lose sight of the fact that customers “don’t care at all whether you close the deal or not. They care about improving their business. It’s easy to forget this in the heat of a sales cycle,” revenue guru and author Aaron Ross says.
B2B Startup Sales Strategies That Work
You know your product or service will solve a problem for your market. You’ve validated product-market fit with your early adopters. Now, it’s time to ramp up your sales with proven B2B sales strategies for startups.
Here are five strategies you can start embracing right now.
1. Target a Niche Market
One of the easiest mistakes to make when you’re in the early stage of your sales process is targeting a broad market.
The problem with this approach: You might spend lots of time on cold outreach and not make a single sale. Also, you risk wasting months trying to nurture leads that might be lukewarm, at best.
For startups, building early momentum is important. One way to build that momentum: Zero in on a niche market.
“The more specialized your business is, the fewer competitors you’ll have offering the exact same products or services,” according to SproutSocial, which offers social media management. “A niche reinforces your unique selling proposition, allowing your brand to differentiate itself in the marketplace.”
As you pursue your niche strategy, start by looking at your market data and your buyer personas. Which groups within your target market are most likely to convert?
Maybe your niche will be buyers in a specific geographic region, buyers with a certain set of pain points, or buyers in an industry like health care or insurance. Get as granular as you need to. Then focus on selling to the people who are most likely to need your product or service right now.
2. Offer a Solution, Not Another Tool
B2B customers don’t want to buy more stuff that merely clutters their workflows. Instead, they want to spend money on solutions that’ll unravel problems, improve efficiency, and simplify workflows.
When pitching your product or service, begin with a clear explanation of how your solution can help a prospect.
Whether the solution will save money or ease their ability to reach business goals, your sales strategy should focus on what’s in it for them. Let them know that you understand their problem and that you’re here to help.
You can talk about promotions, packages, features, and other details later. For now, the focus should be on them.
Solution selling creates a tailored approach to offering a B2B product or service.
“Many times, sales reps try to fit the prospect to the product instead of the other way around,” says HubSpot. “With solution selling, it’s all about understanding the prospect’s needs and understanding which features within your products or services will benefit them most. In turn, customers don’t feel like they’re just being sold features but instead are getting answers to their bigger-scale business issues.”
3. Take Advantage of Personalized Messaging
Learn as much as you can about your sales contacts. Dig deep into their organization. Make a point to know about their operations, organizational culture, and business goals.
This knowledge can help you personalize emails, phone scripts, and other messaging. You’ll know which tone to use, which communication channels your prospect prefers, and how to position your messaging to best suit your contact and their organization.
The more personalized your message, the more likely you are to gain a response — and the more fruitful your conversations will be when you present your solution to them.
LinkedIn points out that “having a personalized message immediately reduces the barriers to building strong relationships.”
4. Adopt a Team Approach
Work together as a team to tackle sales. At a newly established startup, this might mean collaboration among two or more founders.
Once you’ve qualified a contact, focus as a team on giving your prospect plenty of attention. Whether you’re conducting sales calls or virtual meetings, delivering presentations, or developing proposals, make it a team effort.
According to Sandler Training, almost 45% of salespeople say this “hunting in packs” approach results in effective communications across the sales team. Sales collaboration can also lead to better presentations and conversations, as more than one team member can bring their own ideas and skills to the table.
5. Listen to Prospective Buyers
When selling, it’s your job to convey a lot of information. So, naturally, you’re going to do a lot of the talking.
But more importantly, you should be listening. If you want to build strong customer relationships, you need to know what issues your customers are dealing with. That’s why you must listen to them and find out answers to questions like:
- What are their goals?
- What are their pain points?
- What have they tried before to achieve goals and get rid of pain points?
When you make listening part of your sales strategy, you’re letting your prospect know that you really care about solving their problems. You’re also armed with information that can improve your solution and your sales process.
Don’t just sell. Ask questions. Pay attention to cues from what they say and how they say it. Prioritizing getting to know your customer, and you’ll be able to keep elevating your startup sales strategy. In turn, this can accelerate growth.
“By practicing active listening techniques such as maintaining eye contact, avoiding interruptions, asking clarifying questions, and paraphrasing key points, you not only gather more insightful information but also build rapport and trust with your prospects,” says The Brooks Group, a provider of sales training and sales leadership programs.
The Bottom Line
These five startup sales strategies can help you scale. But you might decide to cherry-pick which ones to use, rather than tossing all five strategy eggs into one basket. It’s best to combine the strategies that fit your business and your market. Then, of course, you must keep tweaking your process to constantly be improving your strategies.