aleksi-halsas
July 28, 2024
In the competitive landscape of B2B sales, revenue is the cornerstone of success. From outbound and inbound selling to the pivotal role of sales development, each aspect plays a crucial role in driving revenue.
In this article, we delve into the top 10 techniques for increasing B2B sales. From traditional methods like cold calling and cold emailing to modern strategies like social selling, we explore how each technique can be harnessed to achieve revenue growth.
10 B2B Sales Techniques for Revenue Growth
Outbound Sales
Outbound selling is the proactive approach of reaching out to prospects who have not yet expressed interest in your product. This is typically done through outreach campaigns through various channels.
According to Ebsta data, outbound is the best-performing method for companies with fewer than 500 employees. If you have a small to medium-sized company, outbound selling could be great for increasing your revenue.
Inbound Sales
Inbound sales is a methodology that focuses on attracting potential customers through relevant content. The methodology involves understanding the buyer’s journey and providing the right information to guide them to a decision.
Moreover, 46% of sales professionals have stated that inbound selling has yielded higher ROIs than outbound. However, organic inbound selling is best performed when your company has 500+ employees.
Sales Development
Sales development is the process of qualifying leads and setting up meetings for the sales team. This is one of the first systems you need to implement before starting your prospecting efforts.
A good sales development process allows you to streamline your sales pipeline. It can also help you find high-quality prospects. According to data from Gartner, businesses that had an optimized sales development system had a 40% conversion rate for their leads.
Social Selling
Social selling is one of the major pillars of lead-generation activities that yield high-converting results. Data shows that 78% of sales reps outsell peers who don’t use social selling in their prospecting.
Social selling for B2B companies usually involves using LinkedIn and other social media platforms to build relationships with prospects.
Here’s the breakdown of how frequently B2B marketers use various social media platforms. This was based on the 2022 B2B Content Marketing Report by the Content Marketing Institute.
These are the rankings of each social media platform. LinkedIn is still the predominant platform for B2B outreach. The report also showed how the platforms performed after outreach activities.
It’s no surprise that LinkedIn is still the best in terms of results. The platform is dedicated to professionals of various industries and it’s used to connect and build networks. According to data, LinkedIn has over 1 billion users.
Cold Emailing
Cold emailing is the bread and butter of lead generation in B2B sales. The goal is to introduce your product, generate interest, or secure a meeting.
Furthermore, cold emailing can generate an ROI of up to 4,400% more than any other channel. It’s also a preferred outreach method, a LinkedIn study shows that 64% of its respondents prefer cold emailing over cold calling.
To get into the nitty gritty of data, here’s the Sales Email Benchmark Report made by Regie.ai about the anatomy of a cold email:
7-word subject lines had the best open rates at around 30.7 percent.
There’s a 1.8% reply rate for emails around 144 words.
Across 3,438 campaigns, the 8th step was found to have the best open rate.
Cold Calling
Cold calling is the other half of the cold outreach activities which aim to call prospects to discuss your products. Typically, sales reps will use a script as a guide when conversing with other people.
According to LinkedIn data, the average conversion rate for cold calling is about 2 percent. This could be considered low in comparison to cold emailing. However, cold calling is best for reaching out to decision-makers and high-level executives where their decision is a factor in making a purchase.
Moreover, 57% of C-level buyers prefer to be reached out via phone call. Another research shows that around 75% of executives are willing to make an appointment or meeting based on a cold call alone.
Sales Process
Having a well-defined sales process allows you to quickly identify the different steps you need to close a sale. It provides a structure that sales reps can follow.
If you don’t have a well-defined sales process, you could lose 67% of your sales. This is also caused by sales reps not properly qualifying potential customers.
Here’s a sample of what a sales process looks like:
Sales and Marketing Alignment
Sales and marketing alignment refers to the close coordination and integration between a company’s sales and marketing teams. This collaboration between these two departments is essential to enable both teams to operate more effectively.
According to the LinkedIn State of Sales Report 2022: United States & Canada Edition, 70% of the highest-performing sellers work closely with marketing. Moreover, when sales and marketing teams work together, they can streamline the sales process.
Account-Based Marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach that focuses on identifying high-value accounts and creating marketing campaigns to engage with key decision-makers.
You can improve your targeting by using this approach.
Furthermore, this is best for smaller-sized B2B companies because you can directly market to decision-makers. According to 2022 data, ABM marketing is a new-gen approach that drives a 208% growth rate in the B2B market.
B2B Software Tools
B2B software tools are a range of platforms and applications that streamline the daily activities of sales teams. These tools come in various forms and serve different functions.
Some types of B2B tools are:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: CRMs help businesses manage their interactions with current and potential customers.
Sales Engagement Platforms: These platforms help sales teams automate and optimize their outreach efforts.
Lead Generation Tools: Lead generation tools help businesses find and attract potential customers.
Data and Analytics Tools: Data and analytics tools help businesses gather and analyze data to gain insights into customer behavior, market trends, and sales performance.
According to the LinkedIn State of Sales Report 2022: France Edition, 79% of salespeople have stated that they’ve used a digital sales tool at least once a week.
Moreover, here are some real-life examples of B2B tools that people use:
