Secrets of Top Performing B2B Sales Reps

From IT to insurance to business process outsourcing — customers don’t need you (or me!!) the way they used to.

The reasons are explained in the FORBES article reviewed here in an earlier post.
Now from HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW an important update to this fast changing B2B  solution sales landscape.

Top-Performing Reps Change Sales Strategy

It tells why top-performing reps have abandoned the traditional solution selling playbook…and devised a “novel, even radical sales approach.”
Key to this new strategy is getting ahead of the RFP.
Do you see where I’m heading with this?

Building Relationships

Use that phone of yours to make introductory cold calls and build relationships with key prospects in the markets you want to reach.
Be politely persistent…but n-e-v-e-r pushy. Win their trust and confidence in what you can do for them by making routine follow-up calls.
Give your customers better service, greater value and more attention.[singlepic id=3 w=270 h=190 float=right]
Stay in front of these folks.
Send out follow-up letters and emails.
Same goes for follow-up calls. Deliver them on time…as promised. Used properly your phone is a fantastic B2B solution sales tool for delivering that “personal touch” to customers on the brink of switching to a competitor.
I can go on and on. But for now I refer you to the HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW article.
Winning B2B Solution Sales Strategy
It’s is all about building relationships. And that takes time.
The key is follow-up calls. They keep you in front of your prospects.
Work your follow-up calls into a methodical strategy that moves your prospects through your sales generation funnel…educating and informing them about what you can do for them.

The Competitive Time Clock Is Ticking

• Targeting your customers are the price driven bottom feeders. Because their markets have dried up these predators have reinvented themselves as experts in your field.

• Their B2B solution sales strategy for getting your customers is simple: Beat your price.

• But trading margins for volume —- unless checked —-can cannibalize your market…turning your once profitable business models into shipwrecks. Take note: Studies show it takes seven years for a brand to recover its value once it’s been discounted. Seven years!

• Customer Service means survival. If you don’t love your customer, get another customer. If you can’t find a customer to love, get another business.

Become A Better Marketer

Also, go here for DMA 2012 response rate reports for lead generation marketing media. Plus this Advertising Age update on B2B phone marketing.
Also, if you do nothing else today click and read this: 7 New Rules for Prospecting In The Age of The Customer

• Harvard Business Review on benefits of cold call lead development.
• Ssurvey of B2B marketers  on best media for  highest QUALITY sales lead generation.