B2B Sales Strategy: 7 Steps for Increased Sales in 2024 (+Examples & Detailed Templates)

To drive steady profits for your B2B business, you need a good B2B sales strategy. With a well-researched B2B sales strategy, you can outline your target audience and find the best tactics to optimize current consumer experiences and close new deals.

Around 50% of B2B prospects aren’t the best fit for a company’s services/products. And 60% of these consumers will say “no” four times before saying “yes”. 

So, how do you target the right prospects for your business? And what do B2B buyers need for improved purchasing confidence when interacting with your brand?

Your B2B sales strategy will help you determine this information through research, planning, goal setting, and tracking your strategy’s performance.

We’ll put you on the right track with a step-by-step guide on developing a B2B sales strategy, the top templates in 2024, and real-life B2B sales strategy examples to learn from!

Ready?

Let’s go!

What is a B2B Sales Strategy?

A B2B sales strategy is a detailed plan to increase business sales. These strategies describe tactics to attract, engage and sell to targeted buyers. Many B2B businesses have different sales strategies to grow their current customer base and attract new clients.

Defining a sales strategy is imperative for B2B brands. Once you have customer and market research, your sales strategy will visualize how you plan to drive sales. 

Strategies make evaluating and comparing sales easier too. Your plan outlines SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound) goals. With all this information, you can easily track sales and measure your campaign’s performance.  

Source: Sales Insight Lab

Create the Perfect B2B Sales Strategy in 7 Steps

1.Buyer Research

The more you know about your target audience, the better you can target your sales strategy to engage them.

Buyers are constantly changing, and you need research to stay ahead of these trends. Buyer research allows businesses to personalize their sales strategy to their ideal consumers’ pain points. B2B buyers need a lot of convincing. This process will be much easier using a personalized approach based on customer data. 

You want in-depth details about your target audience like:

• Job position
• Geographical location
• Demographics
• Company value proposition
• Current companies they buy from
• Market pain points
• Company pain points
• Preferred interaction method
• Firmographics

When you’ve gathered this data, determine how you can shape your sales strategy accordingly. If you know your target buyer is an HR rep in San Diego who prefers phone calls, ensure these details influence your sales strategy. 

Your data directs you to focus on solving the pain points of HR reps in San Diego, understand which suppliers these reps use, and ensure they can reach you by phone. 

As I mentioned earlier, customers change over time, so update your research consistently. When market or global events or events specific to your target audience occur, understand how this may impact customer buying behaviors and how you can adapt. 

2.Market Research

Buyer research is specific to your target audience. But market research focuses on your niche market and what’s trending. Do market and buyer research for a broader idea of your niche market and target audience.

These are two methods for B2B market research:

1. Qualitative. In this method, brands will gain market research by asking users directly. You can do user interviews, focus groups, or one-on-one phone conversations. While this process takes a lot of time, you can get unstructured information directly from your target buyers. You can also ask on-the-spot questions and allow buyers to elaborate for in-depth insights. 
2. Quantitative. Quantitative data is much quicker to gather than qualitative. Businesses use one standard survey to generate customer feedback for this method. All buyers will have to answer a series of the same questions. Although this method may not be as in-depth as the first approach, you can generate a high volume of data quicker.

Both qualitative and quantitative B2B research methods have pros and cons. You can switch between approaches for specific purposes. 

When you conduct market research for B2B sales campaigns consider factors like your:

• Strengths and weaknesses
• Competitors
• Market opportunities
• Product demand 
• Online Reputation 
• Customer sources
• Customer social sentiment 
• Buyer Feedback
• Pricing compared to competitors 

After gathering market and buyer research, you’ll have the first part of your B2B sales strategy foundation done!

3.Competitor Analysis

You know everything about your buyers and niche market. Now it’s time to conduct competitor analysis to understand who your competitors are and how you compare to them. You’ll need this information for a complete picture of how you can take advantage of the market to sell your products.

Competitor analysis is just as vital as buyer and market research. So you must invest a lot of time and effort in accurately capturing and comparing this data. 

Factors to consider for B2B competitor analysis are:

• Identify your top competitors. Determine who your main competitors are. These are other brands selling products competing with yours and sharing your target audience and niche market. 
• Analyze each competitor’s reputation and market position. Use Google and social media to figure out how established and trusted your competitors are. Are they popular on social media? What do most customer reviews and review platforms say? What are your competitors’ Google ratings? 
• Your competitor’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. Understand what your competitors are doing right and how you can beat them or find a unique angle. Consider where your competitors fail and how you can use this for your sales strategy. 
• Your competitor’s sales and marketing strategies. Which social channels are your competitors using for marketing? What do your competitors’ buying cycles involve? How does your pricing compare to your competitors?

With competitor research and market and buyer research down, your B2B sales strategy framework is almost complete. 

Here’s a handy competitor analysis framework:

4.Brand Value Proposition

Who is your brand, and what makes you different? A brand value proposition describes the commitment you make to your target audience. Businesses must have value propositions to tell buyers why they should opt for your products or services. 

To develop a brand value proposition consider:

• The benefits of using your products/services.
• Why do your products/services matter to consumers?
• How your products/services are different from competitors.
• What pain points are your customers experiencing, and how do your products/services solve this?

Because of the extensive research you’ve done in steps #2 and #3, building a value proposition is easy. Ensure you consistently stay true to your value position across your B2B sales strategy. 

5.Customer Relationship Strategy

Your buyer relationships are an integral part of successful B2B sales strategies. Healthy customer relationships built on brand loyalty and fantastic customer service optimize sales. Existing customers will have reason to recommend your brand to friends and family. You can also attract new buyers with positive social proof and sentiment. 

Having negative customer relationships may be more challenging to work with than not having any customer relationships. With customer appreciation tactics you can transform negative brand experiences into tailored, customer-centric solutions.

For customer relationship strategies, B2B brands must evaluate:

• What kind of relationship do targeted buyers want businesses to build?
• What customer relationships have you currently established?
• Are your customer relationships positive or negative, and why?
• How well have you integrated buyers into your sales model?

If you want ultra-personal customer relationships, you must be more hands-on and take the initiative. This involves having your sales team call buyers to help them configure your product/service, or your sales reps checking on customers every quarter to ensure they’re enjoying your brand.

Some companies prefer a more impersonal approach, requiring buyers to make the first move to receive support. The method you choose depends on your business, target audience, and which is in the best interest of your customers. 

6.Employee Experience

Customers in B2B sales strategies are important because they buy your product. But your employees are also just as important because they sell your product. If your sales team dislikes their work environment or has poor experiences at work, they won’t be motivated to drive sales.

These are the top three statistics that prove the importance of employee experience for your B2B sales strategy:

1. Sales reps that are highly engaged achieve 20% more sales than those who aren’t. Gallup
2. 50% of employees would sacrifice their salaries for a job they enjoy. HRDrive
3. Sales teams with high morale are 17% more productive and 21% more profitable. Gallup

It may seem like a lot of work to optimize your employee experience, but it’s worthwhile for your B2B sales strategy. If your employees are well-informed about your business, feel valued, and understand company sales processes and protocols, sales operations will be much smoother. 

You can optimize employee experience for your B2B sales strategy with these tips:

• Gather feedback consistently and respond to employee feedback.
• Ensure your employees have a voice.
• Promote diversity and inclusion.
• Ensure management offers equal support to all sales reps.
• Optimize your employee onboarding process.
• Focus on what employees like and don’t like.
• Provide the tools and resources your sales reps need to complete their goals.
• Share business and sales achievements and updates.
• Offer job growth opportunities.

7.B2B Sales Strategy Goals

Your B2B strategy’s framework is pretty much complete. 

Create B2B sales strategy goals based on your research and understanding of your customers, brand value, and sales team processes. Set clear goals for your B2B sales strategy, add as much detail as possible, and identify how you will measure progress for each goal.

Set different goals for your existing buyers and new customers. For example, you may focus on increasing how much money existing customers spend on average while using one fixed sales target for new deals.

Track your performance monthly and refine it for the following month. Some changes may take more time to implement, but you must refine your strategy and optimize it for better results. And you can only do this through trial and error and evaluating the KPIs and metrics you have set to measure your progress.

When considering sales from existing and new buyers, compare each figure to how many customers you contacted for each category. So, if your goal was to interact with ten new customers for April, consider how many new buyers you engaged with and how many of those deals you closed. 

Understanding this allows you to evaluate your conversion rates and sales strategy. If you’re not closing that many deals compared to the number of customers contacted, conduct customer feedback to identify the problem. 

3 B2B Sales Strategy Examples

1.Segment Aligns Sales and Marketing Teams

Segment started as a startup and B2B solution offering customers one API to gather, clean, and analyze all their buyer data. This brand made itself crucial to any brand’s sales tech stack because of how effortless it made data and analytics for businesses.

The Challenge

After expanding their customer base, Segment’s sales team found it challenging to close new deals. Sales reps weren’t focusing on the product features and buyer pain points relevant to new types of customers they were now working with, and they needed a holistic solution. 

The Solution

Segment worked with a sales performance agency to better align sales teams to each other, the business, and targeted buyers.

Like Segment, you can do this by keeping your sales teams well informed. Your sales team must understand how different features and functions of your products appeal to separate groups of target buyers.

Rather than selling Segment’s solution the same way to every lead, Segment taught sales reps to use different selling approaches based on the client and which targeted buyer group they classify as.

Segment also took employee experience to the next level through workshops. These workshops trained employees on the brand’s value framework and motivated them to interact and chat with customers to identify individual pain points and recommend a personalized solution.

The Results

Segment’s workshops encouraged sales reps to discuss customer paints internally and with buyers. Doing this made it easier for the sales team to understand and connect with their buyers.

More of Segment’s sales strategy results include:

• 150% increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR)
• Increased customer success efficiency
• Increased sales productivity
• Increased buyer retention rates
• Acquired by Twilio for more than $3 billion 

2.AeroLeads Lands a Top-Tier Client Through SEO

AeroLeads is an email finder, allowing brands to find email addresses for qualified leads in real time.

Businesses can also upload lead data, and AeroLeads will automatically find and verify relevant email addresses.

As AeroLeads is software for email marketing, it’s no surprise that this brand uses email as its primary buyer communication channel. 

The Challenge

Unlike the other B2B strategy examples, AeroLeads didn’t experience a specific challenge leading to results from their sales strategy. Rather, they saw a gap in their marketing mix and used SEO to fill it, with incredible results.

A key part of AeroLeads’ sales strategy was cold email outreach, which they has avoided using for big brands because of the complex buying process and hierarchy.

So, how could they get their product in front of the right decision makers at big companies at the right time?

The Solution

Alongside email, AeroLeads used SEO as part of its sales strategy. They ensured their website and products were easily discoverable through Google search because the most qualified lead sources were organic traffic.

This proves how well AeroLeads knows its target audience, as they optimize specific parts of their sales and marketing processes according to ideal buyers. 

AeroLeads also focused on optimizing its brand experience for existing customers and establishing itself as an industry leader with loads of social proof. 

The Results

Because of SEO done right, and credible social proof, IBM’s salespeople organically found AeroLeads through searching for prospect and lead generation software.

This led to AerloLeads securing IBM as one of its highest-paying customers. And they didn’t even have to pitch their product! 

3.PrimeRevenue Increased Pipeline Visibility

PrimeRevenue provides capital financial technology solutions. With their offerings, PrimeRevnue helps global clients manage investments, debts, shareholder investments, and secure company capital. 

The Challenge

PrimeRevenue was experiencing rapid growth and needed a sales model to scale with their business. This brand also needed increased pipeline visibility, so all sales and marketing teams delivered consistency for qualified leads and prospects. 

The Solution

PrimeRevenue worked with an agency and invested heavily in understanding complex buyer pain points. They created a workshop for their sales team based on this information.

The workshop aimed to train sales reps on the new processes and tools to manage and convert their evolved target audience and deliver a consistent, sales-driven brand experience. 

The Results

PrimeRevenue achieved a lot of confidence and certainty in its sales pipeline. The sales team has more understanding and clarity in identifying which deals are likely to close and how to adapt to different target buyers requiring personalized solutions. 

A few of PrimeRevenue’s B2B sales strategy results include:

• Improved sales team productivity
• Increased efficiency closing deals
• Lead qualification improvement 

2 Best B2B Sales Strategy Templates

1.Close

Close offers a 13-page eBook breaking down B2B sales strategy templates. It’s free to use this resource, and Close covers everything from a goals setting template to a template for finalizing sales deals.

The step-by-step approach makes this template easy to use. Close helps you execute every part of your strategy and includes extra steps for maximum results.

This B2B sales strategy is best for startups as it offers beginner-friendly advice and techniques. This eBook provides B2B sales strategy templates on:

• Creating an ideal buyer persona
• Competitor analysis
• Sales team onboarding
• Establishing benchmarks
• Building a compensation structure for sales reps
• Lead generation

You can check off items as you build different templates, and it feels really satisfying!

Close B2B Sales Strategy Template Key Takeaways:

• The processes don’t rely on assuming or estimating. You must conduct extensive research by interacting with your current and past buyers, niche markets, and competitors. 
• Training your staff and creating lines between different departments leads to a smooth sales process. Invest time and resources in developing a work environment that motivates employees.
• Be meticulous in how you determine revenue and the KPIs you choose. Angle all your sales efforts to achieve your SMART goals.
• Use a compensation structure that motivates sales reps to close more deals.

2.HubSpot

It’s not surprising HubSpot has a sound B2B sales strategy template because, well, it’s HubSpot.

Like Close, HubSpot keeps its template beginner-friendly and starts with the basics. You’ll go through sections like basic company information, your sales tech stack, target audience, and market opportunities. 

HubSpot’s B2B sales strategy template helps businesses:

• Create target audience’s
• Create benchmarks and goals
• Develop a brand positioning strategy
• Train sales teams
• Evaluate market risks and opportunities
• Analyze competitors

HubSpot provides a guide to using the template before jumping in, and the instructions are super easy to action!

HubSpot B2B Sales Strategy Template Key Takeaways:

• Be clear and detail every component of your sales campaign.
• Use tailored methods that differ between your inbound and outbound marketing strategies.
• Identify your approach to gain and act on valuable customer feedback from various sources (new customers, past clients, etc.).
• Use a powerful collection of B2B marketing tools to manage, track and automate different parts of your sales campaign.
• Understand and detail your pricing strategy and what justifies it based on the market and your competitors.

 Conclusion

B2B businesses must have a detailed sales strategy to achieve their desired targets. These sales strategies pin down your method to drive higher sales, increase sales team morale and deliver personalized, customer-centric solutions.

To create a B2B sales strategy, start with buyer, market, and competitor research and progress to building your value proposition and optimizing your employee experience. With these tips and examples, you can achieve your sales figures and beyond!

References

Sales Insight Lab: 18 New Sales Statistics for 2023 from Our Groundbreaking Study!

Invesp: The Importance of Sale Follow Ups – Statistics and Trends

GallUp: Employee Engagement vs. Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Culture

HRDrive: Most employees would grade their jobs a B-

Force Management: 150% Increase in ARR Over Two Years and

Force Management: Increase in Qualified Pipeline