What is B2B sales?
The acronym B2B comes from the English term “Business to Business”, which is defined as sales in which all participants in the transaction, seller and buyer, are companies.
Whether it is a direct face-to-face contact or a virtual contact, the seller is a key player in the business. Companies have often distanced themselves from salespeople and have not valued them.
In times of crisis, the social and economic context produced by covid-19 is causing changes in consumer habits and, therefore, also in the way of selling. The alternative comes from the appropriate use of technologies that provide tools to support and back up the commercial work.
These were the issues addressed this Monday, February 22, by Pedro Juan MartÃn Castejón (economist, doctor in Economics and professor of the Marketing Department at the University of Murcia) and RocÃo RodrÃguez Herrera (marketing director of the company Stacks, of the Cegedim Group, and professor at the University of Murcia) in a webinar sponsored by ENAE Business School on ‘The digitization of sales in the B2B environment’.
Pedro Juan MartÃn has recognized that the “situation is dramatic” at a time like the present, and has invited to share experiences and opinions, since “nobody has the absolute truth and the objective is to create learning areas”. He acknowledged that profiles such as sales managers are not always recognized as “key and strategic sectors”.
Both Pedro Juan MartÃn Castejón and RocÃo RodrÃguez began by pointing out that technological tools do not make a salesperson, any more than a typewriter or computer makes a writer. However, these tools are fundamental for digitalizing sales processes and involving all company departments with the sales department.
Technological tools for sales and sales management
In the opinion of the UMU professor and honorary research professor at Kristiania University College in Oslo, the sales and commercial departments lag behind other areas in the use of technological tools: “This is why the commercial results are not optimal. These tools would make it possible, for example, to involve the entire organization in the development of products and services that are perfectly adapted to the needs of customers. And the seller himself to know in detail all the characteristics of its product portfolio and the type of customer (target) to which it is addressed.
Pedro Juan MartÃn Castejón emphasized the need to homogenize standards to enable both sales representatives and technical and customer service teams to give the same answers to any objection. In other words, none of the professionals involved in the manufacturing and sales processes should be ‘loose cannons’ who only manage to disappoint the customer when the objective is to build customer loyalty.
In his opinion, the first step in B2B sales activity is to discover the needs and identify the new customer in order to adapt to his demand. And he insists that it is false to believe that “a salesperson is worth how much he sells”, but only for the information he can provide about his products and services.
Adverse effects on sales
In this regard, many companies still lack procedural manuals that cover product presentation techniques, arguments, counter-arguments and how to deal with possible objections. It is even common to find salespeople who are unaware of the differentiating advantages of the products in their portfolio compared to those of the competition.
This is due to the lack of information that production departments should provide to salespeople.
Rocio Rodriguez also considered the opposite process to be a negative effect on sales. That is, when the salesperson does not provide the company with everything he knows about the customers, so it is necessary to digitalize all the processes in both directions: maximum information supplied from the technical departments to the salespeople and from the salespeople to the production managers.
Both marketing experts considered it essential to record all useful information for the business: market prospecting and identification of new customers, the sales process (contact, presentation, negotiation and closing of the sale); and after-sales (maintenance of relationships, customer support and dealing with complaints).
The two professors pointed out another negative aspect that frequently occurs in sales management. It would be the “zeal” shown by the company’s managers to the salesperson visiting or having certain information about the customers. Some managers even believe that digitalization will make it possible to dispense with the salesperson.