This past week, I presented B2B Sales for Startups (for the third time), at MaRS, as part of their Entrepreneurship 101 series. We had a great crowd both in-person and online. There were many questions after the presentation as well, which created great discussion. A portion of the presentation was similar to previous years. My hot tips video on honing your B2B sales strategy was played before the presentation. Every year there are new items added and this year was no different. Here are some of the additional items that found their way into the presentation.
Sales is Like Fishing
While there is definitely an art to sales, the science of sales is more important. If you understand where your customer will be, what they are interested in, and present them with that bait at the right time you should be successful. Much like fishing, you will not be successful every time. The smarter you are and the harder you work, the luckier you get.
Buyer Behaviour, Not Just Sales Steps
Organizations today buy in a significantly different way than they did 5 years ago. Information is so much easier to find today, that people usually do research before talking with a salesperson. It is important that organizations understand their buyer behaviour. Make sure you are able to provide information to your customer or prospect that matches the way they make decisions.
Social Selling:
Cold calling is one of the hardest and least fun aspects to sales; social media has provided an alternative. There are many ways to use Linkedin and Twitter to research and engage both prospects and customers. There could be a higher ROI by using this tactic versus more traditional sales tactics.
International Sales:
There are many reasons why we are lucky to be living in Canada for international sales. The world’s largest economy is right next door. There are also many programs offered by the federal and provincial government that help not only selling to the US, but too many other markets in the world.
If you have any questions on the presentation please contact me and I would be happy to respond. VA Partners also has a couple of great white papers focused on sales that could be useful to you. Check out our Startup Sales and Building a Startup Sales Team white papers.
