7 Sales Approaches You Should Avoid to Keep Qualified Leads

You negotiated with a prospect, spend money, time, effort, and finally got the following:

• client refuses the deal
• business is suffering losses
• bankrupt

Perhaps this is a slightly exaggerated description, but this is what may happen if you have incorrect communication with B2B leads.

In this article, we will tell you what mistakes many sales representatives make, thereby hindering business development. Business-to-business lead generation at Belkins Besides, you will learn about a few tricks that will allow you to turn qualified leads into regular customers.

Steps to Avoid When Negotiating With B2B Leads

Let’s take a look at the most common mistakes that prevent a business from becoming successful.

#1 Losing Initiative in the Sales Process

When sales reps negotiate with potential customers, they must control the interaction. Otherwise, the initiative will be intercepted by the interlocutor and this may even lead to the loss of a client.

To be in a leading position, a sales rep must be well-prepared. Beforehand, they need to understand the pain points of the sales lead well and know how the product or service can solve the issue. They should also draft quality questions that will reveal the prospect’s personal and corporate problems.

#2 Do Not Provide Irrelevant Information

When you give a presentation to a potential client, you must value their time. It’s okay when you want to tell as much as possible about a product to highlight its merits. But the problem is, when you present too much information to a prospect, it can be confusing.

Plan your time and presentation clearly. Your speech should be concise and demonstrate the main benefits of the product and how it can solve client’s problems.

Also, do not dazzle them with information indirectly related to your services. This may be meaningless, and they will completely lose interest in your proposal.

#3 Calling Over and Over Again

Some entry-level salespeople are too intrusive. They can make countless calls to one lead all day long. If no one picks up the phone, it doesn’t stop them. They persist in seeking an answer.

This behavior causes nothing but annoyance. If you are not given an answer for a long time, most likely they simply do not want to conduct a dialogue with you. It is essential that a B2B call center behaves adequately. Intrusive calls only hurt your reputation. With such behavior, you will never be answered for sure.

#4 Do Not Rush The Process

Many sales reps try to create hype around their product, thereby pushing customers to close the deal. Moreover, this behavior can be traced both in email correspondence and in a personal discussion.

Some sales reps even set deadlines, for example by telling the prospect that they have no more than a week to make a decision. Thus, they create a false sense of urgency.

This is negative behavior that puts the prospect under pressure. This approach can lead to the fact that the client becomes hostile to you. In a company where the decision depends on a group of people, you will fail. If you adjust the timeline, the company representatives will most likely simply stop answering you.

#5 Describing Opportunities Forgetting the Solution

Have you ever started to tell in all the details what a great product you have, but the potential client was confused? It would seem that you provided so much valuable information, but the prospect still did not agree to close a deal. Well, this is a fairly common situation in outside sales.

The problem is that in presentations, many specialists forget to talk about how the product can solve the problems of a potential client. It is great when you describe your benefits, but the client needs to understand how they can use these opportunities.

Therefore, each presentation should be clearly focused on the business with which you want to make the deal. It should best reflect those aspects that will help the prospect resolve pain points.

#6Making Promises You Can’t Keep

When you promise too much to close a deal faster, your business will crash sooner or later. Exaggerating the capabilities of your product or service is a lie. In the end, the client will be unhappy and this will negatively affect your reputation.

What can you do in such a situation?

• Ask the right questions so that the client will themselves confirm the value of your proposal.
• If possible, arrange a trial period so that clients can get acquainted with what awaits them after the conclusion of closing a deal.

#7 Reverse Psychology

This is a trick where a sales rep deliberately introduces the cheapest deal to a potential customer. Sometimes they even specifically emphasize that this is the most simplified option. As if hinting to a potential client that they can’t afford something more expensive.

This is a standard psychological trick to make a client buy a more expensive offer, even if they were not ready for it before. The prospect swallows the bait, thereby trying to prove that they can afford something more expensive. This approach works well in B2C but absolutely fails in B2B.

The bottom line is that in business, a group of people are usually responsible for making a decision. And with this approach, you will not be able to make them all buy your advanced services. Moreover, it can offend their ability to manage the budget, as a result of which they will not want to cooperate with you.

Powerful Sales Trick To Get A Loyalty

You’ve learned about which approaches are definitely not worth taking, so now let’s talk about what can benefit you. There are some good steps that can improve your B2B sales experience.

Offer Discounts When Possible

When you lower the price of your offer a little (for a time), it increases customer loyalty. Discounts are a good way to remind the existing clients of yourself and motivate them to make the deal again.

It’s also an opportunity to strengthen your relationship. It is better to give in to the client a little and maintain a reliable partnership than to insist on your price and end up losing the deal.

Deliver More Than You Promised

Don’t forget to make pleasant surprises for your clients. Promise them a little less than you can give, and then present the whole deal. They will definitely be pleasantly surprised and appreciate your efforts.

Small surprises for clients are a way to boost your reputation and strengthen partnerships. This is what drives the growth of your business.

Use B2B Lead Generation Services

When you have limited experience, it is worth taking advantage of every opportunity to acquire new customers. Using professional services will help you get a steady stream of leads. Many marketing agencies offer these services, and this is an excellent solution for those who do not want to hire internal staff.

Final Words

The sales process is incredibly interesting and in some places even involves knowledge of the client’s psychology. At the same time, it is essential to choose the right approach so as not to harm your business and reputation. Some sales representatives misbehave hoping to close the deal as soon as possible. But as a result, this will only lead to tragic consequences.

If you are having trouble attracting and retaining leads, most likely your marketing and sales processes are set up incorrectly. And in this case, you should turn to professionals for help. The Belkins team is one of the leaders among B2B lead generation services. They provide amazing custom-tailored solutions to meet specifics business needs.