B2B sales ain’t what they used to be, and that’s a good thing.
Omnichannel is the new normal, and buyers expect to be engaged when and where it suits them by sellers who are available 24/7 to help solve their problems.
It’s a lot for mere mortals to keep up with. Thank goodness we can now clone sales reps!
No? In that case, you’ll need another way to give them selling superpowers while we wait for the future to arrive.
B2B sales automation has the power to make your reps more productive and effective, which is good news for your bottom line. You need to get it right though. Cloning successful sales plays and messaging is all well and good, but if you’ve ever felt trapped in an endless feedback loop trying to get past a chatbot gatekeeper, you’ll know artificial isn’t always the intelligent choice.
Robots hit it out of the park when it comes to tasks (normal) humans run a mile from, like admin, data entry, and analytics. But humans leave them standing when it comes to the kind of long-term nurturing required for B2B sales.
That’s why top-performing sales organizations are those that successfully marry people and tech to great effect.
We’re your matchmakers of choice when it comes to B2B sales automation, having helped numerous B2B companies successfully automate sales and become more human.
In this piece, we’ll walk you through:
Ready to dive in?
B2B sales automation uses digital tools and artificial intelligence to perform manual or repetitive sales tasks and compile and analyze data.
Done right, it streamlines sales processes, boosts productivity, and enables true sales engagement by freeing human salespeople up to spend more time with buyers.
Leading companies use sales automation to:
Handing all this over to robots gives humans more time to do what they do well, like personalizing interactions and nurturing customer relationships for better results.
B2B sales automation tools range from all-in-one sales engagement platforms like Mixmax to tools that perform a specific function, like lead scoring, improving your writing, or analyzing conversations, etc.
Either way, prospects should never suspect interactions are automated. To them, it should feel like salespeople are genuinely interested in establishing a human connection and helping them solve their problems, not selling at all costs.
Automation makes it easier to connect with more prospects, but abuse it by blasting them with generic emails and you’ll turn them right off.
How we sell has changed. Today’s savvy customers are in control of their journey. They’ve done their research and are better informed than ever. The sheer volume of information out there can be overwhelming, though, so they expect sellers to act as trusted advisors and help them make sense of it all.
Where we sell has also changed. The buyer journey and purchasing increasingly happen online and customers’ digital footprints (page views, downloads, shares, etc.) are gold for data-driven sales organizations. Actionable insights into customer demographics, preferences, and behavior can be used to analyze sales funnel trends, source and qualify leads, engage proactively, and forecast more accurately, among many other things.
Gartner nailed it when they predicted the future of B2B sales means moving from a seller-centric to a buyer-centric approach with hyper-automated digital-first engagement.
This means human salespeople need to be ready to engage in the right way at the right time over multiple channels. Whether it’s jumping on a video conference, following up on emails with a call, connecting on social media, sharing sales collateral, or delivering personalized demos, quotes, or proposals.
As our customer Aircall puts it, “With buyers moving into the driver’s seat of the sales process, they’re more likely to work with sellers who make it easier for them to meet their needs and who make the sales process easier and more streamlined.”
All without losing the human touch.
Cynical buyers are rightly wary of anything that reeks of impersonal advertising or spam. Now more than ever, sellers need to put the hours in to establish connections with each and every prospect. They can’t do that if they’re tied up inputting CRM data, scrambling to find sales collateral, or wasting precious time going back and forth trying to locate prospect data or schedule meetings.
That’s why they need a little help from their robot friends.
The benefits of B2B sales automation include:
Related post: How to Improve Your Cold Calling Scripts
B2B sales differ from B2C by the length of the sales cycle and the degree of robot vs human involvement.
B2C sales are largely generated by marketing, which uses email marketing tools like Mailchimp to send mass email blasts to potential customers.
The sales cycle is typically short and requires little human involvement, i.e. customers are directed to a landing page where they can buy a one-size-fits-all product. And while loyalty is important for B2C businesses, it’s perfectly possible you’ll make a sale and never see that customer again.
Where humans do get involved in B2C sales, it’s usually to research leads and build email lists using tools like Lusha or LinkedIn, or set up automated email campaigns.
Other time-saving B2C sales automation tools include:
When it comes to B2B, the sales cycle is longer and the buyer journey less linear. This is because deals are usually bigger and more complex, involving several decision-makers on both sides and ongoing conversations about budget and specifications.
If looking at that made your head hurt, imagine how your customers feel! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help them navigate that maze.
B2B prospects require a lot of nurturing and the sales cycle typically involves a discovery call, tailored demos and proposals, sharing sales collateral, and overcoming objections. Through it all, salespeople need to stay on the ball and deliver highly personalized and perfectly timed communications, whenever, wherever.
B2B sales automation comes into play at all stages of the sales cycle:
Once a prospect has been handed up to the AE, sales automation allows them to create personalized interactions at scale based on real-time insights.
For example:
Sales automation tools allow CSM to set up alerts and sequences ensuring they check in regularly before the renewal, which helps avoid surprises and boost customer retention.
Customer data and insights can be used to target high potential customers for upselling or cross-selling. Reps can also set up reminders to ask new customers for a referral after they’ve had time to get used to the product.
The secret to automating B2B sales lies in letting robots and humans do what they do best. Not having them do each other’s jobs.
This means automating things like low-level data entry, but not the things humans excel at, like talking to people. Never make your customers talk to a robot. They will hate you for it.
There’s no universal roadmap to automate B2B sales. We recommend you use the (sales)force wisely and:
Remember, sales automation alone won’t magically improve your numbers. Achieving true sales engagement is down to you.
The role of B2B sellers is changing. Well-informed buyers increasingly expect reps to act as trusted advisors, always on hand to engage over multiple channels during a long, complex, and non-linear customer journey.
That’s why leading B2B sellers are transitioning to a buyer-centric approach that uses sales automation tools and smart insights to put reps one step ahead of the game.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to digital transformation. It’s all a question of figuring out which tech will help you streamline your sales processes and give your reps more customer-facing time. Busy sales teams using Gmail and Salesforce in fast-growing companies love how a multitasking sales engagement platform like Mixmax gives their reps superpowers. Others prefer single-use tools designed to solve specific challenges.
Whatever approach you take, remember the goal of sales automation is to enable you to have more high-quality interactions. Customers can get mass-produced impersonal experiences any day of the week. It’s up to you to be better.
You got this.