While any business will likely feel the pressure when inviting a client into their company fold, B2B businesses face an especially pressing task. After all, far from simply convincing one person of their services, B2B businesses must convince entire companies who are often used to being in charge. Worse, as competition within this field continues to grow, many companies are finding that even seemingly successful pitches don’t necessarily lead to completion.
This can be devastating, not least because of the time and money that goes into every single potential client. This is why we think it’s past time to consider the following perhaps unexplored reasons as to why B2B transactions don’t always succeed as we’d like.
You’re overlooking the finer details
When you have an entire board of company heads attending a pitch, it’s natural and even crucial to focus on things like your pitch itself and your general product development. That said, focusing on these priorities at the detriment of surprisingly noticeable finer details can still cost if you aren’t careful. In fact, everything from the temperature of your meeting rooms to your biscuit selection has been proven to impact the viability of your deals.
Meanwhile, skipping even seemingly minor steps like regular office redecoration or commercial roofing inspections could create a bad taste that even the best pitch can’t fix. The same applies when you fail to carry out regular commercial building maintenance. As a B2B, there is increased pressure to convince other businesses about your product. Aside from the tremendous responsibility to persuade and influence them, you must prove your worth. All the convincing, persuasion and influencing should reflect in the finer details of your business. Any deviation or lack within your enterprise can be interpreted as inadequate preparedness.
As such, as well as perfecting the major elements of big meetings, you should always consider what your clients will see, think, and feel based on the smaller aspects of your presence overall.
You aren’t as competitive as others
While B2B transactions pose a rather unique set of challenges, they also fall foul of standard considerations like value for money, efficiency, and product longevity. As such, even if you pick the best team to pitch your product, you’ll struggle to achieve sales if your offerings are ultimately inferior.
With that in mind, as well as getting your presentations pitch-perfect, incorporating ample market research is essential for allowing you to offer the most competitive, worthy products and pricing that will get clients onside. Otherwise, even tempted clients are unlikely to sign with you in the long run.
You’re pitching to the wrong people
Many companies pitch only to the most successful businesses in their industry, and this can certainly pay off if you’re able to consistently seal those big deals. However, if you often find that even promising pitches fail to result in sales, you may be simply pitching to the wrong people.
After all, big businesses attend more B2B pitches than anyone else and will have a very stringent set of expectations to help them narrow down that list. By comparison, smaller B2B prospects will have much more time to consider your offerings and hopefully invest in what you’re doing. And, that could make all of the difference for a much higher success ratio overall.
If your B2B transactions keep on going bust, then try cutting out these mistakes to keep your company afloat in a far more reliable fashion.
