B2B sellers have long faced challenging conditions, and as buyer committees continue to move toward pure self-service, deals have become tougher to close. TrustRadius' 2023 B2B Buying Disconnect report reveals that compared to last year, 27% of buyers need more time to complete purchases and include more decision-makers in the cycle.
TrustRadius also reports that B2B buyers are requesting more demos than before, in a bid to more thoroughly evaluate software before making a purchase. While conditions have become more challenging, sales software is assisting enterprise teams in closing deals.
Here are three types of tools that are making a mark.
The rise of digital sales rooms comes at the right time. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur on digital channels. With buyers increasingly comfortable with platform-hosted conversations, sales room software is a perfect solution for sellers to smooth buyer journeys.
The typical sales room platform offers communication tools, document storage, version tracking, easy access to important resources for buyer decision-making, and other important deal-related statuses. The software makes it easy for buyers to refer to information without asking a sales rep over and over again, as more members of the committee get involved.
Adding value at every stage of a deal, digital sales rooms often integrate with CPQ software to simplify the quote-building process. Customers can pick and choose features and receive a quote or ask for assistance from a salesperson. Sales teams can upload plenty of sales collateral to close deals faster, too. From custom video walkthroughs to product case studies, sales teams can upload content once and focus on answering additional questions a prospect might have.
Thanks to centralized communication, sales teams can ensure their follow-ups don't get buried in prospects’ inboxes. Once the lead is ready to close, a salesperson can upload contracts for signature and receive orders seamlessly. The result of all these features is a faster sales cycle and easy deal status tracking.
Since volume is the key to successful outreach, AI-based automation has delivered significant results in reducing salespeoples' workloads and crafting engaging sequences. Many cold outreach platforms integrate ChatGPT , or similar engines, to create personalized email templates for salespeople.
AI also plays a role in making emails more personalized. For instance, some cold outreach software can analyze a prospect's social media data and any news mentions to generate icebreakers. These icebreakers help a salesperson's emails stand out from the crowd.
Prospecting is often viewed by sales teams as a tedious outreach task. Often, this is because of the time it takes to vet targets and create a list. Most companies have layers of criteria they screen for, and manually searching for buyers who fit that criteria is challenging.
AI is removing this time sink these days by automating list building. Sales teams can integrate their outreach platforms with their social media profiles and have AI run prospect searches. Once they receive a list, sales teams can verify those profiles for fit, initiate email sequences, and monitor replies. These features help salespeople create effective campaigns and give them a macro view of how effective their outreach methods are.
Redlining refers to the old practice of underlining changes on paper with a red marker, and digital contract redlining software helps sales teams track every change, suggestion, and question customers have when reviewing sales agreements.
In the past, keeping track of these changes was tedious, and important points would get lost in endless email threads with outdated attachments. Redlining software has now centralized all deal-related questions and negotiations, giving customers and sales teams a full view of deal progress and terms.
These platforms also help salespeople to escalate any questions to other stakeholders quickly and issue clarifications. Contract redlining software takes what could be a CX impediment and transforms it into an opportunity to smooth customer onboarding.
Image: Freepik
TrustRadius also reports that B2B buyers are requesting more demos than before, in a bid to more thoroughly evaluate software before making a purchase. While conditions have become more challenging, sales software is assisting enterprise teams in closing deals.
Here are three types of tools that are making a mark.
Digital sales room software
As buyers increasingly prefer to research solutions on their own, without the help of sales reps, addressing their concerns and pre-emptively offering helpful content is all the more important. Buyers want fewer interactions with vendor-side team members, and sellers are turning to digital sales room software solutions to house key documents and centralize communications.The rise of digital sales rooms comes at the right time. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur on digital channels. With buyers increasingly comfortable with platform-hosted conversations, sales room software is a perfect solution for sellers to smooth buyer journeys.
The typical sales room platform offers communication tools, document storage, version tracking, easy access to important resources for buyer decision-making, and other important deal-related statuses. The software makes it easy for buyers to refer to information without asking a sales rep over and over again, as more members of the committee get involved.
Adding value at every stage of a deal, digital sales rooms often integrate with CPQ software to simplify the quote-building process. Customers can pick and choose features and receive a quote or ask for assistance from a salesperson. Sales teams can upload plenty of sales collateral to close deals faster, too. From custom video walkthroughs to product case studies, sales teams can upload content once and focus on answering additional questions a prospect might have.
Thanks to centralized communication, sales teams can ensure their follow-ups don't get buried in prospects’ inboxes. Once the lead is ready to close, a salesperson can upload contracts for signature and receive orders seamlessly. The result of all these features is a faster sales cycle and easy deal status tracking.
AI-based outreach software
AI development has been making waves for a while now, and sales teams have noticed. Hubspot's State of AI report states that sales reps view outreach as one of AI's top three functions. Outreach has long been a staple within sales, and automation has made a huge impact in simplifying workflows.Since volume is the key to successful outreach, AI-based automation has delivered significant results in reducing salespeoples' workloads and crafting engaging sequences. Many cold outreach platforms integrate ChatGPT , or similar engines, to create personalized email templates for salespeople.
AI also plays a role in making emails more personalized. For instance, some cold outreach software can analyze a prospect's social media data and any news mentions to generate icebreakers. These icebreakers help a salesperson's emails stand out from the crowd.
Prospecting is often viewed by sales teams as a tedious outreach task. Often, this is because of the time it takes to vet targets and create a list. Most companies have layers of criteria they screen for, and manually searching for buyers who fit that criteria is challenging.
AI is removing this time sink these days by automating list building. Sales teams can integrate their outreach platforms with their social media profiles and have AI run prospect searches. Once they receive a list, sales teams can verify those profiles for fit, initiate email sequences, and monitor replies. These features help salespeople create effective campaigns and give them a macro view of how effective their outreach methods are.
Contract redlining software
Sales negotiations can be a tricky process if not handled correctly. They often involve significant back and forth with legal teams on both the buyers’ and sellers’ sides. At first glance, increasing agreement versioning efficiency through technology might not seem like a need. However, contract redlining software is removing several hurdles in the deal-signing process.Redlining refers to the old practice of underlining changes on paper with a red marker, and digital contract redlining software helps sales teams track every change, suggestion, and question customers have when reviewing sales agreements.
In the past, keeping track of these changes was tedious, and important points would get lost in endless email threads with outdated attachments. Redlining software has now centralized all deal-related questions and negotiations, giving customers and sales teams a full view of deal progress and terms.
These platforms also help salespeople to escalate any questions to other stakeholders quickly and issue clarifications. Contract redlining software takes what could be a CX impediment and transforms it into an opportunity to smooth customer onboarding.
Sales has more tools than ever
Salespeople face increasingly challenging conditions, but technology is helping them influence buyers and close deals faster. Effective sales teams use tools intelligently to help them execute workflows and connect with buyers. Thanks to these advances, the B2B sales challenge remains stiff but not insurmountable.
