Tag Archives: stakeholders

Sales , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

B2B Sales Best Practices

by

In our last post we examined a few B2B marketing best practices, basic strategies and activities that have earned a reputation for dependably producing successful outcomes; marketing strategies and activities augmented by AI-powered technology have proven to be especially effective. Marketing best practices are routinely followed by those who are considered leading marketers—a savvy and practical lot who avoid the miscalculations of strategies that are, unfortunately, associated with marketing laggards. Marketing leaders know that strategies and activities grounded in best practices are capable of not only producing your organization’s personal best year-end revenue and profit, but also generate business momentum that can propel you into a very happy 2026.

Now that we’ve taken a dive into marketing and learned what’s likely to inspire prospects to ask that you schedule a sales conversation, we can next examine what can be said to represent B2B sales best practices, in particular as they apply to Freelance professionals and small business owners. As always, the goal is to produce healthy revenue and profit results and avoid being seduced by strategies that make sense for, perhaps, an enterprise national or multinational corporation but are probably unattainable for smaller entities. In our continually evolving B2B marketplace, it’s necessary to recognize when to follow traditional B2B basic business practices and when (and which) of the dizzying array of new technologies are capable of facilitating your revenue and other business goals.

Navigating the complexity of B2B purchase decision-making 

B2B sales cycles are typically much longer than their B2C counterparts. The purchasing approval process often requires input from influential stakeholders and it is standard for multiple decision-makers to be involved. Complicated negotiations may be needed to reach agreement on pricing, payment terms and logistics before a sale can be approved. As a result, it is common to meet not just with the project team leader, but with a decision committee when you are invited into a sales conversation.

So—let’s figure out how to survive the lion’s den and earn a chance to rack up as much sales revenue as possible before the 2025 finish line. As usual, the best sales techniques follow a “work smart and keep it simple” philosophy. An effective sales process focuses on more than a financial transaction—the necessity of relationship building, the customer experience and also repeat business and referrals that grow the client list remind you that your sales strategies and skills are building blocks of long-term business growth and are integral to future-proofing your organization. The five steps detailed below are sure to help you improve your sales performance:

  1. Whenever possible, schedule face2face sales meetings to facilitate relationship building opportunities. Teleconferences are useful and very convenient but when possible, especially for the first meeting, find a time and place that will enable all participants to attend in person. Furthermore, it will also benefit you to schedule a face2face meeting at what you anticipate will be the meeting during which you expect to clinch the sale. Facilitating good communication and encouraging transparency and collaboration are easier to achieve in face2face interactions and make it easier to both encourage the sale and plant the seeds of a good client relationship.
  2. In-person meetings provide a forum for you and the decision team to get to get comfortable enough to share relevant information and build trust. The intimacy of in-person interactions are the fastest way to learn what really motivated the prospect’s team to seek out and evaluate your company’s solution. It’s much easier to bring this type of info to the surface when all players are in a room together. Face2face meetings encourage the development of communication and trust whose depth will surpass a merely transactional agenda. Like marketing leaders, sales leaders want to add to their roster clients who are willing to bring repeat business and make referrals to your company. BTW, you can also make referrals for your clients, an action that is certain to strengthen your business relationships.
  3. Sales meetings are typically the setting in which you receive previously undisclosed info that reveals why your prospect is willing to resolve a certain pain point by seeking a solution (that you hope to provide). The prospect’s team might divulge false starts, frustrations and failures that were the outcomes of other solutions. You can move the discovery forward by developing a list of open-ended questions that may encourage decision team members to talk, so that you can actively listen and take notes. Obtaining a clear understanding of client motives, goals, past experiences and concerns will allow you to personalize a solution that addresses what matters to the prospect.
  4. Prospective clients in most cases are concerned with maximizing value for the spend. Therefore, you are advised to focus on the dependable benefits of your solution’s outcomes and results, rather than reciting a list of features that are associated with the service or product.
  5. It is often said that half of life is about showing up; the other half is about the right kind of follow-up. If you’re waiting anxiously for an answer that concerns the proceedings of a recent sales conversation, by all means reach out and make contact. Your job is to add value to the communication and not bring pressure. Good meeting notes will help you to diplomatically present information that addresses client needs and priorities and moves the sale toward a successful conclusion. Maybe you can send a case study that was not previously discussed, or there is an add-on or upgrade that is not costly in terms of time and/or money for you to provide, but will bring value to the client and make your solution more attractive?

Sales skills are critical for B2B sector Freelancers and SMB owners. Those who sell are the revenue engine, making periodic professional sales skills training a must-do. If you’re the company’s one-person sales team, you’ll be much more successful when you sharpen your ability to persuasively and clearly articulate your product or service value proposition/unique sales proposition, refine your responses to prospect questions and objections so that you instill confidence—and close deals in a way that builds client relationships. Keep in mind that utilizing sales best practices tactics alone will not ensure success in the hypercompetitive B2B sector. Producing sales revenue and profit that achieves your targets will also require that you stay abreast of the evolving expectations of your clients and prospects and updated on industry developments and trends.

  1. Instituting an efficient sales system is essential for B2B sector Freelancers and SMBs. A CRM (customer relationship management) system that helps you to monitor leads, sales offers being considered and prospective client interactions should be a part of your sales system. You should establish an inbound sales pipeline that helps you visualize your sales process and identify areas where you can improve. Refer to your marketing buyer persona and use that profile as a snapshot of the client(s) you’re selling to, so that you can tailor and personalize your sales process to fit their needs and expectations. 
  2. Freelance consultants and SMBs operating in the B2B sector must develop a sales strategy.  Your sales strategy will guide you to identify reasonable and attainable sales revenue goals and identify potentially useful sales distribution strategies. Might facilitating website online ordering of certain of your products or services be attractive to your clients and persuade them to do more business with you? Your sales strategy will also guide you to identify principle competitors and learn how to persuasively articulate your unique sales proposition.
  3. Make your sales pitch simple and easy for the client to envision how your solution can be incorporated into the workflow and operate in the real world. Provide information about how your solution can meet the prospect’s specific needs—that is, benefits and outcomes— rather than the ins and outs of service or product features.
  4. Recognize and introduce opportunities to up-sell to premium level service or cross-sell add-on services or accessories. If your service or product line does not currently feature options to “trade-up” or ‘add-on,” consider how you can include such options. For example, designing an “economy” level service may attract interested prospects who are on a budget but are motivated to become buyers. On the other hand, those who have more expansive needs and a budget to match may be ideal candidates for up-selling to premium service/product options, or add-ons.
  5. In 2025-2026, the payment options you offer to prospects can be presented as a competitive advantage. As fintech expands what’s possible, know that buyer expectations are shifting toward flexible, personalized payment terms. Furthermore, cybersecurity and other risk-mitigating considerations are at top of mind. Confirm that your current payment options meet buyer expectations of payment transaction security and give yourself another pathway to encouraging sales and developing good business relationships.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Rido/Dreamstime

Administrative , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Meeting Primer: Make Every Minute Matter

by

So you’ve decided to call a meeting. Maybe you and your client’s team are due for an update/ check-in; or has an unexpected glitch created a project roadblock that demands a problem-solving strategy? Let’s look at the bright side—-has what appears to be an opportunity revealed itself and the purpose of your meeting is to verify that the opportunity is not a mirage and deciding how to proceed?

Oftentimes, a meeting means a decision must be made. When it comes to meetings one thing is certain—the purpose is always about finding the way forward, where you’re going and how you’ll get there. Moreover, there are always action items to follow-up on.

Meetings have a checkered history; there is an unfortunate tendency to deviate from the agenda and get lost in the weeds. Salvation is within reach, however, when the convener—you!—thinks through the key components of the meeting so that you will enable the meeting to both fulfill its purpose and leave the participants feeling energized, engaged and effective.

Agenda

It is your job as meeting convener to create the conditions for a successful meeting. Begin by identifying the purpose of your meeting—must potential solutions to a problem be explored, or must the team determine strategies that will advance a certain goal? Once the meeting purpose is confirmed, the convener will then consider which information and/or actions will be needed to support the meeting purpose and inform the creation of the meeting agenda—which will be the meeting journey roadmap. To create the agenda, allow yourself to do some some free association thinking to get a mental picture of what must be discussed and resolved.

Attendance

Next, decide who should attend, as well as those who perhaps for political reasons you would be wise to invite. There may be certain stakeholders or power brokers who must be in the room (or in virtual attendance), whether you want them there or not. Those on the must-invite list could be a net-positive, however; you may be able to convince one of the VIP attendees to troubleshoot, green-light, recruit allies, approve funding, or somehow advance your vision of what needs to happen.

Following the list of heavy weights, you’ll be free to draw up a list of those who should attend, who you want to attend, because they have the subject expertise and insight that will benefit the meeting purpose. Finally, there are those you should ask to attend because they know how to get things done and can be trusted to carry out important action items—and just as valuable, if there’s a vote taken, they’re with you!

Bear in mind that there may be stakeholders /VIPs who simply appreciate receiving info regarding the outcome of your meeting, but they do not need or want to attend. If someone doesn’t need to be there, offer them alternatives, such as asking them for pre-meeting input or sending them a follow-up meeting summary. Fewer attendees mean more-focused conversations—and ultimately better outcomes.

Use the “Five W’s”—who, what, where, when, and why—to generate the participant list. Who needs to be there? What, if any, special information should you bring in resources to support the conversation (meeting handouts or presentation slides? What information can drive decision-making and needs to be shared and what is just a distraction and doesn’t need to be included?

You must also consider the most inclusive and welcoming format for the meeting—in person or virtual? It’s entirely likely that your meeting will be hybrid and it will be necessary to design logistics that will make those who attend virtually feel fully present.

Engagement and participation

As you know, the best meeting outcomes are achieved when you bring together participants who have the means and motive to contribute something relevant to the proceedings. Lackluster participation in meetings weakens the result by reducing collaboration, hampering decision-making and eroding team unity. How can you encourage more fruitful engagement? Step One is to create an agenda that directs attention to the core purpose of the meeting, whether check-in, problem-solving, or decision that must be made, or opportunity to exploit.

Start by clarifying expectations for the meeting and participants by outlining some of the supportive behaviors you want to see in your meetings. For example, you might emphasize mutually supportive behaviors such as nonjudgmental communication, collaborating to tackle challenges together, sharing of resources and information. It’s also helpful to offer team members different ways to contribute—for example, allow for written input before, during, or after meetings. Giving those who are typically less vocal a structured role can help empower them to speak. When participants know that their insights and wisdom are valued, they’ll find the motivation and courage to speak up and they have the potential to perhaps bring an unexpected idea or perspective that will greatly improve the outcome and relevance of the meeting.

Finally, make every minute count and don’t run over. Set meetings for the shortest time necessary, not by default increments like 60 minutes. Honoring to the agenda and ending on time helps people sustain focus, reduces frustration and communicates to everyone that your meetings are worth attending.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©Siphosethu Fanti/peopleimages.com for Adobe Stock

Sales , , , Leave a comment

6 Questions to Ask a Prospect

by

Woo-hoo, you’ve got a live one here! You’ve stumbled upon a prospect and you do not want to screw up and lose what might be an opportunity to get paid. You want to keep this fish on the line and figure out 1.) if s/he is serious about hiring a Freelance consultant to work with and 2.) if the project is something you can handle. A series of easy-to-remember questions that help you to encourage the prospect to open up and tell you what s/he needs and also move the process toward a commitment for further discussion are essential. Your goal, of course, is to obtain a project that will both enhance your revenue and if possible, enhance your CV as well.

Picture this—you and the prospect have each given the meet’n’greet (short) versions of your elevator pitch and the prospect is showing an interest in your offerings and would like some details. You’re asked if you’ve ever worked on a particular sort of project, or provided a solution for a certain kind of challenge or problem. Presented below are questions designed to make it easy for your prospect to share information and allow you to position yourself as a good candidate for hire if a project actually becomes available.

  1. How can I help you?

“A customer’s time is valuable, so that first question must be impactful while still respecting their time,” advises Eng Tan, Founder and CEO of Simplr, a customer service and customer experience start-up. ‘How can I help?’ is open-ended enough to invite feedback, but also show that the customer comes first.”

2. What is the problem or pain point?

You cannot jump into a sales pitch until and unless you hear the prospect describe the matter that must be resolved or challenge that must be overcome. Only then can you determine if you have the expertise and resources to provide the desired solution. Allow your prospect to tell you what s/he would like you to do.

3. What is your goal?

Get the prospect to articulate the purpose of the proposed project and what the resulting deliverable means to the organization. Determine if this is a mission-critical goal and the date that the deliverable must be received. It is to your benefit to understand why the prospect feels it’s worth paying outside help to get the project done. The proposal you write and your pricing structure, if negotiations get that far, will be impacted by this information.

You must also understand what will happen if the client does nothing (and nothing is precisely what most of them do anyway, am I right?). So do your best to find out what it all means to the prospect and the company and how the proposed project fits into important goals.

BTW, not every project that gets funded is tied to a meaningful goal. I know someone who probably makes 3x what I make in a year by producing an ultimately ridiculous vanity-driven deliverable for well-known for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Enhancing reputations can be big money, it seems.

4. Have you done anything about it so far?

With this question, you’ll learn if the prospect has worked with a competitor. You can follow-up and ask if there was dissatisfaction with the competitor’s deliverable, price, or customer service. If the matter has so far been handled in-house, you can follow-up and ask why outsourcing looks like a good option now. In short, you’ll learn why your decision-maker or stakeholder/ decision-influencer prospect is motivated to talk to you about the problem and inquire about how you might resolve the problem or produce the deliverable.

5. Is it you who decides how this matter gets resolved?

At this point in the conversation, it is both prudent and politic to ask who makes the decision to bring in someone from the outside, i.e., a Freelancer. You will have earned the right to know if the individual with whom you are speaking has the authority to green-light a project on his/her own, or in concert with a select group of stakeholders. You need to get a sense of how superiors, colleagues, or stakeholders feel about bringing in a Freelancer and I recommend that you get an answer before proceeding with the conversation.

It is possible that your prospect is alone in thinking that an outsider should be brought in to manage the project and his/her opinion may or may not prevail. Now is the time to get a sense of whether outsourcing this project is wishful thinking or a possibility.

6. What would you like to see happen next?

With this question, you invite the prospect to commit to follow-up, be it a face-to-face meeting, an email, or a telephone call. The prospect will be able to reconfirm his/her confidence in your capabilities as s/he shares more information about the proposed project and digs deeper into the how and why your product or service can address pain points and facilitate realization of the company’s goal.

This conversation will determine whether you are considered a serious candidate for managing the project and if the company is serious about hiring a Freelancer. You could very well be invited to submit a proposal and if that is the case, it is a big vote of confidence (but alas, still no guarantee).

If asked upfront about pricing, you might like to respond “What’s your budget?” If it’s smaller than you hoped, work with the prospect to provide the project must-haves, minus the too-expensive extras, at a price the organization can afford. Then again, they could surprise you and appropriate more money. You just never know!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: The Fuller Brush man visits a prospective customer (circa 1950)

Professional Development , , Leave a comment

Presentation Checklist: Audience Matters

by

Next week, I will make two 15 minute presentations and in four weeks, I will make a 30 minute presentation and also preside at a big meeting. The latter engagement is an annual event and I knew well in advance of my obligation, but requests for the first two talks came up unexpectedly. Fortunately, I have time to prepare for all. Here’s how I’ll get ready to stand and deliver:

Who’s in the house and what do they want to know?

All presentations are ruled by the audience and the information that is desired. That information is the purpose of your talk and it determines what you’ll present. Find out also if any stakeholders whom you must persuade will be unable to attend and arrange to follow-up with them personally, if possible.

Hecklers and haters

While researching your talk, ask the organizer if anyone in the audience might have a reason to undermine your objective and why that would be so. To neutralize expected opposition, acknowledge somewhere in the solutions section of your talk that some in the audience may have considered another recipe for resolution and state how your approach will likely be more effective, sustainable over the long term, easier or less expensive to implement, or whatever. Handle the matter like a sales objection, because that’s what it is.

Audience size

The size of the audience guides your method of presentation. An audience of five is intimate and calls for a different approach —most likely more relaxed and personal— than an audience of 50. A larger audience often requires that the speaker use visuals, along with a speaking style and pacing that engages a bigger room.

Does the audience know you?

Friends in the house will make your job easier because you will feel more comfortable standing in front of them. If you are mostly an unknown quantity, it’s important to establish rapport with the audience early in the talk. A statement about how you understand or empathize with a priority or concern is a good ice-breaker and gives you credibility, since you agree with them.

What do you want audience members to do post-presentation?

Design your presentation to frame your call to action as logical, effective, beneficial and inevitable. Describe what you would like audience members, in particular the thought-leaders and decision-makers, to do on your behalf. Do you want them to donate money or time? Approve your proposal? Vote in a certain way? If you are able to make fulfilling your call to action easier for them, then do so.

Thanks for reading,

Kim