When B2B Selling is Slow - 4 People You Can Call

Hello everyone, and welcome to the C-Suite Sidekick podcast! In today's mini-episode, we'll be discussing what you can do as a salesperson when B2B selling slows down, especially during the holiday season.

Our host, Summer, will share four key groups of people you can reach out to during these times to keep your sales momentum going. She'll discuss the importance of building relationships with referral partners, checking in on your current clients, reaching out to past clients who may have gone to competitors, and collaborating with your internal teams like marketing, service, and implementation.

Throughout the episode, Summer will provide valuable insights and tips on how to make the most of these interactions, such as setting structured meetings with referral partners, asking for referrals from happy clients, and uncovering success stories from your internal teams that can be used in your sales efforts.

So, if you're a B2B salesperson looking for ways to stay productive and continue building relationships during the slower holiday season, this episode is for you! Let's dive in and hear what Summer has to share.

• Episode recorded and edited using Descript
• Repurposed content, such as this description created using CastMagic
• Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services
• Connect with Summer on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:46 Intro to mini pod
• 0:47 Tip number 1
• 2:23 Tip number 2
• 3:18 Tip number 3
• 3:51 Tip number 4
• 5:13 Recap

Transcript

summer: 0:00

Hello and welcome back. This is another mini pod for you. The next in the series on B2B summer sales and it's got tips you can use during the holiday season too. Hallmark Channel is showing Christmas movies and stores are full of Christmas stuff already. The holidays are right around the corner. When it seems like everyone but you is on vacation, No one answers the phone or returns your call. They don't answer emails and your social media impressions tank. Trust me, it's not you. Folks are just focused on the other half of their life. I get your frustration, though. It's not like your quota takes a vacation. My last mini pod went a little long, so we're gonna keep this one short. I've got four people you can call on when times get slow. Number one, you know, who's always willing to talk to you other than your mom, of course, other salespeople. This is time to lean into your partnerships. Now first, some reminders on why partnerships are so important. The stats vary, but in general, partner leads are 2 5 times more likely to close, and they tend to close faster, and they're often larger or more valuable than your average deals. So call your partners, but this is not time to commiserate, although I'll give you a little bit of grace there. They're going to understand, because They're feeling it too. Schedule some time to meet with your referral partners in person if you're close or over Zoom if you're not. And make sure to set some structure so there's some intentionality here. Otherwise you're likely to spend half a day having lunch with your business friend and you feel like you worked really hard. When really you didn't get anything done other than having a nice burger. One hour meetings, 90 minutes if you're having lunch. And set the expectation in advance so they can prepare that you're going to go through your prospects and clients and see who you can refer to each other. And also go through your pipeline to see if you're both talking to the same company. Look for ways to tag team and win together. Disclaimer, gain permission from someone before giving out their info. Or, send the salesperson's information to the prospect or client, not the other way around. Number two, check in on your clients. Remember that your best clients can also be your best partners. Don't have time to get into details here, but just know that this play is one part partnership and one part customer success. Check to see how they're doing, listen for any service issues, and follow the customer success protocol if you hear anything. If the client is happy, ask for referrals. Also get stories that you can send to marketing. If you need help on how to ask for referrals without sounding goofy, let me know. We've got an entire session on that. Something to remember is that this is exactly the time of year when your competitors are calling on your clients. Be sure to show them some love so that they're less likely to take that call. Speaking of competitors, this is number three. Remember those clients that you lost to competitors over the last year or so? Now you need to return that favor. I have an entire session around selling into competitive accounts, another thing that we don't have time for today. The basic concept is that salespeople tend to abandon a client after they win the deal. The current supplier gets complacent, and by showing some love and some new and innovative ideas, You've got a shot at winning back that client. Number four, your internal partners. We talked quite a bit about aligning with marketing, but don't forget service and implementation teams and IT. What cool stuff is IT working on? They don't always remember to tell sales and marketing. Like that time, my team had been begging for a certain feature that prospects wanted, and then in a casual conversation a couple years later, I found out that IT had finally implemented it and didn't tell us. Oh yeah, well we released that a couple quarters ago. A large client had asked for it, which was the Catalyst, but wouldn't it have been nice to include it in our demo and the buyer's guide on the website? Yeah, you gotta check in with IT. How are the service folks doing? What are they learning from clients? This is especially helpful for SaaS sales reps. Service folks have insights on creative ways that clients use the system, and these are great nuggets to drop in a demo. And I don't think I need to tell you, but aside from marketing, implementation needs to be your other bestie, if you're a salesperson. Your internal teams have success stories or use cases that they probably don't realize are interesting and you need to sniff those out and remember to tell your friends in marketing during your next monthly meeting. So let's wrap it up. During times when clients and prospects are taking vacation, summertime or the holidays, don't beat yourself up and get down about it. Call people that you know will answer. Use this time to build relationships and always look for ways to gain referrals. Number one, referral partners, with the expectation that you're reviewing lists and pipeline and looking for names to refer and deals to win together. Number two, clients. Gain referrals and be sure to show them some love. Three, past clients. Salespeople often ghost a client after they win the deal. You can curtail favor with past clients by showing them some love too. Four, internal partners. This is a perfect time to break down barriers and align with other departments. Show them that you're not just a snooty salesperson. I hope you found this helpful. I'll If you want to explore any of these topics in more detail, you know where to find me. On LinkedIn, I'm Summer Poletti, or rhymes with spaghetti, and my website is theriseofus. com. If you have questions or other content ideas, I'm all ears.