Business-to-business (B2B) sales representatives are the boots on the ground, sales professionals looking to sell their products or services to other businesses. Like other sales reps, they have a tried and true method of contacting their leads, developing a rapport with the potential customer, and hopefully closing the deal.
What They Do
B2B sales reps are like other sales reps in several ways: hunting for prospects, maintaining your current clients (wherever they may be in the sales process), following up on potential leads and making sure your quotas are on track. There are many ways to break down the day-to-day of a sales rep but it may look something like this:
9-11 am:
Follow-up on warm leads and warm business. (Best to strike while the iron is hot)
11-12, 12:30-2 pm:
Get current clients further along the sales process, ensure they qualify as customers, set follow-up appointments and close your deals! (Also 30 minutes for lunch/mentally reset).
2 pm-Quitting Time:
Leads, leads, leads. You cannot get any sales without leads, so your day is most importantly set towards generating more of them. Find them online, on social media, from a friend of a friend, or using a lead-generating tool like this one, what matters is getting more people to sell to.
Just make sure you aren’t contacting people over the phone after 5 pm; generating leads is one thing, but reaching out to someone after their workday is a surefire way to put them in a bad mood when they answer the phone.
As you can see, a normal day-to-day of a B2B sales rep is almost the same on paper as a B2C sales rep or a freelancer, but the key difference maker in a B2B rep is how potential leads are found and who these people are.
B2B sales reps are trying to sell to a company, not an individual. This means some strategy is required before simply walking into a building and pitching your product. If your goal is to sell to a public company, you should be able to access some directory information online (at least the names of the people making the decisions you need to hear about). From here, you can use an email-finding tool like Closely to find the means to contact these decision-makers directly, instead of having to go through the people who aren't helpful for your goals. Finding the right people for private businesses may be a little bit more difficult at the beginning, but once you have some names the process is generally the same.
Why We Need Them
As mentioned earlier, B2B sales reps are the boots on the ground; they’re the ones generating leads and making the sales process happen. Without these reps, there would be a standstill in sales and the product would be crippled in comparison to what it can really do. These sales reps also have the more daunting task of finding the right people to pitch to, which is easily as difficult as closing the deal itself. This role is not to be understated and requires as much skill as it does grit. Make sure the sales reps in your company know they are appreciated.