In uncertain times, B2B sales teams must put value front and center • TechCrunch

As uncertainty pervades the economy, maintaining profitability ratios and increasing revenue has never been more important.

This decade is showing signs of becoming one of the most challenging landscapes to grow a business as pressure swells on sales teams to operate as the lifeblood of organizations. Often the tech industry’s unsung heroes, B2B sales teams and the revenue they drive are even more important in times of economic instability.

Yet, projects and vendors are under even tighter scrutiny, with proof-of-concepts installments most likely to get the axe. So how do sales teams make convincing cases on why their product or service is deserving of today’s trimmed enterprise IT budgets?

To adapt, we’re seeing sales professionals become more mindful of budgets and their relationship with customers than the quick sell. Sales reps are more knowledgeable about their solution than ever before and more productive. It’s a lot of change and it’s happening fast, but that does not mean sales teams should shy away from the basics.

Selling with a purpose

Most companies are trying to stretch their dollars further. At the same time, they’re facing a relatively tight labor market and high employee turnover. Sales reps need to respond to this reality by putting value front and center. That means highlighting how their products and services will help companies reduce costs and increase productivity.

For example, reps can point out how their technology increases the capacity of existing teams in a hybrid environment without adding new expenses. Or, they can highlight the fact that more tech is not always better tech and even point to their own use case as a more personal example. In fact, most sales leaders are saying that too many virtual selling tools have negatively impacted their own teams.

By focusing on return on investment, sales reps can help customers seize this opportunity to whittle down their tech stack to the tools that are essential to the business.

There’s also a new trend where customers put deals on hold at the last minute or request that additional team members weigh in. To avoid this roadblock, sales professionals are bringing all stakeholders to the table from the beginning of the cycle. This is where the basics come back to create a map of all individuals at an organization who need to sign off on a deal and make sure the value of their product is apparent to every person on that grid. Planning ahead reduces the risk of frustrating delays near the finish line.