10 B2B Tips on How to Sell in a Highly Competitive Market

Competition is inevitable when selling B2B-related products or services. Regardless of what your B2B company sells, it probably has competitors who sell similar products or services. Some markets, however, are more competitive than others. If your B2B company operates in a highly competitive market, you should consider the following tips to increase your chances of success.

#1) Conduct a Competitor Analysis

Conducting a competitor analysis can give your B2B company the upper-hand in a highly competitive market. What is a competitor analysis? It's a sales and marketing strategy that involves analyzing your competitors' operations. You can look at their products or services, as well as their sales processes, to gain a better understanding of how they operate. The information you acquire from a competitor analysis can then be applied to your own B2B company's sales efforts.

#2) Define a Unique Value Proposition

You can't expect to convince prospective buyers to choose your B2B company's products or services over your competitors unless you provide them with a unique value proposition. A unique value proposition is a message that tells prospective buyers how your B2B company's products or services can benefit them. It's known as a unique value proposition because it's not offered by your competitors.

#3) Start a Blog

If you haven't done so already, start a blog for your B2B company. Maintaining an active blog will draw more prospective buyers to your B2B company -- assuming you publish thoughtful and meaningful posts on a regular basis. Research shows that B2B companies that blog two or three times a week generate 300% more traffic than their counterparts that only publish one post per month.

#4) Automate Sales Tasks

Selling in a highly competitive market can prove tiresome. You may spend countless hours calling prospective buyers, only to generate few or no sales. Rather than allowing tasks such as calling to consume all your time, you should automate them. There are some sales tasks that you can either partially or completely automate. Regarding sales calls, you can automate both dialing prospective buyers, and if they don't answer, leaving voicemails. Automating these tasks will free up your time so that you can focus on other sales activities.

#5) Take Advantage of Email

Using email can strengthen your B2B company's sales strategy in a highly competitive market. Business owners and other target buyers are often busy running their own businesses. As a result, many of them prefer to communicate with sales reps by email. A report by WordStream found that nearly nine in 10 prospective buyers prefer to communicate by email over all other channels. You can still call prospective buyers, send them direct mail and engage with them through other channels, but using email will help you succeed in a highly competitive market.

#6) Learn From Objections

You'll probably encounter objectives when selling products or services in a highly competitive market -- and that's okay. When a prospective buyer declines to make a purchase, you should learn from his or her objections. Maybe the prospective buyer believes the price is too high, or perhaps he or she isn't ready to make a purchase yet. Regardless, you can learn from objections while applying them to your future sales activities.

#7) Provide Excellent Support

Prospective buyers today want more than just a valuable product or service; they want excellent support. If a prospective buyer is trying to choose between your B2B company and a competitor, support could be the deciding factor. If your B2B company offers better and more responsive support, he or she will probably choose it. By providing excellent product and service support, your B2B company will outshine its competitors.

#8) Increase Brand Awareness

Brand awareness -- or lack thereof -- can affect your B2B company's ability to generate sales in a highly competitive market. When prospective buyers know your B2B company's brand, they may instinctively choose it. Prospective buyers who are unfamiliar with your B2B company's brand, on the other hand, may choose a competitor. Therefore, you should strive to increase your B2B company's brand awareness when selling a highly competitive market.

#9) Leverage Referrals

Another tip to sell in a highly competitive market is to leverage referrals. Referrals are effective at driving sales because they consist of unbiased opinions that praise your B2B company. When a buyer is satisfied with your B2B company, he or she may recommend it to a coworker, friend or other prospective buyers. Referrals such as these can convince new prospective buyers to choose your B2B company over its competitors.

#10) Streamline Deliveries

The faster you deliver products or complete services for buyers, the better. Long deliveries will only discourage prospective buyers from choosing your B2B company. A competitor may sell the same product or service at the same price. If your B2B company takes an excessive amount of time to deliver, though, prospective buyers will likely go with the competitor.

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