What Is the Rule of 7 in B2B Sales?

Have you heard of the rule of seven? It's a concept that's commonly used in B2B sales. B2B companies of all shapes and sizes use the rule of 7 when engaging with prospects. If performed correctly, the rule of seven can prove useful in driving sales. For a better understanding of the rule of seven and what it entitles, keep reading.

Overview of the Rule of 7 in B2B Sales

The rule of seven states that it takes an average of seven "exposures" with a prospect to generate a sale. In other words, prospects must be exposed to your B2B company or its marketing messages at least seven times before they'll agree to make a purchase.

While it may sound like a new concept, the rule of seven has been around for decades. It was pioneered by movie studios in the 1930s. At the time, movie studios discovered that ongoing promotion was needed to drive ticket sales. Consumers who saw an advertisement for a movie just once or twice typically didn't buy tickets to that movie. Rather, consumers needed to see about seven advertisements on average before they purchased a ticket. The rule of seven has since made its way into other industries, including the B2B industry, where it's used to drive sales.

How to Leverage the Rule of 7 to Drive More Sales

If you're thinking about using the rule of seven in your B2B company's promotional strategy, you should follow some basic tips. For starters, you should consider using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Typically offered as a cloud-based service, CRM software allows you to track interactions with prospects. You can use CRM software to determine how many times each prospect has seen your B2B company's marketing and sales messages.

Content marketing can help you leverage the rule of seven to drive more sales. When you produce content that's relevant to prospects, they'll voluntarily seek it out. And each time a prospect sees a piece of content, he or she will be exposed to your B2B company. Some of the different types of content you can produce include blog posts, whitepapers, infographics, case studies, webinars and product or service comparison charts.

Contacting prospects is another way to expose them to your B2B company and, thus, help you leverage the rule of seven to drive more sales. You can cold call new prospects, and you can call prospects whom you've already talked to in the past. During these calls, you can inquire about the current state of their business's operations in an effort to nurture them into buyers.