Selling is an art as much as it is a science, but nowadays, mastering the art and science of effective selling is more difficult than ever before. With so much competition at every corner and competitors constantly offering better deals, discounts, incentives, and perks to their customers just to close the sale, business owners find themselves at a crossroads.

Do you keep pushing the same sales tactics and hope for the best, or do you invest in training and educating your sales staff to acquire new skills that will help you surpass the competition and reach your sales metrics? The answer is, obviously, the latter.

Even if your sales team is doing just fine and your conversions are steady, you should never become complacent, nor should you stagnate – because the art and science of sales is constantly evolving with the consumer. With that in mind, here are the B2B sales training topics you should consider to empower your sales team to achieve better results in 2023.

Utilizing the full potential of sales software

First things first, while others are learning about new sales tips and tricks, you want your team to learn how to utilize modern sales tools and tech to their full potential. Why? Because the sales process is becoming increasingly tech-driven in the modern B2B sector, and if you want to maximize the potential of every lead, every interested reply, and every potential partner, you have to know how to leverage the right tech.

Whether you have custom-made sales software developed specifically for your business or if your team is using one or more external tech tools, make sure to use the complementary sales coaching tool to educate your sales team on the best sales tactics but also how to use their tools properly. The good thing about modern sales tools is that providers include comprehensive onboarding, training and continuous support into the price.

This means that continuous sales staff training is an integral part of using the tool, especially when the provider launches meaningful updates, new features, or complementary tools.

Learning the various email marketing and sales tactics

Email is one of the most powerful sales and marketing tools at your disposal. By engaging with potential B2B customers through email, you’re establishing a direct line of communication where you can communicate all the information, values, and key selling points needed for a successful sale. But there’s a lot to learn about effective email marketing and sales strategies.

By no means is email sales an easy topic to cover, and sales agents need to learn about everything from recurring emails to email drip campaigns, and all the way to email copywriting, strategizing, domains, CTAs, and more. From learning about email strategies all the way down to the wording in the copy and the placement of a CTA, sales and marketing agents need to be very careful how they approach every potential client or partner.

This is especially true for the B2B sector, where you need to craft a unique approach for every prospect in order to create a personalized experience.

Maximizing long-term revenue with customer retention training

You probably know by now that customer acquisition is a lot more demanding than customer retention. It’s not just more expensive, but it takes a lot more time, effort, and strategizing to get people to say yes and sign on the dotted line. After all, B2B customers are spoiled for choice nowadays, and you need a lot more than a great product or service to close them.

That is why your primary focus should be on the returning customers and how you can maximize their lifetime value. This doesn’t mean that acquisition is not important, it just means that by retaining customers you will be inspiring repeat purchases, subscription and contract renewals, as well as word of mouth and referrals. 

Be sure to send your sales agents to customer retention training, where they will learn about the tools and tactics they need to keep the most valuable customers at your side.

Specializing in selling software vs physical products

There’s a lot you can sell in the B2B sector, but there’s a big difference between selling physical products and software solutions. The strategies for selling a physical product vs a software product might be different in many respects, but they do have some commonalities, though.

For example, in both cases it’s imperative to teach the importance of your product to your potential clients, in order for them to realize why they need it and how it can help them achieve their goals. That said, the methods to get there will differ between software and physical products.

So, be sure that your sales agents are getting highly specialized training, and that they are learning how to sell the right kind of product. Don’t send them to learn about selling physical products if they are selling software, or vice versa.

Setting meetings and building a VBR

VBR stands for valid business reasons, and potential B2B clients and customers need one in order to validate their decision to work with you. Simply put, why should they sit down in a meeting with you, or why should they carve out 15 minutes in their busy schedule for a call?

You need to give them a concrete reason, and that means having a VBR for every prospect, and every stage of your B2B sales funnel. Unfortunately, you can’t always expect your sales agents to identify VBRs on their own all the time – sometimes they need additional training and coaching.

You can send your sales agents to VBR training and integrate it with other workshops to help them create irresistible pitches for every potential customer and their unique needs.

Over to you

Mastering B2B sales is impossible if you don’t factor in continuous training and education, because the B2B sector and the customers within are always evolving – and your approach to sales needs to evolve with them. Make sure to provide your sales agents the type of training we talked about today in order to get more interested replies, develop a meaningful connection with the prospect, and close the deal fast.