Many B2B sales organizations are selling a complex solution or system. It takes time to work through the sales process and convince your prospect that your solution is the right choice to solve their business challenge. But one of the most overlooked facts about B2B sales is this: you’re not just selling the “what” (the details of your solution), you’re selling the “how” – the details of how you’re going to implement and support that solution while bringing it on board. If you’re looking to increase your sales conversions, one of the most important ways is to take a fresh approach to how you talk with your buyers about what happens next after the deal is done.
Here are a few reasons why the “implementation sell” is so important to your success in B2B sales:
Implementation is complicated
How long is it going to take to get your new solution installed, implemented and up to speed? What factors go into that? What questions need to be answered? Will you have a support team on site doing the implementation work and answering questions? How does your implementation process work? All of these are questions that you clients will ask, and you need to be prepared to address their concerns and show that you have anticipated the possible challenges. Manage expectations upfront – don’t make big promises about how easy your implementation process will be. Instead, be prepared to go into exacting detail about how the process works and what will be involved and how long it will take. Show the buyer that you’ve anticipated the various possible complications and delays that can happen during the implementation process. Show them that you’re already sweating the details and looking out for their best interests, even before the deal closes.
Implementation affects your buyer’s existing business operations
One of the biggest objections to overcome in a B2B sale is not necessarily price – it’s the overall picture of how the new solution will impact the buyer’s business operations. How many departments will be affected? How will operations maintain business continuity during the implementation? How can you make the implementation as painless as possible? During your sales process, you can build credibility with your buyers by asking lots of questions and learning about their overall business operations, so you can design an implementation process that will have minimal difficulties.
Every successful implementation is its own unique success story
Be ready to share detailed stories with prospective buyers about past successful implementations – not just the end result, but the process that led to the result. How long did it take? Did you deliver ahead of schedule and under budget? Did the prospects discover some added value or insights along the way to help them manage their business better? (For example, sometimes when you are installing a new system or business intelligence platform, the process of implementation itself can be a catalyst for positive change – it’s an occasion for people at the buyer’s organization to ask tough questions and re-examine their processes and make some big changes that they might not have been able to do before.) Tell your buyers about all of this and they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
Implementation is not just a separate stage of the process of onboarding a new B2B client – it should be integral to your sales process. Ask good questions. Learn about how your solution fits into the client’s overall business operations. Then show the buyer how you can help assuage their concerns, reduce their costs, and boost their productivity not just with “what” you sell (the solution itself) but “how” you get your solution up and running.
