B2B trade practices are evolving at high speed, under the combined effect of digitalization of purchasing journeys, customer professionalization and increased distrust of intrusive approaches. Several techniques still widespread a few years ago no longer produces the expected effects. This shift does not result from a generalized rejection of historical methods, but from a structural change in expectations: proof of immediate value, autonomy in the choice, and contextual relevance have become essential.
Relaunch cold by phone without contextualization
The unlined telephone call, sent without a signal of prior interest, has transformed by irritating rather than a trigger. The time allocated by decision -makers to university -free exchanges is reduced to its simplest expression. The only mention of a vague database or a “discovery of opportunities” is now enough to shorten the conversation. The interruption is poorly perceived, especially when no preparation was carried out upstream to adapt the message to the prospect’s real situation.
Akeneo, a Nantes company that develops a product information management platform for distribution brands and manufacturers, has completely restructured its outgoing prospecting. Each contact is preceded by sending targeted content, developed from documented sectoral issues. This preparatory work feeds an Nurturing strategy where telephone contact takes place in response to an explicit commitment from the prospect, whether via download, registration or interaction on a digital channel.
Make on physical meetings as a systematic lever
The face-to-date meeting, long considered to be the essential tipping point in a B2B sales cycle, tends to become a channel among others, reserved for specific moments of the route. Logistics preparation, planning time and the opportunity cost of the movement are no longer justified as soon as exchanges can be structured remotely with the same level of clarity. The proximity report is no longer necessarily built around coffee, but by the quality and consistency of the dialogue, whatever the means used.
The Leboncoin group, which develops an offer of advertising solutions and dissemination of advertisements for professionals, has gradually replaced a large part of its physical meetings with video exchanges, enriched with interactive demonstrations. Decision support tools have been made available to customers to enable them to explore different configurations of services even before the intervention of an advisor. This hybrid format improves the productivity of commercial teams while responding to the purchase preferences for increasingly autonomous customers.
Build a generic and frozen offer
The construction of a unique offer, designed to contact the whole segment without distinction, exposes the company to a high rejection rate from the first exchanges. B2B buyers want the proposals to be contextualized and aligned with their organization, their digital maturity or their operational constraints. The uniqueness of the offer is often interpreted as a lack of listening or an absence of adjustment capacity.
Malt, a French actor of the connection between qualified freelancers and businesses, deeply reworked the structure of his commercial proposals. The offers sent to large accounts differ clearly from those intended for SMEs, with specific examples from similar customers and realistic performance indicators depending on the sector. The use of data from the platform makes it possible to adjust the discourse and the integration scenarios, while leaving a structured margin of negotiation around real uses and concrete objectives.
Repeat the sale only on the relationship
Rely exclusively on human relationships, by betting on conviviality, personal fidelity or the interpersonal skills, becomes less and less effective in a context where the pressure on the results requires customers to justify each expense. The relational factor continues to play an important role, but it no longer constitutes a sufficient lever to win membership. The customer awaits above all a rapid demonstration of the value of the product or service, accompanied by tangible evidence of efficiency.
Klaxoon, Rennes publisher of collaborative tools intended to improve team productivity, opted for an approach by use. The handling of the solution is made possible from the first contacts, without systematic support for a salesperson. Prospects access interactive use cases, test advanced features in autonomy, and benefit from contextualized documentation. This autonomous route makes it possible to verify the relevance of the tool even before the commitment of a personalized dialogue, which is then part of a realization of concretization and not of persuasion.
Push systematic promotions to trigger the purchase
The repeated use of promotional offers in the B2B generates a loss of progressive credibility. When a company regularly applies pricing, it sends the signal that it is always possible to obtain a better price, which slows the decision cycles and installs a form of wait -and -see. The promotion then becomes counterproductive, because it diverts the prospect’s attention from the real value to focus on negotiation.
Brevo, ex-sendinblue, French emailing and marketing automation platform, voluntarily restricted the use of front discounts in its commercial approach. Emphasis is placed on understanding needs according to the level of marketing maturity of customers, with evolutionary modules and progressive functional levels. Training content, performance simulators and integrated comparators make it possible to demonstrate the interest of the transition to the higher offer, without resorting to last -minute incentives. The result is a more stable conversion rate, with customers better committed over time.
