Want to tank your B2B sales?

We know you don’t.

But if you make these mistakes, and continue to make them without changing, you’ll watch your sales charts go down and to the right.

Here’s what to avoid:

1. Letting Your Sales Team Think E-Commerce Threatens Their Jobs

The natural instinct for most sales people is to feel your online sales channels exist to replace their jobs.

After all, your website automates parts of the sales process at a scale that no single human can replicate.

Guess what your sales team will do with your website as a result?

Yep. They’ll minimize its importance or fail to mention it entirely.

So, you have to show your sales team that you have a concrete plan in place for how your website will help them increase their sales.

Because, after all, no website will be anywhere close to perfect. And, when the time’s right and B2B buyers have done their research, they want the help of a sales person.

Build your sales plan out. And make sure it shows exactly how your sales team remains a part of the sales process.

2. Only Communicating Product Features and Technical Specs

Whether you do this online in your web pages or in person with your sales team, your focus must remain on outcomes you produce, challenges you fix, and deep frustrations you resolve.

Technical specs, facts, and product features can (and should) certainly be a part of your sales process.

However, they work best only for highly technical minds that instinctively know the exact outcomes and challenges your technical specs fix.

When you tell your prospects about the results your products create, regardless of the depth of their technical knowledge, you make it abundantly clear that you have unique value.

And remember, your competitors may not be so skilled at communicating this.

So, it can be a huge leg up as you try to increase market share.

3. Quickly Offering Deals and Discounts to Hesitant Prospects

You have a prospect promising to make a huge bulk order – if you only drop your price by 10%.

Low prices only attract obnoxious customers who don’t truly see the value in your products.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should never offer discounts.

But you should certainly reduce your focus on doing so.

You could also offer a value-added service in place of a discount. For example, if you sell a high-end product with a maintenance plan, offer the first month of the maintenance plan for free.

Customers who see the value in your products will be open to alternative bargaining chips.

So, as you work on increasing your B2B retail sales, watch out for those pitalls. Your bottom line will thank you at quarter’s end!