How to ride the long sales cycle of Industrial marketing

The B2B sales cycle is much different to B2C. The sales cycle for B2C in a typical retail environment is short – people come into your store or your website wanting to buy for their own personal use. However, in B2B and industrial businesses, you are still selling to a person – but they are buying on behalf of their company. This typically sees the length of the sales cycle stretch to weeks and sometimes months and even longer. But how do you ensure that when the prospect is finally ready to commit, you are at the top of their purchasing list.

B2B marketing and Industrial marketing is all about building relationships. The person buying for their company has their job at stake every time they make a major purchase, so it’s your job as B2B or industrial sales people to help make them look good to their bosses. Help them do their job better. Building a solid working relationship and rapport is one of the most important aspects of long-term customer relationships. You need to get to know your prospect and invest time in the relationship – don’t just sell them products or services sell them solutions to their problems.