Alliance with your champion

One of the biggest challenges for a startup company in the B2B sector is selling your services and products to customers who, in most cases, are larger and more established than you. So what's the problem? One of my managers once told me: "Elephants buy from elephants. Mice buy from mice." In other words, if you are a very large company, you won't buy from a small supplier. There are too many risks involved, even if the supplier's solution is unique, revolutionary, and can provide great value to the organization.

So how do you overcome this asymmetry? I don't have a complete answer, but I'll try to give my take on it.

People

B2B refers to selling to businesses, but I haven't yet successfully sold directly to a "legal entity." Instead, I've managed to sell to the individuals who operate within these entities. This might sound trivial and straightforward, but it's important to remember that ultimately, we are interacting with people who are just like us when dealing with corporations. The larger the corporation, the more crucial it is to keep this principle in mind. Once you understand that you're selling to people, the principle of selling a one-dollar deal is the same as selling a million-dollar deal

Identifying the Buyers in the Organization

I recently heard a statistic that says that in every purchase decision, even one for $20,000, about 15-20 people are involved in the decision-making process. That means you need to apply the first principle of "selling to people" 20 times. Not easy at all. How do you do it? Not alone!

Alliance with the Champion in the Organization

To even have a sales process in the organization, you need one of the buyers to agree to genuinely endorse you. To reach the level where a buyer is willing to do such a thing, you need to form an alliance with them. No less. The buyer, in presenting you to the organization, risks his most valuable resource - his reputation. It is very important to remember this. If the deal doesn't succeed, you lose a client. The buyer can damage his reputation, which can lead to much worse things like losing a promotion or even a job. What do you do? Give, give, and give some more.

What to Give Your Ally

Value proposition? Very important and a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. In my opinion, the most important thing is trust and confidence. Confidence in who you are as a salesperson, as an entrepreneur, and your brand as a company. This confidence is built from a relationship of identifying and mitigating risks for the buyer.

Risks to Address with Your Ally

1. Your Reputation as a Salesperson: You must demonstrate a real understanding of the market, the product, and the organization.
2. The Company’s Reputation and Ability to Deliver the Product: This is not just about you - you need external references to provide this confidence.
3. The Sales Process Will Take a Long Time and Be Very Difficult: You need to handle the sales process assertively and make it easy for the client at every step. Take responsibility for everything. Your conduct during the sales process indicates your standards and level as an individual and as a company.
4. Organizational Change Will Be Very Difficult: Show a proven methodology for change, openly discuss the risks of the expected change in the organization (do not ignore or underestimate them), and demonstrate real and appropriate responses to each of them.

Once you identify the champion, form the mutual alliance by addressing risks, you can only begin!

What do you think? How else can trust and confidence be built in an alliance with the buyer?

Written by: Eli Edry | Founder and CEO, AudITech