The adjustments we have all had to make to the new realities of life in 2020/pandemic times extend, of course, to B2B selling also.

I’ve interviewed many B2B buyers this year in my win/loss/churn research project work and thought it would be interesting to compile what I’ve heard and compare to what others are saying about what is different when selling 100% remotely.

Some of the questions I have about selling remotely include:

  • Is it harder to establish the all-important personal connection with prospects?
  • What, if any, adjustments need to be made to close deals?
  • What shifts will be around long-term vs. just during the pandemic?

I think that some of these questions are yet to be answered, but in the process of exploring these issues, I have definitely gained some clarity about what is shifting. See below for the top 3 things that I’ve noticed and confirmed via other sources:

1) B2B buyers expect providers to be not only extremely responsive, but also proactive, in all of their interactions.

 B2B buyers’ workdays may not have the clear stop/start times that they used to. They may not expect responses to their inquiries/questions 24/7, but their sense of time is different…they consider a 2-day turnaround to be unresponsive. And they use their ‘service’ experience during the sales process to help predict what service/support would be like as a client. This can become a very important decision criteria.

2) B2B buyers expect vendors to do their homework more than ever to differentiate themselves and their solutions.

With a more level playing ground where vendors with local reps no longer have an advantage over those who don’t, it’s important for vendors to differentiate themselves. Believe it or not, just doing the homework to understand the prospect’s business…and asking good questions to understand their current issues, then doing the work to tailor how one’s solution can specifically address those issues, can be a clear differentiator and indicate a true interest in the prospect’s business. Showing that true interest and intent is key to establishing trust with a B2B prospect.

3) The prospect’s timeline trumps the vendor’s timeline.

It has become very important for vendors to be patient with glitchy decision making processes these days. Even when a salesperson is talking to the right contact who has purchasing authority, the pandemic has often created hiccups, hurdles and blockades to what would have otherwise been a pretty straightforward decision. I have interviewed quite a few ‘lost’ prospects who didn’t actually choose any vendor and just needed them to be patient and work with them to create a clear business case for when internal obstacles are cleared. Many of them are looking at 2021 budgets as the opportunity to bring in vendors that they had to put on hold as early as Summer 2020. The vendors who stick with them without being pushy will be able to reap the rewards when the timing is right.

There is a very interesting Forrester report available, Winning the New B2B Buyer, which explores these issues in more depth. In this report, they say the following relative to whether these shifts will be long-term or not: “The long-term implications of the pandemic are hard to foresee, but Forrester predicts there will be a lasting effect on work patterns that impacts all buyers, offerings, and markets.” Their thinking is that the pandemic has just accelerated the pace of change that was already afoot re: shifting engagement in the ‘buying journey’ to be predominantly digital. Organizations that embrace this shift will enjoy the resulting benefits in the form of better close rates and more leads as they gain a reputation as an organization that meets the prospect where they are.