8 Roadblocks Stopping Sales In Your B2B Conversion Points

Cookie-cutter B2B marketing strategies bore prospects and leave your sales team stuck in a rut. These days, it takes more than just a quality product, an excellent customer service team, and an offer that’s easy to understand to win new business.

You need to understand every touchpoint between the first point of contact and sales to ensure your prospects don’t get lost along the way.

Here are eight roadblocks that can be stopping prospects from becoming loyal buyers and how to navigate each one:

1. Trouble understanding value

The number one reason prospects abandon their shopping carts is because they don’t understand how your product or service will benefit them. Remember, you are not selling the product itself but rather the value of your product or service. 

If you’re not clear about the value that your product or service brings to the table, it’s simply because you haven’t taken the time to explain it. 

It’s like how you’ll promote an anxiety-inducing supplement. You will never get high sales by telling people what the product is. Instead, show them why they need it. Find out if these anxieties are real or just imagined and show them what they will get if they can completely overcome the anxieties.

What are the benefits of the supplement? Why should customers take the supplement? What will happen to them if they just take the pill, and why is it a good idea for them to take it?

In other words, never tell prospects about your product. Instead, tell them about how it can help them. So, how does your product work in improving productivity, saving time, increasing efficiency or saving money for readers to understand the value and make a purchase decision?

2. Too Much FOMO

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is the biggest roadblock to sales in B2B marketing. Your prospects expect you to be on social media, blogging about your product and discussing how wonderful it is for your customers.

The golden rule in marketing: The right timing, channel and message. Missing out on a piece of the puzzle can result in your message falling flat.

If you have the right message delivered to the right audience through the right media at the right time, you’ll get more conversions than ever. It’s not always about tweeting and posting to your Facebook, Linkedin Page, or Pinterest Board. It’s about creating valuable content that builds lasting relationships with your prospects for long-term success.

You don’t need to follow the trends! Focus on your customers’ needs and stay true to your business. Create blog posts that educate buyers and your clients.

3. Vanity URL

When planning your recruitment process to bring in a new sales team, you need to have a plan for keeping your website current and up-to-date. Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep up with the latest Google updates that change your rankings.

The best practice is to use vanity URLs as an alternative to HTTP badging. These vanity URLs display your trademarked branding and help shoppers appreciate the quality and value of what you’re offering.

4. No blog or blog post strategy

You need a clear strategy to keep your prospects engaged.

According to HubSpot, 73% of all businesses don’t have a blog, which may explain why many websites use the same words to describe their products and services. However, your prospects need to see that you’re different and that you’re using website content strategies to engage them with great, relevant content they want to read.

Your customers need help. They need a guide to use your service or product, especially if you are launching a new concept, product or service.

You need to provide the right content at the right time. That’s why you need a blog post strategy.

Build your resource hub. As a salesperson, you must have an arsenal of educational resources at your disposal that you can use to support different marketing tactics and to provide answers to prospects’ questions.

5. Aged marketing strategy

Here’s the thing – change happens fast. Times have changed. Trends have changed, and there are new ways to implement your marketing strategy.

The strategies that worked before the pandemic won’t work after the pandemic. Keeping the same website for more than ten years is not a good idea. Keyword stuffing won’t work on Google.

These are some tactics you need to stop doing. Consumer preference, Google algorithm updates, user-interface changes and behavioral shifts have forced marketers to adapt.

Your marketing strategy needs to be dynamic. Update your content strategies and how you interact with prospects on social media platforms. Try some new tactics like video or even a bit of gamification.

Get a good analytics tool to determine which marketing channels work best, whether it’s paid search or social media, and create email campaigns that can convert visitors into prospects.

Most of all, build a brand identity for your business. By developing the company’s brand voice, you can get prospects engaged with content that makes them feel connected with your company.

6. No exit strategy

Exit strategy pertains to your sales. It’s the point of your sales process where you close the sale, and you leave with a customer who can’t wait to be loyal.

The problem with exit strategies is they usually take a lot of time to build up. This is why brands tend to get stuck mid-way and end up in mediocrity. They haven’t planned out how the sales process will go and what they want it to look like. From when the buyer landed on your website to when he decided to become a buyer is not set in stone. The goal is to determine which channels will work best and which results in you need to show.

It’s a lot easier to talk about exit strategies after you have the customer under your wing. However, if the acquisition process takes too long, it’s time to revisit your marketing strategy and focus on getting the customer engaged with your brand.

Automation can fix a lot of your issues, so you don’t need to worry about your sales process.

7. Cluttered lead generation funnel

What are the tell-tale signs that you have a crowded funnel?

Leads are disappearing before they get to your sales team. This is a sign that you need to go back to the drawing board and be sure you have a plan in place to track how prospects move through the funnel.

 Use event tracking and Google Analytics code to know where your prospects get stuck. Also, measure your customer lifecycle by using acquisition reports in Google Adwords.

8. Lack of training support

A big problem with sales teams is that they need more training and development. There are many resources available to help a sales team at all different levels. Still, sometimes you have to seek the resources out yourself, or your organization would rather invest in technology or other tactics first. 

If your sales team has no real strategy, you need to create a plan to increase their productivity and guide them towards getting more repeat purchases.

How do we overcome these roadblocks?

Your company is in business to help people and make a profit. That’s your goal, not the goal of a prospect. Your focus needs to be on helping them address a need so that you can provide a solution that will make their lives easier.

To do this, you have to know who your customers are and your perception of them. You must be able to address the challenges they face, their fears and barriers to success. Touch base with your prospects on a regular basis to find out what they want and how you can help them. Then, you can show them ways they can solve their problems and plan new ways to help them generate income.

When you develop some trust, your prospects will be more likely to engage and look for ways to use your product or service that will increase their income. You’ll get referrals and repeat sales when you help your prospects with a solution that solves their problems.