Proven Strategies for Successful Business to Business Sales

A deal looks tidy one day: your champion is engaged, the pilot is scoped, the numbers make sense. Then Procurement joins, Legal raises data terms, and a “can you sharpen the price?” note lands in a wider inbox. Momentum wobbles. It’s a familiar pattern in business to business sales: more voices, more gates, and more ways a good opportunity slows.

Here’s how to keep control without cutting price. Focus where you can win, run discovery that puts money on the problem, map the buying group so you aren’t single-threaded, and agree dated next steps that make progress visible.

We keep it practical: copy-ready lines for your next call, simple checklists to drop into your CRM, and a small set of measures to prove the work is landing. If you lead a team, use the same rhythm in weekly reviews to turn intent into movement.

Sales Directors and Sales Managers rely on this playbook to cut late-stage stalls and protect margin. Apply it to improve conversion and hold price under pressure. It’s quarter-ready: what to change now and how to prove it worked

What drives B2B sales performance today?

Teams win when they define outcomes, engage the buying group, negotiate with discipline and coach consistently. In business to business sales, you improve results when you link value to business outcomes and keep decisions moving.

How do you know your B2B sales approach needs a reset?

Look for these patterns in your pipeline. Deals stall after pricing. Discounting appears at the end to “get it over the line”. Single‑threaded opportunities rely on one contact. Forecasts slip in the last month. Managers firefight rather than coach. Before you change anything, baseline: win rate, average discount on wins, gross margin per deal, proposal-to-close velocity and last-30-day forecast accuracy.

Board metrics to track: win rate, average discount per won deal, gross margin per deal, cycle time from proposal to close, and forecast accuracy over the last 30 days.

Strategy 1: Who should you sell to and why now? (ICP and account segmentation)

Open last quarter’s wins and losses and look for clusters. In business to business sales, focus on segments rather than broad outreach. Write your Ideal Customer Profile, rank accounts by fit and potential, then pick two segments you can serve best right now. Rewrite your outbound so it speaks to the outcomes those segments care about and send it to a small test list. In 30 days, compare win rate by segment and the conversion

If you need help with capability and skills across segments, review TLSA’s skills gap analysis. For delivery options, see pre‑built training pathways or tailored programmes.

Strategy 2: How do you multi‑thread the buying group? (stakeholder map)

List the people who influence the decision: the decision maker, the commercial approver, procurement, legal and security. In business to business sales, ask your sponsor by email to confirm the sequence and lead times so you can plan the path to signature. Add these roles to your CRM as required fields and create a simple Close Plan with steps, owners and dates you will review together.

Example: In many organisations, the CFO signs commercial terms and the CISO signs InfoSec; both need different proof.

Decision Path checklist: approver names, sequence, blockers, lead times, signatures required.

Close Plan snapshot: Approver meeting confirmed by Friday; InfoSec review started; commercial terms draft shared with procurement; target signature date set.

Strategy 3: How do you run discovery that moves to a business case?

Run discovery to quantify the problem and name who owns the result. Draft a one‑page value hypothesis with your sponsor that links investment to a measured outcome and ask them to mark up what you missed. Agree what “good” looks like in writing and update the hypothesis after each meeting. Watch proposal‑to‑close conversion on deals that carry a quantified outcome.

If you work named or strategic accounts, use TLSA’s key account management course to turn discovery into an account plan with clear growth plays.

Strategy 4: How do you keep momentum with a Close Plan?

In business to business sales, build a mutual plan with steps, owners, dates, risks and a target signature date. Put it in your CRM and bring it to every pipeline review so next actions stay visible. Each week, remove one risk or move one step forward. You will see stage ageing ease and last‑30‑day slippage fall as the plan improves.

Strategy 5: Negotiate without discounting (trading beats conceding)

In business to business sales, before any pricing call, prepare a Value & Trade Log. Set your first position. When procurement asks for a “supplier parity” discount, trade rather than concede. Offer extended terms or a longer agreement only if you get a give‑back that protects value, such as a multi‑year commitment, an earlier signature or case‑study rights. Record the decision path so approvals stay fast.

Learn more in TLSA’s B2B negotiation programme.

Strategy 6: How do managers raise performance every week? (coaching cadence)

Block 30 minutes for a weekly deal review. Open the Close Plan and the Trade Log on the screen and ask the five questions that matter. Run a quick role‑play to tune the words for the next call, then approve any exceptions using a simple matrix so the deal does not slow.

Example (coach exchange): Coach: “What is your anchor and why?” Rep: “£X tied to outcome Y.”

Track coaching cadence per manager along with forecast accuracy and conversion lift over 90 days.

Want manager‑led deal reviews that stick? Get in touch and we’ll set up your weekly cadence.

For a deeper framework, see Managing the Sales Team.

Strategy 7: Where should sales and marketing meet? (ABM and enablement)

In business to business sales, meet weekly with marketing on one page: ICP, themes, signals and a short list of target accounts. Build enablement packs by segment with discovery questions, outcome templates and objection handling so reps can move from first meeting to business case. Watch a shared dashboard for intent surges, the roles engaging and product‑fit actions.

Example: Finance signs commercials; Security signs data controls; Legal checks terms.

For named‑account teams, TLSA’s key account management training helps structure executive mapping, renewal strategy and expansion plays.

Measure SQL quality and opportunity rate from engaged accounts as well as influenced win rate.

Strategy 8: What should you track and report? (30/60/90 rhythm)

Run a quarter‑long cadence across the team. Baseline now, then review at 30, 60 and 90 days. At each checkpoint, publish a one‑page update and keep the rules that worked. Track discount, margin, win rate, cycle time and forecast accuracy and call out one habit to reinforce and one blocker to remove.

Tools to use this week

Value & Trade Log with columns for give, get, cost to us, value to buyer, approval needed and status.
Close Plan with steps, owners, dates, risks and a target signature.
Manager coaching guide: five questions to use on live deals:

1. What is the quantified business outcome and who owns it?
2. What is your anchor and why?
3. Which three trades are you ready to make, and what do you get back?
4. What decision path have you confirmed?
5. What risk could stall this and how will you remove it?

Why choose TLSA for team’s sales training

TLSA works with enterprises and UK SMEs. We focus on practical, measurable sales performance with live‑deal practice, manager‑led deal reviews and a clear approvals matrix. If you need delivery options, review TLSA’s ready‑to‑go programmes. If you need deeper alignment to your processes, explore bespoke training and sales assessments. Directors who want system-level change can review our sales leadership consultancy.

Turn today’s deals into wins. Get in touch for a practical next‑step plan for your business to business sales team.