The sales team faces numerous challenges in their demanding role. They often find themselves persuading unfamiliar individuals to recognize the value of unfamiliar technology or software. Alternatively, they must seamlessly take over from the marketing team and bring deals to fruition. Unfortunately, there are times when their diligent efforts in the sales process are met with silence.

Moreover, encountering obstacles along the way can exacerbate the difficulty, time consumption, and frustration involved in the process. Here, we present a compilation of the most common challenges encountered by your B2B tech sales team and offer strategies to overcome them.

Challenge #1: Cutting Through the Noise

Are you familiar with the experience of receiving daily phone calls from unknown numbers and an overwhelming number of unsolicited emails? This inundation makes it easy for sales emails to get lost amidst the chaos, particularly if they originate from unfamiliar sources. To address this challenge, consider the following approaches:

1. Craft captivating subject lines: Since the subject line is the only part of the email visible in the inbox, it is crucial to make it compelling. Personalize it by incorporating the recipient's name or company, as this has been proven to boost click-through rates. Engaging subject lines can also include questions, propose meeting times, utilize emojis, and maintain a concise length of around 50 characters. It may be beneficial to brainstorm and test multiple subject lines using AI analyzers like CoSchedule and Sharethrough.

2. Keep emails concise and relevant: Considering that individuals often sift through a multitude of emails each day, it is advisable to avoid sending lengthy messages. Personalize the content by referencing topics or pain points that the recipient has shown interest in or mentioned. This approach prevents the email from feeling random and increases its effectiveness.

3. Adopt a soft-selling approach: Sales emails often make assumptions that recipients are eager to learn about the product, which may not necessarily be the case. Instead of employing a hard-sell strategy initially, try a soft-sell approach by offering valuable content to gauge their interest.

Challenge #2: Humanizing Your Brand

Salespeople are sometimes criticized for lacking human touch, despite being the primary point of interaction with potential clients. It is essential to portray your business development representatives as relatable and human. Achieve this by tapping into your brand's soul, the core purpose driving your company. Additionally, consider the following techniques:

1. Include headshots in emails: Incorporating headshots of your sales reps in every email serves two purposes. Firstly, it verifies the presence of a real person behind the email. Secondly, it helps build the sales rep's personal brand, increasing recognition and establishing a connection with recipients.

2. Utilize video in emails: To further humanize your sales reps, encourage them to incorporate personalized videos in their emails. Tools like Soapbox from Wistia and Go Video from Vidyard enable sales teams to create customized videos, enhancing the human element in their communication.

Challenge #3: Understanding Unique Buyer Pain Points

Each buyer brings a unique set of concerns, pain points, aspirations, and resources to the table. It is the responsibility of your sales team to comprehend these individual differences and tailor their messaging accordingly. Consider the following strategies:

1. Gather pain point information through forms: While keeping forms concise is important, if understanding pain points is crucial for your sales process, consider including questions about them upfront. This approach applies to any critical information necessary for personalizing the sales approach. For example, ask about the number of webinars a prospect hosts per year.

2. Develop buyer personas: Creating personas helps your company gain a high-level understanding of pain points, needs, desires, and resources.

3. Offer free consultations, assessments, or quizzes: Providing free consultations allows prospects to enter your sales funnel while offering an opportunity to gather essential information for personalizing the sales process. For instance, you can offer a free consultation, assessment, or quiz tailored to your target audience. This not only helps you learn more about your prospects but also provides them with valuable insights and demonstrates your commitment to their specific needs.

Challenge #4: Competing with Your Competitors

In a competitive marketplace, your sales team must effectively articulate why your B2B tech product outshines the competition. To address this challenge, consider creating "Competitor Battle Cards." These battle cards serve as a comprehensive resource for your sales team, providing key competitor information, including pricing and functionality. Importantly, they also include well-crafted responses that position your company favorably against competitors. Developing these battle cards after conducting a thorough competitive analysis will equip your sales team with the necessary tools to win over potential customers.

Challenge #5: Show, Don't Tell Communicating the value of technology can be challenging without visual aids or demonstrations. To overcome this obstacle, it is crucial to showcase how your technology can improve the lives of your prospects. Consider the following strategies:

1. Use visual elements: If your technology allows, incorporate screenshots or visuals that highlight the positive impact it can have. Demonstrating real results or outcomes can captivate prospects and motivate them to respond positively.

2. Connect features to benefits: Rather than merely listing product features, emphasize how those features directly address the pain points and needs of your target audience. For example, instead of mentioning "competitor investigation," highlight how your solution helps clients understand their competition's search rankings and develop a winning strategy.

Key Takeaway Supporting your sales team throughout their challenging journey is crucial for the growth and success of your company. By providing them with the right tools, information, and processes, you can alleviate the difficulties they face and ultimately increase revenue. Addressing challenges such as cutting through the noise, humanizing your brand, understanding unique buyer pain points, competing with competitors, and showcasing the value of your technology will empower your sales team to thrive in their role.