Shift Your B2B Strategy from Selling to Buying
Many B2B professional services providers miss the mark when it comes to attracting new clients because they’re too focused on selling instead of understanding how their clients buy and what they truly value.
In services industries, a traditional sales approach often falls flat because it doesn’t put enough emphasis on the client and their situation.
There’s a lot of recent research that explains why you should re-think your B2B sales strategy.
Buyers of complex service offerings expect a lot more than they used to – and progressive B2B firms are leaning into customer-centricity for advantage.
According to RAIN group, the #1 reason that sellers succeed is because they educate buyers with new ideas or perspectives. Interestingly, this is also the least common practice with sellers that don’t succeed.
Focusing more on buying vs selling is also smart business strategy.
Research by Deloitte found that customer-centric companies were 60% more profitable compared to companies that were not.
Forrester Research, who has been tracking ‘customer obsession’ trends for several years, recently released a study showing that customer-centric companies are 3x more likely to achieve 10% YoY revenue and profit growth compared to companies who fall short on customer centric measures. These same customer-centric leaders also are 2x more likely to have improved employee engagement.
Read more:
How to Meet the Demands of Today’s B2B Customer
Customer Journeys vs. Sales Funnels
The journey your customers take to find and engage with your business may be very different than your sales process ‘assumes’ it might be, or wants it to be.
B2B buyers (as with B2C consumers) typically don’t buy products and services in a neat straight line assumed by the sales process. They get distracted, go down multiple paths and loops, and search using a wide variety of inquiries.
This is because customers have so many choices of media and information, and so many ways to learn, long before a sales contact.
And, since the customer is in control during most of their journey, their behaviors and decisions are influenced more by their expectations and social proof, vs. advertising and sales pitches.
Businesses define their sales funnels usually without input from customers to suite the way in which they operate, which allows for a lot of control and ability to measure and tweak the process.
If you focus only on the internal sales process, you are blind to most of the customer journey and will be at a competitive disadvantage to companies with a more complete understanding of the overall experience that shapes the decisions and viewpoints of your customer.
Read more:
How to Create Outstanding B2B Journeys That Generate Real Business Value / ROI
Building a Customer-Centric B2B Sales Funnel
The #1 reason that sellers succeed is because they educate buyers with new ideas or perspectives.
Shift Your Mindset from Selling to Buying
When you shift your mindset from selling to buying, everything changes. Instead of trying to convince prospects that they need your services, focus on understanding their problems and showing them how you can help solve them. This approach is at the core of a customer-centric sales funnel. It’s not about you; it’s about them—their needs, their pain points, and their journey.
Your role is to guide them through their decision-making process, providing the right information at the right time, and positioning yourself as the partner they can trust to help them achieve their goals.
This means being present and valuable at every stage of their journey, from the moment they first become aware of their problem to the time they’re ready to make a decision. By focusing on what your clients need to buy, rather than what you want to sell, you build stronger relationships, foster trust, and ultimately, close more deals.
Read more:
Building Blocks for Customer-Centric Advantage
How to Make Your Business More Customer-Centric
Replace Sales Pitches with Thought Leadership
You can’t convince someone to invest in a solution if they don’t even recognize the problem yet. So, instead of selling all the time, shift your focus to establishing a strong brand and a compelling value proposition.
In practice this means showing up consistently and building your reputation as the go-to expert in your field, in the channels that your prospective clients use to educate themselves and review options.
This is: LinkedIn, search, events, trusted peer referrals.
When you position yourself this way, you’re no longer just another empty pitch in their inbox. You’re the name that comes to mind when your prospects realize they need help.
Think about it this way: Your prospective clients are out there every day, dealing with challenges and hitting roadblocks. Maybe today isn’t the day they’re ready to hire someone, but tomorrow could be. When that moment arrives—when they’re finally ready to tackle that big problem—they won’t start from scratch.
They’ll think back to the experts they’ve seen, the voices that have resonated with them, and the names they trust. They’ll think, “Hey, you know what? I need to call [insert your name].”
This kind of recognition doesn’t happen overnight. It’s about being highly visible in the right places—whether that’s online through thought leadership content, on social media, or at industry events. It’s about consistently providing value, sharing insights, and showing that you understand their world.
When you do this, you’re not selling; you’re building trust and establishing a relationship long before the first conversation happens.
So, instead of worrying about how to close the next deal, focus on how to position yourself as the trusted expert they’ll want to reach out to when the time is right.
As a B2B services provider, your clients want someone who can guide them through the complexities of their industry with confidence and expertise. They’re looking for a partner they can trust to not only meet their needs but also to help them stay ahead in a competitive market.
But here’s the rub: your prospective buyers are all at different points along their decision journey. Most aren’t aware of your firm and certainly aren’t at state of being ready to talk to your sales team. Some aren’t even aware they have problems you can help them solve.
This is where thought leadership becomes your most valuable client development strategy.
When done well, a B2B thought leadership program elevates your brand’s awareness and builds trust and desirability with target markets. This is because thought leadership conveys authority and motivates engagement from exactly the right companies and individuals you’re targeting. The content should educate, inspire, and provoke thoughtful action.
For your brand, it creates differentiation through expert points-of-view. It boosts SEO and awareness.
For your buyers, it provides them with the information they need at the right times along their entire buying process to make better decisions and take action.
In this example business case, we’ll show how a well designed and executed thought leadership program, tailored to your target buyer group, including executives, can boost your deal value, shorten sales cycles, and improve brand visibility, ultimately leading to increased revenue and reduced costs.
Read more:
Blueprint for B2B Thought Leadership
A Checklist to Shift Your B2B Strategy From Selling to Buying
What’s keeping them up at night? What are their biggest hurdles? The more you know about their world, the better you can tailor your services to be the perfect fit.
Take the time to really understand your clients’ industries. Become an expert not just in your field, but in theirs too.
Develop a unique POV and fresh insights to add value to existing conversations. Take a stance and lead new conversations, while staying true to your brand promise.
Connect market trends and customer problems to your solutions. Deliver a consistent stream of content in sharable formats across a mix of channels.
Cultivate thought leadership within your team and give them tools to amplify their voice.
Your prospects and your new clients are all taking a big leap of faith when they sign your contract. They’re putting their business in your hands, trusting that you’ll deliver on your promises.
Trust isn’t just given away for free. It has to be earned.
To help them take that leap with confidence, you need to give them solid reasons to trust you.
One of the most powerful ways to build trust is to show your prospects proof that you’ve done it before and that you’ve done it well.
Don’t just tell them you can solve their problem—prove it.
In B2B this means case studies and client success that shows the outcomes that your clients also want. When prospects see that others have put their faith in you and come out on top, they’re much more likely to do the same.
Case studies walk your prospects through the journey of a client who was once in their shoes. Lay out the problem your past client faced, the approach you took to solve it, and the tangible results they experienced. Case studies do more than just tell a story—they allow your prospects to see themselves in that story.
Encourage discussions and provide further insights to foster a community around your thought leadership. Design promotional opportunities that maximize opportunities for audience interaction and that enrich the community experience. Guest articles, interviews, and joint webinars are effective ways to leverage influencers’ networks.
To truly build trust, you need to show that you’re not just another service provider—you’re an expert in your field.
This goes beyond having the right credentials.
It’s about demonstrating that you understand your industry inside and out.
You can do this through thought leadership content, speaking at industry events, or simply sharing your knowledge through blogs and social media. The more you position yourself as a knowledgeable resource, the more your prospects will see you as someone they can rely on to guide them through their challenges.
It’s easy to make bold claims in your service descriptions, but if you want to earn trust, you need to back them up. Be transparent about your process, share data and metrics where possible, and always be ready to show how you’ve delivered similar results in the past.
When you provide clear evidence to support your claims, you’re giving your prospects the confidence they need to move forward with you.
Read more:
Checklist for Customer-Centric B2B Website Design
How to Sharpen Your Value Proposition from a Dull Rock to a Shining Diamond
Need Help with Your B2B Sales Strategy?
Winning in a crowded B2B landscape requires more than just a strong product or service; it calls for establishing your company as a guide through the complex purchasing journey.
At Bevelroom Consulting, we specialize in developing thought leadership for small to medium sized firms, with content and distribution strategies that inspire action from your ideal customers and deliver positive ROI.
We help shape your brand’s narrative to amplify your market presence, accelerate sales, and cultivate enduring customer relationships.
If your B2B sales strategy needs direction or revitalization, we offer a tailored approach that aligns your sales efforts with your clients’ needs, helping you build stronger relationships and drive growth with a customer-centric strategy.
Get started today by booking a strategy conversation.
