What is Enterprise Selling or Enterprise Sales?
If you sell complex and large-scale products or services to large organizations, you practice Enterprise Selling, which is also known as Enterprise Sales or Complex Sales. As an enterprise seller, you deal with multiple decision-makers and long sales cycles, unlike regular sellers.
Your goal is to create tailored solutions that meet the specific needs of the enterprise, hence the name.
Despite the term “enterprise selling” suggesting it only involves businesses, it also includes selling to large non-business organizations, such as government agencies, the military, or educational institutions.
Gong.io has the following definition of the term:
“Enterprise sales is simply the process of selling products and services to large corporations. Enterprise clients have thousands of employees and millions of dollars in revenue and can easily commit to six-figure contracts. For that reason, the sales process is longer and more complex.”
Understanding Enterprise Selling
Enterprise selling is not just about making a sale; it’s about building relationships. You need to understand the goals and *pain points of the organization you are targeting. This requires extensive research and planning.
* Pain points are specific problems, frustrations, or challenges that a customer or client experiences with products, services, or within their operational environment.
You must also find out as much as you can about the organization’s structure, key players, and decision-making process.
The Sales Cycle
In enterprise selling, the sales cycle is longer than in other types of sales. It involves several stages, including prospecting, qualifying, presenting, negotiating, and closing.
To successfully proceed from one stage to the next requires careful attention and a well-planned strategy. Throughout the whole process, you must build trust and demonstrate value.
Let’s take a look at the five stages:
-
Prospecting
This is the stage where you identify prospects. A prospect is a potential client.
-
Qualifying
In this stage, you determine whether the prospect is a good fit. You assess their needs, budget, and decision-making authority.
-
Presenting
You present your solutions to the prospect. This often involves detailed presentations, demonstrations, and discussions about how the solution meets their needs.
-
Negotiating
Negotiating begins once the prospect is interested. You discuss terms, pricing, delivery dates, and other details to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
-
Closing
In this stage, you and your prospect finalize all terms and get the necessary approvals. This is also the stage when the prospect turns into a customer.
Key Skills for Enterprise Selling
Here are some of the skills you should have if you want to become an expert enterprise seller:
-
Communication
The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is crucial. You need to convey complex information in a way that is easy to understand.
-
Problem-Solving
You must be able to identify the organization’s problems and offer suitable solutions.
-
Relationship-Building
Building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders is essential. This helps you gain trust and secure long-term business.
-
Strategic Thinking
You must think strategically to create tailored solutions that meet your prospect’s unique needs.
-
Patience & Persistence
Given the long sales cycles, patience is key. You must be persistent and not rush the process.
Benefits of Enterprise Selling
- It often leads to larger sales and long-term contracts, which, for your business, means a stable revenue stream.
- It also helps your company build a strong brand reputation and credibility in the market.
- Successful enterprise selling can lead to more opportunities through referrals and increased market presence.
Other Selling Methods
Enterprise selling is one of dozens of different selling methods. Let’s take a look at nine other methods, their meanings, and examples of how they can be used in a sentence:
Consultative selling is all about understanding the customer’s needs and providing solutions tailor-made for them.
Example: “Consultative selling helps salespeople address a prospect’s specific problems with customized solutions.”
This method focuses on presenting your product or service as the answer to the customer’s specific problems.
Example: “Solution selling involves understanding a client’s pain points and demonstrating how your product is the ultimate fix.”
-
Relationship Selling
Building trust and rapport with the customer is key in this approach. The focus is on developing long-term partnerships.
Example: “Relationship selling emphasizes building trust with the customer, fostering a sense of collaboration rather than just a one-time sale.”
-
Needs-Based Selling
This method prioritizes identifying the customer’s underlying needs and desires, then tailoring your pitch to address them directly.
Example: “Needs-based selling starts with uncovering the customer’s true needs, not just what they initially say they want.”
Here, the emphasis is on highlighting the value proposition of your offering. You showcase the tangible benefits the customer will receive.
Example: “Value selling focuses on demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) the customer will experience with your product.”
This technique involves encouraging the customer to purchase a higher-end version of the product they’re considering.
Example: “Upselling might involve suggesting a premium service plan alongside the initial product purchase.”
This method focuses on recommending complementary products or services that enhance the customer’s initial purchase.
Example: “Cross-selling could involve recommending a printer cartridge refill program when a customer buys a new printer.”
-
Inbound Selling or Inbound Marketing
This approach focuses on attracting customers through valuable content and building relationships before directly pushing a sale.
Example: “Inbound selling utilizes informative blog posts and social media engagement to attract leads who are already interested in the product category.”
This method prioritizes completing the immediate sale, focusing on product features and benefits rather than long-term relationships.
Example: “Transactional selling is often used for low-cost, everyday items where the focus is on a quick exchange of goods for money.”
Final Thoughts
Enterprise selling is a complex but extremely rewarding process. You need to have a deep understanding of your target organization, strong relationship-building skills, and a strategic approach.
By focusing on these elements, you can successfully navigate the challenges of enterprise selling and achieve significant business growth.
Is this type of selling right for you? If you crave a challenge, enjoy building business relationships, and have a strategic mind, then this specialized field could be a great fit.
Video – What is Enterprise Selling?
This video comes from our sister YouTube channel – Marketing Business Network. It explains what “Enterprise Selling” is using easy-to-understand language and examples.