Why storytelling is also relevant in B2B sales!
Gert-jan de Rooij
09-12-2021
Good storytelling is an important ingredient of a modern way of selling. Moreover, storytelling - especially in B2B - is a great way to connect with your target group and share knowledge with them. It strengthens your brand and creates more involvement. And very powerful: you work on your thoughtleadership or knowledge leadership. How do you do that?
Creative, distinctive, socially involved; as a company you have to show it all to stand out in the forest of competition. The time of going through life faceless is definitely over. A modern sales approach includes responsive websites, active social media channels, storytelling and regular webinars or virtual roundtables to share valuable knowledge with (potential) customers and deepen your relationships.
75% of sales in the Netherlands do not (yet) use storytelling and knowledge sharing via blogs. Such a shame!
Know your target group
Nevertheless, our benchmark research trend report Sales of the Future among over one hundred reputable companies in the Netherlands shows that 75% do not use storytelling and hardly share any knowledge via blogs. Also, only about 15% are able to show their knowledge leadership through, for example, webinars, video calls and virtual roundtables. That's a shame! Because this is exactly how you can come into contact with prospects in an empathic way, evoke recognition and strengthen your relationship.
But how do you find the story that strikes the right chord? Get inside the head of your target group. Know what they are up against, know the problems they experience and thus claim your knowledge leadership. You can do that very well as a company, but also as a person within a company.
Claim your knowledge leadership
Claiming knowledge leadership is a great way to stand out from your competitors. For example, by sharing relevant insights through blogs or videos on LinkedIn or webinars, you build trust with your business buyers. They increasingly take the expertise of a supplier into account in their orientation process. By sharing relevant insights, you show that you understand what your target audience is struggling with. But also that you are able to provide solutions for them.
Talk to successful customers and ask them what they struggle with and see as opportunities for growth".
Make content interesting
Relevant experiences are always the start of storytelling with which you claim your knowledge leadership! Think about the themes and issues that are playing in the industry and check who within your company is the expert on those issues. What is their vision, their opinion and their experience with everything that is going on in the market? That is where the interesting content lies.
Be sure to engage with successful customers and ask them what they struggle with and see as opportunities for growth. We did this ourselves recently via benchmark research into the future of sales, because we wanted to know what sales teams are struggling with now and whether they are ready for the sales future. What are they facing and what are their biggest challenges? This yielded interesting insights, which we then shared via a thorough trend report, blogs and a whitepaper. In this way, we can show our relations and (potential) customers that we understand them, are involved and know where things are going in B2B sales. Extremely valuable.
What I really like is that knowledge sharing is not exclusive to digital channels. It can also be done at a fair, event or workshop. For me, it's the perfect opportunity to network and it's fun too!
Download our trend report
Would you like to join the storytelling adventure and surprise your prospects and customers with insights and experiences and how you can possibly help them on their way? We'd love to help you on your way.
And if you are curious whether your sales team is completely future-proof, download the Kenneth Smit trend report Sales of the Future. You will immediately know why a small group of front runners is doing so well!
