Stairway to Heaven: 7 Steps to Sales Success

You know who your ideal customer is. But then?! Approach everything that is loose and fixed? No, not anymore. With these 7 steps you achieve more and more sustainable success in your sales.

As an entrepreneur in the B2B landscape, I am always looking for systems and structures to set up processes as effectively and efficiently as possible. Hang a dashboard on it and you can perfectly monitor where in the process you need to improve exactly.

What I notice is that many entrepreneurs can describe their ideal customer excellently in, for example, an ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). If I ask how many of those there are or more specifically, who those are, I often get a list of names that people conjure up from memory. Often an address database has been purchased once and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of companies that “meet” this ideal customer profile. Then all kinds of actions are set up to entice prospects to fill in a contact form or request a product demo. Email marketing, <a href="/nl/wiki/cold-calling" class="text-[#4368b0] hover: text-[#ed6e1c] underline">cold calling</a>, SEA, social ads, you name it. Complete budgets are burned on shit.

The 7 steps to ‘The Stairway to Heaven’

The urge for growth brought me to structure and systems that became better and more scalable. In 2022 we ended with 30 new B2B customers who deliver at least an ARR (annual recurring revenue) of 10,000 euros. For us a fantastic result that we, in all probability, are even going to surpass in 2023. What is even more fun and also more valuable is that we help our customers implement this system so that they become much more successful. These are the 7 steps we call ‘The Stairway to Heaven’ within Match-day, named after the iconic record by rock band Led Zeppelin. One of my favorite songs by the way ;).

Step 1: Knowing the ICP through and through

Before I start approaching prospects, I am obsessed with who they are, what occupies them and where they are located. Before I approach them, I want to have a sharp focus on who my ideal customers are. Instead of purchasing an address database of 2000 accounts and polluting our <a href="/nl/wiki/crm" class="text-[#4368b0] hover: text-[#ed6e1c] underline">CRM</a> with them, I have reduced this to 300 companies. Fewer prospects, more results.

Step 2: Market research

Before you approach even one prospect, you want to know if your proposition hits home. Besides existing customers, you also want to know what other prospects from the market think about this. You would do well to first do a market research and look for respondents from your most important target group.

Step 3: Set up a new business system

We do this in large quantities, but for every B2B entrepreneur the following should be possible:

In that way you always have a full funnel. And do it even when you are busy, because that way you prevent alternating between peaks and troughs in terms of workload.

Step 4: Objections are an opportunity

After a few years as an entrepreneur in the B2B landscape I found out that 95% of all prospects have (approximately) the same objections at the front end: no time, no interest, we already have a supplier. I made “battle cards” with the most common objections and how to handle them. Important to know that many objections in the beginning of your “relationship” with a prospect are mainly emotional objections and not so much substantive.

Step 5: Good qualification

You want a pipeline with as little waste as possible in it, so you don't waste your time. I therefore maintain these two criteria so that I am in the lead as much as possible:

3 times YES is a big chance of business.

Step 6: Show your value

Show which steps you follow to bring your customers from point A to point B, as concrete as possible, instead of just sending a quote with a price. A cake is easier to eat if you cut it into 12 pieces than if you have to put it in your mouth all at once. A good way to limit the risk for your customer at the front end but still be able to show your value is by working with a proof of concept.

Step 7: Make the first step small

Nobody is waiting for a direct commitment of 5 years with a new supplier. You don't want that yourself, so why would your potential customers want that? Let them get to know your services in a low-threshold way. An immediate commitment for example for 100k is quite drastic. On the other hand, investing 3k to gain experience with a new supplier who seems suitable beforehand is not so risky for many companies at all. It enables you to show what you are worth and thus possibly reach a long-term relationship.

Summary

With these 7 steps on the stairway to heaven you take the same direction towards profitable and scalable growth. Good luck!