B2B SaaS Sales: Definition, Challenges & Uniqueness

Business-to-business (B2B) sales have never been more challenging than right now.

This is why we've come up with this introductory guide into the practice, what it is, the challenges you may face, and how to overcome them, especially in the world of SaaS.

Ready for success to come your way?

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B2B SaaS sales are business-to-business, Software-as-a-Service sales. This means you are selling software made and owned by your business to another that may need it to see more success.

B2B refers to business to business, which means you represent a business when selling and are looking for the correct buyer persona in another company that will benefit the most from your product. Your clients are not just anyone but very specifically selected companies and roles within those companies.

Software-as-a-Service is precisely what the name implies, and it is software that provides a specific service. In the world of B2B, this includes examples such as customer relationship management tools (Salesforce, Hubspot), video conferencing tools (Zoom, Meet), content management services (WordPress, Prismic), and then you can be even more specific with lead generation tools, customer service tools, writing tools, and more.

B2B SaaS sales thus focus on making potential customers aware of the software you offer and how it will improve their business and experience.

There are many reasons B2B SaaS sales differ from B2C (business-to-consumer) sales.

Firstly, the speed of the deal. B2C sales are typically a fast, one-and-done transaction. Even a subscription for a software service not aimed at businesses is a fast transaction that can end anytime. B2B SaaS sales, on the other hand, take time.

As a sales development representative (SDR, it is your responsibility and job to build rapport with potential customers slowly over time. From your interactions with them, you further understand their pain points and needs, qualifying them as potential customers, your strategy, and the product itself. Once those prospects are further along the sales funnel, they establish relationships with their superiors, upper management, and your customer service team. The goal with sales in B2B SaaS is to have a long-standing, positive relationship with your customers and to maintain them as customers as long as possible.

Secondly, B2B SaaS sales are typically a much higher ticket than B2C sales. After all, you are seeking to sell your entire software business. They will probably have multiple users and, ideally, use your product for many years. B2C is a one-and-done sale, sometimes a subscription, but it is a minor ticket and can end quickly.

Thirdly, B2C sales are focused on the most amount of sales possible. While B2B also likes to sell to many people, the goal is to nurture quality leads and relationships over time, leading to fewer overall sales but, as we saw above, at a higher price.

Fourth, B2B SaaS sales have to be made with a logical, fact-first approach a fairly high percentage of the time. B2C relies on emotional story-telling and tends to employ and use marketing more. B2B uses outbound techniques instead, and in these, you have to briefly and clearly demonstrate the value your product will bring to your customers.

Fifth, in a B2C transaction, the one using the product will almost certainly be the client. In B2B SaaS, a lot of the time, the person you are selling to won't be the one directly making use of your product. Instead, they are often purchasing for their team or subordinates to work better, and your prospect can obtain the results they are after for company success.

And finally, as you might have already guessed, the approach in both cases is entirely different. While B2B SaaS and B2C require a competent, developed sales process for success, B2B SaaS relies on building relationships with select leads over time by demonstrating and showcasing industry knowledge as leverage. B2C, on the other hand, relies on marketing and discounts or similar techniques to encourage rapid transactions for high lead volume.

As we saw, B2B SaaS sales are about building a relationship with your customers. But they've often never heard of you, or your company.

So you need to prove to them that you are here to provide value.

By adding statistics or social proof points to your outreach, you can start familiarizing them with you and your offer. Use humor to charm them further, and to encourage them to do their own research. Both sales and marketing teams have to be aligned in the messaging in the world of B2B for these approaches to work, as prospects will look your company up.

You want them to like you and your approach as a salesperson, and see the worth in purchasing your product. Communicating this as succinctly and specifically to their situation as possible is key, and more complicated than it sounds at first.

Doing it well is what will help you distinguish yourself from your peers, no matter what sales outbound method you use, as you will see success.

A big issue SDRs in SaaS face when doing outreach is convincing prospects to give them a chance when there is so much software out there already. If there is one sector that has grown tremendously in the past few years, it is indisputably tech.

This means your prospects are constantly being bombarded with eager SDRs hoping to convince them to use their new tool. And they have become more resistant over time, as not all software is built the same.

You need to be prepared to overcome such resistance and prove your company's worth to them. Use data, customer stories, demos - everything you can to your advantage. Remember, you are also learning from them as you go, so you always want to keep them involved and have them inform you of their reaction so that you can learn for the future and adjust your approach.

As mentioned previously, the B2B sales cycle takes a longer time.

It results in a lot of back and forth between your company and theirs, as they often need the approval of multiple stakeholders, and these stakeholders have to be convinced that your software is worth it too. Your prospect has to be in your corner absolutely, and you want to be as involved as you can be, without crossing any boundaries.

Checking in occasionally and offering assistance is important, but so is having patience and not constantly following up on your prospects to see how things are going. Accept that some will take longer and give them time while focusing on other deals and generating new leads.

While technology has granted us a lot of new tools, it has also raised concerns about data security and privacy.

Any B2B SaaS company around today must be able to respond to any concerns surrounding these issues. This means sales teams have to know the answer to such questions as well, as you can never know when they will pop up throughout the sales process.

The quicker and more succinct your response to such questions, the better for you and your prospect's peace of mind, making it more likely for you to move them along the next stage of the sales funnel.

If you don't have any responses ready, it is a good time to start drafting some.

There are two factors at play here.

Firstly, technology continues demonstrating how it can improve and open new doors. ChatGPT is just one example of it. This means customer needs and demands will evolve over time as they see what is out there. As a salesperson, you must be ready to adapt immediately, and your company and product must match this adaptability. Test new markets and new customer profiles, find ways in which your product can evolve into more fields, and find more users.

Secondly, upselling is often practiced because B2B SaaS is a relationship that continues over time. Either by encouraging customers to add more users or responding to customer needs with new features or products to better meet their demands and needs. When this happens, and it is successful, sales teams can also begin to use it as part of their strategy to increase their chances of success in a volatile market.

B2B SaaS sales are not going away any time soon, you can be sure of that.

But they constantly evolve over time, and salespeople looking for success need to keep an eye out for this evolution.

Interested in joining a company that will set you up for success in the world of B2B SaaS sales?

Become an SDR at SalesPipe and work with top sales teams and SaaS customers!