Be there when it counts

In B2B sales, the most critical moments often happen when you're not in the room. According to industry studies, sales representatives only spend 5% of a deal’s lifecycle in direct interaction with prospects, leaving the other 95% to internal discussions among stakeholders. These unseen discussions can make or break a deal. The question is: how can you ensure your voice is heard and your value proposition resonates when you're not physically present?

Understanding the Internal Dynamics of a Buying Center

B2B deals are rarely straightforward. Most involve a buying center - an intricate web of stakeholders from IT, Legal, Finance, Marketing, and Management- each with their own priorities and concerns. The sales representative may initially engage with one or two champions who advocate for the solution, but closing the deal depends on convincing everyone else.

Here’s the challenge: stakeholders who never interact directly with sales must still grasp and support the solution. Strongly assume that these individuals are always busy, juggling multiple priorities, and have limited bandwidth to evaluate your pitch and maybe other external solutions at the same time. Without the right tools and information, they may either deprioritize the project or reject it outright.

The Cost of Absence: Missed Opportunities and Delayed Deals

When sales reps don’t effectively influence internal discussions, the costs are significant. Deals take longer to close as questions and objections pile up, with stakeholders failing to align. Worse, deals can stall indefinitely or even fall apart because key decision-makers didn’t see the full picture or misunderstood the offering.

Consider this: even with a strong champion advocating for you, if an IT decision-maker perceives your solution as a security risk, or if Legal struggles to understand the compliance benefits, the deal may be derailed. These scenarios occur frequently because critical stakeholders don’t have the time or resources to investigate every detail of your solution on their own.

The Role of the Champion: Your Advocate in Uncharted Territory

In many B2B deals, the champion plays a crucial role as your internal advocate. However, champions are often not seasoned buyers, they might be passionate about your solution but lack experience navigating their organization’s buying processes. They may be unsure how to address objections from IT, Legal, or Finance, or how to present your value proposition effectively. This is where providing support becomes vital.

Tools to Maintain Presence Without Being Present

So how can sales teams extend their influence into those unseen discussions? The answer lies in providing stakeholders with the right information at the right time - packaged in a way that’s both accessible and compelling. This is where tools like dealday’s dealrooms come into play.

A dealroom acts as a central hub where all stakeholders can access tailored information specific to their roles and concerns. For example, IT can review technical specifications, Legal can assess compliance documents, and Finance can evaluate cost-benefit analyses - all without needing to dig through lengthy email chains or attend multiple meetings.

By automating and personalizing this process, dealday ensures every stakeholder gets exactly what they need to move forward confidently, reducing delays and misunderstandings.

Influence Through Value: Hyper-Personalization as a Game-Changer

For stakeholders with limited time, personalized content is critical. Imagine a Legal team receiving a concise document addressing their top compliance concerns, or a CFO reviewing a one-page ROI summary that speaks directly to their priorities. These stakeholders don’t have the bandwidth to sift through generic presentations or lengthy PDFs. They need targeted insights that resonate immediately.

With dealday, sales reps can pre-configure stakeholder-specific views, ensuring that each individual sees only the most relevant content. This approach not only saves time but also positions the seller as an empathetic and professional partner who understands the buyer’s internal dynamics. The champion can invite additional stakeholders to the dealroom, who review the materials at their convenience. The shared timeline ensures everyone knows their responsibilities and next steps. The result? A faster, smoother decision-making process and a closed deal.

Turning the 95% into Your Competitive Edge

The silent majority of the B2B sales cycle doesn’t have to be a black hole of uncertainty. By leveraging tools like dealday, sales teams can maintain their presence, influence key discussions, and guide stakeholders toward a positive outcome, even when they’re not in the room.

The next time you think about your sales strategy, remember this: being there when it counts doesn’t just mean showing up for meetings. It means ensuring your voice is heard during the 95% of the deal that happens behind closed doors.

5 Key Takeaways from "Be There When It Counts"