How B2B sales teams can close more deals in half the time

What is sales closing and why does it matter?

Sales closing is the final stage of the sales process where you secure a commitment from your prospect to purchase your product or service. It’s the culmination of all your relationship-building, needs assessment, and solution presentation efforts.

Mastering sales closing techniques is crucial because the average sales close rate stands at approximately 29%, meaning seven out of every ten qualified prospects still fail to convert. For B2B sales teams, improving your close rate by even a few percentage points can dramatically impact revenue growth.

Effective closing isn’t about pressure tactics—it’s about guiding qualified prospects through a logical decision-making process. When you understand your prospect’s needs, timeline, and budget constraints, closing becomes a natural progression rather than a high-pressure moment.

We often think of sales as a numbers game. The more prospects, the more leads, the more eventual deals closed. And when we consider our success as directly correlating with the amount of ongoing conversations with sales leads, we can become obsessed with holding onto them.

We all know the old drill to have as many leads in the pipeline as possible, but let’s not forget that the drill can be changed! This is especially true now in a digital world that has experienced a global pandemic. It’s more important than ever to be strategic about which prospects we pursue — and how.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic placed its mitts on the economy, companies have had to change the way they do business: New accounts make up a lower percentage of closed deals compared with renewal accounts; B2B and B2C interactions are more often carried out online rather than person-to-person; and, with less money to move around, win rates are all around lower. So during this unique period, how do we avoid wasting time on dead-end opportunities and close more deals faster?

Start with pre-funnel research

For B2B sales teams targeting enterprise clients, thorough prospect research is your foundation for success. Sure, you could contact anyone with any vague potential to be a buyer, but why would you want to? Instead, a great first step in a responsible sales process is thoroughly researching prospects and competitors. Visit their websites, take a look at social media and blog posts, and look for news not only by them, but about them. Learn more about the industry as well as what competitors are doing.

This is particularly relevant nowadays as you may be able to discern companies that are, for instance, having financial trouble or changing management since the COVID crisis began. There may also be evidence that consumers, both businesses and individuals, have altered buying habits regarding a product depending on how Coronavirus has affected each industry. SaaS and pajamas are just a couple of commodities to be aware of that have become more popular.

Remember to also confer with your marketing department, which probably already has done a good deal of research! All of this information will not only help you disqualify prospects early on but will also allow for better discourse with those that you do end up contacting. Ultimately, you will be able to close more deals later on.

Pre-Closing Research Checklist

• Company financial health and recent news
• Key decision-makers and their backgrounds
• Current technology stack and potential integration needs
• Recent funding rounds or business expansions
• Competitor analysis and market positioning
• Industry-specific challenges and trends

Maximise the effectiveness of your first sales call

Think of your first sales call as your launchpad—how you set the stage here determines your entire sales trajectory. The goal is to find out in this first meeting if the prospect’s need, timeline, and price point are a good fit for your product by asking the right questions. If your customer’s dilemma is thick, messy hair and you’re in the business of selling scrunchies, you can check off the first box for a qualified lead.

Equally important is the prospect’s purchasing timeline. They might sound fascinated by what you’re offering, but if they already have a contract with another business that doesn’t end until June 2023, you’re at a standstill. You might make a note for yourself about a future possibility, but they can’t be reasonably funnelled into your sales pipeline to be counted towards your expected quota. Instead, perhaps their timeline has a compelling event: “We’re opening up five new stores in two months and we need a system to manage our inventory by then.” This is promising information that will let you prioritise a lead.

Very often a prospect wants to talk about pricing right away. Ask them their budget, and then don’t hesitate to provide a price range. After all, this helps you, too. Making sure that your product is within their budget keeps you from wasting any time going down a dead-end.

If you can figure out what a potential customer needs in this first meeting, and your product could be a match for them, it’s a well-qualified lead to pursue. If not, you can disqualify them early on, letting you devote more time to the deals you can close.

Effective communication strategies for closing deals

With the coronavirus forcing us to remain socially distant, more interactions are happening online or on the phone. At the same time, both the buyer and the seller side crave the intimacy of a face-to-face meeting. Consequently, a direct result of COVID-19 is that more conversations are taking place by phone, social media, and SMS this year than they did in 2019.

Know the best medium to stay in touch with your leads so that you don’t spend time writing emails that they might not read!

Setting clear next steps to move deals forward

You’ve asked all of the right questions, your product fits the client’s need, timeline, and budget, and you’re ready to get into more detail. This is the point at which you want to get a transparent agenda on the table.

Say Judy’s going to buy a car. She’s got a new job in Nashville starting August 1st and she needs to pack up and drive with her belongings by late July. That means she needs a car by next week. The car salesman should offer to let her test drive the car this week, check whether her stuff will fit in the vehicle, and ask her what else she needs before she can make the decision to buy. Hashing out all of these details with a potential client creates a tangible plan towards a deal and weeds out remaining issues that might disqualify a lead.

It’s crucial to confirm everything the lead has said. The parties may have been conversing for a while at this point, and no detail should be missed. During this process Judy might correct the car salesman, “No, no, my job starts next August.” This could, of course, vastly affect the timeline of the sale.

When selling to businesses, the process is comparable; get your lead to confirm the steps needed from senior management and legal, financial, and HR departments to get the deal on the table, and offer a trial. Regardless of industry, establishing a transparent agenda sets in motion a small mental promise from the client and will ultimately help you close more deals.

Focus on existing customers

80 percent of your future profit will come from 20 percent of your existing customers. Allocating energy towards current clients’ satisfaction will save you a lot of time in the long run. This is truer than ever before: In the fourth quarter of 2019, renewal accounts made up 78% of opportunities available to sales teams. That’s up from 64% in 2018.

You’ve already put the work into these accounts. If you can successfully renew their contracts, you’ll close more deals in a fraction of the time it would take to pursue a new lead.

Customer Retention Strategies

• Regular check-ins and business reviews
• Proactive identification of expansion opportunities
• Exceptional customer support and success management
• Early renewal discussions with value demonstration
• Cross-selling and upselling based on usage patterns

Proven sales closing techniques and examples

Mastering specific closing techniques gives you multiple approaches to secure commitment from qualified prospects. Here are the most effective methods used by successful B2B sales teams:

The Assumptive Close

Proceed as if the prospect has already decided to buy. Example: “When would you like to begin the implementation process?” This works best when you’ve identified strong buying signals throughout your conversation.

The Summary Close

Recap the key benefits and value propositions before asking for commitment. Example: “So we’ve established that our platform will save your team 10 hours per week and improve forecast accuracy by 40%. Shall we move forward with the pilot programme?”

The Urgency Close

Create legitimate time pressure based on genuine constraints. Example: “We have two implementation slots available this quarter. Would you prefer to start in March or April?”

The Alternative Close

Offer two positive choices rather than a yes/no decision. Example: “Would you prefer the standard package or the enterprise solution with advanced analytics?”

The Question Close

Ask a direct question that leads to commitment. Example: “Based on everything we’ve discussed, what concerns do you have about moving forward?”

How to handle objections during the closing process

Objections are a natural part of the sales process, not roadblocks to avoid. Approximately 39% of objections can be successfully overturned if addressed with appropriate techniques and information.

The LAER Method

• Listen: Let the prospect fully express their concern
• Acknowledge: Validate their concern as legitimate
• Explore: Ask questions to understand the root cause
• Respond: Address the specific concern with relevant information

Common Objections and Responses

Common challenges in closing deals and how to overcome them

Understanding typical obstacles helps you prepare strategies to address them proactively. Between 40-60% of deals lost end up in the “no decision” category rather than being actively won by competitors.

Challenge 1: Prospect Indecision

Solution: Create urgency through compelling events and demonstrate the cost of inaction. Use case studies showing similar companies’ success.

Challenge 2: Multiple Decision Makers

Solution: Map the decision-making process early. Identify champions, influencers, and final approvers. Provide materials for internal selling.

Challenge 3: Budget Constraints

Solution: Demonstrate clear ROI and offer flexible payment terms. Position your solution as an investment, not an expense.

Challenge 4: Timing Misalignment

Solution: Understand their business calendar and priorities. Stay engaged with valuable content until timing improves.

How to leverage technology to close more deals

Revenue technology platforms can significantly accelerate your sales process and improve close rates. Organizations implementing digital sales rooms experience up to 67% reductions in sales cycle length and 51% improvements in proposal-to-close conversion rates.

Key Technology Categories

• CRM Systems: Centralise prospect data and track interactions
• Sales Engagement Platforms: Automate follow-ups and sequence communications
• Revenue Intelligence: Analyse conversation data and predict outcomes
• Digital Sales Rooms: Create collaborative spaces for prospect engagement
• E-signature Tools: Streamline contract execution

Revenue Grid’s AI-powered guided selling platform exemplifies how technology can transform your closing process by providing real-time insights, automated data capture, and predictive analytics to identify the best opportunities to focus your efforts.

The big picture

Every little moment spent communicating with prospects and tracking their data adds up. Eventually, a salesman could find himself losing hours – or even days! – each week working on a lead that, well, just won’t lead anywhere. Disqualifying fruitless leads early on and laying out a plan with the promising ones allows you to focus on those more likely to close. Staying in tune with the evolving sales environment is critical, too.

Why Revenue Grid Wins

• AI-powered guided selling—competitors offer manual playbooks
• Seamless Salesforce and email integration
• Proven results: Vapotherm saved 761 working days in one year
• 360-degree pipeline visibility with predictive analytics
• Native CRM integration with enterprise-grade security

Compare Revenue Grid to other solutions

If saving time is your goal, Revenue Grid’s AI-powered guided selling gives you intelligent playbooks, real-time pipeline snapshots, and automated reminders—saving your team hours per week. The platform outperforms competitors by integrating seamlessly with Salesforce and automating manual tasks end-to-end. See how we compare.

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