According to Forrester Research, 53 percent of B2B buyers make over half of their purchases digitally. As a result, the B2B sales force is moving online en masse. But, for many salespeople, the digital sales process has a steep learning curve – as evidenced by the paltry 24 percent of sales emails that get opened by buyers.
Leads have the power of the internet at their fingertips, and they’re using it. 89 percent of them make 12 searches for information before deciding on a product. They’re more well-informed than buyers have ever been, and B2B sales has changed as a result.
Online B2B sales doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark, though. There are evidence-backed, tried-and-tested methods for getting the attention of leads in the incredibly competitive world of e-commerce, and you can learn a lot of them for free. Templates, in particular, eliminate hours of busy-work, letting you focus on nurturing leads and meeting sales goals.
Here’s our list of the 6 best B2B sales templates that you can get for free, right now.
1. Articulate’s B2B Inbound sales playbook
Our free start-to-finish sales playbook covers everything from goal-setting to final negotiations, with templates for each step of the journey. You’ll get outlines for buyer personas, sales video scripts, emails and more, and we’ve gathered a laundry list of sales tools. If there was ever a one stop shop for getting B2B sales right, this would be it:
2. HubSpot’s video marketing starter pack
According to HubSpot’s own research, over half of B2B buyers want to see more video content from businesses. Their starter pack is, predictably, full of useful videos as well as script templates and guides to filming, editing and distribution. If you’re looking to use video to sell, start here.
3. YesWare’s sales call script templates
Phone calls? Didn’t I just spend three paragraphs telling you that B2B sales was moving online? Yes, but it would be foolish to pretend that calls don’t still have their place in the sales process. 41 percent of salespeople say that calls are the best weapon in their arsenal, so it’s helpful to know how to do them. YesWare have put together script templates for every occasion that are free to download and customise. Helpfully, they also explain the thinking behind each one.
4. Business2Community’s social selling templates
83 percent of B2B marketers say that social media is the channel they use most often. With so many businesses meeting leads on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, it’s vital to standout. Business2Community have tailored their templates to each social channel, ensuring that you’re speaking to potential customers in the right tone on the right platform.
5. Canva.com’s endless Instagram templates
Instagram is becoming increasingly relevant for B2B salespeople. With over 2.3 billion users, it’s worth building your Insta-presence. Creating effective visual content requires significant time investment – and talent – but Canva does the legwork by providing templates for every kind of post. There’s a free version with plenty of designs, and a ‘Pro’ service if you find yourself using it more often.
6. Mailshake’s follow-up email templates
‘Cold emailing’ can be a difficult game to play. You don’t want to annoy prospects by peppering their inbox with plaintive messages, but you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to develop a relationship, either. Mailshake have gathered 14 templates that have gotten them – and others – positive results in the past.
The above templates represent years of trial and error; you get to benefit from the results. Inject your own voice into them, and you’ll have something akin to a ready-made B2B sales strategy, all for the low, low price of… absolutely nothing. As far as investments go, that’s tough to beat. Now go forth and sell!