How to close a B2B prospect
Booking meetings is great, closing them is better
3/31/20265 min read
Sometimes, B2B founders and Heads of Sales expect leads generated through B2B prospecting to be just as easy to convert as leads coming from their professional network or referrals.
But then reality hits when they look at average B2B closing rates.
While 50% or more of referred leads may turn into customers, only 5–25% of qualified meetings generated through prospecting typically convert into paying customers.
That's a pretty wide range, because products, markets, and average deal sizes can vary enormously.
In terms of conversion rates and overall efficiency, multichannel B2B prospecting clearly loses out to referrals, word of mouth, and even certain inbound channels (although there's a little more nuance to that last comparison).
However, where B2B prospecting becomes interesting is that it can generate just as many, or even more, business opportunities than referrals, word of mouth, or inbound marketing.
It also allows you to expand your professional network through new business relationships, which can eventually lead to even more referrals and opportunities.
I'm not a closing expert across 36 different markets and products, unlike cold calling, which is my area of expertise.
However, I've personally closed several dozen companies from leads generated through my own outbound prospecting efforts. I've also managed to double my closing rate by using a few relatively simple techniques that I'm going to share with you here.
How to Double Your B2B Closing Rate
Let's start by looking at what is probably the worst sales technique out there, and also one of the most common. From there, we'll identify several ways to improve the process.
Here's what the worst approach looks like:
You spend 30–45 minutes delivering a PowerPoint presentation covering every single feature of your product or service to a prospect who simply sits there watching.
Then, at the end, you ask them to get back to you by email if they're interested.
There are three major problems with this approach:
1. No real interaction with the prospect.
You have no idea what exactly interests them about your product or why they're considering it in the first place.
As a result, you can't provide relevant information or tailor your explanations and arguments to their specific situation.
2. No structure or direction to the conversation.
The sales call is treated as a neutral presentation, with the prospect simply acting as a spectator.
Spoiler alert: they're not going to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. They're much more likely to turn off their camera or even take a nap.
3. Very low closing rates.
You haven't validated the prospect's actual interest or agreed on any clear next steps.
They'll move straight on to their next video call or meeting, and your entire conversation will be forgotten within three days at the latest.
That's usually around the same time you start refreshing your inbox every five minutes.
Set the Agenda and Take Control of the Conversation
Right at the beginning of the sales call, it's extremely important to establish the tone and structure of the conversation.
You can simply say:
"Today, the goal of this meeting is to see whether it would make sense for us to work together, and if so, agree on the next steps."
It might sound obvious, but setting the agenda and taking the lead during the call is essential. Otherwise, you'll miss the opportunity to have a genuinely productive conversation with the prospect.
Have a Real Conversation with the Prospect
You only have 30–45 minutes with the prospect, so you need to quickly understand why they agreed to meet with you and what interests them most about your product or service.
That way, you can focus the conversation on what actually matters to them.
A simple approach is to give a short overview of all your different offerings at the beginning of the call, then ask whether any of them might be particularly relevant to their situation.
Once you've identified a clearer need, start asking questions to understand in greater depth what motivated them to speak with you and explore their specific requirements.
For my industry (outsourced B2B prospecting services), these are the questions I typically ask:
What are your usual customer acquisition channels?
How many new customers do these channels generate per month or quarter?
How long does a typical B2B customer relationship last?
In theory, how many additional customers could you handle per month or quarter without making service delivery too complicated?
From there, I'll summarize their answers:
"So, today you're generating approximately XXX new customers per month/quarter, whereas theoretically, you could be generating XXX."
These questions aren't necessarily important to me in themselves. The idea is simply to get the prospect to recognize and internalize the potential value of developing prospecting as an additional customer acquisition channel.
I can't do that for them. They need to reach that conclusion themselves.
And most of the time, that's 90% of the closing process: you need to help prospects convince themselves, or disqualify themselves, based on their own situation.
You're not there to convince them. You're simply there to help them recognize what's already in front of them.
After that, I'll ask the questions that are actually important to me:
How big is your addressable market?
What's your average deal size?
Who exactly are you looking to target through prospecting?
Which industries do your best existing customers operate in?
Based on these answers, I can estimate the results I could potentially generate for them each month and present the corresponding pricing.
Agree on Clear Next Steps
If the prospect tells you they're interested at the end of the call, don't assume you've already got the deal.
This is one of the most underestimated, yet most important, moments in the entire closing process.
If you simply wish them a nice day and ask them to get back to you by email over the next few days, congratulations: you've just cut your chances of closing the deal by 50%.
Many salespeople believe that following up properly after a meeting is the key to increasing their closing rates.
I would argue the opposite: you should put yourself in a position where you don't even need to chase the prospect afterwards.
The solution is simple: schedule a second meeting before ending the first one (R1), while you're both still on the call.
Here's why:
Your prospect will probably forget most of your conversation within three days if you haven't scheduled another meeting.
Sometimes, if they already have another meeting or video call immediately after yours, they might even forget about you before the end of the day.
Your follow-up email will then trigger nothing more than an awkward reaction:
"Oh right, what was that about again?"
Don't let inertia kill your deal.
If the prospect is interested at the end of R1, schedule R2 immediately. Include both the date and the purpose of the meeting in the calendar invitation.
Ideally, R2 should take place within the next two weeks.
This way, the prospect is much more likely to remember you because they've already committed to a specific time slot, and their calendar will remind them when the time comes.
It's also important to have a genuine reason for scheduling R2, rather than simply saying you want to "get an update on the project or potential engagement" (although that can work too).
Personally, I use R2 to prepare the cold calling campaign itself: developing the phone pitch, anticipating objections, refining the target audience, discussing any potential concerns the prospect might have, and so on.
Conclusion
By structuring your sales calls properly, having genuine conversations with prospects, and agreeing on clear next steps, you can often double your closing rate.
Doubling your closing rate is a big deal because it effectively doubles the profitability of all your B2B prospecting efforts.
Congratulations, you've become a real businessperson!
If you previously had a 5% closing rate on €40K deals, you're now at 10%.
If you had a 10% closing rate on €10K deals, you're now at 20%.
And if you were closing 25% of your €3K–€4K deals, you're now at... 50%!
Want more qualified meetings to close, or learn how to book them in the first place? Send me a message at louis@outbound-machine.com