B2B sales in a crisis: retaining customers

B2B sales in a crisis are primarily a matter of trust: the company’s client is responsible for choosing a supplier and does not want to take any risks. This article shows how management and the sales department can conduct conversations with customers, protect existing contracts, and maintain momentum in new matters.

Reading time: 8 min · Strategies in crisis and expansion · Commplace® since 1996

B2B sales in a crisis: why corporate clients react differently

The individual client often decides quickly and emotionally. The corporate client acts differently: the purchase goes through several decision-makers, it has to fit within the budget, and the person signing the contract is responsible for the consequences before their supervisor. When the supplier is in a difficult situation, the client doesn’t just ask about the price. He asks whether the supplier will meet the deadlines, whether it will survive, and whether the choice will harm my position in the company.

This changes the nature of the business conversation. In a crisis, B2B sales become largely sales of certainty. A salesperson who can calmly explain how the company secures the execution of orders has an advantage over one who merely lowers the price. It is worth remembering this when designing the strategy we discuss in more detail in the article. Marketing strategy in crisis and slowdown.

Keeping customers in a crisis: start with the ones you already have

In difficult times, the cheapest and most reliable source of revenue are usually existing customers. Acquiring new ones takes time and trust, which the market is giving cautiously today. Therefore, the first step is a list of customers arranged according to their importance to the company and the risk of loss, with a designated contact person on the management or sales side. Key customers should hear from the company before they hear it from someone else.

A conversation with an existing customer does not have to be sales-oriented. Its goal is to ask how his situation is changing, what he needs from the supplier in the coming months, and what the company can do to help him. Such conversations provide two benefits: they strengthen the relationship and reveal signals about future needs or problems before they manifest themselves in numbers. We also describe the rules of communication with the environment in a situation of tension in the text about Communication of changes and restructuring.

How to talk to a B2B client when the company is going through a difficult time

The rules are simple, but they require discipline. Tell the truth to the extent that you can, and do not promise what you do not know. Focus on what concerns the customer: deadlines, quality, contact, guarantees. Do not go into details about internal issues if they are not relevant to the customer; but do not deny obvious facts that the customer can find in the media. Nothing destroys trust more than denying what the customer already knows.

It is worth preparing a short conversation card for salespeople: what is the company’s official position, what questions do we answer ourselves, and which formulations do we avoid? A unified message is important because customers often talk to several people in the company and compare their words. If the situation is of an image-building nature, the conversation card should be consistent with the public statement, in accordance with the principles described in the text. crisis statement: principles and structure template.

• Start with asking about the client's situation, and only then talk about yourself.
• Provide concrete details regarding the implementation: who, what, when, and how.
• Do not question the facts that the client can check for himself.
• Keep your promises and keep them, even the small ones.
• Determine who in the company is responsible for escalating difficult customer issues.

Evidence of credibility instead of price cuts

Under pressure from results, the temptation to offer discounts arises. A discount can be justified, but when used as the first tool, it has serious side effects: it teaches the customer that price is negotiable without reason and reduces the perceived value of the offer. In many B2B conversations, strengthening confidence works better: references, a description of the quality assurance process, clear contract terms, and verified people on the supplier's side.

Evidence needs to be prepared before the conversation, not during it. References require the client's consent to their use. Descriptions of processes should be truthful and verifiable, not marketing-oriented. When the client requests written assurances, it is worth discussing with a lawyer beforehand what commitments the company may take on. A well-prepared set of evidence shortens conversations and helps salespeople speak with confidence. More about how to build trust in a brand can be found in the text. brand reputation management: strategy.

Shortening the path to decision: how to help the client say „yes”

In slowing down, buying decisions often take longer because the customer adds more people to the approval process or puts the issue on hold. The role of sales is to make the process easier for the customer: prepare materials that the customer can pass on to their management, simplify the offer, clearly describe the risks and their limitations, and propose a phased implementation with the option to pause. The first small step is often easier to accept than a full commitment.

It also helps to understand who really decides. Often the person with whom the salesperson talks is not the final decision-maker. It is worth asking directly about the decision-making process and its deadlines, and then providing what each of the participants needs: the financial director wants to see the risks and costs, the operational director the implementation and deadlines, and the strategic director the sense. Such a match cuts down time and reduces the number of misunderstandings on the way to signing the contract.

1. Agree with the client who participates in the decision-making process and what the criteria are.
2. Prepare a short document that the client can pass on.
3. Propose a phased implementation with clear checkpoints.
4. Set a date for the next contact and a specific issue to be resolved.

The role of marketing and PR in supporting B2B sales in a crisis

Marketing and PR will not replace the sales conversation, but they can take some of the burden off it. Before the meeting, the client checks the company online, in reviews, in the media, and increasingly often asks AI tools who the supplier is. What they find affects the mood in which they sit down to the table. If the materials are transparent, up-to-date, and specific, the salesperson starts the conversation from a better position.

Therefore, in difficult times it is worth organizing your own resources: the company’s website, business cards in search engines, service descriptions, case studies with customer approval, and answers to the most frequently asked questions about the company’s situation. It’s not about a campaign; it’s about order. This order is part of a broader strategy that we present in the pillar of the cluster: Communication strategy in a crisis. If the company is facing image problems, include the rules from the guide. image crisis: how to react step by step.

How to measure the effectiveness of B2B sales in a crisis without making mistakes

During a crisis, it is easy to mistake coincidence for an effect. The client signed a contract for new material? It is possible that the decision was made earlier, and the material only arrived at the right time. Therefore, for every change in sales, we record the initial level and the method of comparison: the previous period, the group of sales representatives working as usual, or a simple test on selected contacts. This allows us to distinguish the impact from the random factor.

Reasonable measures include the number and quality of conversations with key customers, the pace of moving matters through the various stages, the percentage of customers who have maintained the scope of cooperation, and the time from initial contact to signing the agreement. We review these indicators on a regular basis with the management. We do not provide target values here, because they depend on the industry and the sales model, but each measure should have a signed source of data and the owner.

The most common B2B sales mistakes in a crisis

The first mistake is silence towards customers in the hope that they won’t notice anything. They will notice, and the lack of information only deepens the uncertainty. The second is sales conversations conducted without a shared message, in which different people say different things. The third is aggressive discounts as a first reaction. The fourth is focusing on new customers at the expense of existing ones, even though these latter ones usually ensure the stability of revenue. The fifth is the absence of one person on the board responsible for relations with key customers.

The cost of inaction is qualitative, but real: a client who has not heard from us starts talking to the competition, and getting them back is more difficult than keeping them. We are not scaring them; we are pointing them to the simple next step. Start with a list of strategic clients and conversations with them within the next few days. The general framework for action in the event of a more serious situation can be found in the guide. crisis management in a company.

How B2B sales support looks like in the crisis with Navigator

We start with the diagnosis: a list of clients, their significance and risk, the previous communication, and the evidence already available. Then we prepare a plan for the conversation, a communication card for sales representatives, and support materials, including answers to the most difficult questions. We implement the process together with the sales team, and the control involves reviews with the management, with baseline levels, and clear metrics.

Sales is the work of your team; our role is to ensure communication is clear and to prepare for difficult conversations. We do not promise sales results; we promise consistency, evidence, and discipline in implementation. You can find more about our approach in the description. crisis management in Commplace®, and when you want to get down to specifics, arrange an interview.

Source: compilation by Commplace®. Examples and animations are illustrative; they do not constitute legal advice or guarantees of results. The increase in the indicator after the action itself does not prove that the action caused it.