Top 10 b2b Sales Channels

To grow revenue it is very important to understand what are the possible channels through which revenue/ sales come from. When I mention sales, I am referring to deals which bring in revenue. The revenue can be recurring/ one-time, service revenue, paid prototype development or similar. 

Operating well, doubling down on the channels which are working and investing in them can be a game changer for a growing business. Channel optimization is one of the most critical growth levers. 

Before going further and deeper into channel optimization, let's consider a few points. It is a bit challenging to know these pointers when you start. There may not be any data around this. However, after a year or so, this should be there. We should continuously refine this as more and more information gets available … 🏆  

• What sales channels will work for your business, market and your product? 

• How long will it take for each channel to yield sales deals/ revenue? 

• How much time, money and resource commitment will be needed for each channel?

• Why will a channel/ partner work with us? 

• What can/ maybe the conversion for each channel? 

This approach will help in channel optimisation and channel orchestration. Each business, maturity of business, product, maturity of product, market, market depth, geography, teams, execution, etc. are also some of the growth levers within channels. I hope you read this post assuming all these variables will also have an impact … 🙋  

Here are some additional pointers. 

• I consider these 4 as primary segments for deal sizes. Some overlap among them may happen; however lets keep those as is to start with. Around 10k usd, 100k usd, below 1 million usd and million plus usd. 

• ICP and b2b Buyer profile, let’s consider it to be small, mid-market to large enterprises.   

• ARR stage of the company (less than 10 million, around 100 million and above 100 million). 

• The industry you operate in can also be a factor. How do you sell to healthcare buyers vs how do you sell to IT/ finance vs how do you sell to Government buyers? 

Now, let’s not wait. 

Here are top 10 b2b sales channels; not by a priority though … 😀 

1 - LinkedIn outreach - You can do this, your team can do this but someone should do this. Within the sales process this should happen multiple times. I am suggesting Linkedin as a channel and all activities related to it. You can consider other social media channels which are suitable. 

2 - Cold calling - this continues to work. There are a lot of posts which say cold calling or calling is dead, but I feel it is not. If done effectively it can bring prospects to calls. 

3 - Founder Brand - In recent years, this is taking precedence over many others. I have seen buyers directly pinging the Founder about the product and mentioning that I am interested in buying or evaluating the product. In the initial stages of the company or a new product this is very critical … 💡 

4 - SEO, AEO, GEO - these are for everyone to discover your products. 

5 - Paid Ads, Social - Paid ads as a channel is self explanatory. In some of the cases paid ads are mandatory to discover prospects who are actively looking to buy products. 

6 - Blogs, Content marketing - any content as a channel is long term play; but if done for more than 2 years, it wins buyers trust because doing it for more than 2 years is not at all easy. 

7 - Partnerships - See which are the industry bodies where you can get exposed in front of many prospects. If partners have synergies customers will benefit from those partnerships. I have seen both partners going to market also has its own benefits in growing revenue. 

8 - Industry events - These may feel expensive and they are. However, if they work, it is worth the cost. Awards, certifications also give a very positive exposure. 

9 - Focused webinars, round tables - Within a geography you can select cities and give focused webinars, round tables which get prospects attention and give them the information they need to make the decision and move fast … 🚴 

10 - Domain specific communities - I believe these are self explanatory. These exist for each business. 

11 - Customer referrals - This is one neglected channel but works really well. Connect with your existing customers and incentivise them to connect you with others. 

12- Loyalty programs - If your contract tenures are more than 3 years, it is beneficial to consider loyalty programs. Customers really get hooked to it and do their magic. 

13 - Certifications - If your product has b2b users, certifying them and making them brand ambassadors. It is a bit hard to assume that this is a sales channel but it is. Think about it, a professional uses a b2b product, learns it, gets certified, changes job and refers your company to their new company. Go for it. 

14 - Networking, warm intros - It is always better to know someone who knows someone you want. Network better and ask for introductions. This is how big deals happen … 💰     

I am sure, I have missed many channels. But I hope you understand the point I want to convey. The real secret behind channel optimisation is that it is a process. We need to continuously work on some of the channels, analyse their performance once in 2 quarters or annually and optimise those. 

I mentioned 10 and gave 14 b2b sales channels. 

Channels which are working should be doubled down and do not hesitate to stop some of the channels. There may be channels/ partnerships which take too much time, money and other resources. We should stop those channels.

I am sure you have learned something today.