Setting Effective Timelines in Business-to-Business (B2B) Sales

In the fast-paced world of business-to-business (B2B) sales, time is of the essence. When there are 1 million other things which can distract your prospects, it’s crucial to help build a structured timeline in place to ensure the success of your sales process.

Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or new to the B2B industry, understanding how to effectively set timelines can greatly impact your sales performance. In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of setting timelines in LinkedIn B2B sales and provide tips for creating effective timelines that will help you close deals faster and more efficiently.

The Crucial Role of Setting Timelines in LinkedIn B2B Sales

When dealing with multiple clients and complex deals, it’s essential to have a structured timeline in place to keep things moving and ensure that opportunities don’t slip through the cracks. In the fast-paced world of B2B sales, time is of the essence. By setting clear expectations and deadlines, you create a sense of urgency and demonstrate professionalism to your prospective customers.

Setting timelines in LinkedIn B2B sales plays a crucial role in driving the success of your sales process. It helps pre-commit prospective customers by outlining the steps involved and providing estimated timeframes, creating a sense of structure and reliability. This not only keeps potential customers engaged but also shows that you value their time and are committed to delivering results.

Additionally, setting timelines helps with follow-up. It gives you a clear roadmap for when and how to reach out to customers, preventing any unnecessary delays or missed opportunities. This demonstrates your commitment and professionalism, keeping the sales process moving forward and maintaining customer engagement.

Setting timelines also proves invaluable when handling objections. By setting specific deadlines for addressing concerns, you show your customers that you are proactive and dedicated to finding solutions. This builds trust and moves the sales process forward.

Setting Timelines to Pre-Commit Prospective Customers

One of the key benefits of setting timelines in B2B sales is the ability to pre-commit prospective customers. By clearly outlining the steps involved in the sales process and providing an estimated timeframe for each stage, you create a sense of structure and reliability. This not only keeps potential customers engaged but also demonstrates that you value their time and are committed to delivering results.

A good example of this would be asking in the pitch meeting;

“When would you want [XX Problem] solved?”
“What’s your contract renewal date?”

This is useful information that you can use to shape future conversations about what needs to be sorted and when. A bit part of sales isn’t what you actually say, but just creating the space to help prospects figure out a problem. When prospects work out a well-defined timeline, it helps them visualise the path to success and feel more confident in their decision-making. They can see the progression of the sales process and understand the milestones that need to be achieved before closing the deal.

Moreover, setting timelines helps manage expectations and builds trust. When you can accurately communicate how long each stage of the sales process will take, it reduces the chances of potential customers feeling frustrated or misled. They know what to expect, which ultimately leads to a smoother and more positive sales experience.

Setting Timelines to Help With Follow Up

Setting timelines can also be useful for follow-up. Having a previous agreed action date becomes invaluable when it comes to moving things forward. By establishing specific dates and methods for reaching out, you can prevent any unnecessary delays or missed opportunities. Here’s some examples on how this can be useful for you;

Internal Meeting: Finding out who the prospect needs to speak with internally and when by. Follow up the day afterward to ask how the meeting went.

Change To Decision Making Date: A prospect says that something’s come up and so they’re putting a 3 month delay on making a decision. Following up in 3 months where you recap the conversation and ask how things are going.

Renewal Date: The prospect has given you a contract renewal date. You can use this as a reason to keep in touch with them to get a decision e.g. “We’re keen to do business with you, but we need 2 weeks prior to the renewal date to onboard you. I’m following up to find out where you’re at in regards to deciding which way you’ll be going?”

Follow Up Makes You Look Good

Setting timelines for follow-up also demonstrates your commitment and professionalism to your prospective customers. It shows that you value their time and are dedicated to keeping the sales process moving forward. Whether it’s scheduling a phone call, sending a follow-up email, or setting a reminder to check-in, having a timeline in place ensures that you stay top-of-mind with your customers and maintain their engagement.

Furthermore, setting timelines for follow-up helps you stay organised and ensures that no leads fall through the cracks. With a clear plan in place, you can easily track your progress and identify any potential bottlenecks in the sales process. This allows you to make adjustments and stay on top of your game, ultimately increasing your chances of closing deals faster and more efficiently.

What To Say When Following Up

When you do use a timeline to follow up, here’s a formula which works well:
Hi it’s [Name] from [Company]
We spoke [Timeframe] ago about [Service].
At the time you mentioned [Talk about action they needed to take].
You said it was a good idea to follow up about that. How did that go?

This approach is engaging and demonstrates your attention to detail and commitment to following up on previous conversations. Reference the specific timeframe and topic of discussion. You show that you value their time and are actively involved in the sales process.

Using this formula helps you maintain a professional and friendly tone. This encourages open communication and allowing for a smooth transition into discussing next steps. It also gives the prospect a clear reminder of the previous conversation, ensuring that nothing is forgotten or overlooked.

LinkedIn B2B Sales Approach

This approach is best done on the phone but can be done in other ways. For example, LinkedIn B2B sales is a very good method of following up. You can also use email or even SMS. Remember to follow up on the phone as well though.

Remember to personalise your follow-up message based on the specific details of your previous conversation. By doing so, you demonstrate your genuine interest in their needs and concerns. As such you increase the likelihood of continuing the sales process in a positive direction.

Use this template for follow-up communication to help you stay organised. This will also help maintain customer engagement, and increase your chances of closing deals faster. You’ll notice that this is done more efficiently in the fast-paced world of LinkedIn B2B sales.