How to Be Taken More Seriously with B2B Trade

Just because you’re a ‘small business’ doesn’t mean you can’t do the job — learn how to be taken seriously when pitching to prospective B2B Trade clients.

How to Be Taken More Seriously with B2B Trade

When you’re a smaller business or even working as a solopreneur, it can be difficult to break into the B2B trade to make deals happen. This is often the case with small web design agencies and specialists in areas like PPC advertising management, social media management, and more.

Here are some suggestions for how to be taken more seriously regardless of your business size.

Dress the Part, Act the Part

When you’re walking into a meeting alone and hoping that no one asks about ‘your team,’ it’s important to dress the part. By looking all business, all the time, you create the right first impression. Afterall, it’s all about perception and when potential client have the perception that you’re ‘all business’ there’s typically less questions about the team behind your business.

Once you’ve done your best to impress with what you’re wearing, ensure that you conduct yourself professionally at all times. There’s no problem with having a sense of humor, as some prospective clients will appreciate a little politically correct banter, but maintain a business-like demeanor to avoid creating the wrong impression. This advice is especially true if you’re under 25 years old and dealing with older executives.

Use an Answering Service

While you may believe that you can answer all incoming calls, what happens when you’re in a meeting or there’s a live chat session on your website? Then people are left waiting and there’s the possibility of losing a new business opportunity too.

Use a professional answering service to avoid missed chances to increase your revenues. Have them handle your phone calls when you’re unavailable, in a meeting, or in transit. Get coverage for email and live chat sessions too.

Make the Website More Corporate

Corporate websites tend to take themselves a little more seriously. When you want to work with B2B clients, it’s best to err on the side of caution by having an updated website that looks professional. This means avoiding using garish colors or other features that will draw undue attention. Instead, provide useful industry information presented in an attractive manner which demonstrates that your business is current with recent trends.

Put more attention into marketing materials including the website, and any brochures or business cards. Ensure they have business-like tone and don’t stand out for the wrong reasons.

Bear in mind that while the service you offer may be creative, the businesses that may buy from you perhaps are not. If something is outside of their comfort zone because it’s too gregarious, then they may choose to go elsewhere.

Operate from a Corporation or LLC

Rather than going the self-employed route through sole proprietorship, it’s beneficial when doing trade with other companies to operate as a company. By having an LLC in Texas, for instance, other corporations or LLCs will feel more comfortable. That applies even if the LLC was only set up fairly recently.

Just by going through the steps involved with having an LLC in Texas set up for your business, it speaks volumes about your business intentions, including longevity. This is because few people set up a corporation if they don’t have a business plan and strong ideas about how to provide goods or services profitably.

Being taken seriously even as a solopreneur, when following the above steps, it’s possible to overcome the wrong impression. Even when working alone, using a remote team or outsourcing to freelancers expands the capabilities of the company. This can also be pointed out when meeting other parties to discuss the terms of a new deal.