Title: B2B Sales — LearnCoachAssist

Q: What does B2B stand for in sales?
A: Business-to-Business — selling products or services from one company to another, as opposed to B2C (Business-to-Consumer).

Q: What is a sales funnel?
A: A model representing the stages a prospect moves through from initial awareness to final purchase, typically narrowing at each stage.

Q: What are the typical stages of a B2B sales funnel?
A: 1. Awareness 2. Interest 3. Consideration 4. Intent 5. Evaluation 6. Purchase (Close).

Q: What is the difference between a sales funnel and a sales pipeline?
A: A funnel describes the buyer's journey (demand perspective); a pipeline describes the seller's stages and activities to move deals forward.

Q: What is lead generation?
A: The process of attracting and identifying potential customers (leads) who may be interested in your product or service.

Q: What is the difference between inbound and outbound lead generation?
A: Inbound: leads come to you via content, SEO, social media. Outbound: you proactively reach out via cold calls, emails, events.

Q: What is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)?
A: A lead that has shown interest through marketing activities (downloaded a whitepaper, attended a webinar) but has not yet been vetted by sales.

Q: What is a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)?
A: A lead that has been reviewed by the sales team and meets specific criteria indicating they are ready for direct sales engagement.

Q: What is lead scoring?
A: A methodology for ranking leads based on attributes (company size, role) and behaviours (website visits, email opens) to prioritise outreach.

Q: What does BANT stand for?
A: Budget — Authority — Need — Timeline. A qualification framework to assess if a prospect is a good fit.

Q: What does each element of BANT assess?
A: Budget: Can they afford it? Authority: Is this the decision-maker? Need: Do they have a problem you solve? Timeline: When will they buy?

Q: What does MEDDIC stand for?
A: Metrics · Economic Buyer · Decision Criteria · Decision Process · Identify Pain · Champion.

Q: What is the "Economic Buyer" in MEDDIC?
A: The person with the final authority and budget to approve the purchase — often a C-level executive or VP.

Q: What is a "Champion" in MEDDIC?
A: An internal advocate within the prospect's organisation who actively sells on your behalf because they stand to benefit from your solution.

Q: Why are "Metrics" important in MEDDIC?
A: They quantify the economic impact of your solution — e.g., "reduce churn by 15%" — making the business case concrete and compelling.

Q: What is a discovery call?
A: An initial sales conversation designed to uncover the prospect's pain points, goals, decision process, and whether there is a mutual fit.

Q: Name five key questions to ask on a discovery call.
A: 1. What challenge are you trying to solve? 2. What's the impact of not solving it? 3. Who else is involved in this decision? 4. What does your timeline look like? 5. What have you tried before?

Q: What is the SPIN selling framework?
A: A questioning methodology by Neil Rackham: Situation questions → Problem questions → Implication questions → Need-payoff questions.

Q: What are Implication questions in SPIN selling?
A: Questions that explore the consequences and impact of the prospect's problem — e.g., "How does this issue affect your team's productivity?"

Q: What are Need-Payoff questions in SPIN selling?
A: Questions that get the prospect to articulate the value of solving the problem — e.g., "If we could cut onboarding time in half, what would that mean for your team?"

Q: What is objection handling?
A: The process of addressing a prospect's concerns or hesitations in a way that moves the conversation forward toward a close.

Q: What are the four most common B2B sales objections?
A: 1. "It's too expensive" (Price) 2. "We don't have budget" (Budget) 3. "We're happy with our current solution" (Status quo) 4. "I need to talk to my boss" (Authority).

Q: What is the LAER objection-handling model?
A: Listen → Acknowledge → Explore → Respond. Ensures you fully understand the objection before addressing it.

Q: How should you handle the "It's too expensive" objection?
A: Reframe the conversation around ROI and value rather than cost — show how the investment pays for itself through savings or revenue gains.

Q: How should you handle the "We're happy with our current vendor" objection?
A: Acknowledge their satisfaction, then ask about gaps or wish-list items their current vendor doesn't address to introduce differentiation.

Q: What is a value proposition?
A: A clear statement of the tangible results a customer gets from using your product — how you solve their problem better than alternatives.

Q: What makes a strong B2B value proposition?
A: It is specific (quantified outcomes), differentiated (why you vs. competitors), and relevant (addresses the buyer's top priority).

Q: What is solution selling?
A: A sales methodology that focuses on identifying the customer's specific pain points and tailoring your offering as a comprehensive solution, not just a product.

Q: What is consultative selling?
A: An approach where the salesperson acts as a trusted advisor, asking deep questions, diagnosing problems, and recommending solutions — prioritising the buyer's needs over pushing product.

Q: What is the Challenger Sale model?
A: A methodology identifying five seller profiles; the Challenger — who teaches, tailors, and takes control of the sale — outperforms others, especially in complex B2B deals.

Q: What are the three key behaviours of a Challenger seller?
A: 1. Teach the customer something new 2. Tailor the message to the stakeholder 3. Take control of the sale.

Q: What is social selling?
A: Using social media (especially LinkedIn) to find, connect with, and nurture prospects through sharing relevant content and engaging in conversations.

Q: What is an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?
A: A description of the type of company that would benefit most from your product — including industry, size, revenue, tech stack, and pain points.

Q: What is a buyer persona?
A: A semi-fictional representation of an individual decision-maker within your ICP — including their role, goals, challenges, and preferred communication channels.

Q: What is the buying committee in B2B sales?
A: The group of stakeholders involved in a purchase decision — typically including an economic buyer, end users, a champion, and sometimes legal/IT gatekeepers.

Q: How many stakeholders are involved in an average B2B purchase?
A: According to Gartner, the average B2B buying group involves 6–10 decision-makers, each with their own information and priorities.

Q: What is account-based selling (ABS)?
A: A strategic approach where sales and marketing coordinate efforts on high-value target accounts with personalised, multi-channel outreach.

Q: What is account management?
A: The ongoing relationship management of existing customers — focused on retention, satisfaction, upselling, and cross-selling.

Q: What is the difference between a hunter and a farmer in sales?
A: A hunter focuses on acquiring new customers; a farmer nurtures and grows existing accounts. Both roles are essential for B2B growth.

Q: What is upselling?
A: Encouraging a customer to purchase a higher-tier version or add premium features to their current solution.

Q: What is cross-selling?
A: Recommending complementary products or services that enhance the value of what the customer already bought.

Q: What is Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV)?
A: The total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account over the entire duration of their relationship.

Q: What is Net Revenue Retention (NRR)?
A: The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, including expansions, contractions, and churn. >100% means growth from existing customers.

Q: What is a CRM?
A: Customer Relationship Management — software (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) that tracks interactions, deals, contacts, and activities across the sales cycle.

Q: Name three benefits of using a CRM in B2B sales.
A: 1. Centralised customer data 2. Pipeline visibility and forecasting 3. Automated follow-up reminders and reporting.

Q: What is pipeline management?
A: The process of tracking and optimising all active deals across stages — ensuring sufficient volume, velocity, and conversion at each stage.

Q: What is pipeline velocity?
A: A metric measuring how quickly deals move through the pipeline: (Number of deals × Average deal size × Win rate) ÷ Sales cycle length.

Q: What is the average win rate and why does it matter?
A: The percentage of deals that close successfully. Tracking it reveals process health; typical B2B win rates range from 15–30%.

Q: What is sales cycle length?
A: The average number of days from first contact to closed deal. Shorter cycles improve cash flow and reduce resource consumption.

Q: What is quota attainment?
A: The percentage of a salesperson's sales target (quota) that they actually achieve in a given period.

Q: What is Average Contract Value (ACV)?
A: The average annualised revenue per customer contract, used to size deals and forecast revenue.

Q: What is weighted pipeline?
A: A forecasting method that multiplies each deal's value by its probability of closing based on its stage — giving a more realistic revenue projection.

Q: What is sales forecasting?
A: The process of estimating future revenue based on pipeline data, historical trends, and deal-level analysis.

Q: What are the three common forecasting methods?
A: 1. Opportunity-stage weighting 2. Historical run-rate analysis 3. Rep-level intuitive forecasting (commit, best case, upside).

Q: What is a demo in B2B sales?
A: A live or recorded product demonstration tailored to the prospect's specific use case, showing how the solution addresses their pain points.

Q: What is the best practice for structuring a B2B product demo?
A: 1. Recap discovery findings 2. Show the solution mapped to their pains 3. Quantify the impact 4. Handle questions 5. Agree on next steps.

Q: What is a proof of concept (POC)?
A: A limited trial or pilot of the product in the prospect's environment to validate that it delivers the promised value before full commitment.

Q: What is a Request for Proposal (RFP)?
A: A formal document from a buyer inviting vendors to submit proposals detailing how they would meet specified requirements, including pricing and timeline.

Q: What is competitive positioning?
A: Articulating how your solution is different from and better than alternatives — focusing on unique strengths that matter to the buyer.

Q: What is a battle card?
A: A one-page internal document summarising competitive intelligence — competitor strengths/weaknesses, differentiators, and talk tracks for each rival.

Q: What is the Sandler Selling System?
A: A methodology where the salesperson acts as an equal partner with the buyer, qualifying deals rigorously and using an "up-front contract" to set clear expectations.

Q: What is an "up-front contract" in Sandler selling?
A: An agreement at the start of each meeting about the agenda, time, outcomes, and next steps — ensuring both parties are aligned.

Q: What is the concept of "negative reverse selling"?
A: A Sandler technique where you gently push back or express scepticism ("Maybe this isn't the right fit?") to encourage the prospect to sell themselves.

Q: What is a mutual action plan (MAP)?
A: A shared document between buyer and seller outlining key milestones, responsibilities, and timelines to reach a signed deal collaboratively.

Q: What is the "trial close" technique?
A: Asking a question that gauges buying readiness before the actual close — e.g., "If we can solve X, would you be comfortable moving forward?"

Q: What is the "assumptive close"?
A: Acting as if the prospect has already decided to buy — e.g., "Shall we start the onboarding next Monday or Wednesday?"

Q: What is the "summary close"?
A: Recapping all the agreed-upon benefits and value before asking for the commitment — reinforcing the business case in the prospect's mind.

Q: What is the "urgency close"?
A: Creating a legitimate reason to act now — e.g., end-of-quarter pricing, limited implementation slots, or a competitor's upcoming contract renewal.

Q: What is multi-threading in B2B sales?
A: Building relationships with multiple stakeholders within the buying organisation, reducing risk if your primary contact leaves or loses influence.

Q: What is MEDDICC (with an extra C)?
A: An extension of MEDDIC adding Competition — understanding who else the buyer is evaluating and how you differentiate.

Q: What is a sales cadence (sequence)?
A: A structured series of touchpoints (emails, calls, social messages) over a defined period designed to engage a prospect.

Q: What is a typical outbound sales cadence structure?
A: Day 1: Email + LinkedIn connect · Day 3: Call · Day 5: Email · Day 8: Call + voicemail · Day 12: Breakup email. ~8–12 touches over 2–3 weeks.

Q: What is a "breakup email"?
A: A final outreach message acknowledging the prospect hasn't responded, offering to close the loop — often generates a reply due to the fear of missing out.

Q: What is the importance of follow-up in B2B sales?
A: 80% of sales require 5+ follow-ups, yet 44% of reps give up after one attempt. Persistent, value-adding follow-up is critical.

Q: What should a follow-up email include?
A: 1. Reference to prior conversation 2. New value or insight 3. Clear call to action 4. Easy reply mechanism (e.g., "Reply YES to schedule").

Q: What is a "warm introduction"?
A: A referral from a mutual connection — significantly increases response rates compared to cold outreach (3–5× higher).

Q: What is the role of content in B2B sales?
A: Content (case studies, whitepapers, ROI calculators) provides evidence and education, helping buyers build consensus and justify the purchase internally.

Q: What is a case study in B2B sales?
A: A documented example of how a similar customer achieved measurable results using your product — the most persuasive content type for B2B buyers.

Q: What is ROI selling?
A: Quantifying the return on investment the buyer will achieve — e.g., "Our solution saves 200 hours/year, worth $50K, for a $20K investment."

Q: What is the cost of inaction (COI)?
A: The financial and strategic cost of the buyer doing nothing — e.g., lost revenue, ongoing inefficiency, or competitive disadvantage.

Q: What is a sales methodology vs. a sales process?
A: A process defines stages and activities (pipeline steps); a methodology provides the philosophy and techniques for executing within those stages.

Q: What is "land and expand" strategy?
A: Starting with a small initial deal within an account and then growing revenue through upsells, cross-sells, and expanding to other departments.

Q: What is the GAP Selling methodology?
A: Created by Keenan, it focuses on identifying the gap between the buyer's current state and desired future state, then positioning your solution as the bridge.

Q: What is the "current state" in GAP selling?
A: The buyer's existing situation — their problems, processes, and results today — uncovered through deep discovery.

Q: What is the "future state" in GAP selling?
A: The buyer's desired outcomes — what they want to achieve after implementing a solution.

Q: What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between sales and marketing?
A: A formal agreement defining what marketing will deliver (e.g., X MQLs per month) and what sales will do (e.g., follow up within 24 hours).

Q: What is sales enablement?
A: Providing the sales team with the tools, content, training, and information they need to effectively engage buyers throughout the sales cycle.

Q: What is a sales playbook?
A: A comprehensive guide containing best practices, talk tracks, objection responses, email templates, and process steps for the sales team.

Q: What is the "negative impact" of a buying committee on deal velocity?
A: More stakeholders mean more opinions and more internal alignment needed, which increases the sales cycle length. Deals with 6+ stakeholders close at <50% rates.

Q: What is price anchoring?
A: Presenting a higher-priced option first to make subsequent options seem more reasonable — leveraging the cognitive bias of anchoring.

Q: What is value-based pricing?
A: Setting prices based on the perceived value to the customer rather than on cost-plus or competitor pricing — common in high-impact B2B solutions.

Q: What is a champion letter (or executive summary)?
A: A document your internal champion can use to present your solution to their leadership — summarising pain, solution, ROI, and next steps.

Q: What is "going dark" in B2B sales?
A: When a prospect stops responding to calls and emails after initial engagement — one of the most frustrating stages for salespeople.

Q: Name three strategies for re-engaging a prospect who has gone dark.
A: 1. Send a new, valuable insight or industry report 2. Reach out via a different channel (LinkedIn, phone) 3. Use a "breakup" message to prompt a response.

Q: What is "sandbagging" in sales?
A: When a rep deliberately delays closing a deal to push it into the next quarter for quota relief — a sign of misaligned incentives.

Q: What is a clawback clause in sales compensation?
A: A provision allowing the company to reclaim commissions if a customer churns or cancels within a defined period after closing.

Q: What is On-Target Earnings (OTE)?
A: The total expected compensation for a salesperson, comprising base salary + variable (commission) when quota is fully achieved.

Q: What is a typical OTE split in B2B sales?
A: Commonly 50/50 to 60/40 (base/variable) for account executives; SDRs often have 70/30. Higher variable rewards strong performers.

Q: What is a Sales Development Representative (SDR)?
A: A sales team member focused on outbound prospecting and qualifying leads — booking meetings for Account Executives rather than closing deals.

Q: What is an Account Executive (AE)?
A: A salesperson responsible for managing the full sales cycle — from qualified opportunity through demo, negotiation, and close.