You can NOT manufacture urgency in complex B2B sales. Ever.

You may be able to create urgency by offering a limited-time offer if you’re selling a commodity. But, complex B2B sales involve a much longer and more considered buying process. Furthermore, these types of sales usually involve significant expenditures. Using fabricated urgency to pressure customers in complex B2B sales usually backfires.

A more effective approach is to identify projects that are urgent to your customer. Rather than trying to create urgency that benefits your goal of closing the sale. Then show how your product helps solve these problems that they care about. Gartner has some other good examples of urgency in B2B sales.

Please don’t misunderstand me. When it comes to B2B sales, urgency is essential. Urgency is the grease that drives sales.You are in trouble if your product does not fulfill an urgent need.

When it comes to an optional purchase, it often falls into a group of 25 other desirable projects. But, a company can only undertake a limited number of projects. This can be due to budget, time, or resource limitations. Thus, you must differentiate your proposal from the other 24 projects under consideration. Your marketing message must persuade the customer to take immediate action.

In complex B2B sales, urgency is about finding your customers’ most pressing needs. You are not trying to create fake urgency to rush them to buy. That never works. (using buzzwords doesn’t work either BTW)