Hello everyone. My name is Artem Yelisov, I am the commercial director of the Completo company. In b2b sales since 2009.IT companies can write code, but they don't always know how to sell. Even if the product is good, the technology is complex, and the team is strong — without a well-established sales system, the result will be unstable. And the longer the company "saws", instead of systematically selling, the higher the price of lagging behind the market.

Let's look at how to set up B2B sales in an IT company: from incoming requests and outbound strategy to the role of marketing and metrics that are really important.

The mistake of many IT teams is to assume that if you make a technological product, sales will go by themselves. No. In B2B, it's not important to the client that you have a "unique algorithm", but how you solve his problem. Therefore, the main task is not to tell about the features, but to show the business result.

They don't buy IT products. They buy automation of processes, reduction of time, increase of transparency, reduction of costs. That's what you need to sell.

Selling in IT is a project. And the approach should be project-based.

An example of a funnel for an IT company:

1. Lead (incoming / cold)
2. Qualifications (collecting introductory notes, is there a problem, is there a budget)
3. Presentation of the solution / demo / custom audit
4. Technical and commercial proposal
5. Negotiations, pilot
6. Contract, implementation

There should be triggers, tasks, deadlines, and transition criteria at each stage.

If this is not the case, then the funnel turns into a "waiting list": where 50% of the leads hang in the "Thinking" status. And you're wasting resources.

Inbound: applications via the website, webinars, articles, content, cases. Outbound: cold emails, LinkedIn, partner funnels, outbound SDR teams.

What is important:

• inbound is a long—term system that gives "warm" leads that came by themselves.;
• outbound is a predictable channel that can be scaled.

The strongest system is when marketing warms, outbound leads, and the sales department closes. It's a synergy.

IT companies like to count time and bugs, but they don't count transactions and funnel efficiency. This is strange. If you don't have a CRM, then you're not managing sales, you're playing a guessing game.

The minimum that should be:

• CRM with stages, tasks, and comments
• Triggers: automatic task creation, overdue reminders
• Email templates at each stage
• Integration with calendar, telephony, and mail
• Lead scoring (by segment, budget, availability)

In IT, it is impossible to sell just in words. The client wants to understand:

• how the architecture works,
• what are the cases in similar projects?,
• will there be integration with their systems,
• how it will affect their processes.

This means that we need a preseller (Solution Architect / Tech Presale), which is activated from the diagnostic stage and helps:

• identify real tasks;
• justify the cost of the solution;
• prepare the architecture for the client;
• become a technical lawyer in negotiations.

Selling in IT = expertise + methodology + managed process.

The main metrics that really show the result:

• Number of leads (by channels)
• Conversion to qualifications (leads → tasks)
• Conversion from demo to KP
• Conversion from KP to contract
• Average transaction cycle (in days)
• Average receipt and LTV
• ROI through lead generation channels

Which shows a weak point:

• High bounce rate at the demo stage — weak presenter or wrong segment
• A long transaction cycle — there is no approval process / lawyers / pilot
• Few repeat sales — no customer development process (Account Growth)

• Is there a CRM with a full funnel and tasks?
• Do you have scripts and email templates by stages?
• Is there a link between marketing + presale + sales?
• Do you have an outbound funnel plan?
• Is there a regulation for processing applications and SLA control?
• Is LTV being tracked, not just the initial transaction?

If at least 3 of these points are "no", you don't have a sales department, but chaos. It's expensive in IT.

B2B sales in IT is not about "setting up ads" and waiting for applications. This is an engineering task: to build a process, fix control points, connect expertise and synchronize marketing with sales.

If you don't have a system, you don't have sales. And without sales, there will be no scaling, no matter how cool the product is.

Start small: build a funnel, define milestones, connect CRM, and measure at least 3 key metrics. After 3 months, you will see that even small changes have an effect. Because in B2B, it's not the one who screams the loudest who wins. And the one who acts more systematically.

To check your sales department, I recommend using a checklist from my colleagues.https://www.completo.ru/white-paper/check-list-proverka-o-p/