What does B2B sales mean?
B2B sales means a business selling products or services to another organisation: a company, a government agency, a school or a charity. The buyer spends the organisation's money on the organisation's goals, and usually needs colleagues to agree. In B2C (business-to-consumer) sales, the buyer is a person spending their own money.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes one large group of B2B sellers in those terms: wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies and other organisations. It counted 1,571,400 of those jobs in 2025.
Who pays decides whether a sale is B2B. A laptop a student buys online is B2C. The same laptop bought by an IT manager for 50 staff is B2B: there is a quote, a purchase order, an invoice with payment terms, and someone in finance who signs it off.
What does B2B sell? Four examples and how each is sold
Almost anything a business uses: software, ingredients and raw materials, parts, equipment, wholesale stock and services. The first three rows come from the sellers' own filings and the BLS; the last is a sample.
| Seller | What it sells | Who buys | How it sells |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Coca-Cola Company | Beverage concentrates, syrups and finished drinks | Bottling partners, retailers, distributors and wholesalers | Contracts with bottlers, called bottler's agreements; its five largest independent bottling partners made up 44% of worldwide unit case volume in 2025 |
| HubSpot | Customer platform software, mostly by subscription | Customers of varying sizes (288,706 at 31 December 2025); its focus is mid-market B2B companies, which it defines as 2 to 2,000 employees | Free products, a direct sales team and Solutions Partners; average subscription revenue per customer was $11,414 in 2025 |
| Wholesale and manufacturing sales reps (BLS) | Goods for wholesalers or manufacturers, including technical and scientific products | Businesses, government agencies and other organisations | People-led selling; the BLS notes some reps travel frequently |
| Northwind Ltd (sample) | A $500-a-month bookkeeping retainer | A 20-person design agency | The founder sells on a video call and invoices monthly |
One company often sells several ways at once. HubSpot's 2025 annual report says its free products and in-product offers help close new business "with little or no interaction by our sales representatives". Its reps use phone, email, web meetings and AI-enhanced engagement tools. Solutions Partners and the customers they referred made up about 25% of HubSpot's customers at 31 December 2025 and about 49% of its 2025 revenue.
Is Coca-Cola B2B or B2C?
Both, depending on where you stand: Coca-Cola markets its brands to consumers, but sells mostly to businesses. Its 2025 annual report (Form 10-K, filed 20 February 2026) describes two lines of business, both selling mainly to other companies (it also sells directly to consumers through retail stores operated by Costa):
- Concentrate operations sell concentrates and syrups to authorised bottling partners, which add water and sweeteners, package the drinks and sell them to retailers, directly or through wholesalers. This line made 59% of net operating revenues and 85% of unit case volume in 2025.
- Finished product operations sell finished drinks to retailers, or to distributors and wholesalers who sell to retailers. This line made the other 41% of net operating revenues.
The shopper buying a can is the brand's consumer, but usually pays a shop. That model is often called B2B2C: selling through businesses to reach consumers. It also shows how concentrated a B2B customer base can be. Five bottling partners, including Coca-Cola FEMSA, which bottles in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and seven other Latin American countries, together accounted for 44% of Coca-Cola's worldwide unit case volume in 2025.
How is B2B sales different from B2C sales?
A key difference is how many people decide. "Buying groups are more diverse than ever, ranging from five to 16 people across as many as four functions," said Delainey Kirkwood, Principal, Research in the Gartner Sales Practice, in a May 2025 Gartner release based on a survey of 632 B2B buyers from August to September 2024.
| B2B sales | B2C sales | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer | An organisation, through its staff | A person, for themselves |
| Who decides | A buying group, often from several departments | Usually the person paying |
| Paperwork | Quotes, contracts, invoices and payment terms | A checkout |
| Price | Often negotiated, or set by seats, volume or usage | Usually the listed price |
| After the sale | Renewals, more seats, more sites | Repeat purchases, if any |
Most buyers also prefer to research on their own, through digital channels. In a June 2025 Gartner release on the same 632-buyer survey, 61% of B2B buyers preferred an overall rep-free buying experience, and 73% actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. Gartner's May 2026 release, from a survey of 645 buyers in August and September 2025, found buyers used an average of seven information sources on a recent purchase and 67% preferred a rep-free experience, while 69% prefer to validate AI-generated insights with sales reps. None of the three releases says which countries the buyers came from. Our breakdown of what Gartner's 2026 buyer survey means for outreach covers that last finding. For a fuller side-by-side, see B2B vs B2C sales compared.
What is the B2B sales process?
Here is the process we suggest a small team runs, in six stages. Names vary from team to team; the work doesn't.
1. Choose who to sell to
Write one line: role, industry, company size and location, plus the problem they pay to fix. A narrow list is easier to write to well.
2. Find a reason to contact them now
A new role, a job post for the work you automate, a funding round, a post asking for tool advice or complaining about a competitor. The reason goes in your first line.
3. Make first contact
A short email, LinkedIn note or call built on the step 2 reason and ending in one easy question; the plan at the end of this post has a first message under 90 words. Follow up two or three times, adding something new each time.
4. Run discovery and qualify
Ask how they handle the problem today, what it costs, who else decides and by when. Our discovery call questions for founders give an order for a 30-minute call.
5. Propose and win sign-off
Send a short proposal that answers the whole group's questions: price, terms, setup, security. In Gartner's May 2025 release, buying groups that reach consensus were 2.5 times more likely to report a high-quality deal.
6. Close, onboard and grow
Write the first result and its date into the proposal, then hand the signed deal and your call notes to whoever delivers. Sample line for Northwind Ltd: first month's books closed by the 10th of the next month. Check that result before you ask for a renewal or more seats.
Our guide to the B2B sales process stages covers each stage in more detail.
What is a B2B sales agent?
A B2B sales agent is anyone, or any software, selling for a company to other organisations. Job titles split the work like this:
| Role | What they do | In a team of one to five |
|---|---|---|
| SDR or BDR | Researches prospects, sends first messages, qualifies interest and books meetings | Usually the founder, or software |
| Account executive (AE) | Runs discovery, demos and proposals, and closes the deal | The founder, until the pitch works without them |
| Account manager | Keeps customers and grows them through renewals and more seats | Whoever runs onboarding |
| Wholesale or manufacturing sales rep | Sells goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies and other organisations; the BLS says they are sometimes called manufacturers' agents, and most employers pay salary plus commission or bonuses | Where physical goods go through distributors |
| Channel partner | Another business that resells or refers you, such as HubSpot's Solutions Partners or Coca-Cola's bottlers | Once someone already sells to your buyer |
| AI sales agent | Software that runs prospecting and outreach steps for you | When finding and writing to people eats your week |
Siela's Lead Finder, an AI SDR for small B2B teams, is one example of the last row. You paste your website and check the roles, industries, company sizes and locations it suggests. It looks for people with a reason to hear from you now, scores each lead hot, warm or cold with a one-line reason, and sends on its own within your daily goals once you press Save and start. Choose Find leads only and it saves leads to the CRM without sending anything.
How much outreach does a B2B sale need? A worked example
Price decides how you can sell. Here is the arithmetic for the sample company, Northwind Ltd, with its $500-a-month retainer ($6,000 a year), aiming for $60,000 of new annual revenue in 12 weeks (60 working days). The rates are invented inputs for the example, not benchmarks:
- 4 in every 100 people contacted book a first meeting.
- Half of first meetings turn out to be qualified deals.
- 1 in 4 qualified deals becomes a customer.
So 100 contacts give 4 meetings, 2 qualified deals and half a customer: one customer per 200 people contacted. Northwind needs $60,000 ÷ $6,000 = 10 customers, so 10 × 200 = 2,000 people contacted. That is about 33 a working day (2,000 ÷ 60) and 2,000 × 4% = 80 first meetings, about 7 a week (80 ÷ 12). The same rates at two other prices:
| Price per customer per year | Customers for $60,000 | People to contact | Per working day | First meetings a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | 100 | 20,000 | 333 | 67 |
| $6,000 | 10 | 2,000 | 33 | 7 |
| $24,000 | 3 (2.5, rounded up) | 600 | 10 | 2 |
At $600 a year, 333 new people a day and 67 first meetings a week is more than a small team can run, so a low price needs a self-serve path. At $24,000, 10 people a day is easy, but check how many people sign off; if it is several of the five to 16 Gartner describes, budget for more meetings per deal. Swap in your own rates after your first 200 contacts and compare them with five published cold email reply rate benchmarks.
| Motion | How the buyer buys | Fits when | Real example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-serve | Signs up, tries it, pays by card | The price can't pay for calls and the product works without setup help | HubSpot's free products, which help close new business with little or no rep contact |
| Direct sales | Emails, LinkedIn messages and video calls with the founder or a rep | One deal pays for hours of conversation and the buyer needs to check fit, a task where Gartner found buyers prefer seller input | HubSpot's reps, using phone, email and web meetings |
| Partners | Buys from, or on the advice of, a business they already use | Someone already sells to your buyer and can resell, refer or install you | HubSpot's Solutions Partners; Coca-Cola's bottlers |
Is B2B sales easy? A plan to start this week
Rarely easy, but learnable. The BLS notes that wholesale and manufacturing sales reps work under pressure because their income and job security depend on how much they sell, and 73% of the buyers in Gartner's 2024 survey avoid suppliers whose outreach is irrelevant. The learnable part is that the work repeats: the same buyer, the same reason to write, the same questions, counted every week. Fill in this plan before you contact anyone:
Filled in for the sample company: Northwind Ltd sells bookkeeping to UK design agencies of 10 to 50 people, the reason to write is a job post for a finance assistant, and the ask is a 15-minute call. This week, send your version to 20 people who match the plan, each with a real reason, and log the five weekly numbers. By your 200th contact you will have your own rates for the worked example above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the rule of 7 in B2B?
It is a marketing rule of thumb: a buyer should come across your message at least seven times before buying. Blogs that repeat it often trace it to 1930s film studios, but the ones we read name no study that found the number seven. In B2B, read it as a reminder that one message rarely wins a deal, so plan several useful touches across email, LinkedIn and calls.
Is B2B sales a good career?
It can pay well. The BLS put May 2025 median pay for wholesale and manufacturing sales reps at $76,460, with $104,920 for technical and scientific products and $72,080 for the rest. It projects little or no change in those jobs from 2025 to 2035, yet about 123,400 openings a year, mostly replacing people who leave or retire.
What is the difference between B2B sales and B2B marketing?
Marketing gets the right organisations to know you and agree to talk; sales turns those talks into signed contracts. Gartner's 2024 buyer survey hints at the split: they prefer self-service for general information and learning, and seller input when checking whether a product fits their company. In a small team one person often does both, so measure them apart: marketing by conversations started, sales by deals closed from them.
Do you need a sales team to sell B2B?
Not at first. Many founders close the first deals themselves, and a free product can do some of the selling: HubSpot's annual report says its free products help close new business with little or no rep contact. A first sales hire makes sense once your own calls close at a steady rate and qualified meetings outnumber the hours you have for them.
Is B2B sales the same as wholesale?
No. Wholesale is one kind of B2B sale, where a wholesaler buys goods in bulk and resells them to retailers or other businesses. B2B also covers software, raw materials, equipment and services such as bookkeeping, sold straight to the organisation that uses them. Coca-Cola's bottlers, for example, buy concentrate and then make and package the drinks themselves.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- The Coca-Cola Company, Form 10-K for 2025 (SEC EDGAR) (filed 20 Feb 2026)
- HubSpot, Inc., Form 10-K for 2025 (SEC EDGAR) (filed 11 Feb 2026)
- Gartner: 74% of B2B Buyer Teams Demonstrate Unhealthy Conflict During the Decision Process (7 May 2025)
- Gartner: 61% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Buying Experience (25 Jun 2025)
- Gartner: 69% of B2B Buyers Turn to Sales Reps to Validate AI-Generated Insights (20 May 2026)
- Braithwaite Communications: Unpacking the Rule of 7 for Marketing (13 Jan 2025)
- Nicole Steffen Design: The Timeless Power of the Marketing Rule of 7 (last updated 14 Aug 2023)