Once upon a time a few decades ago, selling was simpler. My colleagues and I would stand outside the buildings in NYC where our clients and prospects worked. When they came out for lunch or a meeting, “Bingo!” It was showtime. The Buyer’s Journey back then was from 37th and 6th to perhaps as far as 40th and 5th (or as many blocks as it took to gain a commitment). Suffice it to say that things have changed a bit since I closed my first deal in the late 80’s.
Technology has made it possible to easily reach across the globe to market and sell your products, but at the same time the process for gaining and maintaining buyer interest and commitment has become increasingly difficult. The term ‘buyer’s journey’ appeared a few years back and referred to a process where buyers moved along a straight line from gathering ideas and exploration to evaluation and selection and if you helped to nudge them along, you were golden.
But today’s Buyer’s Journey is more of a game of hide-and-seek than a linear process. Your prospect is appearing, consuming content, engaging and randomly disappearing. The evidence is there. 58% of B2B deals stall as the buyer goes dark (SBI) leaving sales scratching their heads. It’s tough out there. Sales quota attainment dropped last year for the first time in recent memory (from Accenture-see my post which provides details http://ow.ly/3vLUpE ). But maybe your prospect didn’t go dark after all. Maybe you just missed him on another channel. While he disappeared off of email, he may be very much in play on social or mobile. Consumers and business buyers alike are jumping around from TV to websites, checking email, actively participating in social media, walking into stores, gazing at billboards, texting, and of course, engaging in good old-fashioned conversations with other humans. Marketers need to be everywhere with engaging and personalized content and sales needs to be ready to quickly pick up the conversation based on all the data that these prior engagements yield and of course, seal the deal.
So how do you succeed in this rapidly changing playing field? Here is a start:
Engage early and often-The Holy Grail of engagement today is delivering the right content to the right prospect at the right time in the right channel. Easier said than done. Connect all of the dots, leverage technology and be ready to engage at every touch point. Focus on the challenges your product solves and not on features and functions. Hire a Chief Content Officer, and build out a wealth of meaningful content that your prospects and sales team alike will utilize. Use data to inform your team about prospect behavior and adjust your messaging accordingly. There is a good deal of trial and error here. Rinse and repeat.
Content needs to be personalized and value focused- Decisions to purchase in B2B have become more complex- six or more stakeholders in every decision, each with a different idea about what’s important. One size fits all is over. Content must be interactive, visual, and personal. At Alinean, we have addressed this issue through the creation of a platform which can intelligently deliver content tailored (either self service by the prospect and/or by sales in a pitch meeting) to the industry, role, size of company, challenges, and prospect business goals and KPI's. The result: higher value leads to sales, greater engagement and conversion, less stalls and more closed deals. Some takeaways from our experience: Serve up content in an entertaining fashion. Tell a story. Paint a picture. Deliver insights. Uncover issues. Quantify benefits. Capture data.
Sales As Marketers-Sales execs can no longer just sell. The huge spike in inbox-cluttering marketing messages and unwanted sales pitches has further strained the trust factor between prospective buyers and salespeople. Therefore, Sales is now being called upon to establish greater credibility with clients. And they need to do so by becoming subject matter experts and thought leaders—a role typically handled by marketing.
Marketers as Sales- Similarly the role of marketing is evolving. The complexity of the Buyer’s “Decision Space” as adeptly put by Epsilon’s CEO Andy Frawley in his excellent book, Igniting Customer Connections now requires organizations to effectively connect both virtually and directly through impactful and personalized content in an effort to meet a prospect wherever she turns up-and then guide her to the eventual finish line. Therefore, marketers are now responsible for revenue growth and in increasing numbers are carrying quotas. Sounds like selling to me.
Employees as Publishers- Everyone needs a personal brand and a point of view. The more ‘feet on the street’ to find and engage your buyers, the better. Buyers want to know what (Edelman refers to as) ‘regular’ employees (not just the CEO, and not just salespeople) think about your company and its products. Encourage blogging and let the culture and true face of your organization come forward as buyers in their self-created “decision space" evaluate what it will be like to do business with your organization.
With revenue growth at the core of all challenges in 2015 and beyond, the elusive buyer can be found in any number of channels available. The question is, are you ready to engage with and effectively communicate in the new Buyer's Decision Space?
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