Skip to main content

Why 67% of buyer’s online journey won’t kill B2B salesman?

B2B marketing, Is B2B saleman dead, Inbound marketing, Sirius Decisions

According to SiriusDecisions research, 67 percent of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally. This 67% statistic is often misconstrued.

High internet penetration, raining gadgets, power of research and the sea of information available online have slim down the gap between the customers and the products. Inbound Marketing is without the shadow of a doubt “the necessity”. Marketers have switched gears from fighting for space to fighting for attention. Creating the buyer personas, writing educational content, nurturing the leads and giving the reins in their hands to let them contact you when they are ready.

But does this really mean that 67 percent of the buyer’s journey doesn’t require or involve salesperson at all?

Do you really think it is a smart move for the sales team to sit idle, sip coffee and wait for the marketing qualified leads (MQL)?

What about those B2B customers who are still conservative and prefer to meet a salesman rather than filling up the lead gen form online?

What about meeting the customers and creating the need, knowing about their future projects, getting market intelligence and preparing the product teams for the next leap? And competitors, who are racing to gain market share, and always ready to play hardball with you.

Buyers who already have more information available to them have high expectations too. Therefore, the sales people need to transform the way they sell. There can’t be any static selling pitch like old days. It has to be tailored based on the customer requirements. Rather than pushing the products, the pitch should be more educational and informative. This builds trust among the customers. Therefore, there is no death of a B2B salesman. The new buyer's journey mandates a new avatar of B2B salesman- The Inbound Salesman.

And, Ladies & Gentlemen, this calls for the integration of sales & marketing teams. According to a study by the Aberdeen group, companies with strong marketing & sales alignment get 20% annual revenue growth. Companies with poor sales and marketing alignment have a 4% revenue decline.

Through account profiling, strategically targeting and pursuing the potential customers, sales team can support marketing team to create detailed buyer personas. This helps the marketing team to create the right content with the right context, for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

While the marketers’ responsibility is to provide the right MQL to the sales team and facilitate them with the early customer engagement, the sales team should also provide feedback on the leads.

Together these teams can bring out the best in market intelligence & personalized experiences for customers.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marriage, Kids & Aspirations

“Beta ji, you are married now, wear something more traditional like suits and sarees.” Nodding with a dissented face, I accelerated towards the staircase. “A 7-inch gap at waist, between her blouse and saree? Hats off to you Auntyji”, I thought. How can the culture change drastically if I replace this with a short top and a pair of jeans? The fatigue was taking a toll on me. After a hectic day at work and 3 hours of travel, all I wanted was my bed, my blanket and some peaceful time. I rushed towards the doorbell but (sigh) it seemed God wanted me to absorb some more. Here comes some more gyan from the pious guru (our chatter box neighbor), Mrs. Gupta! “Hello Beta ji, how are you? I was waiting to meet you. You look so pale. Must be a lot of work at office. I was talking to your family. Nowadays it is so difficult to plan a baby with this stressful life. But betaji, I must tell you, it is already 2 years since your marriage, slow down your career and focus on family.” P...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Brown Skin Girl

I was told that skin color is like a beautiful gown, soon I realized that my gown was brown. Gazing myself in the mirror I felt so glad, but immediately I was told that brown is bad.  And while growing up I felt every bit, that I am no beauty and I am like an ugly zit. People made fun without giving it a thought, that mocking about physicality hurts and hurts a lot. I felt like my confidence was beaten in a stone hurl, with plunging self-esteem I was no more a proud girl. People threw their advice without asking my consent, from what I should apply on my face to which color can get me compliments. I don't know why some even made that snark? "Your features are good though your complexion is dark". How does that matter? Why do you think you should make me feel better? My physique, my body is my identity. I am proud of it, why do you feel pity? This is me and I don't need your acceptance. Who gave you rights to snap those comments? Thanks to the condescending attitude yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advertising in Space?

Marketers have left no stone unturned in drawing consumer attention through digital and traditional advertising. Our life, willingly or forcibly, is continuously interrupted by it. Be it billboards on roads, digital banners in malls, magazines, internet, newspaper, movies, airports, etc. - ads follow us wherever we go.  Sometimes it seems that advertisements traps are set at all imaginable places.  But possibilities are infinite, and n ow humans are eyeing new space for promotions, and this new space is actually in space . StartRocket, a Russian start-up, is all game for space advertising. It aims to display billboard advertisements in Low Earth Orbit of 400-500 kilometers and deliver 3-4 messages/images a day, through an array of tiny satellites, cubestats .  The promotional video explains the formation of satellites by lighting up the word “Hello” .  According to the website, this media has the potential of reaching 7 billion people. Apar...
Post a Comment
Read more