by gabriel_sales | Jun 5, 2013
This is Part 2 of a 4-part blog series discussing the need for expert solutions for B2B sales and marketing in 2013. For Part 1, please click here.
In the last blog, we explained that for B2B sales in 2013, buyers have control of the buying process and want to ‘particpate’ in every step of the sales cycle.
What all of this translates to for the B2B sales world is that your stellar salesmen are no longer enough to consistently close deals. When the buyer feels like he is in control; he is not about to let some smooth-talking stranger tell him what to do. He may end up making the same buying decision your salesman wants him to, but he wants to feel that he has been an active participant in reaching that decision.
So, how do you appease the buyer and let him revel in his newfound sense of buying power? You build a sales engine with digital content marketing and let the buyer interact with you digitally until he/she is ready to be sold to directly.
Because the new communication model is about participation rather than transmission, you need to build digital content that buyers can engage or “participate” in. Give prospects the value proposition they need to make an informed decision, but don’t be overtly sales-y about it. Give them educational blogs to read, quick videos to watch or invite them to attend live webinars.
By having participatory experiences with your brand, prospects will start to feel comfortable enough with you to actually want to be sold to. If you use a marketing automation platform along with a strategic content marketing campaign, the buyer’s digital behaviors will let you will know when to start selling.
For Part 3 of this blog series, please click here.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to a B2B sales and marketing outsourcing representative, please feel free to contact us.
by gabriel_sales | Jun 1, 2013
The changing world of B2b sales
In B2b sales in 2013, many companies are starting to catch on to the fact that sales and marketing have changed. Dramatically. This is mostly due to technological innovations that have severely altered the way we receive and interact with information.
In this four-part blog series, we explain how the ways we buy and sell things have changed and why it is no longer easy or effective to sell without the help of experts.
Throughout human history, we have seen time and time again that technological innovation changes the way we live. Inventions like electricity and the telephone played such a role in shaping the world we live in today that we could hardly imagine our lives without them.
So, why should we expect that the internet and internet-based technologies wouldn’t have the same revolutionizing effect on the economy, business and culture?
One of the more interesting changes resulting from the internet revolution is the way people buy and sell things. Before the internet, the mediums we used to get information about the products and services available to us worked on a transmission model, where a message goes from an active sender to a passive recipient. In this model the buyer has little control over the process; he or she basically sits there and waits to get sold to.
The new communication model is less about transmission and more about participation. The internet has allowed everyone to have a voice and created a two-way dialogue. This means that in terms of selling, the power is now in the hands of the buyer. The buyer can now choose what type of sales content to view, what type of medium or device to view it on and when to view it. And now that buyers have all of this power, you can be sure that they will use it.
The next part of this blog series discusses what these changes mean for the world of B2B sales and marketing. For Part 2, please click here.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to a B2B sales and marketing outsourcing representative, please feel free to contact us.
