by gabriel_sales | May 8, 2014
As digital marketing takes up more and more of the overall marketing space, more and more companies are invetsing in marketing automation solutions to help streamline their marketing process.
In the past few years, marketing automation has been a revolutionary force in the world of digital selling. B2B companies who leverage marketing automation as a part of an integrated sales and marketing program gain better targeting of prospects, improved lead management, the ability to measure results and ROI and better customer relationship management.
In a recently published report from Regalix Research on the State of Marketing Automation in 2014, it was found that 88% of B2B marketers are either currently using or implementing marketing automation tools in the coming year. Of those who did not currently have a solution in place, 69% plan to implement a solution in 2014.
The report also looked at the biggest obstacles to effective use of marketing automation. While the report lists over a dozen, two of the top obstacles are lack of expertise to use the data and intelligence offered by the tool (55%) and complexity of marketing automation software (34%). This helps to explain why the top factor companies look at when evaluating a marketing automation software (86%) is ‘ease of use’.
In addition to the complexity, it can often take a while to see results once your marketing automation system is in place. The report found that only 20% of marketing automation users saw results within the first three months, while it took at least six months for 64% of users.
Continue reading for implementation tips.
by gabriel_sales | May 6, 2014
Video, especially digital video, has grown so prevalent; it is likely to be the defining media format of our time. Over 100 hours of video now are uploaded to YouTube each minute, and it would take over 1,000 years to watch every video uploaded.
Here are 3 reasons you should be using B2B video in your digital marketing programs:
1. Your buyers watch them.
While we all love our cat videos, it seems we also (at least somewhat) enjoy watching business videos and commercial advertisements. Forbes recently stated that 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. Forbes also found that 59% of executives would rather watch a video than read text.
2. They can influence your buyers’ subsequent web activity.
Many studies on B2B video engagement have found that videos are able to influence buyers to further engage with your company in some way. Forbes stated that 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website after viewing a video. Similarly, Zabisco found that 46% of people who viewed a video ad took some action after viewing it. Specifically, they found:
- 26% looked for more information about the subject of the video (Zabisco)
- 22% visited the website named in the ad (Zabisco)
- 15% visited the company represented in the video ad (Zabisco)
3. They can motivate a buying decision.
While impulsive decisions are much more likely to happen in the B2C space (where 65% of people are much more likely to buy a product after seeing a video), videos can motivate purchase decisions in the B2B space as well. Forbes Insight found that after watching a video, about 50% of executives went on to make a purchase for their business.
For more on the advantages of B2B video, read this quick blog on 3 Reasons You Should Leverage B2B Video in 2014.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Apr 29, 2014
While cold calling has never been easy, it certainly has not gotten any easier in the past few years.
Using the data we’ve gathered as an outsourced sales team for B2B companies, in 2013 our average call (time a rep picks up the phone) to connect (times a decision maker picks up the phone) ratio was between 7% -16% (depending on the Industry). In 2008, it was between 12% – 21%. This means that cold calling is now 30% to 50% less effective getting someone on the phone. In part, this is driven by better screening technology, but it is primarily driven by the fact that with downsizing, there are less decision makers doing more work, so they have less time to pick up the phone.
In order to help you get the most out of your cold calling, here are three tips for B2B cold calling success:
1) Know Your Target:
Spend more time researching and less time calling. Look at what your target company does and your specific prospect’s role there. Look up he or she on LinkedIn to see their past work experience, interests, anything that can give you an idea of what makes this person tick.
The more you know going into the call, the less cold the call is. This process helps to generate momentum in your favor and further ensure a successful first contact. Additionally, consider the time zone in which your prospect is located. The absolute best times to cold call are between the hours of 8-9am and 4-5pm, with the lunchtime period of 1-2 being the absolute worst.
Continue reading this blog series.
For more on how cold calling’s decline in effectiveness has changed the B2B sales and marketing process, watch this quick video. You can find out more about the value of an outsourced sales team here. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Apr 24, 2014
This is the second half of a blog series on B2B sales and freedom of choice. To read the first part, click here.
The first step in creating choice for your buyers is getting rid of the preconceived notion that all buyers follow the same path from discovery to close. Especially in B2B sales, each buyer’s journey can look very different.
One buyer might have an urgent need and want to make a purchase as soon as humanly possible. Another buyer may be a company that requires sign off from multiple decision makers, each having a different perspective on what makes a good solution. And yet another buyer may be a year or more away from buying a product like yours but want to get ahead on early-stage research.
In order to close all three of these deals, you need to set up your sales and marketing program to honor the variances in each buyer’s situation and offer content choices conducive to each.
For example, at the end of an early stage blog post, don’t assume that you know what the next step should be and force your buyer to take it. Offer options instead. From the examples given above, the buyer on the fast track might want to go straight from your blog to a custom demo sign up. For the company with multiple decision makers, each decision maker might want to take a different path forward (e.g. the IT rep wants technical specifications, the business buyer wants case studies). The very early-stage buyer isn’t ready to move forward yet and may just want to read some more educational blogs.
By offering choice, you can create a personalized and individualized buying experience for each prospect who enters your pipe.
To learn more about how the B2B sales and marketing process has changed in recent years, read/watch this quick video-blog. For more on the importance of offering many different content choices, read our blog post titled B2B Buying Cycles: Don’t Serve Breakfast for Dessert.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Apr 22, 2014
Not too long ago, sales had a lot of power. Sales people used to be able to use knowledge and information as a closing tool.
Today, we live in a world of information, most of which is freely accessible. Buyers have no reason to go to a salesperson for information when they can go a website to get the same thing. Google’s Think Insights recently wrote:
“. . . our research has shown that, on average, business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until 57 percent of the purchase process is complete. That means for nearly two thirds of the buying process, your customers are out in the ether: Forming opinions, learning technical specifications, building requirements lists, and narrowing down their options, all on their own, with minimal influence from you.”
The main take away here is not that B2B buyers are now completing the majority of their buying process on their own, it is that they prefer to do so. If buyers preferred the old sales process, they would have continued to engage with it. Data shows they aren’t, so the question we need to ask ourselves is what do buyers like about this new process.
The main difference we see between the old and new sales model is choice. In the old model, buyers had little choice in when to be sold to—everything was done in the seller’s way and on the seller’s time. Today, the buyer can choose everything about their buying process experience: when, what, how, where. If your sales and marketing process isn’t set up to give your buyer this type of freedom of choice, he is also free to choose to leave your buying process altogether and buy from a competitor.
The buyer likes to have freedom of choice. And, the company who is able to give it to them will be the one who wins the business.
Continue reading for more on B2B sales and freedom of choice.
As digital marketing takes up more and more of the overall marketing space, more and more companies are invetsing in marketing automation solutions to help streamline their marketing process.
