This is Part 3 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 and for Part 2, please click here.
In the first two parts of this blog series, we explained how technological innovations have dramatically changed the way we communicate with one another as well as how we buy and sell things.
To briefly review, we explained that the internet and internet-based technologies have changed communication from a transmission model to a participation model. For B2B sales in 2013, this means that you can no longer simply ‘transmit’ sales material or sell hard upfront. This is because your buyer wants to ‘participate’ in the sales process every step of the way.
By creating digital marketing content and running content marketing campaigns using a marketing automation platform, you can simultaneously give your prospects something to participate in and monitor their buying behaviors.
Using the information you gather from your marketing automation solution, you can intuitively guess how each prospect would like to participate with your brand as they move down the sales/buying cycle. For example, if they have been reading all of your educational blog posts, they might also enjoy downloading a white paper. If they have been clicking on “pricing” or “comparison” type pages, they might be ready for a phone call.
Understanding how the new participatory communication model works, and integrating this information with B2B selling and buying cycles is not a simple task. It requires sales expertise, technological capabilities, the ability to produce a mountain of marketing content, a little bit of storytelling and some social intuition.
In light of this, many companies have realized they do not have the internal capacity to revamp their sales and marketing to fit the new communication model and buying cycle. Instead, they have turned to the experts.
In the last part of this blog series, we explain why trusting the experts makes sense for B2B sales and marketing outsourcing in 2013. Click here for Part 4.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
