How technology is disrupting the B2B sales process

Technology has changed the buying process but it can also help you adjust as a seller. New strategies with social media, content marketing and automation can help ensure you don't get left out of the buyer’s journey. Which of these are you already implementing at your company? inShare 0 Enlarge Image The world of B2B sales and marketing has changed quite a bit over the last decade. One of the biggest changes has to do with how buyers are leveraging technology and information on the Internet to make decisions on which vendor to go with. Traditionally, if I were in the market for a vendor that could help manage my e-mail campaigns, I would build a list of players in the space like ExactTarget, MailChimp and Constant Contact and then just call them all to learn more. I would meet a sales person at all of these companies and they would have the opportunity to help me get information while keeping tabs on my decision making process. Sales Presently With the vast amount of information made available by the Internet, a call to a salesperson is now way down the buying cycle. Some say most buyers are two-thirds to 90 percent of the way through their journey before even reaching out to the vendor. Why? Buyers can now do a lot of research on their own before needing to contact a sale rep, if they end up contacting them at all.  As a buyer there are so many more resources at our fingertips that will help guide us to make the right decision. Today, I can find a number of free eBooks, whitepapers and webinars about managing e-mail campaigns. There are tons of blogs and customer testimonials that I can read online. I can even try the products myself or view demo videos on YouTube. By the time I need to contact a sales person about the product I’m thinking about purchasing, I’m already well into my education process and have already almost made a decision. I may just need a few questions answered from one or two of the vendors rather than contacting them all. How to Adjust As businesses, we must try to own the relationship with our potential customers as early in their process as possible. This gives us control to get a fair shot at winning the business. But what do we do if potential buyers are 90 percent through the process before reaching out to us? Well, if technology created the problem, then we can also use technology to address it. There are three strategies that you should be thinking about to address the problem: Content Marketing Buyers are essentially finding content online in order to learn about their own problem and learn about potential vendors to help solve it. As a vendor, you need to make sure your own content is part of the mix. This means actively creating eBooks, whitepapers, webinars, videos, blogs and social media posts that describe your space and help educate buyers. These shouldn’t just talk about your product. Instead they should help the buyer learn about their own problem so the content is consumed at the earliest part of the buyer’s journey. Each of your individual sales reps should also think about creating and posting helpful content on social media. If they are seen as thought leaders in the space then the buyer will be much more likely to engage them earlier in their buying process. Marketing Automation If buyers don't want to talk to your sales reps early in their process then figure out how to communicate with those potential customers in smart ways through different channels. Marketing Automation systems give you the ability to collect all the prospects who have shown interest in your company and then automate communications and campaigns based on their actual behavior. This gives you the ability to be ultra-personal while addressing individual needs without needing a buyer or seller to get on the phone. Social Media Outreach Buyers are leaving a breadcrumb trail as they start their personal research of a topic they need help with. This might come as retweeting analysts, tweeting conference hashtags, joining LinkedIn Groups, etc. Make a list of all these indicators and continually search for them on social media. When found, use social media to proactively reach out to the prospect and start a helpful conversation. This allows you to start building a relationship earlier in the buying process and ensures your sales rep gets called first when the buyer has questions. Technology has changed the buying process but it can also help you adjust as a seller. These new strategies with social media, content marketing and automation can help ensure you don't get left out of the buyer’s journey.