B2B buyers' behaviours are changing
We all change. It's part of life and business. When the stakes are high in business to business transactions, pay close attention to how this market is changing. Depending on product complexity and market maturity, today's B2B buyers might be anywhere from 66% to 90% of the way through their journey before they reach out to the vendor (Forrester Research).
This chart nicely visualises the data for you.
My big outtakes are that a big part of the "usual" sales processes will turn into a marketing engine. That is, your message and content become key at each stage in the sales process.
Let's drill down.
According to Demand Gen: The 2014 B2B Buyer Behaviour Survey:
- 61% of their respondents agreed that the winning vendor delivered a better mix of content appropriate for each stage of the purchasing process
- 66% of buyers agreed that the winning vendor provided higher-quality content
- 63% said the winning vendor’s content was more conducive to building a business case for the purchase
What does this mean to your business?
The implication is enormous: Businesses must adapt to changing dynamics, in particular from an "Easy To Sell" to "Easy To Buy" business model that is highly customer centric and learn to take a company's unique differentiation and transform it into visible business value.
A big part of your sales processes will turn into a marketing engine, providing personalisation and relevant content to customers at each stage of their buying journey.
Unfortunately, 62% of B2B marketers believe their content marketing strategies are ineffective because 74% of online consumers tell them that they are frustrated. (AOL Nielsen Content Sharing Study 2013)
Disjointed marketing can also result in loss of customer interest, loss of customer loyalty, confusion and mistrust, and a loss of market share. (Oracle)
Vermilion Pinstripes can make sure you maximise your ROI during your B2B sales journey.
Vermilion Pinstripes is a sales marketing and communications agency based in Port Macquarie and in Melbourne Australia and in Singapore.
Vermilion Pinstripes is a partner of Hubspot, Active Campaign and Kounta point of sales software. It's amazing how we have a team who use maths, science, creativity and psychology in this modern marketing era to help small businesses and B2B organisations connect with MORE of their most profitable customers using a simple, clear and structured purpose-driven sales, marketing and communications plan to gain brand clarity so that they can grow their business and achieve returns on investment (RoI).
We are proud to count growing local, regional and global businesses gain business confidence. Let's build yours!
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