Your prospects are getting smarter everyday and you may not even be aware of it or part of their buyer’s journey. Yes, the world of business has changed dramatically from the days when a sales rep was your primary vehicle for communications with potential customers and if you are still reliant on that face-to-face communication you may be in for a bit of a shock as your prospects decide on another’s solution without you even knowing they were in the market.
Today most people have access to an internet-connected device and Google has become a verb for a reason. Just about every purchase decision now starts with a series of internet searches for:
- education on the topic or available solutions and vendors
- information from trusted peers or other consumers on their experiences in this area or with this vendor or product/service set
- value exchange items such as whitepapers, webcasts, on-demand videos, self-running demos, free trials which ultimately creates a motivation or compelling event to make that purchase
- pricing and availability of various options
Lori Wizdo’s blog on the Forrester Research site titled “Buyer Behavior Helps B2B Marketers Guide The Buyer’s Journey” observes that
“Today’s buyers control their journey through the buying cycle much more than today’s vendors control the selling cycle. Although it varies greatly with product complexity and market maturity, today’s buyers might be anywhere from two-thirds to 90% of the way through their journey before they reach out to the vendor. For many product categories, buyers now put off talking with salespeople until they are ready for price quotes.”
Bottom-line is that now your website and internet presence (articles, blogs, social media, …) is more important than even your best sales rep as that is where your buyer’s journey begins. I’m certainly not suggesting you dump your sales team but I am suggesting you take a close look at how you fair in the early stage of your buyer’s journey by doing your own searches. Marketing is your new best friend.
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