Which people, and which organisations, are most influential in shaping your prospect's thinking? Who do they turn to for advice when they recognise they may have a problem? Who do they trust to guide them? And how do they go about searching for solutions?
Today's B2B prospects are influenced by a wide variety of sources, far beyond the traditional analyst and press community. They look for recommendations from a community of trusted advisors, who can include formal and informal networks, business connections, existing vendors and many other sources - collectively referred to as their BuyerSphere.
Identifying the many pathways of influence...
Prospects are building these connections, following these pathways of influence and forming opinions long before they decide to take action on an issue, with significant consequences for the "sales process". By the time they make direct sales contact with a potential new vendor, the balance of information power has already shifted towards the prospect.
Even the timing of this contact is increasingly in the hands of the prospect - in a growing number of cases involving major business purchases, it is the prospect that initiates first contact with the vendor, rather than the other way around - and only after they have completed their initial research.
Connecting with the Buyersphere...
Faced with today's realities, how can an enlightened vendor get connected with their most promising prospects? Attempts to push messages harder through conventional marketing tactics are proving to be increasingly ineffective, as evidenced by plummeting email open rates, declining exhibition attendance, and low direct marketing response rates. Now, more than ever, it's time to influence the influencers!
Fortunately, whilst every individual will have their trusted advisors, each market has clusters of influence that have a disproportionate impact on the community as a whole. These networks of experts and thought leaders are the people and places your prospects will turn to when they need to educate themselves what is happening in their markets, and on the options open to them.
Our approach...
We recommend talking to recent past prospects - but unlike conventional win-loss reports, which tend to focus on the sales process, the most illuminating answers come from exploring what triggered the prospect's search for a solution in the first place and the people and institutions they chose to turn to for advice.
Vendors are invariably surprised to discover the routes by which some of their best prospects have come to them. Even a short research exercise will quickly generate invaluable insights - and the process can and should turn into a habit of continually building connections with the key players in the BuyerSphere.
If past experience is anything to go by, these insights could enable you to significantly sharpen the focus of your marketing and sales efforts, and eliminate wasted effort - why not give us the chance to prove it?
Here's how we might be able to help...
Achieving sales and marketing alignment is particularly important to any organisation that is trying to achieve a step-function improvement in marketing effectiveness or sales productivity, to out-perform strong competitors, or to successfully launch new products or enter new markets.
We've been able to help a growing number of B2B organisations to realise their ambitions by diagnosing and dealing with the constraints that have been holding them back. We may be able to help your company achieve the same. You can learn more about our approach by browsing this website.
When you are ready, please complete our contact form, drop us a line at info@inflexion-point.com or call us on +44 (0) 845 519 0295.
We look forward to finding out more about what you are trying to achieve, to sharing some ideas - and to helping you achieve the benefits of alignment throughout your sales and marketing organisation.