Today's B2B prospects are influenced by a wide variety of sources, far
beyond the conventional 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 the BuyerSphere
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 is clearly in the hands of the prospect.
Power is shifting from the seller to the buyer...
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. Vendors who wish to lead in today's markets must embrace these realities in their go to market strategies.
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.
The emergence of "influencer marketing"...
The BuyerSphere is clearly having an
increasingly powerful influence on when, how and why prospects go about
searching for solutions, and who they choose to consider. Vendors
clearly need to make a systematic attempt to map and navigate the
BuyerSphere that surrounds their most promising prospects.
This recognition has spawned a new category of B2B marketing - influencer marketing, in which vendors make a systematic attempt to not just navigate, but to actively influence the key constituencies in the prospect's BuyerSphere.
Understanding the prospect's search for a solution...
The
first place to start is with 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 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 relatively inexpensive voice of the customer research project can 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.
Are you ready for a fresh perspective?
Would you like to learn more? Then please continue to browse the site and when you
are ready, contact us here or call us on +44 845
519 0295.
We look forward to hearing from you!