Marketing and Sales, no matter how good, cannot make a buyer buy – especially in a BtoB environment, where purchasing decisions are often made by committee, impulse buys are rare, and emotions (though not irrelevant) are secondary to rational considerations.
In today’s information-rich world, buyers are in control of the sales process – so understanding what makes them tick is essential. However, as BtoB marketers, it seems we’ve lost sight of this critical point. It’s understandable. In recent years, we’ve been bombarded with the mandate to drive ever more leads through email marketing, overwhelmed by the social media du jour, and enthralled by the promise of marketing automation.
Simply put, we took our eyes off the ball. We know effective marketing starts and ends with the buyer. We always knew it – we just forgot it temporarily. It’s time to reorient ourselves, and our organizations. It’s time to embrace buyer-driven marketing.
It’s time to stop selling and start listening.
This is a way of thinking that places buyers at the center of all marketing priorities. Understanding what buyers care about, how they make their decisions, and how they want to receive information, makes marketing about them, not about us.
This isn't about doing more – or even about doing less. It's about doing what matters. And since most of us are being asked to stretch our resources ever further, focusing on what’s important is more important than ever. If a program, strategy or tactic does not clearly impact the buying decision, then it’s not relevant, and not deserving of execution.
Going forward, that's got to be our yardstick: will the buyer care? And the way we'll know that is not by emailing more, tweeting more, or lead-nurturing more. It's by asking questions, observing behavior, measuring results – and listening to what buyers are telling us.
It's going to be interesting. It's going to mean some adjustment. But it's going to be rewarding. And we're excited to join you on the journey.
Astute insight from the Arketi team, considered by many – and rightfully so – as true thought leaders, and I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Fundamentally re-prioritizing marketing efforts around the buyer (and their concerns, questions, etc.) will be imperative moving forward.
Thanks for keeping us all in line and reminding us what…scratch that…”who” truly matters!
These comments are right on target. Only thing I can say is Amen!
If marketing dollars are not allocated to lead aquistion and retention, then the plans need to be reexamined. Also, the listening needs to be added during lead nuturing as well: Lead Nurturing is a systematic process for regulating the flow of leads between marketing and sales. The science behind selling says everyone engages in a series of steps before making a purchase: 1. Defining a problem that needs to be solved; 2. Educating about potential solutions to the problem; and 3. Determining the appropriate course of action to solve the problem.
+1 on Tracy’s comments on lead nurturing. I tell my clients that I won’t lift a finger on marketing content if the Sales team doesn’t think it will help them reach their targets (new leads, pipeline conversions, etc.). In creating that content, you better be dialed in to the buyer’s (and user’s, as they can be other people than buyer’s) pains. They don’t care about features, they care about how you can help them sleep at night.
How can it be any other way? And this needs to be the case way before lead generation and nurturing come into play—how about during product or service development?
This is what I say to potential clients: You’ve gotten opinions from management, consultants, advisors, industry experts, investors, friends, family, etc. However, if you haven’t asked those who you hope will WRITE YOU A CHECK for what you’re selling whether it’s compelling enough to do so, you’re leaving yourself open to a sizeable risk.
Having the wrong product (or even poorly positioning the right product) can make your lead generation efforts look terrible– “we’ve gotten a ton of leads but very few conversions”—when that may not be the case.
“Before if you were making a product, the right business strategy was to put 70% of your attention, energy, and dollars into shouting about a product, and 30% into making a great product. So you could win with a mediocre product, if you were a good enough marketer. That is getting harder to do. The balance of power is shifting toward consumers and away from companies…the individual is empowered… The right way to respond to this if you are a company is to put the vast majority of your energy, attention and dollars into building a great product or service and put a smaller amount into shouting about it, marketing it.“ Jeff Besos
I agree with you Mitch, there is nothing better than getting it straight from the horses mouth. I have done many customer satisfaction surveys for clients and learnt a lot from the process. At the end of the selling is based on relationships, I was just talking about that today with someone who was worried about employees stealing database – anyone can pick up a database but at the end of the day the best sales person listens to the needs of his clients and provides solutions – ultimately building a relationship.
Selling is not only based on relationships but mainly pricing and quality matters at the end.
Excellent…The focus must be on the customers’ needs and not what you think they need. This should be the first step in product development and is often an afterthought by many companies, which makes a product more challenging to market and sell. Lay the foundation first, by asking your customers what they want and then listen!
It is so effective and important to business owners that they listen and care about their customers. Knowing what their customers thionk about their products, services and many can make a lead to them on what areas their business must improve, retain etc.