11. Where Do They Go?
Industry
Association LinkedIn Social Industry
Community
Analyst
Webinar Somebody’s
Uncle
White Paper
Media Site
Blogs
Online
Demo
12. Experience Disruptors
• Marketing has no knowledge of
buyers’ social media conversations.
• Sales is not aware of prior buyer
interaction with marketing assets.
• Sales assumes an uninformed
buyer; buyers are the opposite.
• Customer Service has no
knowledge of past buyer
interactions.
• Support treats customers
differently than Sales or Marketing.
• Support trouble ticket process
not buyer outcome oriented.
13. Buyer Frustration
of sales interactions
are considered
3% worthwhile by
prospects
Forrester 2011
Standardized on RIMEmployees started showing up with Apple and Android smart phones and devices. Employees were using multiple personal devices + one for business.IT was getting bombarded with requests to support more than RIMManagement was concerned about data security and protecting confidential customer data on employee personal devices. And they didn’t want to be exposed to personal employee data. Management also wanted iPad support for reporting and other forms of corporate information. Employees were getting frustrated juggling between devices and then…..Someone left their personal smartphone in a cab. It has business data on it… the trigger point is that bank management and IT had to figure out how to solve this…and secure their highly sensitive data.
25 percent use the Internet22 percent leverage an external peer22 percent rely on internal colleagues20 percent utilize an industry analyst11 percent join social media communitiesBottom line: By the time salespeople are knocking on the door at “mahogany row,” that CXO they are calling on has done a good deal of research online; in fact, these leaders have probably already begun to build not only a vision of what their needs are, but also what the possible solution looks like.
Marketing becomes the proxy for the early sales call. It used to be reps were involved earlier in the buying process, positioned to influence both the perceived needs and the solutions a buyer might consider. Without the ability for sales to engage buyers early, it becomes increasingly important for marketing to do its homework on the buyer – using research and analysis to determine the tactics most likely to resonate with the prospect. Marketing’s effectiveness will then become evident by how often buyers, when eventually meeting with reps, articulate their needs and desired solutions in terms of your offerings.
Sales needs to re-engineer their dialogues. Classic consultative selling skills have taught reps to develop buyer needs through the use of effective questioning, listening and the ability to connect needs with relevant product/solution features and benefits., the focus on early sales calls must move from needs creation to needs forensics. Salespeople must use the skills of questioning and listening to understand what the preordained need and preconceived solution look like, the process used to arrive at those conclusions and how committed the buyer is to that vision. If there’s a match between need and solution, it may make sense to move forward; if not, the rep must make the call whether a match can still be found through further dialogue, or be prepared to move on.15% of executives believe that sales do not prepare for sales calls. Marketing doesn’t enable or share Sales don’t engage in needs forensics Service / support focuses on one-and-done metrics