Despite all the attention around digital marketing and its ability to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways, it is still the case that people selling to people continues to be the primary way in which B2B technology purchases get made. However, buyers do not value their interactions with salespeople as much as they used to (gasp!). As a matter of fact, our research showed that sales came in last place after technical and industry expert, service and support and senior executive as ‘the most influential personal interactions across the entire buying cycle’. How is that possible? How is it that the almighty, all-knowing sales executive has lost their mojo? Well easy (for those paying attention) – while technology advances have accelerated and the customer has become more educated the sales rep (for the most part) continues to sell the same way they did in the past. And that has left customers looking elsewhere for meaningful interactions and challenging providers to step it up or risk being left out of deal consideration all together.
Why is this happening? Well, over the past few years sales has lost much of their control over the sales cycle. Historically, sales had a standard operating procedure (SOP) which not only dictated the flow of information but had a series of activities which were required by management to qualify a deal as ‘real’. That SOP included — cold calling, sending out corporate marketing literature, meeting with prospective customers, conducting sales presentations and arranging high level executive meetings. All of which could be categorized as a ‘push’ selling model. They knew more than their customers, they had mastered the art of ‘solution selling’ and they were in the driver’s seat. All these interactions or customer touches were (and continue to be) tightly managed by sales force automation (SFA), customer relationship management (CRM) and pipeline management tools where managers are able to measure activities and results on a daily/weekly and monthly basis. However, do those activities still deliver the same results as they once did? Are these metrics the right ones to manage? And more importantly, are those the types of interactions customers’ really value?
Let’s look at the sales presentation specifically. While it is part of almost all ‘sales interactions’ customers listed as 5th as the most ‘influential marketing activity’ they are engaged in. Traditionally the sales presentation is a corporate presentation, one which talks all about a providers business, products and market share. However, many times customers know more about a particular provider by the time the sales rep shows up to do his/her corporate presentation then they ever have in the past. The result, the customer feels sales is adding little to no value and has lost their ‘mojo’ doing nothing more than repeating what they can find on their own. What they really want is more custom, tailored, business and industry specific information which highlights how a particular technology or service can enhance ‘their’ business – not hear about how great the provider is. Bottom line it is less about you and more about them and what they need.
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We wanted to know more, so in a recent research study Gartner conducted, customers told us loud and clear that they are now self-directing their buying journey independently of what salespeople are doing. Now customers are deciding when and where the sales engagement will actually begin as well as how and where that interaction will take place in more of a ‘pull’ model. This change can and will have significant implications if ignored. Providers should look closely at their go to market and sales models to ensure they are providing the necessary value in the buying process and engaging customers with the right resources and information they desire regardless of where they are in their buying process. So as a sales leader what can you do to make it better?
- Sales presentations should no longer be used as the primary tool for sales to educate the buyer, but rather as way to develop a custom interaction which shows your understanding of the buyers’ business, industry and specific issue – above and beyond what they can find on their own. (since marketing owns the creation of much of the client facing material – work closely to make improvements)
- Sales may play more of an orchestration role than a driving role when customers initially engage. Being able to sell in a fluid customer buying cycle means sales has to become equally fluid and respond accordingly.
- Understand your customers buying journey. When, why and how do they choose to engage with your brand. How can you better align sales activities to a particular stage of the buying process versus a one size fits all approach or an inconsistent (leave it up to each sales rep) experience.
- Review current sales metrics, processes and systems and ensure they align with new customer value triggers, otherwise you will be managing the wrong metrics and hindering a more fluid sales process.
As part of our ongoing research on the Future of IT Sales this topic is a critical piece of the ‘Sellers Dilemma’ – one which left unresolved can place much of your marketing and demand generation activities at risk. Without a successful sales engine – growing market share and expanding your brands influence becomes that much more difficult. Sales leaders must help their sellers adjust and understand that customers expect more than they are getting today and when done correctly they will reward them with their business.