B2B buying and selling continues to present new challenges for sales leaders. As buyer preferences and behaviors change, you need to be aware of how this will impact your sellers and how you can adapt your sales strategies and tactics.
In a recent Gartner webinar, “CSOs: How to Effectively Adapt Your B2B Sales Strategies” Chief of Research Robert Blaisdell shared new strategies to improve sales to B2B buyers.
Over 60% of B2B buyers prefer a “rep-free experience,” according to new research from Gartner. This is actually good news compared to a few years ago, when over 75% of buyers did so.
But a high percentage of your customers still want a different kind of interaction with sales professionals.
If you lead a sales team, what does this mean for you? You’ve got some new questions to answer:
- What’s the best way for your sellers to engage with customers?
- How can you connect digital and human seller channels?
- Can you improve the buying experience and engage distracted buyers?
The Challenges of Shifting Buyer Behavior
As buyer preferences and behaviors change, you can refine your strategies and tactics. Here are some of Gartner’s findings about B2B buyers.
76% of B2B buyers are now millennials.
Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are now moving into positions in which they’re making buying decisions. They’re the same age as buyers were in the past (thirties and forties) but, because of the era in which they were born, generational differences are coming into play. They’re known for their proficiency with technology, having grown up during the rise of the internet and social media.
Buyers are crossing channels.
Buyers today use both digital and “rep-led” sales channels when purchasing. 72% of B2B buyers have completed purchase through a rep-led channel (under sales). 28% have completed through a digital channel (under marketing).
Buying groups are large.
There are 5 to 16 stakeholders in an average buying group. The top three functions of group members are from procurement, finance, and operations. 71% of buyers are divisional or functional heads.
Buyers prefer sellers at specific points.
In the buyer journey—from initial search for product information to the decision to purchase—there are distinct points at which a buyer wants to engage with a seller. Buyers are least likely to engage at the beginning of their search and are progressively more likely to engage when they are determining whether a product or service meets the company’s needs.
The Best Way to Engage with B2B Buyers
Gartner found that when and how sellers engage with buyers makes a big difference in overall success and satisfaction. Doing the wrong thing won’t just progress the sale; it actually has negative consequences.
Avoid unwanted outreach.
Too much or irrelevant outreach is a waste of sellers’ time, and there’s a high cost to eroding the willingness of buyers to do business with you. 76% of buyers avoid doing business with suppliers who send them irrelevant messaging. 58% avoid doing business with suppliers that send too many messages.
Do more at the right points.
On the flip side, there’s an increased need for relevant and targeted outreach. Buyers want information that’s useful and timely. They’re looking for thought leadership, educational content, benchmarking data or comparisons, implementation checklists, client testimonials, case studies, virtual simulations, and buying guides.
Gartner found buyers want both self-service information and interactions with sellers (at the right moments). “When sellers use digital tools with the customer, it’s a force multiplier in improving commercial outcomes,” according to the Gartner analyst.
4 B2B Sales Techniques and Strategies
1. Position sellers where buyers prefer them most.
Buyers’ preference for self-service has declined from 75% a few years ago to 61% today. This may be because buyers in a seller-free deal are more likely to experience purchase regret. Perhaps the purchase wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be; or maybe the product or service didn’t line up with their needs. Map your buyer’s journey, align it with your sales process, and identify the best points to engage with your customers.
2. Deliver buyer group relevance to drive consensus.
To drive consensus, Gartner advises sellers to work with a “mobilizer” who has an overview of the customer organization. Sellers should ask each individual and the group two questions to uncover areas of disconnect in the buying group:
1. What are your priorities as a buying group?
2. What are you trying to achieve as a group?
Then look at timeline, scale, size, cost, and ownership to find each individual’s priorities compared to the group. Sellers can then work to overcome and reconcile differences to build consensus.
3. Synchronize marketing and sales messaging.
Your company’s website is an essential part of the sales cycle. Gartner found 49% of buyers use online searches to find potential suppliers. Use of a supplier’s site is associated with high buying group consensus and high-quality deals.
Because your website is the first place buyers engage with your organization, make sure the messaging on your site connects to what’s being presented by sellers. You don’t want to cause confusion or headaches for your sellers.
4. Take a customer-centric approach.
Gartner found the most important factors for buyer decision making are:
- Reliability
- Giving value for the money
- Having features the customer wants most
- Helping achieve business goals
- Being an expert in the industry
The takeaway for sales leaders is to move away from a focus on features and benefits to using a consultative selling approach and a customer-centric perspective. Focus on what you can do for the customer, prove long-term value, and help them achieve their goals—and you’ll help your sales team reach their goals too.
Get in touch to learn how The Brooks Group can prepare your team with sales techniques and strategies for today’s buyers.
