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With 60% of the typical B2B purchase decision being made before the prospect makes direct contact with the vendor*, mapping marketing messages to sales conversations and enabling sales to have the right conversations has become more critical than ever before. It’s less about how great you and your products are and more about how you can help your customers run a better business. This means a shift in the type of content and information we are currently delivering to our sales teams and channel partners to better meet end customer needs and drive profitable outcomes. But what does this mean in practice for B2B marketers? How do we define customer buyer journeys? What do customers want to know at each stage of purchase consideration? In this EDGE Marketing Best practice forum we will examine the problems faced by B2B marketers and help solve them with practical tools, advice and examples.
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© DirectionGroup 2014
@Direction_grp #dgedge
What is sales enablement?
The activities, systems, processes and information that support and promote knowledge-based sales
interactions with client and prospectsGartner
…a function that plays a critical role in readying sales to succeed in an ever changing and
increasingly challenging marketplace’Sirius Decisions
Way back when…
No salesperson
No relationship with the buyer
No deal
Buyers now have access to x20 times the amount of
information they had even only five years ago
Buyers now completing 60-70% of the purchase decision BEFORE they
come into direct contact with the brand
Source: Sirius Decisions 2012
Decision makers regard
only 1 7inof their meetings with sales people as “valuable”
Source: Forrester
Over50of apparently well-qualified B2B sales opportunities end in a decision to “do nothing”
%
Source: CSO Insights
Sales professionals’ challenge
Wrong kind of preparation
Wrong expectations
Wrong materials
Wrong approach
The expectation gap
Although informed, budget conscious B2B technology buyers are looking for advice, best practice, and tangible business impacts ahead of productpitches or standalone solutions…
…buyers disappointed with vendors’ sales engagement Almost 60% indicate that sales people are
poorly prepared for meetings/engagements Over 65% of vendor switching is due to sales
relationship problems
Source: IDC 2013
Even worse…
Buyers actually think sales people slow down their buying process…
Vendors don’t sell the way they want them to buy
Salespeople, collateral and demos are forced on them out of sync with their buying process
“31% of sales reps are
not prepared with even
a basic level of Web
available information
before taking a buyer's
valuable time.”
Technology Marketing Blog (IDC),
“Sales Enablement and the Year of the Sales Rep”
Sales priorities are changing
Customer is self-serving through the early stages
Sales need to focus on the
later sections.
The goal of Sales Enablement
To ensure that every seller has the required knowledge, skills, processes and behaviours to optimise every interaction with
buyers
A well enabled salesman can:
1. Understand the customer’s marketplace and issues2. Help the buyer envision solving their problems
using his/her products & services3. Sell newly launched/acquired products4. Cross-sell unfamiliar products5. Frame the buyer’s evaluation criteria so that
competitors are at a disadvantage6. Help the ‘buyer champion’ sell within his/her
organisation7. Overcome objections raised by the buyer8. Respond to tough questions immediately and with
credibility
If you haven’t thought about the subsequent conversation, you’re wasting your time creating the content in the first place
Bob Apollo’s Golden rule:
What really matters to today’s b2b buyers
19%
Brand19%
Offering 9%
Price
53%
SalesExperience
Buyers value insights
• Unique, valuable perspectives on the market
• Help in navigating alternatives
• On-going advice and consultation
• Help to identify and avoid potential land mines
• Education on new issues and outcomes
• Sales person wins widespread support across organisation
• Sales person makes it easy to buy from them
[Source: CEB]
Key Principles
• Lead towards your solution, not with it
• Reflect the customer’s language
• Eliminate techno-babble, industry-speak
• Focus on developing urgent needs
• Promote the need to solve the problem
• Elevate the cost of sticking with the status quo
• Facilitate the buying process
• Why Change? > Why Now? > Why Us?
SALES ENABLEMENT IS THE MODERN B2B MARKETER’S MOST IMPORTANTRESPONSIBILITY
What’s the impact?
A broadening of the remit from providing sales assets - to ensuring that reps are competent in using those assets
A shift in the type of content and information we are currently delivering to our sales teams and channel partners to better meet end customer needs and wants
We need to rethink sales enablement as something other than a one-way deposit of sales tools in a portal
Enable sales to have valuable conversations that advance the buyers through: The right knowledge Specific to the current selling situation At the right time In the right place Tailored to the needs of the buyer
From sales support to sales enablement
DirectionGroup’s E³ Sales Enablement Framework
1. EducateSKILLS: Sales skills and
behaviour Buying landscape
workshops Corporate readiness Business strategy
sessions Product/solution training Mentoring Sales Boot Camp
2. Equip 3. Enable
TOOLS: Playbooks
Webcasting
Sales hub
Peer/community Xchange
Applications
Automation – pipeline management
CONTENT: Big Bets
Messaging / conversation mapping
Success stories
Competitive analysis
Market context
Products/solutions/services
MANAGED APPROACH FOCUSED ON SOLVING CUSTOMERS’ PROBLEMS
Educate
It’s a sales 2.0 world
Sales teams need to understand the new buyer landscape
And be supported to have insight-led conversations with senior stakeholders
Best practice – what are other sales people doing and using to win deals?
Sales and marketing collaboration to build the new skills required
Equip
Collateral in a box has three flaws:
1. Too much information
2. Not aligned with selling situations
3. Disconnected from daily reality
Need to look at more dynamic and real-time tools: To avoid sales people feeling overwhelmed To share experiences and proven strategies To ensure valuable conversations are being enabled
The sales portal is dead!! (Well almost)
Enable
It’s a move from collateral to conversation.
Our sales enablement content will be valuable to our sales audience if it is:
relevant to the sales person and their end-customer’s business needs and available in a suitable format
compelling enough to drive further engagement or a change in their selling behaviour
timely available to sales and customer at the point in time when it is most valuable
Relevant
TimelyCompelling
Valuable Content
Contact
Geraint HollimanPlanning Director
@geraintholliman
/geraintholliman
Eoin RodgersTactical Planner
@eoinrodgers
/eoinrodgers
@Direction_grp #dgedge
