Understand the Full Buying Process of your Buyers

Posted by Ambal Balakrishnan April 14th 10

As social media providers become more focused on understanding true influence, how will the value and measurement of significant social influencers change? Why should marketers develop your subject matter experts as key industry influencers and thought leaders? We asked Steve Woods "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Steve Woods is the CTO and cofounder of Eloqua, author of Digital Body Language and is recognized as one of the top influencers in CRM.

Steve Woods

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"As buyers gather the information and insights they need online, the role of field sales will fall precipitously"

Steve Woods' Marketing Prediction for 2010

2010 will be an interesting year for B2B marketers, as a number of trends coalesce to fundamentally change the way we interact with buyers and engage them in a buying process. First, as data on individual prospects becomes more readily available, the value of a true relationship will increase dramatically. Second, as social media providers become more focused on understanding true influence, rather than just raw counts of friends or followers, the value and measurement of significant social influencers will increase tremendously. Third, as buyers more and more gather the information and insights they need online, and sellers are able to close larger transactions remotely, the role of field sales will fall precipitously.

Steve Woods' Marketing Action for 2010

As a marketer preparing for this coming shift, there are a few key things you can do. First, understand the full buying process of your buyers, and invest in the content and nurturing required to guide them, unobtrusively, through that buying process, from data to a relationship. Second, engage in social media across the breadth and depth of your organization to develop your subject matter experts as key industry influencers and thought leaders. Finally, ensure that you invest sufficiently in the teams and tools to enable selling deals (of up to $100k) over the phone; both communication and sales enablement tools (to understand buyers’ Digital Body Language) are critical.

Summary: Companies engaged in a complex sale must increasingly link thought leadership to intelligent client discovery. That’s how they confront today’s Guidance Imperative. Conventional approaches won’t deliver – and inbound marketing is not enough.

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