The pandemic introduced sudden and significant challenges to businesses in virtually every industry, with owners pivoting to navigate lockdowns, new safety regulations, and evolving customer behaviors and values. Now, it’s time to adjust again: to life after the pandemic. From a business perspective, little will ever be the same. The question now is how to adjust yet again, and craft a sales and marketing strategy that will work for your business, your customers, and your markets. In a recent webinar, the Association for Enterprise Growth and these leading experts explored the keys to sales and marketing success in the coming months and years:
- Deborah S. Fell – Area Managing Partner & CMO at Chief Outsiders
- Shevy Shafie – Chief Marketing Officer & Partner at Marstudio, Inc.
- Chris Tully – Chief Sales Officer at Sales Growth Advisors LLC
Prioritizing the Right Differentiators
The pandemic hit different industries in different ways. Particularly resilient industries managed to survive and a few even thrived. Others, especially the travel and hospitality industries, suffered significant losses. Economic trend reports from ITR show that the U.S. GDP dropped by 2.1% in 2020. The mid-year report predicted a growth of 3.5% in 2021, but so far, that’s only at 1.3%. It’s vital, therefore, that businesses understand what their customers really want in order to close sales and stabilize lasting business growth.
Businesses therefore should take a close look at what their differentiators in the market are, and if they still matter to their customers. The panel cited the example of an architectural firm which believed their most important differentiator was design. In reality, what mattered most to their customers was speed and flexibility. As a result, while their clients were very impressed with their design abilities, they were vulnerable to overtures by a competitor with faster turnaround times. Not being in touch with their clients’ current priorities cost the firm some of its customer base.
Keeping an open conversation with your clients about what really matters to them could completely transform the direction of your business priorities. Never assume that what was important last year is the customer’s deepest pain point now. Instead, regularly evaluate what is important about your business from the perspective of your clients — you may be surprised to find that their viewpoint can be very different from yours.
Going Digital in Ways That Matter
The pandemic accelerated the use of an already growing feature of the B2B buying journey: digital channels. According to research from Forrester, 92% of all B2B purchases now start with online research. Seventy-five percent of these use social media to find out about your company, products, and services. By the time a potential buyer reaches your salesperson, they may be nearly 60% through their decision-making process.
Clearly, this means making sure your digital channels are as user friendly as possible, but it also means that to succeed, you need to understand the buyer’s journey. The buying process is rarely linear, with customers moving back and forth among these four core stages:
- Problem identification
- Solution exploration
- Requirements building
- Supplier selection
Knowing this, business owners are faced with the all-important question of how to leverage their digital channels to move buyers along this journey.
The Importance of the Right Content
The key to answering this question is content. More than ever, multiple stakeholders are conducting independent research and then collaborating. Where does their research come from? Hopefully, it comes directly from you, thanks to creating useful, helpful content that advises buyers along their journey.
Your online presence is your opportunity to show up and establish yourself as the go-to expert for customers as they go through the stages of the buyer’s journey. Prospective customers will compare the resources, guidance, and information they garner from you with what other organizations are offering, so the more relevant, relatable, and reliable your online content is, the greater your likelihood of being the supplier selected at the end of the buyer’s journey.
Collaboration Is Key
Marketing teams need to be on the ball, creating and presenting content in the right way at the right time. Gone are the days when you could think of marketing and sales as separate entities. Sales teams need to be supplying information directly to the marketing team to help them create the right content, but that’s just part of the picture. Businesses also need to be able to identify the team or individuals who are closest to the client, and drive a process that enables them to share what matters most, so this insight can be fed back into marketing.
Identifying the differentiators that matter to customers; embracing digital; creating the right content; and encouraging collaboration can be the keys to lasting business growth and resilience through challenging times. Above all, retain a close awareness and the ability to visualize your customers’ pain points.
The Association for Enterprise Growth can support your business strategy. Contact us today.
Image Credits: Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
