How can you keep up to date?

By now we all know that in B2B, the sales experience is a bit dated; Formalities, long processes and impersonal selling. Now don’t get us wrong, we know that B2B selling is far more complex and grueling than it seems, but does it have to be? With the emergence of modern buyers, perhaps our strategies should change.

Modern buyers

It’s official, modern buyers are now less influenced by traditional sales and marketing techniques than ever, as well as being even more skeptical of whether you can deliver real value. These modern buyers are more educated and informed than that of their senior counterparts. They spend more time online and know exactly what they want to look for in a business they buy from. As 18-39 year olds come into job roles that allow them to be decision makers in a business, your strategy needs to change.

This new demographic of B2B buyers, on average, complete 74% of buyer research online before initial contact. With this information, we should be providing rich content and information online now more than ever; constantly updating and updating it again to give buyers everything they need to decide, whenever and wherever they want it. There now should be an ‘always open’ mindset to your organization, something the B2B buying experience has been lacking.

Make it easier!

B2B sales need to be made easier on the buyer. Making more information accessible throughout the sales process also needs to be streamlined and made less complicated. Buyers today want everything to be more transparent, so they know they can trust you to deliver real value to their business. Streamlining the complicated process as well as giving access to things such as order history and instant payment makes the buying process easier and requires less complicated workflow. Giving buyers an easier experience is something B2B should really take from B2C in the coming age.

Relevance

As well as giving the buyers an easier experience, B2B could learn other things from B2C. With modern buyers, relevance is key. (No, we don’t mean that you should create “memes” to go with your business). The way to add relevance to the buyer experience is by leveraging the data that you possess on your buyers or leads and fortifying it with additional insights. 

By leveraging that data, you have the ability to personalize the customer buying experience. You can anticipate what they want before they even know that they want it. This means that you’re more likely to convert leads into sales when the buyer trusts that you are on the same page as them. Never underestimate the power of relevance and similarities in your strategy.

Market to the modern buyer and know your audience

In terms of engaging the modern buyer, there is an imminent need to market like every customer is the most important customer to you. Buyers want more transparency. They want a trustworthy business. One way to build up that trust and relationship is to make them feel more important. Treating your buyers like a B2C would market to their customers is the way forward. Personalized and targeted messages based off the data your organization has are the best way to go about this. Once that relationship is built with the buyer through this, they are even more likely to return to you in the future, encouraging loyalty and keeping the retention of the modern buyer.

What are you doing to ensure your organization has a great data strategy so you can provide them with the absolute best customer experience your organization is capable of?

Read more about how B2B Marketing Depends Upon Relationship Building

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* Originally published on bpiondemand.com