B2B Buyers Mandate A New Charter For Marketing And Sales

B2B Buyers Mandate A New Charter For
Marketing And Sales
Accelerate Alignment Or Get Left Behind
Mary Shea, PhD – Forrester, Principal Analyst

2© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Why haven’t we
cracked the code
with marketing
and sales
alignment?

© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 3
Stronger Alignment In Planning And Preparation
Note: Very Strong combined with strong, very weak combined with weak
Source: Forrester’s Q1 2017 International B2B Marketing Panel Survey
“On a scale of Very Weak to Very Strong, please characterize the relationship
between marketing and sales for the following activities.”
62%
65%
66%
Defining & executing field programs
Identifying target segments & accounts
Define value propositions
"Strong" relationship in early stage activities

Weaker Alignment In Execution And Reporting
Note: Very Strong combined with strong, very weak combined with weak
“On a scale of Very Weak to Very Strong, please characterize the relationship
between marketing and sales for the following activities.”
44%
46%
49%
Sharing knowledge about customer's buying
process
Managing customer references & advocates
Reporting results of joint activity
“Weak" relationship in later stage activities

Misalignment Persists
Source: “B2B Buyers Mandate A New Charter For Marketing And Sales” Forrester Research, Inc., January 10, 2017
“Which of the following statements best characterize the
relationship between marketing and sales in your organization?”
Marketers participate in
pipeline reviews
Metrics closely align
with sales
Base: 93 B2B marketing professionals

The Modern #B2B Buyer

B2B Buyers Are More Empowered
Source: “B2B Inside Sales: ”’Inside Or Out?’ That Is The Question” Forrester Research, Inc., January 6, 2016
“Two years ago we coined the term ‘new age seller.’ The buyer’s journey has
changed for the sales rep. Control has shifted away from the sales person, as sales
is no longer the sole provider of information.”
— Linda Connly, VP Global Inside Sales, EMC
Before Now

B2C B2B

Source: Q4 2014 Forrester/Internet Retailer B2B Buying And Selling Online Survey
* Q4 2012 Forrester Global Executive Buyer Insights Online Survey
What Your Sellers Face
53%
of B2B buyers find
going online
superior to
interacting with a
salesperson
74%
of B2B buyers say
purchasing from a
website is more
convenient
90%
of executives
won’t take a
cold call
75%
of B2B buyers use
social networks to
learn about different
vendors
92%
of B2B
purchases start
with search*

More Complexities In The Process
5%
5%
13%
16%
21%
26%
28%
49%
78%
We don't face any of these challenges listed
Buyers/customers don't want to meet in person anymore
Buyers/customers already know about our product/service capabilities
Buyers/customers want to meet in person less
Buyers/customers that view interactions with sales reps as "low value"
Buyers/customers just want to talk about pricing/product
Buyers/customers won't take sales phone calls from sales reps
Buyers/customers are taking longer to make their decisions
Buyers have multiple stakeholders involved in decision process with
different agendas
What are the top three challenges your field sales reps face with regard to
buyer/customer engagement?
Base: 120

B2B Buyer Engagement Preferences
Self-Directed
Access social
networks
Ongoing Education
Attend a capabilities meeting
Personalized
Engagement
Innovate and co-create
ENGAGE
ASK
USE BUY
EXPLORE
DISCOVER

What Buyers Want From Their Reps
Source: “B2B Inside Sales: ”’Inside Or Out?’ That Is The Question” Forrester Research, Inc., January 6, 2016
“Buyers don’t want to be told what they already know. They want a consultative
partner. And they want value and insight at at every point in the sales process.”
— John Evarts, Chief Financial Officer, Mediafly
Weave customer
data/insights into
discussions.
Teach them
something new.
Show how products/
services measurably
affect their business
performance.
Pivot conversation to
talk about what
matters to them.

B2B buyers
want a
frictionless
exchange or
a high-value
interaction.

The Modern #B2B Seller

“Salespeople have to
take the stage more
than they used to.
Before the product used
to be the star, but now
sellers need to be the
stars and they need to
learn some of the skills
marketers have.”
– Meredith Bell President,
Azalead Americas

Is B2B
salesperson:
Dead? Alive? In
need of a
reboot?
Source: “The B2B Sales Force Digital Reboot” Forrester Research, Inc., October 19,
2015;Graphic source Sales For Life “The Resurrection of the B2B Salesperson
1millions
The REVIVAL
of the B2B
SALESPERSON
Sales jobs will go to
extinct by 2020
But is the salesperson
dead or just in need of
a reboot?
It’s certainly time to adapt as many buyers are increasingly
leveraging digital channels like search engines and social
networks within their purchase process.

Seller And Buyer Archetypes
Source: “The Death of A (B2B) Salesman” Forrester Research, Inc. April 13, 2015
Explainers
Buyers says “show me”
Consultants
Buyers says “enlighten me”
Order Takers
Buyers says “serve me”
Navigators
Buyers says “guide me”
Complexity of the buyer dynamic
Complexity of
product/servicer
High
Low
High Low

The 6 Traits Of A Consultant
Source: “The B2B Sales Force Digital Reboot” Forrester Research, Inc., October 19, 2015.
Embraces
technology
1
Shares new
ideas
2
Exhibits
business
acumen
3
Communicates
effectively
4
Seeks
collaboration
5
Leverages
data
6

The #New Charter

23© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited© 2016 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Source: Michael Coghlan/Flickr
Alignment is
now a buyer-
driven edict.

#Pursue Attention Currency

Do Your Research
Source: CharlieApp Dashboard
Customizable ﬁlters
Contact’s recent
activity history
Company stats
“The last few years were
about volume of outreach
or ‘spray and prey’. The
next couple will focus on’
attention currency’, or
how much of this
person’s time has my
message bought?”.
— Aaron Frazin, CharlieApp, CEO

Know Who You’re Dealing With

Customize Your Interactions
“Pieces of the the customer
story are being told without
having to ask because we can
see what the customers are
consuming. We can create a
dialogue with them rather than
always trying to sell them.”
— Chris Morse, manager of global
event marketing for Red Hat
Source: “Turn B2B Buyer And Seller Data Into Insights” Forrester Research, Inc., August 23, 2016
Content consumption
patterns, event activity,
buyer personas, social
engagement, search
data, firmographics,
demographics…
Data
Analytics
Sales
Rep
• Understand needs and pain points
• Indicate propensity to purchase
• Inform messaging
• Enable consultative interactions
Insights

#Embrace Social Selling

Marketers Rate Social As A Key Channel
Source: “Add Social Selling To Your B2B Marketing Repertoire” Forrester Research, Inc., February, 2017
B2B marketers rate
social as one of
their three most
effective demand
generation tactics

B2B Social Sellers Outperform Their Peers
Source: “Add Social Selling To Your B2B Marketing Repertoire” Forrester Research, Inc., February, 2017
“It’s going to be ubiquitous and it’s going to be required versus optional.”
—Danielle Hall, senior manager of global sales operations event marketing for Genesys
72%
of B2B social sellers
outperform their
peers

What Kind Of Social Sellers Do You Have?
Source: “Embrace B2B Social And Meet Buyers On Their Terms” Forrester Research, Inc., May 25, 2016
• Creates and shares visionary ideas
• Influences across broad networks
• Shares thought leadership monthly/quarterly
• Follows influencers from other brands
• Engages in research and social listening
• Shares buyer-specific educational content
• Responds quickly to client and prospect posts
• Integrates social activities into daily cadence
• Prefers to use traditional methods
• Shares pre-curated content
• Engages in post-program rollout
• Learns from social selling leaders in own organization
• Doesn’t understand the value of social connections
• Uses familiar sales tactics
• Doesn’t need social connections to exceed goals
Celebrity
Expert
Social Novice
Non-Participant

#Operationalize ABM

Account Selection Is A Joint Effort
Source: “Retro Yet Revolutionary: Demystifying Account-Based Marketing” Forrester Research, Inc., September 19, 2016
Dependent on firm’s strategy, accounts are selected based on:
• Fit
• Intent
• Combination of both, using predictive solutions
Select and
Target
Gather
Insights
Design
Engagement
Orchestrate
Interaction
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
Set strategy, prioritize
accounts, and identify
and target contacts
Identify key issues,
develop insights,
and set the
communication plan
Create assets,
messages, or
plays to engage
accounts
Execute aligned
activity, capture
interactions, and
track progress
Assess, revise, repeat

Collaborate In New Ways With ABM
Source: “Account-Based Marketing Brings Sales And Marketing Into The Same Orbit” Forrester Research, Inc., September 21, 2016

Collaborate and
coordinate to align
with current and
future buyers.

Take A Buyer Centric Approach
Personalized engagement:
• Engage in joint account
planning for ABM.
• Segment and stratify
accounts for ABM.
• Innovate and co-create.
Self-direction:
• Package content for social
selling.
• Use predictive tools for
targeting.
• Embrace micromarketing
for remote selling.
Ongoing education:
• Share behavioral data to inform interactions.
• Leverage guided selling tools to enhance seller capabilities.
• Centralize content management platform to facilitate collaboration

forrester.com
Thank you
Mary Shea, PhD
Twitter: @sheaforr

B2B Buyers Mandate A New Charter For Marketing And Sales

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