This article really highlights that B2B buyer expectations are becoming closer to that of their B2C experience e.g. Amazon, Nike or Ocado!
These B2C experiences typically work well because the experience served is highly relevant and somehow reaches you at the right time in your buying process…
B2B should be no different. Regardless of the advancements in AI (Salesforce and IBM Watson for example) your team already possess the data and knowledge to create this experience.
However it relies on engaging those at the coal face to:
- Communicate the sales progress with your team e.g. presales
- Generate authentic content from you and your team relating to this deal and demonstrate to your client your organisation are all thinking about what they need
The article goes into more depth around leveraging social networks, demonstrating you know what your client wants and closer engagement.
The above is all part of social selling. The research at LinkedIn suggests ‘When social selling is deployed, win rates increase by 1.2x, and deal sizes increase by 1.3x’. As an econometrics graduate I know how statistics can be used however I also think these odds suggest it is worth giving it a go and I personally have had success. I like Sarah Goodall's blog series interviewing a series of sales professionals and how they have used social selling, particularly since it provides real life examples. Worth checking out for insight.
If you are interested in how technology is moving this forward Nate Skinner, VP Salesforce, is involved in a great podcast here talking about Salesforce Einstein, demonstrating 'Marketing is Sales'.