It’s not that they don’t work anymore – because they most definitely do.
Cold calling, traditional advertising and in-person networking are all effective lead generation strategies that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But what if I told you that by limiting yourself to such methods you could literally be leaving thousands of dollars on the table?
The fact is the world is changing. But that’s nothing new, right? Isn’t it always? What is new is that we are living in an unprecedented time of technological advancement that was barely conceivable to our forbearers. This kind of thing gets talked about all the time, but rarely do we stop and think about its implications. And yes, that includes the way we generate leads, sales and revenue for B2Bs.
The bottom line: Consumers no longer want to be sold to (if they ever did); they want to learn. And they are becoming increasingly adept at finding their own solutions. As reported by the Harvard Business Review, a Corporate Executive Board study of more than 1,400 B2B customers found those customers completed nearly 60 percent of their purchasing decisions before ever having a conversation with a supplier.
This sentiment was further echoed by researchers Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson in their book “The Challenger Sale.” Through their research, the authors determined prospects are usually 55 to 75 percent of the way through the decision-making process before ever reaching out to a specific company. How are they doing it?
By searching online, of course. If you’re used to walking your prospects through a long sales cycle – because your industry requires it or because your offerings come at a sizeable price-point – this can be discouraging. After all, you want to be there as early in the education process as possible so that you’re the one they turn to when they’re ready to buy.
The good news? You can still do exactly that, just in a different way.
Information and Education Is The New Way
By translating all of the advice, tidbits and information you would normally extend through a series of sales conversations to online marketing platforms, you can now leverage your efforts to generate more leads than you ever could have using traditional methods alone.
The key is to create a comprehensive inbound marketing plan focused on sharing useful content with your prospects. Useful content can be anything that educates, informs or entertains as related to your services. By pro-actively answering the questions your prospects are answering you will flip the typical sales process and instead have people contacting YOU.
Just imagine knowing a potential client has already gone through 75 percent of the sales process on their own before ever contacting you: They’ve read your white papers, they understand the solution you provide and they’re ready to do business. Meaning, you hardly have to “sell” them at all. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
At Creatunity we develop comprehensive inbound marketing strategies for enterprise level B2B clients. Our goal is to help you determine what makes you unique, translate that into an online strategy and increase your revenue – substantially.
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