It is not only consumers who research product features, prices, and customer reviews online before making a purchase; SMEs have long been doing the same. The information monopoly that salespeople once enjoyed has given way to digital transparency. This has many advantages for buyers, but it also forces suppliers who want to grow to revamp their sales processes. enomyc author Jan-Ulrik explains how the role of sales must change and what contribution it must make to successful customer acquisition.
Not so long ago, purchasing in B2B business relied on information from and exchanges with salespeople as part of the procurement process, whether for identifying and evaluating suppliers, for product demonstrations, or for concrete purchasing and price negotiations. This is one of the reasons why the role of the sales representative often had – or still has – a prominent position within the sales organization of many medium-sized companies.
But time has not stood still. Buyers want to search for information and pre-select potential suppliers as independently as possible from the sales organization. To do this, they gather information in forums and on platforms on the Internet. Traditional marketing goals such as brand awareness and communicating product benefits remain essential. However, B2B buyers' expectations regarding the formats, channels, and depth of information are changing.
Marketing and sales therefore need to rethink their approach. Whereas in the analog world, leads were previously handed over by marketing to sales relatively early in the process, marketing now remains in the driver's seat for much longer. Both functions face the challenge of optimizing this “phase shift.” The role of sales and the main tasks of salespeople will have to change fundamentally in some areas.
Arouse interest with high-quality content
For marketing, refocusing its function involves a shift from push-based (outbound) marketing to pull-based (inbound) marketing. The more frequently and comprehensively buyers search for and find information online, the more important it is for marketing to offer relevant content throughout the entire customer journey that leads potential customers to the company website “en passant” – for example, in the form of blog posts, free e-books, informative webinars, and posts on social networks.
In addition to the multimedia presentation of valuable content (e.g., white papers, service tips), tools such as SEO/SEA, native advertising, and landing page optimization also play an important role. Companies that rely on inbound marketing aim to be perceived as knowledgeable and reliable experts in their field. By providing useful content, marketing plays a key role in building awareness, trust, and credibility among potential customers. At the same time, it plays a much longer role in the overall process than it used to, taking on functions that were previously the domain of sales.
Sales as an expert and content provider
This also creates an urgent need for action in B2B sales, which is dominated by field sales. The declining importance of the information function of field sales representatives and the tendency for buyers to become involved later in the decision-making process are changing the expectations placed on sales staff.
Salespeople will remain important, but in a new role. They will be expected to provide the in-depth content required for professional marketing. The associated change – especially in terms of the status of those involved within the organization – could hardly be more profound. Whereas successful salespeople previously enjoyed unchallenged star status in many companies, they now find themselves in the role of content providers. Not every salesperson will be able to do this – or want to.
In order to reach potential customers at the right point in the purchasing decision process, companies must present relevant content at all stages of the customer journey. The process from initial market research to purchase can best be modeled using the sales funnel. This divides the marketing and sales process into phases that are ideally aligned with the requirements of the different phases of the purchasing process and to which a probability of subsequent order placement can be assigned.
Corresponding to the individual phases of the purchasing process (market exploration, supplier identification, supplier evaluation, product/service evaluation, negotiation of terms and conditions, contract negotiation), which usually vary greatly from industry to industry, the following typical phases of the marketing and sales process can be differentiated using the milestones below:
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): The marketing measure has established itself with the potential customer (prospect) to such an extent that they contact the selling B2B organization.
- Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): A request from a potential customer expresses a need that could be met by the sales organization's products or services.
- Opportunity generated: A potential customer has signaled that they are fundamentally willing to consider the sales organization to meet their needs.
- Opportunity specified: The technical and content-related objectives of the potential customer as well as their solution and supplier evaluation logic are understood and can be met by the sales organization.
- Offer has been prepared and sent.
- Potential customer has expressed willingness to discuss the offer in terms of content and commercial terms (short-listed).
- The potential customer is conducting final contract negotiations with the sales organization.
The diagram clearly shows that, from the supplier's point of view, it will be much more important in the future to establish a consistent, structured process for market and customer development in which the interfaces between marketing and sales are optimized through the provision of content on the one hand and the provision of so-called marketing qualified leads on the other.
In the sales funnel, it is important to separate the wheat from the chaff as early as possible
To manage the sales funnel, companies must record and optimize marketing and sales activities in the funnel phases in a structured manner. Particularly suitable metrics are lead velocity and lead conversion.
The lead velocity rate measures the increase or decrease in leads over a period of time and is a volume indicator. Ideally, more leads should be generated than lost. For 85 percent of B2B companies, lead generation is the most important marketing goal.
The conversion rate, on the other hand, is a qualitative indicator for leads. It shows how likely it is that a sales phase will be successful and that leads will move on to the next funnel phase. Combined individual probabilities enable statements to be made about order probability and expected order intake.
Another important factor is sales accepted leads as an indicator of the quality of leads delivered by marketing. Regular communication between marketing and sales, which also includes analyzing the reasons for rejected leads, promotes the integration of both processes.
Field sales and sales processes must adapt and evolve continuously
For traditionally structured field sales representatives, the developments described above will bring about profound changes. They will have to say goodbye to their previous status as “rainmakers,” reposition themselves within the organization, adapt to hybrid forms of work, and learn new skills, for example in the area of data-driven sales. It is crucial to further develop marketing and sales processes from the customer's perspective and to adapt the organizational structure, interfaces, and role expectations. To do this, company management must create modern organizational structures and invest in expertise and IT. The effort is worth it, because the changes outlined above will enable customer needs to be identified much earlier and met more effectively. This will lay the foundation for successful growth.
