I see resistance every day in how sellers—especially seasoned ones in mature B2B markets—view the digital economy (and social media especially) as something that’s at odds with personalized selling. For example one of my clients, a 100 year old resources company is just this year rolling out their first CRM to their sellers and have asked me to help them improve adoption and reduce resistance.
Personalized selling and the digital economy are not at odds. Instead, technology amplifies our work. It makes it possible for us to connect meaningfully with more people in less time. And because it offers that same potential to everyone—there’s no barrier to entry in this digital marketplace—you cannot afford to view this as nice-to-have add-on to your selling process. And you definitely can’t treat it like a nuisance and ignore it.
Direction and magnitude mean everything
We still sell to people and people still buy from people. What’s changed is what I call the People Vector: the direction and magnitude of how we do business with each other. The personal aspect of sales has always been important. It still is. Only now it’s massive in scope and in potential.
Thirty years ago, (when I started selling) a seller sold to a relatively short list of people, usually in a single territory and those sales were influenced by only one or two influencers such as a trusted advisor or a peer referral. Today, you sell millions by reaching populations measured in billions and in economies measured in trillions. These people are all connected, and they are talking to each other, influencing your ability to sell constantly. Online and offline, whether you are listening or not. For example a small business client of mine thought I was crazy that they need to be engaging in twitter conversations. They exclaimed “Colleen we are not on twitter so the tool has no influence on our sales process!” We looked, and while they did not have an official @company name twitter handle that was not stopping buyers and prospects from having conversations about them…behind their digital back
Amazonification of B2B sales
Today, there’s an entire network of people out there who can either help or hinder your ability to sell more. It’s your job now to influence those connections.
That’s why I talk so often now about the Amazonification of sales in the B2B environment. Your buyer today expects the same experience buying industrial equipment as they do buying consumer goods. They employ the same process to inform their decision to buy. Going online, they look at what others have to say about their own buying experience. They trust other buyers whose needs align with to their own. Then—and only then—they contact you.
This behavior is well documented, including what the CEB / Gartner Group found in a new study. Looking at sales transactions today, they found only 17 percent of a buyer’s time is spent talking to sales reps. The rest of their time is spent talking to peer groups online, researching the problem they have in search of the right solution.
For some sellers, this means having to separate how they feel about social media and technology from the facts about today’s marketplace. You might not like using these tools, but the reality is that your customers sure do. Like it or not, the People Vector is here, and it’s already changed the way people make their buying decisions.
Be seen as a five-star seller even in the B2B space
Your B2B customer wants to be able to only consider sellers who have four- and five-star ratings. You might point out that Amazon only does that for B2C sellers. That’s missing the point. I’m talking about a way of thinking and about how you are perceived in the marketplace. Your customers are seeking out proof that you’re as good as you claim to be. Your willingness to engage them online—whether it’s the share what you know or to address customer concerns—gives them a strong indication of how well you understand their needs and how motivated you are to do business with them.
How do you apply that Amazon way of selling in B2B’s more complex selling environment?
Start asking for and posting user reviews. The most common reason why businesses don’t have reviews is because they’ve never asked their customer for one.
Tell stories that matter to your customer. Case studies need to do more than showcase what a great job you did working with a customer. They must show the customer’s journey, told in such a way that a prospect can see themselves in the problem that you helped solve.
Get on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with the goal of being helpful to others. Nobody wants to be sold to. What they want is to connect with others who understand the challenges they have, and who can demonstrate having the knowledge and capacity to help them overcome those challenges. Make connections, share relevant stories, highlight your expertise with tips, and showcase your client’s success in action
If you ignore this People Vector, you run the risk of either missing the friction points where your customers are talking about disappointing experiences after buying from you and your competitors. Or you miss out on conversations where people are saying great things about you and you don’t leverage those comments and apply those insights.
Get it right and today’s market is yours. Get it wrong and you’re gone.