Three Skills Sales Leaders Never Thought They Would Have to Master

Three Skills Sales Leaders Never Thought They Would Have to Master:

We keep reading about the emerging B2B Google Buying Process and it’s impact on the effectiveness of sales teams trying to engage with their prospects in their early buying phases. If you are a company CEO or Sales Leader, has it sunk in how important this new paradigm is to your sales process?

The Google Buying Process, in short, says that today’s B2B buyers conduct the majority of their “buying process” in stealth mode by searching out relevant content on vendor and related websites, social media platforms and communities and other on-line venues. Today’s buyers rely first on this on-line information to determine if they even have a need. If they decide they do, they then research their options to dealing with it, find the best solution providers, even benchmark pricing and performance terms – all on line.

Think of it this way. Companies can now research, shop and buy complex products and services in much the same way that consumers buy cars, homes and expensive electronics. They Google it.

Proof of how pervasive this has become was published by the Marketing Leadership Council earlier this year. Their survey of 1,900 companies found that B2B buyers across multiple industries accomplish up to 60% of the “buying process” on their own – before ever needing or wishing to speak to a sales representative.

The impact of this new behavior on the ability of sales teams to “impact and influence” the early stages of the buying process are significant. Game changing as a matter of fact! Simply put, it requires mastering these three disciplines to remain relevant in the buying/seller relationship.

FIRST, be findable by those companies and buyers when they are “Googleing” for answers to their business problems. Being findable means effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website. See the chart below from Marketing Sherpa that lists SEO best practices. (Quiz your marketing team on how well they are doing and ask to see their list of keywords and search terms they are optimizing for.)

SECOND, being finable means having content on your site that informs, engages and educates prospects at ALL stages of their “buying process”. This content is what you want prospects and buyers to find when they search Google on their problem or challenge. Re-read our review of Content Rules and start educating yourself and your marketing team on content best practices that you can apply.

THIRD, make sure you have website lead activity tracking (marketing automation) and lots of ways for leads to interact and self-identify themselves to you (when they are ready). This means a major shift in site design for many companies – away from static brochure-ware websites and to interactive, engaging and dynamic sites with lots of information to help prospects research and qualify themselves. Download our eBook on Increasing Sales Effectiveness with Marketing Automation and check out our Lead Ready offering to help you get started.

If your company is following these best-practices AND you have an up to date sales process that operates in this new Google Buying Process, then you have a fighting chance to “influence that sale in its early stages”. Ignore it and you will continue loosing sales and market share as smarter competitors pass you by.