4 challenges for B2B marketers selling to large companies
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 6:27 am
I was reading this ebook by The Digital Effect , called: “The Pragmatic Guide to Account Based Marketing” and I was thinking about how true these 4 challenges are:
Challenge 1 : How to manage “selling by consensus”? In increasingly complex demand generation processes, where the number of interlocutors grows, the barriers to accessing them also increase, Discovery and consideration information is sought to be resolved online , and the opportunities for genuine conversation between buyer and seller are increasingly fewer.
Challenge 2 : How do we reach prospects with such a level of saturation , with barriers and limitations to connecting by email or LinkedIn, let alone by phone?
Challenge 3 : How do we keep the channel open in increasingly long sales processes , where we need arguments and content that sales teams are not used to generating? How do we better integrate marketing and sales teams in this regard?
Challenge 4 : How do we build more empathetic, genuine and trusting relationships with so many decision-makers at once? Especially considering the limitations that exist in applying traditional methods today.
The ebook -which obviously sells the idea of Account Based Marketing (ABM)-, proposes a series of solutions that I find interesting:
The first solution is to have a communication strategy that includes EVERYONE (yes, in capital letters, because that's the key). This refers to prospects and all the profiles that are part of the company's decision-making process.
The next solution is to have a data platform that allows us to manage communication with all these prospects in parallel and in an orchestrated manner (a fundamental word in this ABM process).
It also proposes not to do advertising based on leads but advertising BASED ON ACCOUNTS . That is to say: I show my ads ONLY to the target companies that I previously selected, and only to the executives that interest me or are part of the decision-making committee.
It also recommends that we implement alternatives to be able to connect with customers in an automated way , for example, IP targeting, social media, cookie targeting, geo targeting…
And finally, it proposes a series of steps that the B2B company must mobile phone saudi arabia mobile number directory take in order to develop an ABM model :
You need to identify what your key accounts are . To do this, you need to define exactly the names of the companies you are looking to do business with.
You should develop a protocol or internal policy where marketing and sales work together towards the goal they have as a team. Part of this protocol is to define an SLA (Service Level Agreement) for qualifying accounts and opportunities.
Marketing and Sales must also define exactly how they will measure the results of the campaigns, which performance indicators they will analyze and over what periods.
In addition, Marketing must be responsible for being able to carry out account-based advertising with Data Management tools that allow the automation of message communication, so that they reach key people within the organization who have decision-making power.
The best way to start implementing this is with small steps that show us that we are getting results. It is necessary to approach this model with an agile approach and start with quick wins.
I believe that SMEs that sell to large companies and hope to generate a large pipeline in the coming months of this unpredictable 2020 will find Account Based Marketing techniques to be a more effective response to their needs.
Challenge 1 : How to manage “selling by consensus”? In increasingly complex demand generation processes, where the number of interlocutors grows, the barriers to accessing them also increase, Discovery and consideration information is sought to be resolved online , and the opportunities for genuine conversation between buyer and seller are increasingly fewer.
Challenge 2 : How do we reach prospects with such a level of saturation , with barriers and limitations to connecting by email or LinkedIn, let alone by phone?
Challenge 3 : How do we keep the channel open in increasingly long sales processes , where we need arguments and content that sales teams are not used to generating? How do we better integrate marketing and sales teams in this regard?
Challenge 4 : How do we build more empathetic, genuine and trusting relationships with so many decision-makers at once? Especially considering the limitations that exist in applying traditional methods today.
The ebook -which obviously sells the idea of Account Based Marketing (ABM)-, proposes a series of solutions that I find interesting:
The first solution is to have a communication strategy that includes EVERYONE (yes, in capital letters, because that's the key). This refers to prospects and all the profiles that are part of the company's decision-making process.
The next solution is to have a data platform that allows us to manage communication with all these prospects in parallel and in an orchestrated manner (a fundamental word in this ABM process).
It also proposes not to do advertising based on leads but advertising BASED ON ACCOUNTS . That is to say: I show my ads ONLY to the target companies that I previously selected, and only to the executives that interest me or are part of the decision-making committee.
It also recommends that we implement alternatives to be able to connect with customers in an automated way , for example, IP targeting, social media, cookie targeting, geo targeting…
And finally, it proposes a series of steps that the B2B company must mobile phone saudi arabia mobile number directory take in order to develop an ABM model :
You need to identify what your key accounts are . To do this, you need to define exactly the names of the companies you are looking to do business with.
You should develop a protocol or internal policy where marketing and sales work together towards the goal they have as a team. Part of this protocol is to define an SLA (Service Level Agreement) for qualifying accounts and opportunities.
Marketing and Sales must also define exactly how they will measure the results of the campaigns, which performance indicators they will analyze and over what periods.
In addition, Marketing must be responsible for being able to carry out account-based advertising with Data Management tools that allow the automation of message communication, so that they reach key people within the organization who have decision-making power.
The best way to start implementing this is with small steps that show us that we are getting results. It is necessary to approach this model with an agile approach and start with quick wins.
I believe that SMEs that sell to large companies and hope to generate a large pipeline in the coming months of this unpredictable 2020 will find Account Based Marketing techniques to be a more effective response to their needs.