B2B Buyer Process Focuses on Nurture, Not Sell
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Even with the pressure to close deals in an impending recession, the focus should be on nurturing buyers rather than selling them.
B2B companies often have long sales cycles because their products and services are expensive and require multiple parties to make purchasing decisions. With such a long sales cycle, lead nurturing becomes a critical component of any marketing or sales initiative.
By measuring the effectiveness of lead nurturing, B2B companies can understand what attracts buyers and how to remove blockers along the marketing and sales pipeline. Organizations should implement metrics to identify areas for improvement in their buyer development programs. Various metrics exist, but point-based scores, engagement rates, and survey systems all offer their own lead nurturing measurements.
The first measurement is a point-based system that measures content engagement. The second measure looks at engagement rates across the sales pipeline to identify bottlenecks and pressure points. Then the third metric, especially on the sales side, sets up a research system to understand why customers abandon the sales process at certain stages. This data provides insight for marketing and sales teams, especially when viewed collectively.
Pushing to close vs. nurturing
Businesses often want to quickly track marketing actions to close deals. This means very quickly getting down to topics like pricing and terms and conditions for the prospects you just converted. An Ironpaper study found that 55% of B2B leaders send leads directly to salespeople after they convert. The buyer’s ability to understand the full picture of this value proposition is missing during the prospect conversion and pricing conversation.
For buyers to understand this value proposition, companies must communicate it effectively. And it starts with understanding what motivates buyers to take action and commit to change. It’s important to remember that in a B2B context, this is a joint buying decision. Not one person makes this purchase. Alternatively, the operations and technical committees may meet to make decisions. It also has a long sales cycle and a high price tag, which makes this purchase worth considering.
As buyers go through this consideration process, they need to understand what they are getting. At this stage, companies may forget to nurture and market their products instead. But that’s not necessarily what the buyer wants. They don’t want products, they don’t even want solutions. Instead, they want to remedy the situation or solve the problems that are holding them back.
Sales reps need to take that perspective when nurturing leads. Both marketing and sales play a role in nurturing leads and measuring effectiveness. The main focus of both teams is always communicating value rather than making the relationship purely transactional.
Related article: Use B2B marketing strategies to grow your business
Points-based system for measuring content engagement
After a qualified lead converts, you can track content engagement with an engagement score. Useful metrics include how much content your prospects engage with over time, whether they watch different types of content, and how much time they spend reading or watching your content. These metrics show whether your prospects are truly invested in your commitment to change.
These metrics live within your marketing automation tool or CRM and award points for specific actions taken. For example, if a prospect views a certain number of her web pages, they will receive a set number of points. Prospects who view more premium content, such as research reports, white papers, and solution sheets, may be awarded more points.
These metrics allow marketers and sales reps to experiment with their content and what they need to say at each stage of the customer journey. Companies can ask themselves whether they are addressing the right topics at each stage. Is it worth telling? A points system is not a set-and-forget approach, as the content shared and the medium in which it is shared should change as the team learns more about the buyer.
Pipeline Involvement and Blockers
See your entire marketing and sales pipeline. Where do leads fall?
Identifying pipeline locations with low conversion rates indicates that leads are leaving at that point. Companies need to consider how to better share useful and valuable insights and information that help clients make decisions. Companies often drive these prospects into closing deals instead of acting as potential partners they can trust.
If the engagement rate in the pipeline is low, companies should reconsider the content shared. Is it too product focused? Or do you understand the buyer’s needs at this point and provide valuable information about the problem you’re trying to solve? The latter builds relationships with prospects that can sustain longer sales cycles.
Related article: New priorities for next-gen B2B marketing
Survey system for candid feedback
When a prospect drops out of the pipeline, meaning they no longer have a plan to solve their problem or have chosen a competitor, it’s important to know the ‘why’. At this point, many sales reps may try to convince prospective customers that leaving is wrong, but it doesn’t deliver real value. Instead, understand why your prospects churn and create a better system for the right type of buyer.
Surveys come in many forms, but the data can help improve your nurturing campaigns. A survey tool, or a CRM like HubSpot, makes it easy to ask questions and aggregate data. Alternatively, a documented phone can serve the same purpose. That means discovering why your prospects left the sales process.
Survey data informs fine-tuning of marketing and sales campaigns and provides teams with actionable next steps. This research data can also improve engagement rates in the sales pipeline if your team listens to what these prospects have to say and considers their proposals.
Testing and learning approach
Ultimately, B2B companies should test and document the results of these tests in order to improve their lead nurturing metrics. For example, if your e-book has a low open or engagement rate, test whether that content is in video format or truncated to a single page. Testing must go far beyond design factors and instead focus on the value provided to the buyer.
Points-based systems, engagement rates, and survey data can inform lead nurturing campaigns, but companies need to focus on continuous improvement rather than a set-and-forget approach. Documenting the data you collect can inform your strategy and improve your development process.
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