One of the key factors for Sales Enablement systems to be of value to salespeople is to provide them with knowledge structured in the context of how a B2B salesperson works. How can this context be characterized? Is it the sales process? To what extend does the customer buying process have to be taken into consideration? How does the customers’ use of the internet influence the selling world? Let us work backwards through these questions to find the answer to the question: What context is to be considered to structure knowledge so it is of most help to salespeople?
The selling world in the web 2.0 era
Depending on the studies you consult, you will find that around 70 to 90 % of purchases today start with an internet search. Search engine optimized (SEO) websites and well written blogs are the primary tools to generate anonymous attraction from these searches.
Addressed attraction can be generated with lead generation systems usually including functions such as lead scoring and lead nurturing. Social media are another category of systems for addressed attraction generation.
All these systems are usually owned by marketing. As a consequence salespeople become involved later in the customers buying process. Their ability to guide prospective customers through the early stages in the buying process is thus drastically diminished.
In consequence, Sales Enablement systems will have to hold primarily content helping salespeople with the later stages of the process. Given the increased knowledge of the prospective customer, this content must be very sophisticated and detailed in order to enable salespeople to provide value to the customer interaction at this late stage in the process.
Do all prospective customers buy in this way?
While the negotiation power has undeniably shifted toward the customer through the fact how companies are using the web, we would be ill advised to assume, that the above scenario is the universal one how customers buy today. In their Sales Performance Optimization – 2009 Survey and Analysis, CSO Insights reports that about 52% of the leads salespeople are working on, are self generated by the salespeople. This figure actually has risen over recent years. In 2006 only 40% of the leads were self generated. This is surprising considering the trend described above.
One possible explanation for this discrepancy could be that a shift has already occurred how field sales forces are used. They might increasingly be used only for offerings where the customer needs help early on to understand that there is a problem and how it could be solved. It seems plausible that for this scenario generating leads directly by the sales force might be more effective. The majority of respondents to the CSO Insights study operate in B2B selling environments, whereas it is not so clear whether the studies claiming the percentage of buying cycles started with an internet search are making this distinction between B2C and B2B selling. This could be another reason for the discrepancy of the two trends.
Irrespective of what causes the discrepancy, for the functionality of Sales Enablement systems, this means that providing effective support for the early stages in the buying process might actually have a greater impact on the productivity of the salespeople than focusing on the late stages.
What happened to the sales processes?
Classical sales cycles are designed from an inside out perspective. They describe the steps a salesperson ought to take to bring a lead to a closed deal. Sales stages carry therefore labels like Qualification, First Meeting, Presentation, Negotiation and Close.
Experts are telling us, that sales stages today must be coupled with the way customers want to buy. From the discussion above, it is probably prudent to assume, that in one organization several buying cycles can coexist. For offerings where customers need help in understanding how they will solve problems (often also referred to as “Complex Sales”) we will therefore have a different sales process than for offerings having little educational need from the customer perspective.
Organizing information along one sales process might thus not be very effective for many organizations. The actions of the salesperson will much more be guided by the various ways how customers want to buy, rather than how they used to sell.
Conclusion
The environment salespeople have to operate in has become more complex. For Sales Enablement systems, this means that structuring knowledge in the various ways customers want to buy are needed to really sustainably increase the effectiveness and thus the productivity of salespeople.
Further Information
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About the Author:
Christian Maurer, The Sales Executive Resource, is an independent sales effectiveness consultant, trainer and coach. He has a proven track record of helping leaders of large, global B2B sales organizations to increase their productivity.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/camaurerconsulting
http://ultimatesalesexecresource.blogspot.com/
[...] blog post at Sales Enablement provider BizSphere. The Need to Understand the Context B2B Sales People Are Operating In makes several good [...]
Comment from Andy Rudin:
Your questions are excellent, but broad to address in their entirety here.
You didn’t mention the sales commission plan as included in the context that the B2B salesperson works, yet this is one of the first places to look for knowledge about how the sales force is expected to work. Typically, the commission plan will drive strategies, tactics, and behaviors toward prospective customers.
Interestingly, if you were to take any random six company commission plans and match them to that company’s business strategy, it would prove a difficult exercise. Many (not all) commission plans are not “aligned” with the corporate objectives. So, using the commission plan alone would not provide you with a reliable tool to understand the salesperson’s selling context.
As you suggest, a methodical study of customer and prospect buying processes proves essential to fill out the picture you are seeking.
Some articles I’ve written on related topics might help for further reading:
“Get Beyond 92% Hype”
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/get_beyond_92_hype_what_happens_inside_the_internet_black_box
and “Is Sales Necessary–or Necessarily Evil”
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/sales_necessary_or_necessarily_evil
Andy,
thank you for your encouraging comments and sharing your posts.
Indeed the environment of a salesperson has more aspects that those mentioned in the article. I wanted to focus in particular on the external environment influenced by the use of the internet by customers and prospects.
The compensation plan is a very important internal element of a salesperson’s environment. But for the reasons you mention, I doubt that consulting theses plans would give the insight to the question I was interested in. At best they could reveal the opinion of the sales leadership how salespeople should operate in this environment created by the use of the internet. My guess is howver, that most managers have not given this aspect much thought..
This discussion is being continued on:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=961187&discussionID=6054770&commentID=5811192#commentID_5811192
Andy Rudin:
Expert in sales strategies for information technology products and services
Stefan: thanks for your comments. Much for me to ponder in your questions.
An intimate understanding of the buying process, empathy for the buyer and his/her organization’s strategic objectives, and clarity about the outcome the vendor’s organization seeks provide the most important elements for the salesperson’s context.
Some blogs and articles suggest otherwise–that the new paradigm gives primacy to the buyer’s needs and processes. But selling requires enticement and persuasion, which use unique resources, and have specific steps for most vendors. So “context” for a salesperson also requires the knowledge of the internal resources that provide guidance to buyers.
Christian Maurer:
Sales Effectiveness Consultant, Trainer and Coach– tuning up your Sales & Marketing engine for greater productivity
Andy,
as the author of the original post Stefan refers to in this discussion, please allow for my direct comments to your second contribution:
Not being a native English speaker, I do not see much of a contradiction between “an intimate understanding of the buying process, empathy for the buyer and his/her organizations strategic objectives” and what you call the new paradigm “gives primacy to buyer’s needs and processes”.
The notion that selling requires enticement and persuasion can get us down a slippery road, towards solution push. I thus prefer to see selling as matching buyer’s needs with the vendor’s organization’s solution to provide the best business outcome for the buyer.
Notwithstanding this, I am fully with you that “context” for a salesperson also requires the knowledge of the internal resources that provide guidance to the buyer.
May I suggest that you continue following the blog. In a few weeks time you might see this current post is preparing the ground for exactly this discussion.
[...] considered when structuring this information space. As I explained in my last post on this blog (The Need to Understand the Context, B2B Sales People are Operating in) one of the key customer views to be included is the customer’s buying [...]
[...] considered when structuring this information space. As I explained in my last post on this blog (The Need to Understand the Context, B2B Sales People are Operating in) one of the key customer views to be included is the customer’s buying [...]