Adapting to the Phygital Buyer: 74% of B2B Customers start digitally. When and how you can still be relevant

74% of B2B buyers prefer a sales rep-free experience.

Boom, there it is, and to be clear, that is the B2B buyer, not B2C. At least, that’s what Gartner’s research team presented at the Gartner Marketing Conference in Denver last year after interviewing 800+ B2B clients.

It shouldn’t be that big of a shock if you’ve been watching the latest trends because I’ve also seen from Gartner that well over 50% of the decision process is done now without ever speaking to a rep or company, and other consulting firms place that closer to 90%. Regardless of which number you believe, if, and only if, the prospect decides to make contact or takes your call, you should be well prepared for an educated and prepared prospect and meet them where they are in the customer journey and in context with how they want to interact. Understanding and respecting the customer journey in today’s selling environment is paramount, and the marketing/sales process that doesn’t honor that will struggle more and more.

So, is this the actual “Death of a Salesman”?...not quite yet.

OK, it’s not all doom and gloom. The good news is that, according to Gartner, 23% of those buyers regretted their decision after completing the digital-only sale, but it begs the question, how do you truly engage the modern buyer? For example, one of the other vital takeaways buyers said in this survey was the disparity in what they learned online and from the vendors ' websites compared to what the salesperson told them in the buying process. This is where the sales, sales enablement, and digital teams must be in lockstep and consistent with the message.

All this may be a bit of a shock to the system if you’ve built your career in sales or just started in the field. I wrote a paper six years ago titled “Is Sales stuck in high school ?” where I predicted that the future of sales was changing towards a far more sophisticated sales cycle and the tight integration between the CRO and CMO would exist to the point that it would eventually become a single role aka “The Chief Growth Officer.” I’ve never believed that more than today, and now we’re starting to see the early stages of it become reality. To be clear, it takes a very sophisticated leader to run this experience, and we really haven’t been grooming people for it, but it is coming.

So, where do we go from here? Well, we must understand a few key elements to engage with a prospect successfully in this scenario.

·???????? Customer Journey - We must first understand the desired customer journey (the customer’s desired engagement process, not yours) for your ideal customer profile (ICP) so you can meet them where they want to learn and answer their questions along the way. I’ll write another article about this since it’s an iterative yet vitally important process. However, think of it as a hybrid physical/digital journey (think phygital) where the customer is almost purely digital up to at least 50% of the buying process and then shifts between physical and digital hybrid approaches once they engage with the sales team. Gartner's data shows that in today's buying process, the customer physically engages with a rep only 33% of the decision process.

You should always assume that the customer has already pre-qualified you as having a reasonable chance of solving their problem. The worst thing a company can do is have a well-defined digital customer journey that progresses the customer along and the moment a prospect starts to engage physically (the magic MQL to SAL conversion), the sales rep goes into the entire qualification process and basically starts the process all over again. It's likely the customer is going to mentally check out killing your deal yet the marketing team did a victory lap because they have hit their MQL goals for lead funnel conversion. Ever wonder why your lead attrition rate is so high? I’d start here because the reality is the phygital journey never stops. The modern sales process should respect the ongoing journey the customer is going on and shifting between digital and physical and meet them along the way. You should do your homework and understand the data on what the prospect looked at, what they downloaded, and what they were looking for before AND after a call with the sales team. The Marketing Operations team should have a scoring method for the lead progression so they can “pre-qualify” the opportunity and help educate the seller on this data before the rep engages and then make sure the rep knows what the prospect learned and then can let the team know when the customer re-engaged digitally. The capabilities are there today to provide a profile to the rep, so the first contact with the prospect is well orchestrated and helps move the customer down the journey versus starting it all over again.

·???????? Educate, but be careful that it doesn’t come off too much like a pitch – I have a saying that people love to buy, but hate to be sold to. Remember, likely, the prospect has already pre-qualified you. Be a source of education in your market so the customer becomes smarter and better-versed. This starts with your digital messaging and positioning and should carry all the way through the journey. Still, it is so essential to understand the business problem the customer is trying to solve – I always advise my sales teams, “No one wakes up in the morning thinking I must buy (insert your product here).” They wake up in the morning with a business or process problem they need to solve, like “I need to improve the time to market for our new product launch”. Their problem may or may not be solved alone with your product, but you better be well-versed in the business outcome of your product and what other options the customer may need to address their issue. Also, take a step back and contemplate how it impacts your prospect’s customer because there is always your customer’s customer. Don’t focus everything on the features of your product that you think are really cool but on the business outcomes of those features to the customer. Product Marketing people, please make a note of this.

·???????? Be focused on the message in your engagement – Let’s assume you’ve done all the things above and the prospect now wants a deeper understanding of how you can positively impact their business problem. Remember, they may not have wanted to engage with you in the first place, but now they’ve decided you’re OK and may add some value, so be prepared to do just that. The worst thing you can do now is show up with the standard, out-of-the-can presentation pitch. I can’t track how often I see the classic “show up and throw up” pitch and the customer is tuned out after the first slide. Instead, conduct a relevant discovery process, sharing what you think you know so far and focus on confirming your understanding of the problem they are trying to solve, then speak to how you might address that problem and what you perceive as the benefits your solution brings to the table. Take the time to focus the discussions and presentations on that customer and their issue, not your standard pitch. I hate slides full of words because the customer is reading the slide instead of listening to you (that’s another article I want to write). Pictures speak a thousand words, and I strive never to have more than 10 words on a slide unless you present numbers and need the details for a reason.

·???????? Understand the problem to drive it to closure – If the customer has a true business problem they are solving, they’ve likely presented to management to get the support for the problem resolution, or perhaps it’s a new strategy or initiative being driven from the top down. There are things like the anticipated ROI and schedules for completion they are likely committed to gain executive support to move forward with the project. Try to know that in detail if you can. I had the honor of working with a great CFO who always said, “If it doesn’t make money or save money, we aren’t doing it.” Understand the customer's justification for the project and anticipated results since it will help you guide the timing and close plan. I’ve seen many situations where reps don’t know when or why the customer is buying something, and the deal slips quarter after quarter or is lost completely. Simply knowing the details of when, how, and why the prospect is doing something will answer many questions that will help you drive this to closure and provide your company with accuracy in determining when the opportunity decision will be made and why. More importantly, it helps you work with your customers in context to help them solve the problem. Don’t forget to understand the details of the buying process, too, since that can add time and complexity, especially if the solution to the prospect’s problem requires multiple companies or service providers. One other thing, make sure your company is as easy to business with as reasonably as possible. Check out another article I wrote called "I hate doing business with you! " for more information about this often-forgotten part of customer experience.

·???????? Use the data - There are so many great intent and analytic tools for the sales and marketing teams to leverage, but only helpful if you use them correctly. Most of the good ones are integrated into your CRM and can help provide buying signals of where that prospect is at in their digital journey to help you know when to engage. BUT do your homework to understand what they are interested in so you don’t come off as the “pitch” guy who tries to pitch without any idea why and turns off your buyer. Also, the marketing team should be giving you digital air cover during this process to help the customer gain the information they need to make a decision.

·???????? Make sure your sales enablement is up-to-date and in sync with the marketing messaging. Have you ever had a situation where a customer shows you something on your website or press release inconsistent with your knowledge of your product or what you just presented? In today’s world, that should never happen, but I can’t tell you how many times it still does. Word of advice to the C level: Don’t scrimp on your product marketing or sales enablement since having shortcuts here will hurt you. They are significant routes on your road to success. If the customer engages you, it's because they believe you might be able to help, so make sure you are the gold standard for knowing how to help solve the business problem for the customer.

What does the modern sales process look like?

I think we’re evolving, learning, and adapting, but it's safe to say it's a hybrid physical and digital experience, and you may not be engaged as much as or as early as you used to be...and that's OK. Still, I feel comfortable saying that the future of sales still has a role for you but it's not the same as it was even two years ago. The lines between sales and marketing are becoming more vague than ever and evolving into a single customer experience. Marketing and sales are on a journey together, and the process evolves as quickly as the technology in the market. Consistently assume your customer has done some homework on you and your company already. They are more intelligent about both than they were five years ago, and you should treat them with that level of respect.?

If you or your company are still selling the way you did a few years ago, the future may not be as bright as it could be. If your lead funnel still has a hard handoff between marketing and sales, you may struggle with your pipeline more than you would like. The modern sales process is rapidly changing to a phygital world so be open to change.

The buyers have more knowledge and capability at their disposal than ever; they are learning about you and your product faster and more profoundly. As a professional, you should always learn, adapt, and be open to innovation. If you have already crossed that bridge from a digital to a physical connection to your customer, you must continue cultivating it and adding value but always respect that they are still likely engaging with your company digitally without you and that's OK.

It’s a new world in sales, so who better to be the leader than you?

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