The buying process or “cycle” is an interesting process to say the least. Why do customers buy? What goes through their mind before, during and after a purchase? Why do they choose what they do to buy? How do they process all the information about products and services available to them? Marketers, as well as sales and business development professionals alike all seek to answer these questions to yield success.
The buying cycle can viewed as having 5 phases, as indicated in the graphic below
For the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on the first phase – Problem Identification. (Have no fear, we will discuss the remaining phases in the next series of blogs.)
The buying cycle begins when either (1) the buyer notices a problem is starting to arise, or – which happens more often than not – (2) the buyer begins to see the effects of a problem without knowing what the problem is exactly. For example, a car dealer who wants to communicate frequently and maintain a relationship with customers fails to employ a reputable CRM. They notice that their customer retention is low and can rightlyfully attribute the problem their CRM system. On the other hand, you have a car dealership who uses the best CRM system available in the industry and has a consistent direct marketing schedule but they also notice customer retention is low. This dealership is left scratching their head as to why their customers aren’t returning to their store for service needs and/or to purchase another new car.
This begs the question: how can companies who have products and/or services that can solve a particular issue reach prospects who are in the “problem identification” stage of the buying process? One suggestion that we strongly recommend is to have stimulating and engaging conversations online to get yourself infront of prospects who are in the midst of the buying cycle.
We’re not simply recommending that you jump on the social media bandwagon and create profiles on all the major social networks (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn). Since a “build it and they will come” mentality does not succeed in social media, we urge companies to get their hands dirty by really getting involved online after profiles are created. You should ask thought-provoking questions to prospects, answering questions posed by prospects online, offer up “best practices” and tips and provide concrete information that will get prospects thinking more about their problem and how it can be solved. This can be done on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube…and each can drastically improve your business development processes by generating qualified sales leads.
Don’t believe us? According to DemandGen’s recent report “BtoB Buyer Transformation Survey,” social media activity on networks such as those named above are “having a growing impact with business purchases.” In fact, they reported:
Over 20% of buyers connected directly with potential solution providers on social networks
Almost 40% posted questions on social media sites with the intent of looking for suggestions and feedback
A majority of respondents said Twitter and LinkedIn influenced their purchasing decisions during the “Problem Identification” phase
The results of this survey clearly indicate that social media has a significant impact on the b2b buying cycle and provide evidence to our recommendation above. Though “Problem Identification” is still the first step in a sometimes long and frustrating buying cycle, remember that engaging with prospects early in the game and building rapport throughout will improve your chances for a sale in the end.
For more information and recommendations, please watch as Gateway partner Jason Bahnak elaborates in the video below:
Is Social Media just a buzz or is it the real deal? As a business professional, you’ve probably grown increasing familiar with words like Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You’ve heard the hype, but what can your company gain from them? Better yet – how do you start?
How do you take the plunge into the social media world? Simply creating a profile on Twitter and Facebook is not the recipe for instant success as some claim. Tools don’t equal prospects; you need to have someone to do your social media work, and most importantly – something to say. Social Media is a marketing catalyst for your company’s ideas. Your target market must have something to listen to first; you need to have something to offer them.
Social Media isn’t easy to and can’t be run by a generic computer program. It is very time consuming; personal approach is needed in order to successfully reach your target market. A specialist is required to decipher what content to push and what speaks to people. Your company’s information will be broadcasted through a number of outlets, so warm body is needed to tailor your message to specific markets.
You don’t have to start from scratch…
If your company has a file cabinet full of white papers and research you’re already well on your way. You’ve got the information, now all you need is someone to implement it online.
What can you gain?
Social media is not going to automatically blow your sales numbers through the roof. The main objective of social media is for your company to reach and gain new prospects – some of which you may had never networked with offline.
How do you now when it’s working? Successful social media will impact your traffic and add to your prospects list. You’ll know people are connecting with your company when you witness:
-Your website’s traffic increases.
-You gain more fans/members/subscribers.
-People are reading what you have to say.
In closing, just remember that your objective is to increase online traffic to build your prospects list, and that social media can’t do it alone – your company needs to have a solid message.
Many businesses are attempting to use Social Media to generate B2B leads, but how do you actually move a prospect from “social networking land” onto your sales persons’ prospect list?
Set Your Net Wide
The first step is to ensure that prospects searching online encounter your brand in places OTHER than your corporate website. Today, business people use industry blogs, forums and networking sites to find information MORE than surfing corporate sites. So, to start driving leads, you need to be where people are looking. Observe the graphic below. Figure A illustrates an organization with only a corporate website online. In this scenario, the only way a prospect would have exposure to this company is if they find and visit its’ site directly. The web is a big place.
Figure B illustrates an organization capitalizing on simple social media tools to cast a wide net of exposure across the web. With employees on LinkedIn, a Facebook page, etc, the chances of a prospect encountering your company online is much, much greater.
Provide a Reason (and a way) to Connect
Let’s assume a prospect finds your Facebook page. Or, a video you’ve posted on YouTube. Or, your blog. Either way, they’re NOT a prospect yet. They’re a person staring at your message wondering if it’s worth reading further. The next step in turning social media visitors into B2B leads is to form a relationship. And, the one of the simplest and least risky relationships to form is one between a publisher of information, and their subscribers.
Quality, useful, free information is still a hot item. By providing good industry information via your social sites, visitors will consider coming back for more. Encourage visitors to become a fan of your Facebook page. Ask visitors to subscribe to your blog. Place a call-to-action, with a link, at the end of your video on YouTube. Advertise that fans/subscribers will receive beneficial, usable industry information if they sign up. Give them the promise of something more, and a means to receive that information.
Capture Info, Append, Cleanse
An email address, contact name, or company name may be all the information you receive when someone reaches out to your company on a social site. Appending this information is the final step in qualifying a social media lead.
There are a variety of tools and methods available to help you match an email address to a real person. An easy, quick way is simply to search for that email address on LinkedIn. If the address doesn’t produce results, try the company name within the address (ex: try searching for “ABC Company” if the email address is john.smith@ABCcompany.com). Take a few minutes to look up a company description on LinkedIn or the company’s corporate site. If it appears to be a fit for your product or service, bingo, you now have a social media lead.
Placing a cleansing call or email to a prospect will further verify the quality of the lead.
Happy hunting. And please, subscribe to our blog for future posts about generating leads for your business.
Did you know there is a simple modification you can make to your LinkedIn profile that will help your company’s’ search engine ranking, and only takes about a minute?
When looking at your Public Profile, your initial “snapshot” box (the white box within the blue box) contains 6 categories: Current, Past, Education, Connections, Websites and Public Profile. Your “Websites” section, by default, will display “My Company” for your organizations’ website.
The problem here is that search engines don’t see as much value in the phrase “My Company” linked to your site as they would “Your Company Name” linked. Your company name, plus the link, shows a stronger connection, and search engines just like that more. Have everyone at your company make this modification and it can help create valuable links back to your site.
Follow these simple instructions:
1. Go to “Edit My Profile”.
2. Just to the right of the phrase “My Website” you should now see and “edit” option. Click it.
3. On the “Websites” drop-down menu choose “Other”.
4. Enter your company website address in the “URL” space provided, and your company name in the “Website Title” box.
5. Scroll to the bottom, and click “Save Changes”.
Please feel free to comment with any other tricks you know, and if you already haven’t', please subscribe to our blog to receive more B2B development and lead generation tips soon!
This blog was created to share our thoughts on B2B customer development in the hopes that this information will be useful for organizations working toward increasing new sales opportunities.
