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Digital Body Language
April 11, 2008
Reading and responding to your prospects' buying behavior in the Web 2.0 world
By Thor Johnson
There is a big change going on in the way that customers are buying and evaluating products in the Web 2.0 world. Your next customer will likely research and evaluate your products through Web sites and online networks long before your salespeople ever get involved. Just as consumers now search and buy online, B2B purchasing has transformed into an interactive process driven by the customer, not the vendor. In fact, a call to your salesperson may be the last step in the buyer's journey, greatly limiting the influence and expertise of your sales staff.
Yet, there is an emerging vanguard of innovative companies that have learned how to decode the online behavior of their prospects early on in the buying process to gain a competitive advantage and win more business. This online behavior—Web site visits, information downloads, keyword searches, e-mail responses and more—is a new Digital Body Language that identifies buyers and reveals their intentions to salespeople. It's the online equivalent of the facial expressions revealed around the negotiating table. In many ways, online buyer behavior provides the most accurate picture of prospect interest and intent. By analyzing the frequency and click stream data of Web site visits, marketers can zero in on the buyer's pains, concerns and motivation.
The problem with the Digital Body Language phenomenon is that it is generally invisible to sales. By the time the average salesperson is aware of the electronic dialog that has taken place between her company and her prospect, it is often too late to influence the buying process, scope of engagement or competitive threats.
This means that a tight alignment and communication between the sales and marketing departments is now critical to overall success. Businesses that adapt to the new buying process consistently increase lead conversion rates, shorten sales cycles and improve win rates. Conversely, those businesses that cannot track, analyze and communicate the online behavior of their prospects will find themselves increasingly disadvantaged in a competitive marketplace.
The New Buying Process
Before an organization can adjust its marketing and sales process to manage and measure Digital Body Language, it must first understand how the buying process has changed. The accessibility and speed of the Web greatly eases the discovery and consideration processes that buyers go through. This is especially true for typical B2B "considered-purchase" products and services involving a buying committee or a defined decision-making process, where most of a buyer's research and evaluation moves to the Web.
In fact, as part of their 2007 Connecting through Content Series, Knowledge Storm and Marketing Sherpa found that technology buyers conduct nearly three-quarters of their technology research and information gathering online. In addition, more than 93% of respondents considered the information they found online to be of greater or equal value to the content they received through other means such as publications and events. A total of 84% of technology buyers begin their research for information on one of the major search engines and nearly four out of five buyers search the Web at least weekly for new information.
Marketers should not underestimate their own Web site as a key source of this content. Fully one-third of respondents said they obtain the majority of the information they use in researching solutions or evaluating purchases from companies directly.
Reading and Responding
The good news for B2B marketers and sales organizations is that the Web 2.0 world has not only provided tools for buyers, but through online tracking and analytics packages, it has also provided intelligence to better understand and serve customers.
To benefit from Digital Body Language, businesses must make investments in people, process and technology. Simply switching on a business intelligence tool is not enough. Significant process changes are usually required on the part of both marketing and sales organizations.
Industry experts recommend taking a phased approach by focusing on the following six best practices:
• Accumulate Digital Body Language by integrating marketing channels on a single marketing platform to build comprehensive prospect profiles.
• Communicate Digital Body Language to the sales organization and other business stakeholders by integrating the marketing system of record with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA) systems.
• Evaluate Digital Body Language using advanced sales lead scoring systems that compare prospects' explicit information against implicit indicators of buying intent.
• Accelerate the sales process with real-time sales alerts and notifications of prospect Web activity and marketing responses.
• Cultivate the Digital Body Language of prospects with personalized lead nurturing campaigns that drive them back to the Web site.
• Validate marketing spend with closed-loop marketing systems that measure marketing's impact on revenue and pipeline.
Reaping the Rewards
Companies that adopt these marketing best practices become highly attuned to the Digital Body Language of their prospects. They align their marketing and sales teams around information and intelligence—two of the most important tools for a sales team to succeed. Recognizing that sales instincts and personal relationships are no longer enough to excel in an Internet world, high-performance organizations see that marketing holds the keys to identifying the right influencers and key issues within a buyer's organization.
The rewards for firms that track their customers' Digital Body Language include increased sales, faster growth rates and shorter sales cycles. By being the first responder when prospects begin to research a purchase, companies gain competitive advantage and improve sales effectiveness. By aligning their marketing department more closely with sales and measuring the results of campaigns, these organizations increase the effectiveness of promotional spend.
Conversely, businesses that cannot track and analyze the behavior of their top prospects are likely to find themselves at a competitive disadvantage going forward. Given the rapidly changing environment in the B2B world, the question is not whether a business can afford to invest in digital transformation but whether it can afford not to make the change.
Thor Johnson is SVP of Marketing at Eloqua Corporation. He can be reached at thor.johnson@eloqua.com.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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