The purchasing landscape for acquiring new technology has become more complicated. More peripheral stakeholders, influencers and tire-kickers are now part of the mix. Buying ‘committees’ have emerged and often have more than ten contributing members.
Much of this is a result of employee displacement caused by a two-year pandemic.
According to LinkedIn’s “Age of Agility Global Report” — ‘we are in an era of decentralized technology purchasing decisions, with non-IT functions playing a greater role in determining their company’s usage of technology’.
More than 67% are engaged with content from multiple B2B vendors.
Formerly, a decision to implement an HR automation platform was primarily budgeted, sourced, evaluated within the IT environment.
Now, HR stakeholders, and those in the periphery are consulted. Each of these contributors have unique needs, wants, and perspectives. Each of these purchasing-influencers are independently researching and comparing vendors.
The challenge —
*Touch* as many on the buying committee as possible. Have *customized* marketing content available for each stakeholder.
A Systems Administrator needs to know if a compatible environment exists to support implementation.
An HR executive wants to make sure the solution saves time, creates efficiency and is user-friendly.
More than 63% of tech purchases are influenced by functions outside of IT.
How are you adapting to this new landscape?
Gartner, Inc. published a recent survey focused on the ‘B2B buying journey’ —
“To grow market share, technology marketers must invest in FULL-FUNNEL efforts that build awareness, memorability, and favorability”.
The article suggests that tech customers are largely ‘channel-agnostic’ when seeking relevant information. They will take information from any reliable source. Especially from a company that delivers the information directly to them. Either in digital form or in-person consulting.
67% of technology customers described their purchase as ‘very complex’.
So, back to the “FULL-FUNNEL” approach.
1. Sales Reps are just one channel, not the only channel.
2. Demand-Gen partners ‘touch’ more stakeholders on the buying committee.
3. Sales, Demand Generation and Marketing must ‘operate’ in 'parallel fashion'.
4. Digital channels should factor into your nurturing strategy throughout the buy-cycle.
One more important change has happened simultaneously with the increase in the size of buying committees. The ‘buy-cycle’, or the time from initial contact to 'close', has increased by several months in some cases.
Many complex technology decisions are now taking more than one year to close.
The challenge there is that many marketing plans have about a six-month nurturing strategy. In other words, the vendor is not there to keep the prospect engaged for the entire buying cycle. It would be a shame to show love to a prospect for six months only to see them captivated by another in the following six months.
I've written about the importance of nurturing in other articles (you may even find one here). Will offer more on that subject in upcoming blogs. In the meantime — Continue to develop your FULL-FUNNEL approach — harmonize Sales, Demand-Gen and Marketing — develop comprehensive marketing content suitable for all stakeholders.
Cheers!
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