The buying journey now is mostly digital. Buyers are often 70% of the way through their evaluation before they engage sales.
B2B Buying Groups typically number at least 7 people. This group will have consumed your organization’s content (hopefully), read about you on sites like G2, have Googled or asked ChatGPT about you, talked to peers, and will, or already have, talked to your competition.
And BTW, money is no longer cheap – capital efficiency in sales and marketing is the new black.
Welcome to the buyer-led era.
These facts underscore a clear message: the traditional, interruption-based model of cold outreach is not only outdated but also counterproductive.
This new reality requires a pivot. It demands a new approach to lead generation, moving away from the tactics that have dominated for the last 25 years. What this moment requires is a buyer-centric, data-driven approach.
Focus on Intent-Based Outbound.
The core of this approach focuses on building personalized buyer journeys that are calibrated to the different buyer roles, goals, and market segments you serve. The bottom of the funnel is about prioritizing engagement with potential buyers who have demonstrated a specific interest or behavior indicative of a buying intention.
By harnessing data analytics, AI, and automation, sales teams can identify and prioritize leads that are more likely to convert, thus significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their outreach efforts.
Time has been, and always will be, sales’ and marketing’s most precious commodity.
Adopting an intent-based outbound strategy requires a reimagining of the sales process.
It necessitates aligning marketing, demand generation, lead generation, sales, and support towards a common goal: Creating a seamless, value-driven buyer journey. This alignment is crucial in recognizing and responding to the needs of modern B2B buyers, who expect personalized, relevant, and timely engagement.
A key in this shift is redefining the Sales Development Representative (SDR) and Business Development Representative (BDR) roles.
Rather than giving them a list, a sequencer, a phone and telling them to “go get ‘em,” the roles need to evolve into orchestrators of buyer engagement, leveraging insights and intent data to foster meaningful conversations.
This not only improves the buyer experience, but greatly improves the chances of conversion. It also elevates the value and satisfaction derived from the role itself.
In our next post, we will share more on what we are seeing working well in the market with building Personalized Buyer Content Journeys. We’ll also share what we see innovators implementing as they reimagine the SDR and BDR roles.
We would love to hear from you as well. Let us know what you think!
