MAIN INSIGHT 57
Russ Tarr
DIRECTOR - GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
& US SALES
What role do humans play in an increasingly digital B2B sales process?
There has been a fundamental shift in what B2B customers require from sales teams. People do so much more research before buying today that by the time they engage with a salesperson, they need a subject matter expert. Meanwhile, inside the sales organisation, by the time we engage with a potential customer the team needs to have done their research, to understand who that customer is, and what challenges they are facing.
The only reason to put a salesperson in front of a customer is if they can add value as a subject matter expert. A common scenario is that a salesperson reels off product features without realising that some of those features aren’t relevant to the customer, or the customer has already downloaded a product brochure or white paper. If the first human a potential customer speaks to is telling them things they already know, that’s of no benefit.
What tools are you using to help track buyer activity before they engage with sales teams, via a phone call or other contact?
To realise the benefit of engaging with a potential customer, we need to know what knowledge they have, and what expertise and credibility we can demonstrate. Using tracking systems to understand customer behaviour on our website and digital platforms is essential. As a bare minimum we want to know if someone downloaded a white paper, if they used an ROI calculator, or clicked on a link in an email to read an article.
We use several tools to automate gathering of data around both intent and engagement. Outreach is used for outbound sales execution, because it allows us to create a high level of personalisation. If we are engaging with someone over email, it’s essential that the email is relevant to their industry, or addresses a pain point that we know they have from their website actions. We also use tools like Cognism and Zoom Info to find companies and engage with them on digital platforms.
It is important to note that even the best digital tools won’t remove the need to have skilled humans who are analysing that intent and engagement data, and using it to build strategy. Businesses should always be asking what makes sense to automate, and where we are better off using other engagement channels with each customer.
Using tracking systems to understand customer behaviour on our website and digital platforms is essential. As a bare minimum we want to know if someone downloaded a white paper, if they used an ROI calculator, or clicked on a link in an email to read an article.
Traditionally in sales you would have a pre-sales solutions consultant, who would step in to advise customers on technology and run demonstrations. Now, salespeople have to do that themselves.
What skills and training should organisations adopt to deliver this new model of sales?
Traditionally in sales you would have a pre-sales solutions consultant, who would step in to advise customers on technology and run demonstrations. Now, salespeople have to do that themselves. We’re investing heavily in training salespeople on the product, getting them to a place where they are comfortable running demos. Given their deep product knowledge we have found that an effective technique is to have our customer success teams involved in training salespeople on the product side.
Second, we have invested in refreshing the SDR team so that we have increased skills around outbound calling activity. While sales used to handle inbound leads, we now incentivise and measure outbound activity, and around 50% of leads are generated this way.
Feefo gives brands the tools to make smarter decisions and improve consumer experiences by unlocking insight from real customer feedback. The company applies technologies such as AI and ML to customer reviews, helping businesses to build relationships, improve brand reputation and make informed decisions for the future.
