Introduction
It’s only a matter of months since we first quizzed B2B sales and marketing leaders from across the tech and professional services industry on the new strategies they must now invoke to communicate effectively with prospective buyers in an increasingly digital-first world.
And how quickly the landscape continues to change! The gradual re-emergence from the worst of the pandemic might have been expected to drive people back to the office and yet other factors have come into play now, largely adding to rather than easing the disruption.
In addition to semi-permanent changes in the mindset and working practices of employees and employers, many of whom still largely favour remote working, there is now considerable global economic instability. The war in Ukraine has driven up energy prices and further disrupted supply chains, which still haven’t recovered fully from the pandemic. The result is supply uncertainty, soaring costs of utilities and goods, and rising interest rates.
All of this is threatening profit margins and growth, and causing businesses to cut back – for fear of not being able to pass on higher costs to hard-pressed customers.
It’s against this backdrop that we recently connected with 26 new technology and professional service providers, to discover more about how B2B sales and marketing models are being disrupted.
Emerging and intensifying challenges include:
- Growing resistance to in-person meetings and live ‘face time’:
- as the demands on people’s time, and the challenges of their immediate working environment, persist
- as digital-first generations account for more of the buying population
- as convenience becomes the determinant of customer openness to engagement;
- The growing influence of consumer engagement, entertainment and fact-finding experiences on B2B buyer expectations;
- The accelerating pace of change to customer requirements and priorities - requiring greater proactivity and creativity to discover and respond to what customers want and need;
- The need to be more coordinated and cost-efficient in B2B sales and marketing planning and execution - harnessing smart automation, and intelligent targeting of rich digital experiences and appropriate thought leadership, to maximise the impact of every touch point.
And these are just for starters. This Market View publication brings together fresh insights from 33 senior marketing executives at some of the UK’s best known B2B organisations operating in or adjacent to the IT and associated professional services industry.
As you adapt and refresh your own buyer journeys, and strive to engage prospective customers in ever more relevant and impactful ways, whatever the market conditions, we hope the candid commentary from our featured contributors will provide a source of inspiration and optimism.
We have condensed their views into three key takeaways you’ll find at the back of this report.