A Brief Exploration of Transatlantic Differences
With such a broad pool of respondents to our spring 2023 MarketView survey, we’ve been able to distil some key themes from both sides of the Atlantic. While there is some overlap, some areas of concern or opportunity emerge more strongly in the US vs the UK, or vice versa.
Here are the top themes at a glance
US Key Findings
The digital-first sales process
- Buyers prefer digital touchpoints such as social media, webinars, and chatbots
- Younger generations are increasingly important in B2B sales and marketing
- Buyer expectations have changed, with a preference for early-stage digital or virtual interactions over face-to-face meetings
- Digital analytics tools can help identify the age ranges that engage with your content, allowing you to optimize it for your target audience
- Salespeople should invite prospects to webinars or video calls to build trust before moving on to physical meetings
- Promoting genuine and authentic content advertising unique to your target audience while offering them value and entertainment in return for their time is crucial
Sales & marketing collaboration
- Sales and marketing teams should collaborate to move prospects through the sales funnel
- Marketing should collaborate with sales to identify what content prospects are engaging with or actions they are taking outside of sales interactions
- Marketing can help sales get deeper insights into the ideal customer persona and understand potential buyer frustrations and goals
- Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can help sales and marketing teams collaborate and align their efforts, and improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by targeting specific accounts or customers with personalized content
Sales approach
- Salespeople should focus on becoming a part of the customer's community and getting a seat at the table
- Sales should move beyond a script towards real understanding of the potential buyer's frustrations and goals
- Authenticity is more important than entertainment with younger, millennial buyers
- A certain level of credibility must be established before sales engagement
- Salespeople can position themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries by going against the grain and offering a new perspective
- As virtual selling proves here to stay, consider monthly webinars or live Q&A events to engage customers without the high cost of one-to-one sales calls
- Sales leaders should shift from a "sell, sell, sell" mindset to a "help, help, help" mindset
- Aspiring sales leaders should read relevant industry publications and listen to podcasts to understand the language of their prospects
- Today’s customer should be at the center of the sales process, giving rise to customized solutions based on individual needs
- Providing the sales team with the right resources, including training and technology, can improve their effectiveness and productivity
UK Key Findings
Challenges in creating a single view of buyers:
- Marketing and sales teams need to collaborate to deliver value to potential buyers
- Providing helpful and informative content that goes beyond just promoting the product
- Evaluating the content strategy to ensure it's aimed at the right group of potential buyers
- Technology tools such as Wynter and Gong can help marketers gain insights into pain points and better understand the needs of potential buyers
Personalization and continual learning in Account-Based Marketing:
- KPIs and OKRs should go deeper than just lead generation or deal closure numbers providing valuable, digital experiences to meet changing buyer expectations
- Positioning sales teams as thought leaders and using them within content
- Creating self-serve content that differentiates the company from competitors and shows an understanding of the prospect's challenges
- Multiple ways for potential buyers to engage with providers, leading to improved self-serve sales and marketing efforts by businesses
Importance of human engagement and trust in modern sales and marketing:
- Building personal relationships with buyers to gain their trust
- Offering customers accreditations or certifications to turn them into unofficial sales representatives for your company
- Taking advantage of short-form video content on social media apps like TikTok to promote products and services
- Providing industry reports and trends to help salespeople become knowledgeable and credible
- Personalizing the sales cycle and training to fit the needs and pace of each individual customer
- Providing self-serve options and a variety of content formats for customers to engage with during the adoption stage
- Face-to-face interactions will always remain crucial in enterprise sales
Importance of aligning sales and marketing strategies:
- Marketing teams can support their sales colleagues by providing relevant and valuable information or content
- Marketing teams should stay regularly updated on sales processes
- Holding open forums when launching new products or services to reinforce knowledge transfer and provide an opportunity for open discussion
- Delivering value through every channel by providing helpful recommendations, thought leadership, and evidence-based insights
- Listening to customer feedback and continuously improving offerings and customer experience
- Building marketing campaigns around multiple storytelling angles and providing diverse perspectives
Getting smarter with marketing efforts:
- Persona-based marketing to serve digital content that resonates with different stakeholders
- Creating and serving digital content that resonates with different stakeholders
Impact of digital sales journeys on sales representatives:
- Delivering the right message to the right people, at the right time
- Digitization of the sales process allows for more timely touchpoints, which can often speed up the sales cycle