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  • Pages
  • Editions
01 Cover
02 Contents
03 Introduction
04 Thoughts from the CEO
05 Survey Poll Results
06 Market Views
07 James McCormick
08 Suresh Balasubramanian
09 John Steinert
10 Melissa Alonso
11 Trinity Nguyen
12 Peter Isaacson
13 Kay Kienast
14 Nick Panayi
15 Juliana Pereira
16 Kacyn Goranson
17 Andrea Palten
18 Paige Asady
19 Lara Daniel
20 Kevin Alansky
21 Leslie Murdock
22 Leela Gill
23 Ellie Ahmadi
24 Josh Linard
25 Heather Larrabee
26 Joseph Lee
27 Erin Marks
28 Kenneth Dec
29 Lisa Viselli
30 Carla Sierra Fitzgerald
31 Randy Latimer
32 Rosina Feser
33 Rohit Wadhwa
34 Aash Sood
35 Gloria Zhu
36 Prash Shenoy
37 Dana Salman
38 Sidi Saliu
39 Avi Bhatnagar
40 Harsha Kotikela
41 Jeff Platon
42 MJ Patent
43 Jake Knight
44 Vicky Cunningham
45 Chris Collier
46 Payal Mathur
47 Jayashree Rajan
48 Seth Steinman
49 Michael Baer
50 Shaleen Dhrobra
51 Carmen Goldstein
52 Chris Leger
53 Joe Bresler
54 Moira Van den Akker
55 Matt Hummel
56 Rusty Bishop
57 Stephen O'Brien
58 Anastasia Shegidevich
59 Andrew Davies
60 Diana Henderson
61 HiIlary Oliver
62 Katie Draper
63 Kevin Rippon
64 Olusegun Ekundayo
65 Laurence Baker
66 Annie Wissner
67 Melissa Liedkie
68 Josh Harris
69 Wayne Gratton
70 Rich Smith
71 Three Tips
72 A Brief Exploration
73 About Network Sunday
74 About TechPros.io

Introduction


The role of human engagement across the B2B buying cycle continues to evolve in this digital-first, post-pandemic world. At first, this presented a concerning challenge, forcing marketing and sales professionals to review their roles and relationships in a more virtual, one-step-removed environment. How could they maintain their influence and build engagement?

Over time, however, necessity has sparked creativity. What’s emerging is a dynamic and innovative model of engagement that blends the best of digital, physical and one-to-one interactions and information exchange, to deliver something altogether more powerful and impactful. Marketing and sales teams are realizing that their roles respective to each other must evolve, too – that they need to support and feed back to each other in new ways, to keep pace with the changing needs of the market.

The challenges that remain now are more subtle and nuanced – such as how to maintain a sense of both personality and personalization; how to build a real connection with buyers at each point in their journey; how to approach and foster engagement at events; how to build and play a value-added role in online communities; as well as how to reach out to and track younger generations of buyers who have differing habits and preferences compared to more mature and more ostensibly relationship-oriented clients.

In this third and final edition of our MarketView publication on the topic, we have delved deeper into the latest thinking and developments around the role of human engagement across the B2B buying cycle. This time we’ve spoken to leading sales and marketing professionals at more than 60 B2B brands around the world, who have candidly shared their latest experiences and insights.

From the recognition that 70% of a B2B buying decision has generally already been made before a first sales contact, to the proposal of gamification and quizzes to engage buyers in a dialog, the role of chatbots in digital forums, and the importance of client involvement at events, many of the points and suggestions made by the individuals we spoke to were thought-provoking and ambitious.

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 look to engage your own buyers in new ways that stand out and add new value, we hope the ideas and experiences of our featured contributors will inspire you.

We’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the contributors who gave their valuable time to share their thoughts and experiences. As ever, we are confident that these will strike a chord and that all of the ideas and insights shared here will provide a fresh perspective as you consider your own next steps in this great evolution of B2B Customer acquisition.

Up next:

Thoughts from the CEO - Tim Bond

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