MARKET VIEW 11
Lauren Muir
HEAD OF MARKETING
In-person meetings are still very important but they’ve shifted further down the sales funnel.
With virtual selling interactions becoming more prevalent, are in-person meetings still important when it comes to customer acquisition?
If we look at the sales process today, a large portion happens before someone even contacts a salesperson. So virtual selling interactions are vital for building a case for what you're offering so people are more informed by the time they speak to a salesperson, allowing for more in-depth engaging conversations. And virtual calls are a great low-commitment way for people to engage with a sales person in the early stages of the sales cycle.
Despite this, those in-person meetings still need to happen, especially in the enterprise sales environment that we're in. People want to see that there's a human there. An expert they can rely on to take them through the enterprise transformation journey we are selling, and not just someone reading a script from the corner of the screen on a video call who disappears after you sign the contract. It's essentially about building trust. So, yes, I definitely think that in-person meetings are still very important but they’ve shifted further down the sales funnel.
There's of-course something to be said about making content that’s visually appealing, but for content to be engaging you need to make sure that it’s relevant.
LAUREN MUIR
Head of Marketing TRADE LEDGER
As millennials are becoming a big part of the target audience, should the focus be on creating more entertaining content?
“Entertaining” is probably the wrong word; “engaging” is much more relevant to enterprise selling. And the best way to do that is by providing value at every stage of the sales process. Whether it's a new way of looking at a problem or a checklist to build requirements - give people something they can walk away from and action.
Another key aspect to creating engaging content is variety. People have individual preferences for how they consume and gather information. So, I think it's about having similar messages but in multiple formats so that people can pick and choose what works best for them at any given point in time. There's of-course something to be said about making content that’s visually appealing, but for content to be engaging you need to make sure that it’s relevant.
The bottom line is - your content should be engaging, both visually and mentally, but it has to add value.
