Tag Archives: B2B Buying Cycle

Summit 2013 Highlights: How to Conquer the Changing World of B-to-B Buying

John Neeson, co-founder and managing director of SiriusDecisions, began his presentation at Summit 2013 today by putting a hypothetical question to the audience of b-to-b sales, marketing and product executives: “If you were a CXO responsible for buying a major new system that will change the productivity and profitability of your business, what is the first thing you would do? Where would you go to get information and advice?”

Continue Reading....

So, the Demand Waterfall Is Dead, Is It?

For more than a few months now, I’ve seen a series of articles and blog posts from pundits that have proclaimed the end of the demand waterfall (or the demand “funnel,” as some call it) as a viable model of measurement of aligned b-to-b marketing and sales. The trouble with the waterfall, it is claimed, is that it depicts a linear journey of prospects from cold to close. Today’s buyers, on the other hand, often take a circuitous journey, moving in and out of an active cycle before finally crossing the finish line. If you believe the second, then you cannot possibly believe the first, right?

Continue Reading....

How C-Level Executives Validate Their Vendor Choices

There are six stages in the SiriusDecisions Customer Buying Cycle. The final stage, “making the selection,” is the inflection point in the purchasing lifecycle when terms and conditions, contract negotiations and the implementation plan with the vendor of choice are all finalized. It’s the last checkpoint to ensure that the decision is the right one before final signoff by the key decisionmaker. At this stage, C-level executives are typically fully engaged and thus can make or break a deal. In our recent C-level buyer persona study, offering several bulleted potential responses from which to choose, we asked C-level executives: Which of the bullets carry the most weight when you are validating your decision to select one vendor vs. another?

Continue Reading....

Defining the Persona Framework: It’s a Little Bit Like Origami

Once an organization decides to embark on a journey toward customer-centricity, the first step is defining buyer personas. But the question becomes: How many personas? Should there be a separate version of each buyer persona to reflect each industry that the organization serves? For example, how does the head of human resources in retail differ from his or her counterparts in banking or manufacturing?

Continue Reading....

What B2B Marketing and Sales Can Learn From Walmart

Famous (and notorious) as a model of ruthless operational efficiency, Walmart is known for mastering just-in-time (JIT) delivery of goods – holding virtually no inventory – to extract from suppliers only what’s needed to sell. While we certainly don’t advocate that B2B marketing and sales adopt the type of adversarial vendor relationships Walmart is legendary for, its success does provide some valuable lessons.

Continue Reading....

The Impact of Inbound Marketing on the Demand Creation Waterfall

We’ve conducted benchmark studies of conversion rates within the demand waterfall for many years; we update this data as market and organizational dynamics change. Historically, the characteristics that have separated ...

Continue Reading....

Selling to B2B Decisionmakers? Take Two Aspirins and Call Us in the Morning

At our recent Summit, we shared data that confirmed what many of our clients have been telling – that their reps are invited into the buying process later and later ...

Continue Reading....

The Secret to Creating Great Content

There is no secret, no trick and, unfortunately, no silver bullet. Sorry. However, there is a truth: creating great content is difficult, and it requires significant focus, effort and a ...

Continue Reading....

Sales Content for Justifying the Decision Stage

The Wall Street Journal recently reported a study that found that chief financial officers (CFOs) are stepping outside the traditional bounds of financial operations and becoming more deeply involved in ...

Continue Reading....

When Not To Align To The B2B Buying Process

During a recent client forum, I asked our audience of marketing and sales executives two questions: How many of you are experiencing buying processes where customers have taken greater control ...

Continue Reading....