Indisputable fact: The earlier you can get in on a technology deal, the more chance you have to shape that deal in your favor. Sales teams are constantly trying to get their foot in the door earlier, but often find themselves already behind by the time they reach buyers.
Why? Because gaining visibility into an IT buyer’s journey is extremely challenging – typical buyers are already almost 60% of the way through their research before even engaging with a sales rep. This dynamic presents enormous difficulty for your sales teams to truly understand a buyer’s needs. It is no surprise that over 40% of sales reps feel they don’t have the right information once they finally do get on the phone with the buyer.
As a marketer, it’s your job to fill these gaps by empowering your sales team with the right information about the right buyers that enables them to close more deals. Easier said than done, right? Well, it may not be as hard as you think…
The right insight would help your sales teams identify buyer intent earlier and clearly understand their needs. But what specifically is the most effective information they can leverage? Let’s take a look at 6 key insights to learn about your buyers and how they can be leveraged to infiltrate an upcoming technology purchase.
The most important insights you need to know to engage early and shape deals in your favor
1. Location and Timeframe
Where is the purchase taking place, and when? A clear idea of an upcoming IT project’s location is incredibly efficient for providing your sales teams with real opportunities in their territory. Beyond that, identifying a timeframe for the decision is vital for the engagement strategy. If the decision is urgent and needs to be made in the next 3 months, you should employ a much more aggressive strategy that highlights specifics of the deal. If the decision is expected to take 6 months to a year, you can build the relationship and literally shape the buy.
2. Current Solutions
Which vendors and solutions does the prospect currently have installed? Using this information, you can frame your competitive advantage in a way that highlights the shortcomings of their current solution. This also presents a great upfront opportunity to settle any concerns about integrating with existing solutions or conflicts with their legacy systems.
3. Pain Points
According to the Sixth Annual Demand Gen Report 2016 B2B Buyer’s Survey, 94% of B2B buyer respondents want vendors to have a strong knowledge about their company and their needs. So identifying the prospect’s pain points is a massive boon in framing the discussion around how your solutions help address their challenges. Especially if your solutions provide many different benefits, you’ll avoid the pitfall of focusing on the wrong pain points that could prevent the buyer from seeing value in your technology.
4. Buying Criteria
What is the prospect looking for in a solution? 64% of B2B buyers appreciate it when a sales person contacts them with relevant information and opportunities, so being able to hit their specific buying criteria will be what makes the final sale. Focus on the primary drivers of the purchase, key purchase features and desired criteria to know what features and functionality to highlight during the sale.
5. Current Shortlist
Who are the vendors the prospect is evaluating for a solution? Positioning yourself against the specific competitors they are evaluating can help you highlight what makes your solution the better choice and downplay or anticipate any criteria where they might hold the competitive advantage.
6. Buying Team Insider
Who is it exactly within the organization that knows the information about the technology buy and how can you engage with them? With the number of people involved in a B2B buying decision increasing, it’s more difficult than ever to identify who at the organization you should be targeting. Even more confusing, the final decision maker and the insider responsible for researching the buy may be two different people that will each need to be engaged.
Directly insert yourself into buyers’ research process
Now, here’s another stat that makes this all very challenging: the average vendor only owns 12% of total mindshare with B2B buyers across their purchase path. With limited chances to engage, how can you most quickly and directly impact your buyers within their research process?
Well, the answer to that question is TechTarget’s Qualified Sales Opportunities. A truly unique and invaluable sales enablement service for marketers and their sales teams, Qualified Sales Opportunities provide you with confirmed purchase intent insights on upcoming IT projects happening in your tech space within the next 3-12 months.
Every Qualified Sales Opportunities report shares details on the 6 areas we previously outlined, which we gather through an in-depth validation process with an inside member of the buying team who actually confirms all of these purchase details.
Qualified Sales Opportunities literally provide you with a blueprint of an upcoming technology purchase, which your sales team can use to personalize their engagement in a way that’s already one step ahead of what the buyer is thinking and wants to hear. And don’t just take our word for it; look here, here and here to see how other tech vendors have recently used Qualified Sales Opportunities to close some major business.
See for yourself; click here to request your own custom sample Qualified Sales Opportunity report, or email [email protected] with any inquiries and we’ll have a dedicated representative get back in touch with you right away.
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