Sales leaders need to modernize their marketing approach to meet the expectations of millennial buyers. The focus has to be on transparency as almost 90% of buyers rely on self-research. Leaders need to anticipate and plan their campaigns and advertisements guided by new market trends and evolved buying behaviours.
Sales leaders have to continuously exceed targets while operating to survive stiff competition globally. Seller and customer behaviours, relationships, and expectations are evolving like never before. Experts claim that companies that fail to understand the new realities will struggle to grow their business. Critical changes in customer expectations and behaviour have led to multiple implications on annual sales targets.
New-gen B2B buyers are sceptical of seller claims, preferring data-backed evidence to guide buying decisions. Millennials actively join buying groups and analyse the products before purchase. In today’s era of abundant and readily available information, millennial buyers are comfortable researching themselves rather than trusting sales reports. Individual research delays direct interaction with suppliers. Thus, B2B leaders need to focus on planning campaigns centered on addressing millennial concerns and leverage groups to arrive consensus.
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Expert surveys reveal that 88% of B2B customers rely on self-researched high-quality data for successful purchase decisions. B2B customers glide through a mountain of information to assess and prioritize relevant sources to make sense of data available on different sites. Reports suggest that customers spend 15% of the buying time decoding information.
One major issue that B2B supplier need to address is to maintain consistent information across channels. Buyers lose trust in the product claims made by suppliers in case of conflicting information. Experts suggest that only 25% of customers claim to receive consistent information across channel delivering the high-quality, low-regret purchase. They also report that in case of consistency, buyers are roughly 4.5 times more likely to make the purchase.
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The buying process in today’s world is complicated by complex solutions, financial instability, and data security concerns. When surveyed, 75% of customers agree that their purchase involved suggestion from industry experts. Each stakeholder brings diverse concerns, priorities, and opinions, making the buying process extremely complicated. The customer buying journey is a linear process where word of mouth plays an immensely impactful role.
Customers are channel-agnostic exploring for the consistent information that boosts confidence to make a particular purchase. Millennial buyers are open and excited to receive relevant product information and feedback through digital channels or in-person. Sales leaders need to drive customer value through the creation of product information designed with the vision to assist customers in making accurate buying decisions. Data consistency across platforms and displaying positive client feedback from industry leaders is a must to gain customer trust for pressing buying decisions.
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