These days, every B2B revenue team is coming down with a case of Heptadecaphobia — and most don’t even know it. No, this is not a new strain of COVID. Heptadecaphobia is simply the fear of the number 17. Why is the number 17 so significant?
As B2B marketing and sales teams recalibrate for the new realities of a digital-only marketplace, they find dwindling opportunities to engage and influence buying groups directly. Today, Gartner estimates that B2B buyers spend 17 percent of their total buying time interacting with sales teams — and that’s with all suppliers. You may get about 3 to 4 percent of the buyer’s total time if you are lucky. And, if you are dealing with a buyer that is easily distracted -– such as myself -– that number quickly evaporates to zero.
Assume that Every Opportunity will be Won (and lost) Digitally
In my last Medium blog, I discussed the compounding complexities of digital selling. Specifically, sellers and marketing teams must now navigate 10+ digital channels to reach more buying groups which have swelled to 14–23 decision-makers. If you make it to the finish line to seal the deal, congratulations! You’ve probably racked up 27+ digital/virtual interactions without having to get on an airplane.
What’s the cure for Heptadecaphobia? Here are the top-3 remedies.
#1. Double down on ABM with a newfound focus on buying groups
The primary job of a buyer-centric B2B marketing and sales teams is to build trust and confidence by understanding the buyer’s role and delivering value at every point in their decision journey. Thankfully, many organizations have made inroads into their ABM programs, providing a conduit to these critical buying groups. By focusing on accounts and contacts through the lens of essential buyers and buying groups, sales and marketing teams can build the right mix of digital programs that drive more buyer engagement, conversions, and pipeline.
Similarly, demand gen and ABM teams are also converging to drive more targeted and effective campaigns. With this collaboration, demand marketers will deliver optimized programs with better ad spending — ultimately building a more predictable pipeline of opportunities that have a higher probability of closing and fueling CLV.
#2. Take inventory of your digital channels
If you work with the assumption that buyers will never speak to suppliers directly, you must ensure that all of your digital channels are doing the right talking for you. These channels include all owned and third-party digital channels that provide self-service, including product review sites, corporate websites, content syndication, chatbots, and others.
These channels will become the building blocks for building personalized and end-to-end buyer journeys.
#3. Invest in content and persona development as the fuel for your buyer engagement insights
Like digital channels, your digital content must also do the talking for you. After you complete your digital channel audit, map content across the buyer journey that will detect buyers and buying groups. Remember: buyers have a job to complete. Don’t create a 90-page ebook that puts your buyers to sleep.
Conduct the audit within the context of your buyer personas. You say that you haven’t created buyer personas? Do it, stat.
Finally, the world is eliminating third-party cookies, which include behavioral information like browsing history, purchasing trends, and activity on a website. As such, B2B vendors must become self-reliant to detect and respond to the right digital signals and optimize the buyer journey with the right content that creates momentum towards a purchase decision. These digital touch points will ultimately become the new foundation for your behavioral insights and ability to understand the intentions of buyer groups.
