Opinions expressed by businessroundups.org contributors are their own.
As we close 2022, sales and marketing teams everywhere are evaluating performance for the year. They look at what lies ahead and come up with new strategies to attract buyers and increase sales. At a time when customer behavior and expectations are evolving faster than ever, these strategies often depend on a company’s agility, flexibility and willingness to adapt to industry shifts.
Two such shifts that came from the disruption of the pandemic were the emphasis on personalization and customer experience. With the start of the new year, organizations can expect these trends to continue and be further refined as hybrid buying and selling becomes the new normal. Tools and tactics that can better leverage customer data and create a greater sense of relevance in consumers will be key to competitive advantage.
As you prepare, here are five trends to watch and incorporate into your strategies.
Table of Contents
1. RevOps is on the rise
Internal fragmentation of the sales process has long been a source of friction in the buyer’s journey. It can have a detrimental effect on the seamless customer experience consumers hope for. Companies need to unify their internal sales process to reflect what their customers want and expect. One of the ways they can do this is through revenue operations. This business model breaks down silos and gets everyone working towards the same goal: revenue. And since revenue is closely tied to customer purchases, it often translates into uniting behind the customer experience.
Processes and tactics centered on shared data, agreed procedures and clear communication will be essential to create the seamless experience so many customers now expect. Successful implementation of a RevOps model can lead to a 10-20% increase in internal customer satisfaction.
Related: Are you reducing friction for your sales team? If not, here’s why.
2. Curated content is key to one-to-one sales
In the age of digital commerce, content is one of the most powerful tools available to businesses. Especially in B2B there is an increased trust the content during the decision-making process. As the buyer’s journey becomes increasingly self-driven, the best way to grab customers’ attention is to provide relevant information throughout the sales cycle. With the amount of data marketing and sales teams now have about their prospects and opportunities, it’s possible to leverage content beyond the broad one-to-many messages that have become dominant.
By carefully reviewing past customer actions, along with communications from marketing, sales teams can see what content a lead has seen. They can then use the historical data to make informed decisions about other content that would be most valuable to the lead as it progresses through the funnel. Not only does this give the lead relevant content, but it also shows that you are listening to them and understand their problem, which can go a long way in building trust.
Related: How content creation and content curation should work together
3. Companies rely on automation
Automation may sound counterintuitive to a personalized customer experience, but the truth is that automation enables personalization at scale. There are two main functions of automation in sales and marketing: removing repetitive, routine tasks from human employees and analyzing large amounts of information. Automating repetitive tasks allows employees to focus on higher-level priorities and reduces the likelihood of overlooked tasks, such as following up on emails. With scale becoming such an issue, customers can get lost in the details of the daily grind. This is the last thing you need in an experience that should make them feel noticed and understood by your company. Automation can also help with data analysis and provide team members with actionable insights.
4. Account-based marketing drives personalization
Quality over quantity is essential in terms of leads. You can show your ads to a hundred people, but if they’re the wrong audience, they won’t make any sales. The distributed, blanket marketing method that prioritizes views and clicks over engagement and interest is no longer in vogue. Today’s customers are inundated with advertisements and companies. They have learned to mute the sound unless it is something that really interests them.
Account-based marketing takes this concept and digs deeper. It’s getting to know specific accounts and their details to craft a message that meets their specific and individual needs. It partners with RevOps, aligning sales and marketing to collect information from both teams to identify the best and most likely accounts to win.
5. Buyers expect self-service experiences
An increasing number of consumers, especially of younger generations, prefer to manage their buying journey on their own, without the involvement of sales or marketing teams. 81% of customers want to see more self-service options. This poses a complex problem for companies that have relied on human resources to push products for decades. Instead, companies now need to focus on product experience and allow interactions with the product itself to drive consumers further down the sales funnel. In software, for example, self-service demonstrations will be vital to attract more independent customers. Once they’ve had their own self-driven experience with a product, they’re more likely to seek help with high-value sales activities because they can build their own questions from experience.
Related: Customer experience will determine the success of your business
The customer experience has always been an essential part of business success. As we become an increasingly digital society, a greater portion of that customer experience will be determined online and through the screen. Like the sales and marketing tactics of the past, companies will have to work to differentiate themselves from the competition. But they have to do it according to the expectations and preferences of digital behavior.
