5 trends of the future in B2B purchasing that will affect sales - conclusions from the Gartner report. Part 1/2

After many years of institutional customers „being lost”, how will B2B sales look like once they start following the paths made by individual consumers? Does this mean the era of traditional B2B sellers has come to an end? Or maybe it is the complete opposite and will pose new challenges that will allow them to achieve even more? 

Do you want to know which trends and challenges await the B2B sales industry in the near future? We invite you to familiarize yourself with our conclusions after reading the Gartner report: 5 Ways the Future of B2B Buying Will Rewrite the Rules of Effective Selling. 

Digital Trend No. 1: Sellers in the eyes of B2B customers will significantly lose their „value” 

Research carried out by Gartner analysts has shown that customers in the B2B sector are more willing and more likely to rely on digital sales channels. This is applicable to the entire purchasing journey, therefore, channels such as websites or social media. 

In one of the surveys, recipients indicate that corporate websites are almost as important to them as having contact with „live”  representatives. This, in turn, results in other data, according to which they only spend 17% of their „purchasing journey” on interactions with sellers. If we take into account that the buyer is analyzing the offers of at least several suppliers at the same time, then the average time that they can spend in contact with the seller decreases to only 5% of the duration of this kind of journey. 

The issue of the perception of the seller’s role also has significance. Customers are starting to take notice that online information is becoming more qualitative and, most importantly, objective for them. Sellers are and will increasingly become one of the channels used by the customer and not, as it was a few years ago, the main source of information needed to make decisions. 

The role of marketing is also changing. From the supplier of „product leaflets”  to supporting the customer in making difficult purchasing decisions. This is done by providing the content and knowledge necessary to make a decision. 

The generational change is also noticeable and is happening right before our eyes. Gartner points out that B2B customers representing the Millennial generation are nearly 2 times more skeptical than people who are within the baby boomers demographic. Those responsible for sales are also concerned that as many as 54% of Millennials do not want salespeople to interfere in their purchasing process (compared to 2020 - 44%). 

This data shows that this trend will deepen in the future. Therefore, the role of digital channels in making B2B purchasing decisions will become more and more important. From the viewpoint of generating income, the main goal is to provide the customer with maximum support on the way to purchasing. And if he is spending his time online, companies cannot fail to deliver what he is looking for in this space. That is why in organizations where marketing and sales operate as connected teams, while servicing the customer, are able to generate better sales results. 

Does this mean that sales representatives will no longer matter? 

Certainly their role will not drastically change within the next 5 years. Sellers who operate in specific sectors and require intensive and very close cooperation with the customer can also sleep well. One thing that is for certain, however, is that the era where sellers used to be the main factor responsible for sales is now slowly coming to an end. They will soon become just „another channel” providing information on the offer and possible solutions. 

Those who see this trend and adapt to the „self-learning” types of customers can expect excellent results. However, in order for this to happen, they should adopt a sales model based on a „digital first” approach, in which the salesperson will help the customer make the right decision in the digital world. It is equally important to focus on the cooperation of different departments in the company (such as marketing or support). 

Digital Trend No. 2: B2B customers will start to appreciate the benefits of online shopping 

Considering the B2C sector, it is safe to say that B2B sales trends are lagging far behind. The conclusions that can be drawn after reading the Gartner study show that B2B customers will begin to notice the benefits that traditional B2C customers have noticed long ago. 

Gartner points out that the excuse „We are different because we are B2B” will grow stale. 

What will the new digital world look like as a B2B edition? 

One of the key changes will be the transformation that is taking place in interpersonal relationships. Activities and operations that previously required live meetings (including visits to offices, manufacturing plants, etc.) will now successfully be carried over to the Internet. The same will be true for presenting and even testing, both for the products sold and for the services. Here it will be important to understand what customers need, how they learn and how they consume the content offered by providers. 

Although sellers often forget about this (and hand this responsibility over to marketers), the company's website will also become the elementary point of contact with the customer. 

Digital Trend No. 3: The transition of B2B customers to „digital” will allow for a more efficient and effective analysis of their behavior.

Increasing the activity on the web will also provide a huge field of activities for all analysts. According to Gartner, companies that care about development have to remember that every online activity leaves its mark. Data on page views, clicks, time spent online, downloads, shares, and many other activities will all count even more. Measuring and analyzing each of these pieces of information may result in getting to know customers better, and therefore adjusting to their expectations. 

This is where contemporary information systems and the constant development of artificial intelligence technology will play an important role. Their skillful application will allow the combination of information that flows through numerous infrastructures to be collected at various points of contact with the customer (service, technical support, sales, promotion, etc.), and therefore requires advanced and complex  “processing”. 

 Leading companies will start to aggregate, analyze and fully use data about their customers (both current and potential). This, in turn, will bear fruit in the form of better, more customized and, as a result, more effective marketing and sales activities. 

Gartner predicts that all of this will result in the creation of a fully integrated, multichannel system of communicating vessels, where salespeople, marketers, analysts, service and technical support persons, as well as other representatives of the company will head for the same goal. 

Our conclusions: 

Digital Trend No. 1: In the eyes of B2B customers, sellers will significantly lose their „value” 

Kasia: At workshops, I hear more and more often that the customer has not contacted the seller. Moreover, he did not answer the phone but willingly participated in the webinar organized by the company. This is an example of what Gartner writes about - today a seller is one of many sources of information but not the only one, as it was before. The growing advantage of online channels and limited trust in sellers means that they have to reformat their activities. Today, the customer can freely surf the Internet without pressure and look for answers needed to carry out his tasks in the purchasing process. He no longer has to decide on anything or answer the seller’s difficult questions. Who among us would not prefer to use this option? Year after year, the percentage of customers who do not want to involve salespeople in the purchasing process is growing. A large part of the seller is personally involved in the home stretch. Skepticism towards sellers has deepened due to the fact that more and more Millennials are sitting at the table. Data from 2018 (Trustradius) show that at that time, 45% of IT decision-makers were already Millennials. Because who are the Millennials today? Recently, this is what Marcin and I analyzed while preparing for our joint speech. We were surprised by the fact that the oldest Millennial celebrates their 40th birthday this year. So this is not a scattered teenager with a backpack leaving university...

Marcin: Yes, and not too long ago there was a lot of talk about Millennials, but now the next generation, Generation Z, is taking the stage. It takes a goal and a sense of value in what you do, a fast commitment to topics inspired by a vision, but also a quick escape from places where you can't see the objective of the goal. Therefore, it is especially important to help maintain this commitment and transform it into the following stages of the purchasing process. Kasia also mentioned that the seller is not the only, but one of many possible sources for information. Often times, he doesn’t even know that his client has signed up for a webinar, or that he has just participated in one where he listened to a topic that the sales representative did not even think about. It is the customer's digital journey without the pressure and pressure of being „attacked” or „interrogated” that creates an ideal place for neutral customer-seller integration. 

Kasia: We also looked for an answer to the question together: will customers need sellers? There will be a need for those who deliver value. We have heard this more than once. Providing value is a bit of a worn out cliche. What exactly does it mean that the seller is delivering value to the customer today? 

1. Knowledge that is shared during meetings. Okay, but today the biggest hurdle is arranging these meetings. So how can a seller today show off their strong suits when he can't show it during meetings? 
2. Content that he delivers to customers via the Internet. Today, if customers themselves rummage in search of content, such as digital knowledge that helps them make decisions, the seller providing this type of content will earn points at the early stages of the customer's purchasing process. 

But is it possible from the sales level to deliver this value to customers today? This is where we enter into a conversation about the role of marketing, which is also in need of change: 

Marcin: The standard, „old-school” approach to customer acquisition, whether through cold calling or traditional meetings will not go away, but it will no longer be of such value to the seller for the reasons described below. Creating a permanent, trusted team between marketing and sales gives real opportunities for building trust in sales teams in relation to their customers. If we cannot do it through the traditional model, we are building a modern sales support model based on personalized content and the image of an advisor on social media (LinkedIn). We can do this, for example, as part of company webinars, where the role of moderator, advisor, and host is entrusted to a sales representative. All of these activities are designed to touch every stage of the sales process and help in developing and maintaining sales. 

Digital Trend No. 2: B2B customers will start to appreciate the benefits of online shopping 

Marcin: For customers with a permanent contract, it is important not to have to go through the entire purchasing process along a comprehensive and complicated path. The solution is the already existing platforms that enable shopping within the e-commerce model, where the customer can, as part of his contractual provisions on discounts, delivery time or service or implementation services, make purchases without contacting his supervisor. Additionally, special training platforms are often „displayed” for customers, where it’s possible to additionally certify certain solutions and products. This gives an additional opportunity to build relationships and connect the values offered by the manufacturer to the customer. Since the customer is already there and everything is in line with the idea, don’t let him look anywhere else. An important element in the Gartner report is to also show the importance of the supplier's website in making decisions. 

„The website is one thing - for large providers with a semi-centralized marketing approach like Dell, it is a challenge to differentiate Product & Solution oriented content vs expert knowledge and practice tips. So-called content campaigns with external entities are often used. There then exists the dilemma of having your own content hub or „borrowing” from outside. In the case of Dell Technologies in Poland, we operate in a hybrid manner. On the one hand, there is central content on the global website in the Polish version, where we store product content and a blog where we put our expert part. While at the same time there is also a long-term content campaign - Transformation-Experts.pl - a content hub with external IT media entity, where content for digital transformation enthusiasts is collected. External provider is helping to reach a wider audience, from existing customers, but also wider reach to companies who are not in our data base yet. Once a person opens the Content hub, they can find knowledge that is arranged in a transparent way, sorted, cataloged, and with many formats, such as webinar recordings and subsequent scheduled „live” articles, podcasts, case studies, and even entire events and conferences to watch at any time. It is important to build a community around a similar group of interests, and this will be gathered around people and around high-quality content.

Kasia: Marcin showed the perspective of an international company, where delivering high value to customers through the website could take place through a separate local portal. If we look at the website from the perspective of a local company, we have the opportunity to prepare it so that it would be a strong support for customers and sales. What exactly does this mean? What elements should be taken care of on the website? By analyzing dozens of companies on the Polish market as part of digital maturity auditing, I can point to the 3 most important elements that can help companies adapt their website to customers’ requirements. 

1. Credibility. On the website, can the client read about other clients' implementations? Are there case studies or webinars showing the challenges faced by the client before implementation? And how did the implementation solve this problem? Do they only show the apex of the implemented solution? Do these materials make the message as credible as possible, or are they just a dry description shown to the client? Of course, it’s not possible to build case studies in this form in every case, but it is worth pursuing such a scenario. What do we gain from this? 

Marcin: I have heard the saying many times that the best seller is our satisfied customer. It's hard to disagree. A credible source, supported by a real challenge is what we managed to meet thanks to our solutions. If our strategic goal is to create natural ambassadors out of our clients, where it will be a win-win for both parties (and why it can and should be a win-win for both parties and how to get there - for another time), then we are building the image of an advisor, an expert by positioning a sales advisor as a host, and additionally, we are providing quality content for other customers who may face similar challenges. 

Kasia: 

2. Knowledge base. on the website, can the client complete his journey in search of an answer? Can he read articles or watch webinars? Additionally, are technical representatives the only faces of these articles and webinars? Are sellers also involved in building this content? From the point of view of building trust, it will be a much better solution if salespeople create this type of content, because technical people do not need to build their credibility in the eyes of customers. 

3. Human2human communication. On the website, can the customer see who has created the company? His potential supplier and partner? Are only members of the management board shown, who often don’t have contact with the client? Are the faces of salespeople there, or how about the sales managers and other people involved in the pre-sales purchasing process? Showing a human face in the digital world includes a photo, a short bio (in what areas the seller specializes, what industries he services, what companies he has worked with in the past, all of this contributes to building credibility), contact details, including a link to their LinkedIn profile (switching to the profile gives the seller credibility, provided of course that the profile is an expert showcase and not a CV). The second important area of building H2H communication on the website is to provide the client with other possibilities to contact and not only through an application form. Customers hate the form! 

„I had to search for how to contact through the website, which was done through a written contact form where I was required to provide information that I did not want to provide. 

Additionally, the response time to be contacted is also often delayed” this is a quote from an IT Manager. You can read through the interview here in this article on my blog  

The role of the supplier is to facilitate the task for the client and not make it difficult. 

Digital Trend No. 3:The transition of B2B customers to “digital”  will allow for a more efficient and effective analysis of their behavior 

Marcin: Nowadays, customers leave a lot of trails on the Internet, which can be used, on the one hand by salespeople for sales processes, and on the other hand by marketing for the preparation of more profiled content. What places and what tools can we use today to prepare this kind of digital footprint? 

1. Consuming content 

• participation in webinars, 
• filling in a form, questionnaires where customers leave information on preferred topics (the condition is to use content that helps customers - only then will they feel that they want to pay for the content in the form of their data) 
• in-depth interviews (telemarketing, sales) 
• Marketing Automation -> a topic that has not yet been widely introduced, but offers many new possibilities for researching customer behavior and customer paths on the Internet. All of this is done in order to better match the content to the client's expectations. But it also improves the seller's knowledge about the customer. About what they are dealing with, what content they are looking for, and at what stage are they ready for talks. 

Kasia: 

2. Presence on social networks 

• LinkedIn: presence in themed groups, publications, recommendations, participation in discussions, observed profiles 
• Sales Navigator: the perfect tool for mapping entire customer purchasing committees. From organizational heights, ie C-level, to IT, purchasing and operations. On this basis, the RevenueTeam team is able to develop a strategy to define the potential number of people in the purchasing group. 
• Facebook: Facebook groups can deliver tons of information about what customers find important. There are more and more Polish groups on FB in IT, and within them is a space for asking questions, which the company can later provide answers to in the form of content. 

3. Traces in the media and on the website and AI tools 

• Brand24 
• Google Alerts 
• Overview of the conference and event agenda 
• Company's strategy on the website 
• Crystal -> digital personality based on LinkedIn profile 

 Today, the challenge is not the availability of data but instead it’s the time for its aggregation. Sales teams are unable to process such a huge amount of information from many different sources... 

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This is not the end of the study... Due to the length of the material that we have obtained, we have divided the article into two parts, so in the second part we will present two trends (and our conclusions), which Gartner also indicates as challenges. 

See you in the second part! 

You can download the original report again here. 

Marcin & Kasia