Buyer Insights That Should Guide Your Planning for 2025

With the fourth quarter of 2024 less than two weeks away, many B2B marketing and sales leaders will soon begin planning for 2025. To develop an effective go-to-market plan, it's vital to understand how the decision-makers in your target market(s) prefer to engage with potential suppliers at all stages of the buying process.

Recent research by McKinsey & Company provides several important insights regarding B2B buyer preferences and behaviors that you should consider as you develop your go-to-market plans for next year. McKinsey's 2024 B2B Buyer Pulse Survey produced nearly 4,000 responses from B2B decision-makers across 34 sectors in eight industries from 13 countries.

Here are some of the key findings from the McKinsey survey.

B2B Buyer Archetypes

McKinsey's research identified three distinct archetypes of B2B decision-makers based on their varying preferences and needs.

• Adapters (44% of survey respondents) - These decision-makers are highly relationship-oriented. "While willing to try new channels, they tend to stick with patterns that they are familiar with and are slow to try new experiences, channels, and suppliers . . ."

• Innovators (20% of respondents) - These decision-makers ". . . are on the cutting edge when it comes to newer technologies . . . They are highly likely to be on any and all digital channels."

• Seekers (36% of respondents) - These decision-makers ". . . demand a seamless omnichannel experience. If they don't get it, they are quick to seek out a new supplier."

Planning Consideration - McKinsey found that all three archetypes are "consistently present" across geographies and economic sectors. Therefore, it's likely the potential buyers in your company's target market(s) will include all three archetypes, and your go-to-market strategy will need to contain elements designed to appeal to each buyer archetype.

The "Rule of Thirds"

McKinsey found that B2B decision-makers interact with potential suppliers in multiple ways. In the 2024 survey, respondents reported that on average, they spend about one-third of their "interaction time" engaging with suppliers via each of three types of interaction.

• Traditional - In-person meetings, direct mail, fax, etc.

• Remote - Phone calls, video conference calls, emails, etc.

• Digital self-service - Company websites, e-commerce, chatbots, internet searches, mobile apps, etc.

McKinsey observed that this "rule of thirds" is consistent across all stages of the buying process and that it holds true across all geographies, industries, company sizes, and buying scenarios (new vs. repeat purchases, high-value vs. low-value purchases).

Even more significant, McKinsey found that the "rule of thirds" is generally consistent across all three B2B buyer archetypes. Adapters have a slightly higher preference for Traditional interactions, but the difference is not great.

The most significant departure from the "rule of thirds" relates to buying scenarios. About 40% of the survey respondents tend to prefer Traditional interactions for "high-effort" purchases. High-effort purchases would include first-time purchases, high-cost purchases, purchases of complex products or services, and purchases from new suppliers.

Planning Consideration - The "rule of thirds" is nearly universal. Therefore, your go-to-market approach should include options for all three interaction types.

Omnichannel/E-Commerce

The findings of the McKinsey survey confirmed the importance of providing seamless omnichannel experiences, including robust e-commerce capabilities. Most survey respondents reported using ten or more ways to interact with potential suppliers during their buying process. This was up from five interaction channels in the 2016 edition of the Buyer Pulse survey.

Equally important, more than half of the survey respondents said they were likely to switch suppliers if they didn't have a smooth experience across channels.

The 2024 survey results also made the importance of e-commerce emphatically clear. Seventy-one percent of the respondents said they offer some form of e-commerce, and in those companies, e-commerce sales generate 34% of total revenue, on average.

The survey also confirmed that many B2B buyers are comfortable making larger purchases via e-commerce and other remote interaction channels. The survey asked participants this question:  "What is the maximum order size that you would purchase through end-to-end digital self-service and remote human interactions for a new product or service category?"

Seventy-three of the respondents said $50,000 or more, 39% said $500,000 or more, and 20% said $1 million or more.

Planning Consideration - Unless your company is an outlier, your go-to-market strategy needs to include a major focus on providing seamless omnichannel interaction experiences, and e-commerce should be the centerpiece of your omnichannel strategy.

*****

Every company's competitive environment is unique in some ways. Therefore, not every finding in the McKinsey survey will be literally and precisely applicable to your situation. However, the broad trends identified in the survey should be carefully considered during your planning process.

Image courtesy of Mike Lawrence (CreditDebitPro.com) via Flickr (CC).

Why B2B Marketers Need to Care About "Opportunistic Learning"

One of the most profound developments in B2B marketing of the past two decades has been the emergence of empowered and independent buyers. When I launched this blog in 2010, my second post was about "The Age of the Self-Directed Buyer."

The explosive proliferation of readily available information has been the driving force behind this development. Because of easy access to a wealth of information about almost every conceivable topic, business decision-makers now believe they can find whatever information they want or need, whenever they want or need it, on their terms.

Information abundance has altered many aspects of how B2B buying decisions are made, and B2B marketers have done a reasonably good job of adapting to most of those changes. There is, however, one impact of information abundance that has been (and still is) underappreciated.

The Rise of Opportunistic Learning  

Most models of the B2B buying process assume the process begins when a company's leaders or managers recognize a need or a problem and decide to address the issue in some way.

These "buyers" then gather information about the need or problem and possible solutions, evaluate the available options, and may or may not decide to purchase a product or service to address the situation.

So, the conventional view of B2B buying behavior is that most information gathering occurs after an intentional buying process has started. While this view may still be accurate in a strictly quantitative sense, it misses an important aspect of B2B buying.

Information is now so abundant and readily available that business people are routinely consuming information about business issues long before they have formed anything close to "buying intent," and long before they have started an intentional buying process.

I call this type of information-gathering opportunistic learning, and it occurs because humans are naturally programmed to seek rewards. We all have a mental radar system that constantly scans our environment to identify reward opportunities.

In a business setting, our radar system is always scanning our environment to identify information that may help us improve our company's performance and/or advance our professional careers.

The growth of opportunistic learning has important implications for B2B marketing, but some marketers haven't fully appreciated its significance.

Most B2B marketing tactics and programs are designed to identify and reach people who are ready to begin a buying process or to encourage those already involved in a buying process to move toward a buying decision. At any time, however, most of the people affiliated with potential customers are more likely to be opportunistic learners than true buyers.

Engaging with opportunistic learners is important because the impressions they form during opportunistic learning remain influential when they become involved in a buying process. Therefore, if marketers can create and sustain positive relationships with opportunistic learners, their company will have a competitive advantage when those opportunistic learners turn into buyers.

How to Successfully Engage with Opportunistic Learners

Antonia Wade, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of PwC, has offered a compelling perspective on how B2B marketers can successfully engage with opportunistic learners.

In her recent book, Transforming the B2B Buyer Journey (Kogan Page Limited, 2023), Ms. Wade proposes a new B2B buyer journey "framework" that contains five phases - Horizon Scanner, Explorer, Hunter, Active Buyer, and Client. Her names for these phases symbolize the buyer's needs and thought processes that are important during each journey phase.

Ms. Wade's Horizon Scanner phase is similar in several ways to what I have called opportunistic learning. In her book, she writes that Horizon Scanners are people in strategic roles who are always assessing how big market trends and innovation will impact their business. Horizon Scanners, Wade writes, ". . . aren't looking for answers and they're certainly not looking for a sales message; they're looking for ideas."

Ms. Wade makes two major points about successfully engaging Horizon Scanners. First, she argues that high-quality thought leadership content is critically important. Wade contends that compelling thought leadership is what earns your company a seat at the table in the later stages of the buying process.

Second, and equally important, Ms. Wade argues that most Horizon Scanners tend to seek information from respected and trusted sources. Therefore, she contends, your thought leadership content needs to be available in channels you don't own, such as third-party publications or events. This also means, she argues, that public relations plays an important role in reaching Horizon Scanners.

The Takeaway

Whether you call these individuals "Horizon Scanners" or "opportunistic learners," it's vital to remember they are not yet "buyers," and they shouldn't be treated like decision-makers who are engaged in an intentional buying process. Your goal with these individuals is to position your company as an expert and a reliable authority, while also making your company memorable.

Illustration courtesy of Naval Surface Warriors via Flickr (CC).

The Powerful Head Start B2B Marketers Shouldn't Ignore

Imagine you're a world-class athlete about to run a 100-meter dash. Your competitors are also world-class athletes, so the outcome of the race would normally be far from certain.

But in this race, you'll have a major advantage. You'll be allowed to leave the starting line two seconds before the other runners. World-class track athletes usually run a 100-meter dash in about ten seconds. So, with a two-second head start, you're almost certain to win.

In the race to win business and grow revenue, some companies have a significant head start over their competitors. I'm referring to the head start that results when a company, product, or service (which I'll call collectively a brand) is included in the initial consideration set for a prospective purchase.

The importance of the initial consideration set is hard to overstate. In most cases, a B2B buying process begins when a trigger event causes a business person (the potential buyer) to feel a need or desire to solve a problem or seize an opportunity that may require a purchase.

When such a need or desire arises, a potential buyer will quickly create a mental list of the brands he or she feels are worth considering, i.e. an initial consideration set.

This initial consideration set is based on the mental impressions of brands the potential buyer has formed through personal experiences with the brand, marketing messages, news reports, and conversations with colleagues and friends.

Several studies have shown that potential buyers are very likely to select vendors that were in their initial consideration set. Here are two recent examples.

The Bain & Co./Google Survey

Bain & Co. and Google recently surveyed 1,208 people at US companies who were involved in buying several types of business products and services. The researchers also conducted extensive interviews with ten buyers to explore their habits at each stage of the buying journey.

In this survey, 80% - 90% of the respondents (depending on what they were buying) said they had a set of vendors in mind before they did any research. And, 90% of those respondents said they ultimately chose a vendor that was in their initial consideration set.

The WSJ Intelligence/B2B International Survey

In a 2021 survey of business decision-makers by WSJ Intelligence and B2B International, the researchers divided the B2B customer journey into three stages.

The study defined the Pre-Decision stage as ". . . the time between when they had selected a supplier [for a given product/service category] and when the 'trigger' occurred that prompted them to actively begin searching for and deciding on a new supplier."

The survey contained several questions about a recent purchase and asked the participants to reflect on the vendor that was ultimately selected (the winning vendor) and on a vendor that was considered but not selected (the losing vendor).

The survey findings revealed that mental impressions existing during the Pre-Decision stage have a significant impact on purchase decisions.

• Survey respondents were more than twice as likely (79% vs. 37%) to say they were very familiar with the winning vendor versus the losing vendor before their active buying process began.

• At the Pre-Decision stage, respondents had a higher level of pre-existing trust (57% vs. 37%) and confidence (52% vs. 37%) in the winning vendor than in the losing vendor.

The Importance of Mental Availability

So, the research clearly shows that the initial consideration set has a major impact on final purchase decisions. Therefore, marketers should be focused on having their brand(s) included in the initial consideration sets of as many potential buyers as possible. To achieve this objective, marketers need to run marketing programs that will increase the mental availability of their brand(s).

The concept of mental availability was popularized by Byron Sharp and his colleagues at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science. According to Sharp, mental availability is the likelihood that a potential buyer will think of a brand in the context of a specific buying situation.

To design marketing programs that will increase mental availability, marketers must keep two important points in mind.

First, increasing general brand awareness isn't enough. Potential buyers create their initial consideration set based on the specific context of each buying situation. Therefore, marketers need to run programs that will build and refresh the memory structures that connect their brand(s) to the specific needs and desires their potential buyers are most likely to experience.

Second, because potential buyers create their initial consideration set quickly after a trigger event occurs, marketing programs designed to increase mental availability need to reach potential buyers before they have started an active buying process. This explains why reaching "out-of-market" buyers is vital for effective marketing.

Increasing mental availability and being included in the initial consideration set of a larger number of potential buyers won't, in itself, guarantee success. The rest of the B2B buying process still matters. But being included in more initial consideration sets provides a head start that B2B marketers can't afford to ignore.

Top image courtesy of tableatny via Flickr (CC).

[Book Review] "The Organic Growth Playbook" - A Proven Recipe for Driving Revenue Growth

Source:  Emerald Publishing Limited

Marketing leaders are under constant pressure to grow revenues. In fact, most marketing leaders now acknowledge that revenue growth is the raison d'etre of the marketing function. 

Marketing industry pundits have produced an abundance of resources addressing how marketing can drive business growth. However, most of these resources focus on how to use individual marketing techniques or tactics to generate growth. There are fewer resources that address growth from a more strategic perspective.

The Organic Growth Playbook:  Activate High-Yield Behaviors To Achieve Extraordinary Results - Every Time (American Marketing Association/Emerald Publishing Limited, 2020) by Bernard Jaworski and Robert Lurie provides a strategic methodology for consistently driving organic revenue growth.

The Thesis of the Book

The basic thesis of The Organic Growth Playbook is relatively simple. The authors contend that the conventional approach to marketing - which is primarily focused on differentiating a product or service in the minds of potential buyers - isn't a reliable way to drive revenue growth for most companies.

The logic of the conventional approach is that if a company positions its products or services well and effectively communicates that positioning to the right potential buyers, growth will follow. The authors disagree pointedly with the conventional wisdom. They write, ". . . great product positioning is a necessary condition for growth, but it's not sufficient in and of itself to drive growth."

Jaworski and Lurie argue that a more effective and reliable way to drive growth is to focus on shaping the activities that potential buyers perform as they move through the buying process. They contend that in every buying process, there are one or two activities that decisively shape what product or service the buyer ultimately purchases. They call these decisive activities high-yield behaviors.

High-yield behaviors often occur early in the buying process, which means that marketers often underestimate the impact they have on buying decisions.

One of the case studies in the book illustrates how important high-yield buying behaviors can be. This case study involved a company that manufactures commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and energy management systems.

Historically, the company segmented its market by industry vertical and tailored its marketing messages and product bundles to these segments. In addition, the company's sales representatives focused primarily on responding to RFPs from larger prospects.

The company implemented the methodology described in The Organic Growth Playbook, and its analysis of the buying process for commercial HVAC equipment and energy management systems produced some interesting findings. It revealed that 52% of the potential customers that began a buying process ultimately made a purchase.

More importantly, the analysis revealed that just over 85% of the prospects that made a purchase chose a vendor they had consulted with during the early research phase of the buying process. So, prospects that ultimately made a purchase were 5X more likely to buy from a vendor they had engaged with early in their decision-making process than from a vendor that only became involved at the RFP stage.

These insights caused the company to redesign its marketing and sales efforts to focus on early engagement with potential customers, and as a result of these changes, the company's sales growth accelerated significantly in the three years after the changes were implemented.

The Playbook Process

The Organic Growth Playbook describes a five-step process for successfully driving organic revenue growth.

Map the Buying Process Waterfall - Identify all activities that potential buyers perform during the entire buying process, and determine how frequently each activity occurs. The idea is to quantify the flow of potential buyers through the process and to identify "drop off" and switch points where potential buyers exit the buying process or change buying paths. The ultimate goal of creating a waterfall map is to identify the one or two high-yield buying behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on the purchase decision.

Use Propensity-Based Segmentation - Segment potential buyers based on their propensity to engage in the high-yield buying behaviors revealed in the waterfall map. The idea is to identify the attributes that are shared by potential buyers who were most likely to engage in the high-yield behaviors and use those attributes as the basis of the market segmentation.

Identify the Drivers and Barriers of the High-Yield Behaviors - The objective of this step is to diagnose and articulate what most motivates potential buyers to perform the identified high-yield behaviors (the drivers) and what most deters them from engaging in those behaviors (the barriers)

Develop a Behavior Change Value Proposition - The fourth step in the Playbook process is to develop a value proposition that will entice potential buyers to engage in the target high-yield buying behaviors. A compelling behavior change value proposition will express the value to the potential customer of doing the high-yield behaviors compared to other possible buying behaviors, and thus increase their propensity to engage in the target behaviors.

Invest Disproportionately - The final step in the Playbook process is to make disproportionate investments in marketing programs that focus on the most attractive buyer segments and the most impactful high-yield buying behaviors. If the previous four steps of the Playbook process have been done well, such disproportionate investments will produce the best chances of achieving substantial revenue growth.

*****

The Organic Growth Playbook describes a proven methodology for driving revenue growth, but this methodology is not necessarily easy to implement. In addition, the process requires a relatively significant amount of original research, and the cost of that research won't be trivial in most cases. Nevertheless, marketers at large and midsize B2B companies should put The Organic Growth Playbook on their reading list and give serious consideration to the growth strategy it describes.

How Marketers Can Leverage Job-Focused Content . . . and Why They Should

The first step in designing an effective marketing strategy and creating compelling content is to understand what potential buyers are trying to accomplish when they purchase particular products or services. In most cases, people don't buy a product or service primarily because they want the product or service itself. Most often, what they really want is what the product or service will help them accomplish.

Theodore Levitt, the legendary professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School, expressed this truth when he often reminded his students that, "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole."

In The Innovator's Solution, Clayton Christensen and co-author Michael Raynor built on Professor Levitt's insight and described what is called the jobs-to-be-done framework. Christensen acknowledged that he did not originate the jobs-to-be-done framework, but his adoption of the model has helped make it part of mainstream business and marketing thinking.

The basic idea of this framework is that when people become aware of a "job" they need to get done, they look for a product or service they can "hire" to perform the job.

Christensen argued that this is how potential customers "experience life." Their thought process begins with an awareness that they need to get something done, and then they seek to hire something or someone to do the job for them.

The attributes of the jobs people are needing to get done constitute the circumstances in which they buy. Therefore, the jobs-to-be-done framework can enable company leaders to reliably predict what features or functionality will cause people to buy a product or service.

The jobs-to-be-done framework is most often used to guide the product/service development process, but it also has two important "use cases" in marketing.

How Marketers Typically Use the JTBD Framework

Marketers typically use the jobs-to-be-done framework to guide the development of their marketing content. They identify the jobs that potential buyers are needing to get done when they purchase products or services like those the company offers, and they focus most of their marketing content on describing how their company's products or services can help buyers get those jobs done.

Using the jobs-to-be-done framework in this way can enable marketers to create content that is more likely to resonate with potential buyers because the content is more relevant and provides meaningful value.

A Second (and Equally Important) Use for the JTBD Framework

The second way to employ the jobs-to-be-done framework in marketing is to focus on the buying process itself and use the framework to identify the jobs potential buyers need to get done in order to make sound purchase decisions. When marketers use the framework for this purpose, they think of their content assets - videos, blog articles, ebooks, white papers, etc. - as distinct "products," and they ask what specific buying-related job or jobs each asset helps a potential buyer get done.

When a business person becomes aware of an issue or problem in his or her company, he or she will look for a source of information - most likely a content resource - that can provide useful insights about the issue or problem. In essence, the business person will try to "hire" a content resource to provide information about the issue or problem.

If the issue or problem is sufficiently important, the business person will begin a process to identify possible solutions. This learning process will become a buying process if it appears that making a purchase may be the best way to address the issue or problem.

The "customer journey" of a potential buyer is essentially a process of answering a rather large set of questions, and obtaining the information that's needed to answer those questions constitutes the jobs that the potential buyer needs to get done to make a sound purchase decision. Throughout the buying process, a potential customer will hire numerous content resources to perform these jobs.

The questions a potential buyer needs to answer will change as he or she moves through the buying process, and therefore the jobs that need to get done will be different in the early stages of the process than in the later stages.

In the real world, no single content resource will be able to perform all the jobs a potential buyer needs to get done over an entire buying process. So, what marketers must do is develop a portfolio of content resources that collectively will cover the whole process.

It's also essential for marketers to identify the specific jobs that each of their content resources will effectively perform - i.e. what specific questions the content resource will answer. A content resource will only resonate with a potential buyer if it helps the buyer perform the specific job or jobs that are immediately important to the buyer given where he or she is in the buying process.

By linking each content asset to specific jobs, marketers can make better decisions about what assets to offer a potential buyer and how to describe and promote each of their content assets.

The bottom line is, the jobs-to-be-done framework is a powerful tool for creating effective engagement with potential buyers and elevating the performance of marketing.

Image courtesy of SurveyHacks.com via Flickr (CC).

The Recipe for Effective Demand Generation Messaging

Source:  The Marketing Practice and B2B DecisionLabs

One of the most difficult challenges facing B2B marketers is creating demand generation messages that will persuade potential buyers to act. The challenge is particularly daunting when marketers are attempting to motivate action by a "new" prospect - one their company hasn't already done business with.

Business professionals are inundated by dozens of business-related marketing messages every day, and the reality is they ignore virtually all of those messages.

For example, some recent data indicates that the average open rate for B2B marketing emails is between 15% and 20%. But the average click-through rate is only about 3%, which means that about 85% of the emails that are opened aren't persuasive enough to motivate action.

Clearly, B2B marketers need to improve the effectiveness of their early-stage (a/k/a "top of funnel") demand generation messaging. This improvement is vital because consistently acquiring new customers is essential for revenue growth at most B2B companies.

Fortunately, recent research by The Marketing Practice, B2B DecisionLabs and Dr. Nick Lee, a behavioral scientist and professor of marketing at the Warwick Business School, has identified three concrete steps B2B marketers can take to increase the effectiveness of their early-stage demand generation messaging.

How the Study Worked

This research was in the form of an "experiment," which is a research method that is frequently used in the behavioral sciences. The study involved 500 B2B professionals who were involved in making purchase decisions for their company.

The objective of the study was to test what combination of three messaging variables was most effective for early-stage demand generation. The three messaging variables were:

1. The use of emotional vs. rational language to describe the business challenge and solution benefits
2. The use of unquantified vs. quantified statements of business impact
3. The use of contrast. In this study, contrast means describing both the current implications of the business challenge and the future benefits of the solution.

To test various combinations of these messaging variables, the researchers created five simulated early-stage demand generation emails.

• Email 1 - Emotional language-unquantified description of business impact-no contrast
• Email 2 - Emotional language-quantified description of business impact-no contrast
• Email 3 - Rational language-quantified description of business impact-no contrast
• Email 4 - Emotional language-quantified description of business impact-contrast included
• Email 5 - Rational language-quantified description of business impact-contrast included

Note:  The report describing the study includes the actual text of these simulated emails. This text provides a richer picture of the messaging variables, so I encourage you to read the full report.

Each of the simulated emails was read by 100 study participants. The researchers then asked each study participant several "attitude" questions. Participants rated their reaction to the email on a scale of 1-9. The researchers also asked each participant "recall" questions to measure how well they remembered the information they had read.

And the Winner Was . . .

The research revealed that Email 4 - quantified emotional with contrast - outperformed all other email versions along several important dimensions. Specifically, this email:

• Made the business problem described in the email feel more impactful to the relevant study participants
• Caused the relevant study participants to feel a greater sense of urgency to address the business problem described in the email
• Made the relevant study participants more likely to say they are willing to investigate potential solutions for the business problem addressed in the email

Email 4 also outperformed the other email versions in terms of memorability. Ninety-seven percent of the study participants who read Email 4 accurately remembered the business problems described in the email, and 90% answered all of the recall questions correctly.

The research also revealed that Email 3 - quantified rational, no contrast - was the least effective email version tested. This finding is important because based on my experience, this is probably the most prevalent type of messaging used for early-stage demand generation.

One final point needs to be made. This study used simulated emails to test the effectiveness of different types of messaging. But the findings of the study are also relevant for other types of content used primarily for early-stage demand generation.

So for example, if you are writing a blog post or an article for a third party publication, or if you are creating an infographic, and if your primary objective is early-stage demand generation, you will want to include emotionally evocative language, specific numbers that quantify business impacts, and contrast.

More Evidence that Marketing to Out-of-Market Prospects Really Matters

Source:  WSJ Intelligence/B2B International

Last September, I wrote a post discussing why B2B marketers shouldn't ignore "out-of-market" prospects. In a nutshell, my argument was as follows:

• At any time, most of a company's "good-fit" prospects are not engaged in an active buying process.
• Many of these out-of-market prospects are likely to be "in-market" at some time in the future.
• The conventional view is that information gathering and evaluation all occur after an intentional buying process has begun.
• But every day, business decision makers are forming impressions of companies, brands and products from ads, content resources, news reports, conversations with business colleagues and friends, and other interactions. 
• When something triggers an intentional buying process, these accumulated impressions exert significant influence on the purchase decision.
• If marketers focus solely on in-market prospects, they'll miss the opportunity to influence the perceptions and preferences of future potential buyers and likely miss future revenue growth opportunities.

The WSJ/B2B International Survey

Last month, WSJ Intelligence, the research unit of The Wall Street Journal/Barron's Group, and market research firm B2B International published the findings of a survey that provide strong evidence for the argument made in my September post.

The "Trust Your Decisions Study" was a survey of 1,601 business decision makers who had recently led or participated in the selection of a new vendor for their company. All survey respondents were director-level or above, and all were affiliated with companies having at least $250 million in annual revenue.

Survey respondents were located in the United States (50%), Europe (25%) and Asia (25%). The study evaluated four purchase categories - technology, finance, professional services, and marketing/marketing services. The survey was in the field from May 21-June 29, 2021.

The study divided the customer journey into three stages - Pre-Decision, Search, Evaluation and Shortlisting, and Final Decision. The survey results provide important insights about all three of these stages, but I'll focus here on those that relate to the Pre-Decision stage.

The researchers defined the Pre-Decision stage as, ". . . the time between when they last selected a supplier for the given [purchase] category and when the 'trigger' occurred that prompted them to actively begin searching for and deciding on a new supplier." So by definition, the Pre-Decision stage covers only potential customers that are out-of-market.

This survey contained several "behavioral recall" questions about a recent purchase decision. When answering these questions, each survey respondent was asked to reflect on the vendor that was ultimately selected (the "winning vendor") and on a vendor that was considered but not selected (the "losing vendor"). Respondents were also asked about their exposure to and impressions of various types of marketing content during their purchase journey.

Major Findings

The findings of the WSJ/B2B International study clearly demonstrate that familiarity and emotional connections that exist at the Pre-Decision stage have a significant impact on purchase decisions. Survey respondents were more than twice as likely (79% vs. 33%) to report that they were very familiar with the winning vendor versus the losing vendor before their active buying process began.

The survey results also showed that at the Pre-Decision stage, respondents had a higher level of pre-existing trust (57% vs. 37%) and confidence (52% vs. 37%) in the winning vendor than in the losing vendor.

One of the more surprising findings of the WSJ/B2B International research was the small number of potential vendors that were included in the initial consideration set for most potential purchases. Eighty-three percent of the survey respondents said they usually identify only two to four potential vendors at the first stage of their active buying process.

Lastly, the WSJ/B2B International study revealed that at least one in five out-of-market buyers are consumers of various kinds of marketing content resources, including case studies (30%), videos (28%), thought leadership/research (26%) and webinars (25%).

The Takeaway

Taken together, these findings clearly demonstrate the importance of marketing to all potential buyers, including those who aren't actively in-market. They show that companies can gain significant competitive advantage by consistently running marketing programs that are designed to increase brand awareness (familiarity) and enhance buyer trust and confidence.

These types of marketing programs can impact the final purchase decision, but equally important, they increase the odds that your company will be included in the buyer's initial consideration set. And as I've written before, you have to be invited to the party before you can be asked to dance.

Why Marketing Can't Always Produce "Goldilocks" Content

Does this scenario sound familiar? You're talking with a marketer for a B2B company, and she says, "We're creating great content - and lots of it - but our sales reps don't use half of the content we develop." Then, you talk with sales reps from the same company, and they say," We need better content! A lot of the content that marketing provides doesn't really help us advance our sales opportunities."

Unfortunately, this scenario is far too common, and it's clear that sales reps don't use content resources produced by marketing for two main reasons. Either they can't find the resources when they need them, or they don't believe the resources will be useful in the selling situation they're facing.

SiriusDecisions recently estimated that 28% of all the content owned by B2B companies goes unused because it's unfindable, and that 37% isn't used because of low quality or lack of relevance. In a survey last year by Demand Metric, only 43% of sales respondents rated their marketing content assets as somewhat effective, and only 3% said they were very effective.

Some people argue that both of these problems can be solved.

• Sales enablement technology can be used to make content resources easily findable by sales reps, and some sales enablement solutions can use data analytics to recommend specific content resources for specific sales interactions.
• By collaborating with sales reps during the content development process, marketers can create content resources that will better meet the needs of salespeople.

Technology can certainly be used to make finding content assets easier, and collaboration between marketers and salespeople should enable marketers to develop content resources that will be more compelling to potential buyers. But can marketing be expected to always provide "Goldilocks" content - content that will be "just right" for every interaction that a sales rep has with a potential buyer? I don't think so, and here's why.

One vital characteristic of effective marketing content is personalization. By personalization, I mean the degree to which the material in a content asset is tailored based on the attributes and anticipated interests of the intended recipient. The following diagram shows the six levels of content personalization.

The table below describes each level of personalization.

Today, we know that marketing content should be segment-specific, persona-specific, and stage-specific. In other words, marketers should consistently develop and use content resources that are tailored for specific buyer personas who are affiliated with specific types of prospect organizations, and who are at specific stages of the buying process.

However, it's just about impossible for marketers to develop prospect-specific and lead-specific content because those levels of personalization require insights that can only be gained through personal interactions with potential buyers. So, these types of personalized content can only be produced by someone who is having direct conversations with the potential buyer - and that usually means a business development representative or a salesperson.

Last year, David Brock addressed this issue in a post at his Partners in EXCELLENCE Blog. Dave described prospect-specific and lead-specific content in captivating terms:

"It's marketing content for an audience of 1 - at this very moment . . . It's content that addresses my specific problem, concerns, and priorities right now - because they may be slightly different from those I have tomorrow . . . The content I need comes from you engaging me in conversations and a discussion about what I do, what my people do, what my boss is expecting of me, what my customers and suppliers want . . . It is specific to me and my priorities today."

For the past few years, the conventional wisdom has been that salespeople should not be spending their time developing content. But the reality is, there are some types of content that only a sales rep can produce. Instead of trying to eliminate all salesperson-created content, marketers should support sales reps in performing this vital job. And salespeople should stop expecting marketers to provide ready-made content for every selling situation.

Top illustration courtesy of CW Wells via Flickr CC.

Seven Questions Your Content Marketing Strategy Must Answer

It's now abundantly clear that content marketing has become an integral part of the marketing efforts of most B2B companies. Recent research by several organizations has shown that an overwhelming majority of B2B companies are using content marketing in some form. But despite this widespread use, many B2B marketers aren't particularly happy with their content marketing program. In the latest B2B content marketing survey by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, only 38% of respondents rated their content marketing efforts as effective.

Research has also shown that having (and following) a content marketing strategy is critical to success. In the 2015 CMI/MarketingProfs survey:

• Only 35% of respondents said they have a documented (written) content marketing strategy, while another 48% said they have a strategy, but it's not in writing.
• 60% of respondents with a documented strategy said their company is effective at content marketing, but only 7% of respondents without a documented strategy said their content marketing efforts are effective.

A comprehensive content marketing strategy will address numerous issues. The Content Marketing Institute has published an excellent white paper on content marketing strategy which includes thirty-six questions that marketers should consider when they're developing their strategy.

While all of the questions in CMI's white paper are important, I usually recommend that clients begin by focusing on a set of seven core questions. The answers to these questions won't constitute a complete content marketing plan, but they will provide a solid foundation for your content marketing strategy.

1. Who is the target audience for our content? What are the characteristics of the organizations that constitute our best prospects, and what are the attributes of the people in those organizations who will influence the decision to purchase our products or services?
2. What are the primary marketing objectives (brand awareness, lead generation, etc.) of our content marketing program?
3. What issues or topics will be relevant and compelling to the people in our target market?
4. What content formats will be most effective with the people in our target market?
5. Given the communications behaviors and preferences of the people in our target market, what communications channels will we use to publish, distribute, and promote our content?
6. Who will be responsible for creating our content resources, and who will manage our content marketing program?
7. What financial resources will be needed to fund our content marketing program, and where/how will we obtain those resources?

From these questions, it should be clear that your content marketing strategy must be based on clearly defined marketing objectives and a deep understanding of your potential buyers. This reinforces the point that content marketing is ultimately a means to an end. It is a method of marketing that enables companies to create and sustain meaningful engagement with potential buyers for the purpose of achieving strategic marketing objectives.

Why Customer Success Content is Critical

In an earlier post, I explained why most B2B companies need to focus more attention on strengthening relationships with existing customers, and I suggested that marketing should play a leading role in these efforts.

The primary objective of marketing to existing customers is to retain and, where possible, expand the business you do with profitable customers. The most effective way to achieve this goal is to help your customers successfully implement and use your solutions. Therefore, most of your communications with customers should be focused on providing information and insights that will help them maximize the value they obtain from your solutions and from their relationship with your company.

Many marketing thought leaders are beginning to call this kind of content customer success content, and it plays a vital role in the emerging discipline of customer success management.

In a recent white paper, Forrester Research discussed the growing use of customer success management by software companies that offer their solutions on a subscription, or software-as-a-service (SaaS), basis. Forrester described customer success management in the following way:

"In the B2B SaaS industry, companies have been hiring senior level people dedicated to the active management of their customer base. . . Irrespective of the title, the goal of this function is to become the 'trusted advisor' to the company, to make their customers successful with the products they have purchased, and ensure that they are realizing economic value from their investments in order to preserve their revenue."

Obviously, existing customers have different information needs than prospects, but many content marketing principles are the same for both audiences. Suppose, for example, that you sell a complex product such as an enterprise-level software application or some kinds of industrial equipment. In these circumstances, your new customers will likely face a significant learning curve to become proficient with your product. Most of your customers will move through multiple stages in the process of learning how to use your product, as illustrated by the following diagram:

We know that when we're marketing to potential buyers, it's critical to have content resources that are specifically designed for each stage of the buying process. That's because the issues that are important to prospects change as they move through the process. The same principle applies when you're developing content for existing customers. The information needs of a mature user are significantly different from those of a new user, and the same content won't be equally effective for both.

Another similarity is the need to provide content in a variety of formats. For example, some of your users will prefer to access "how-to" content in written form (help articles, answers to FAQ's, etc.), while others will prefer to learn via videos.

Finally, while it's generally true that you need different content for prospects and existing customers, some content that is designed for customers can also be effective for potential buyers. For example, a case study that provides a detailed description of how one of your customers used specific features of your product to accomplish an important business objective would be valuable to other customers and to late-stage prospects.

Marketing's responsibilities don't end when a new customer is acquired, and content marketing should not stop when the initial sale is closed. For many companies, marketing to existing customers is just as important as marketing to potential buyers, and content is critical to your success with both audiences.

New Research on Website Content and Social Media Impact

Earlier this year, Huff Industrial Marketing, KoMarketing, and BuyerZone published their 2015 B2B Web Usability Report. The report is based on a survey of business leaders that generated 262 responses. So, while this wasn't a particularly large survey, several of the findings deal with issues that are important for B2B marketers.

Remember the Basics

The first important takeaway from this research is that companies should keep the basics in mind when designing their website and developing website content. When survey participants were asked what kinds of information they want to see on a website home page, the top three responses were:

• Product and service information (86% of respondents)
• Contact information (64%)
• About us/company information (52%)

Survey respondents were particularly concerned about the availability of thorough contact information - a telephone number, an e-mail address, and a mailing address. For example, when survey participants were asked what types of content were missing on company websites, 51% of respondents identified a lack of thorough contact information. Fifty-four percent of the survey respondents said that a lack of contact information reduced a vendor's credibility, and 44% said they would leave a vendor website that lacked thorough contact information.

Frankly, I find it surprising that any company would fail to include complete contact information on its website and make that information easily accessible. I don't encounter this problem very often, but it appears that others do.

The Impact of Social Media

The authors of the survey report state that the impact of social media on the buying journey is not as significant as marketers have assumed. I interpret the survey findings a little differently.

The survey included specific questions relating to the effect of social media on three phases of the buyers' journey - discovery, establishing credibility, and the impact on the buying process.

• When asked if social media aids them in the vendor discovery process, 59% of survey respondents said "Yes" or "Sometimes."
• When asked if social media activity helps establish a company's credibility, 57% of respondents said "Yes" or "Sometimes."
• When asked how much a company's social media activity impacts their vendor decision-making process, 3% of respondents said "A lot," 20% said "It's important but not a deal breaker," 30% said "Neutral," and 46% said "Not a factor."

These results suggest that social media does play a fairly significant role in the earlier stages of the buying journey. It should not be surprising that buyers rely less on social media during the later stages of the buying process. Also, we know that the use of social media varies by age. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents to this survey were over 50, and another 22% were over 35. So, given the age profile of these respondents, this survey actually shows that social media plays a relatively important role in the buying journey.

Why Marketing-Sales "Alignment" Is No Longer Enough

Marketing and sales alignment has been a hot topic for most of the past decade. Over the past ten years, many B2B companies have made marketing-sales alignment an important business priority, and some companies have made progress in improving the relationship between their marketing and sales teams. In a survey of marketing and sales professionals published earlier this year by Callidus Software, 72% of respondents said their marketing and sales teams are fully or somewhat aligned.

Despite the progress, however, the methods typically used to coordinate marketing and sales activities are not adequate to optimize demand generation performance in most B2B companies. The conventional approach to marketing-sales alignment usually involves some version of three steps:

• Marketing and sales jointly describe the stages of the buying process and identify the characteristics of a "sales-ready lead."
• The company implements some form of lead scoring system that will disclose when a lead has become sales ready. according to the agreed-upon definition.
• Marketing and sales agree on the process for transferring a lead from marketing to sales. Some companies use a formal service level agreement that spells out what information marketing will provide to sales and what actions sales will take when a lead is transferred.

So, the traditional tactics used to improve marketing-sales alignment are primarily designed to optimize the "hand-off" of leads by marketing to sales. They deal with when the hand-off will occur and how it will be executed. The metaphor that's often used when discussing marketing-sales alignment is a relay race, where one of the critical steps is to pass the baton from marketing to sales at the right time, in the right way.

The "relay race" model of marketing-sales alignment isn't adequate to support an optimized demand generation system. As Scott Brinker eloquently wrote in a recent post at the Chief Marketing Technologist blog, the conventional methods for improving marketing-sales alignment weren't "so much a breakthrough in alignment as much as a negotiated peace settlement between two countries who share a common border. Trade policy and border control were established, facilitating commerce between them, but they were not one nation under a common flag."

The main weakness in the traditional paradigm of marketing-sales alignment is that it doesn't match up with how potential buyers actually engage with companies during the buying process. In essence, the current incarnation of marketing-sales alignment is an imperfect attempt to compensate for the inherent shortcomings of a bifurcated, two-function approach to B2B demand generation.

The diagram below shows why the current model of marketing-sales alignment is inadequate. The bottom portion of the diagram shows the B2B buying process developed by SiriusDecisions. The top portion depicts the two fundamental types of interactions that potential buyers have with companies during the buying process.

This diagram illustrates that, in general, today's buyers rely primarily on content-based interactions in the early stages of the buying process and primarily on person-to-person interactions during the later stages of the process. The use of content-based vs. person-to-person interactions at each stage of the buying process will vary from company to company, and even from lead to lead. The important point is that most potential buyers will use both types of interactions throughout the buying process.

Most companies rely on marketing to develop content and to handle content-based interactions, and they rely on sales reps to handle person-to-person interactions. So, our diagram also shows the involvement of marketing and sales during the buying process. The diagram illustrates that both content-based interactions and person-to-person interactions can occur at any stage of the buying process. Therefore, to optimize demand generation performance, both marketing and sales need to be involved at every stage of the process.

Recent research has confirmed the need for both marketing and sales to be involved throughout the buying process. At its summit conference last week, SiriusDecisions unveiled the results of its 2015 B-to-B Buying Study. This research was based on the behaviors of 1,000 business executives. The study found that business buyers are interacting with sales reps more than 50% of the time in the earlier stages of the buying process.

A truly optimized demand generation system requires the marketing and sales functions to be fully integrated. It's not enough to have a "peace settlement" that manages border control and trade relations. Today's buyers expect their potential suppliers to speak with one consistent voice, and they expect everyone they deal with in an organization to know what interactions have already occurred and what information has been exchanged. This type of combined effort requires integrated capabilities.

The architect Louis Sullivan once said that "form" should follow "function." Marketing and sales are interdependent components of the demand generation process. Therefore, they should be in the same organizational unit for management, planning, and budgetary purposes.

Combining marketing and sales into a single organizational unit is a controversial idea. Some people argue that the two functions should not be combined because marketers and salespeople perform different activities and have different skill sets. The facts in this argument are accurate, but the argument itself is not persuasive. Many companies have a manufacturing process that includes diverse work activities and requires employees with different skills. Yet, most of these companies manage manufacturing within a single organizational unit.

Others argue that if you combine marketing and sales, one of the functions will suffer because the executive managing the combined operation will favor one of the functions over the other. If this occurs - and I don't doubt that it has - it is a failure of leadership, not an inherent flaw of the combination itself.

The integration of marketing and sales is a touchy political issue, and there is still a significant amount of cultural and political baggage that separates the two functions. However, the logic for combining the two has become compelling, and it's clear that we cannot optimize demand generation performance if we continue to manage demand generation in two functional silos.

In Content Marketing, Substance Matters More Than Format

Eccolo Media recently released some of the results from its latest annual B2B Technology Content Survey. The 2015 survey was fielded in October of 2014 and received more than 100 responses. Volume One of the survey report focuses on what types of content formats B2B technology buyers find most helpful in each phase of the buying process. Eccolo Media identifies four buying process stages:

• Pre-Sales Phase - the potential buyer is unaware of the problem
• Initial Sales Phase - the potential buyer is seeking to understand the problem
• Mid-Sales Phase - the potential buyer is identifying possible solutions and evaluating potential vendors
• Final Sales Phase - the potential buyer is finalizing vendor selection and purchasing a solution

Respondents to the survey rated the helpfulness of ten types of content during each phase of the buying process. The two types of content rated most helpful for each buying stage were:

• Pre-Sales Phase - blogs and e-newsletters
• Initial Sales Phase - white papers and case studies
• Mid-Sales Phase - detailed tech guides and videos
• Final Sales Phase - detailed tech guides and eBooks

The Eccolo Media surveys provide important insights about the content preferences of B2B technology buyers, and many of these insights apply to all types of business buyers. Other firms, such as DemandGen Report, have also published research regarding the popularity and usefulness of various content formats.

To build an effective content marketing program, you obviously need content resources in appropriate formats. However, format is not the most important factor that determines the effectiveness of marketing content.

Any content resource can be described using three attributes - the substance of the message embodied in the resource, the length of the resource (how long it takes a potential buyer to consume the resource), and the format of the resource. To be effective, a content resource must satisfy three requirements in the following order of importance.

Right Message

First, the substance of your message must match where the potential buyer is in the buying process and fill appropriate information needs. For example, when a potential buyer is in what Eccolo Media calls the Pre-Sales Phase of the buying process, he or she is unaware of the problem or challenge that your product or service can address. Therefore the substance of your message should focus on educating the potential buyer about the nature and importance of the problem or challenge.

Right Length

The second requirement is that the length of the resource must be appropriate for the potential buyer's level of interest in the message substance. For example, when a potential buyer is unaware of a problem, your educational content is more likely to create engagement if it's delivered in "bite-sized" chunks that the buyer can consume without making a big investment of time. As the Eccolo Media survey indicates, blog posts and short e-newsletter articles can work well for this purpose, but so can short videos or podcasts and infographics. As the buyer's level of interest increases, he or she will be more willing to invest the time needed to consume longer content resources.

Right Format

The third requirement is to present your message in the right format. When it comes to format, the key to success is to package your message in multiple formats, so that it will appeal to potential buyers who prefer to consume information and learn in different ways.

The important point is that all three of these attributes - message substance, length, and format - play a role in content effectiveness, but message substance should be your starting point.

What Makes a Lead Really Sales Ready?

One of the most important requirements for an effective B2B demand generation system is a clear understanding of who constitutes a sales-ready lead. Describing what makes a lead sales-ready is the essential starting point for defining the roles and responsibilities of marketing and sales. In an optimized demand generation system, marketing is primarily responsible for acquiring new leads and for nurturing leads until they are sales ready. Once a lead is sales ready, sales assumes the primary responsible for managing that relationship.

The term sales-ready lead is used frequently by marketing thought leaders and practitioners, but it's difficult to find a useful or widely-accepted definition of the concept. Some marketing pundits avoid the need to define sales-ready lead by saying that the term means whatever marketing and sales agree that it means.

In practice, companies vary greatly in terms of when they pass leads from marketing to sales. In a recent blog post, Bob Apollo described research by SiriusDecisions regarding when companies treat leads as being sales ready. According to this research, 28% of companies treat all contacts or inquiries as sales-ready leads and pass them to sales without any qualification. At the other extreme, 10% of companies only pass leads to sales after they are fully BANT-qualified. In between, 25% of companies will pass a lead to sales when the lead has an "appropriate" job title and is affiliated with an "appropriate" type of company.

We need to do better. If we want to optimize the performance of our demand generation system, we need a rational, reasonable, and substantive definition of who constitutes a sales-ready lead. I'll offer one momentarily, but first it's important to understand who is not a sales-ready lead.

To start with, a raw inquiry does not constitute a sales-ready lead. A raw inquiry is someone who has identified himself or herself, but otherwise has shown only a minimal level of interest in what you offer. He or she may have filled out a registration form and downloaded one of your content resources, but that's it.

Sales ready is also not equivalent to ready to buy. As noted earlier, some companies only pass leads to sales when the leads are fully qualified using the traditional BANT criteria. As I pointed out in an earlier post, the problem with BANT is that some of the criteria won't be met until near the end of the buying process, and in addition, it's increasingly unlikely that any one person can ever satisfy all of the BANT requirements.

A sales-ready lead, therefore, falls somewhere between a raw inquiry and a BANT-qualified lead. Here's my proposed definition:

A sales-ready lead is an individual who (a) is affiliated with a qualified prospect, (b) can make or influence the decision to purchase your product or service, and (c) is sufficiently interested in exploring solutions to engage in a meaningful dialog with a salesperson. In this definition, the term qualified prospect means an organization that has a need your company can address and falls within your defined target market.

This definition provides a good starting point, but I also think it's important to have specific criteria for identifying sales-ready leads. The table below includes eleven criteria that I suggest are appropriate for most companies. The first four criteria apply to the prospect organization, and the remaining criteria apply to the individual lead.

That's what I say makes a lead really sales-ready. How about you?

Should Marketing or Sales Take the Lead in Lead Generation?

Today, there are two distinct, and seemingly contradictory, paradigms of B2B demand generation. Both paradigms are essentially responses to profound changes in the B2B marketing and sales environment, the most significant of which has been the emergence of empowered buyers. Business buyers now have easy access to a wealth of information, and they are using that information to perform research on their own. As a result, they are much less dependent on sellers than in the past.

One approach to dealing with empowered buyers is to expand the role of marketing in lead acquisition and lead nurturing. Proponents of this approach rely on research which indicates that today's business buyers are educating themselves and delaying conversations with sales reps until later in the buying process. For example, SiriusDecisions says that business buyers are now performing 67% of their buying process online. CEB and Forrester Research go even further and say, respectively, that B2B buyers are 57% or 67% through the buying process before they engage salespeople.

The marketing-centric paradigm accepts that most potential buyers prefer to learn about business issues and possible solutions on their own, especially in the early stages of the buying process. Advocates of the marketing-centric paradigm say that instead of fighting this preference, companies should use content resources and marketing automation technologies to support the "self-directed buyer" as he or she goes through the learning process.

The second paradigm of B2B demand generation focuses on sales methodology and emphasizes the continued importance of sales reps in the demand generation process. CEB is a major advocate of this paradigm, and what CEB and others argue is that salespeople should engage early-stage buyers and use disruptive insights to change how they are thinking about business issues and challenges. These disruptive insights enable sales reps to shape demand rather than simply react to existing demand. More importantly, disruptive insights provide value that buyers can't easily get anywhere else and thus make it worthwhile for them to interact with sales reps.

Advocates of the sales methodology paradigm argue that the statistics from SiriusDecisions, CEB, and Forrester are averages that mask a wide variation in actual buyer behavior. And there is research to support this argument. For example, in the 2012 How Buyers Consume Information Survey by ITSMA, over 70% of B2B technology buyers said that want to engage with sales reps before they finalize a short list of preferred vendors.

The reality is that B2B demand generation is more varied and complex than it is often portrayed. When you consider all of the available research, it's clear that a large majority of business buyers (probably 80% or more) are performing independent research before they interact with a sales rep. It's also clear, however, that a significant percentage of potential buyers will turn to sales reps early in the buying process. Therefore, the two paradigms of B2B demand generation are, in fact, complementary, not contradictory.

What is also undeniable is that early engagement is vital to demand generation success. Forrester says that solution providers who engage prospects early in the buying process win 74% of the deals, while the win rate for those who engage late in the process is only 26%.

The bottom line is, B2B companies must be ready, willing, and able to engage with prospects on their terms. This means that successful lead generation requires both marketing and sales.

Why Your Content Marketing Should Alienate (Some) Prospects

Recently, I attended a webinar presented by Doug Kessler titled Insane Honesty in Content Marketing. If you're not familiar with Doug Kessler, he's one of the co-founders of Velocity Partners, a content marketing agency based in the UK. Velocity consistently publishes great resources regarding content marketing, and this webinar is a must-see for B2B marketers.

According to Kessler, insane honesty in content marketing consists of:

• Actively seeking out your weaknesses and sharing them openly; and
• Strategically putting your worst foot forward.

Obviously, this approach runs counter to a whole laundry list of widely-accepted marketing principles and practices, and the idea is probably difficult for many marketers to swallow. In the webinar, Kessler shared several examples of insane honesty at work, which is another good reason you should view the presentation.

Six Reasons to Practice Insane Honesty

Kessler identified six reasons to practice insane honesty in your content marketing:

1. It surprises and charms - Because this type of content is rare, it is more likely to capture the attention of potential buyers.
2. It signals confidence - Kessler contends that confidence is the most powerful attribute of all effective content marketing.
3. It builds trust - If you're insanely honest about the weaknesses of your solution, potential buyers will be more likely to trust what you say about the strengths and benefits of your solution.
4. It alienates less likely buyers.
5. It attracts your ideal prospects.
6. It focuses your sales and marketing team on the battles you can win.

All of these reasons are important, but I want to focus on reason #4 in this post. Marketing content that is insanely honest will alienate some of your prospects, and that is a good thing because of the economics of B2B demand generation.

Insane Honesty Supports Economic Demand Generation

The diagram below illustrates the point that your investment in a prospect increases as the prospect moves through the marketing/sales funnel. On average, you will have much more invested in a Sales Opportunity than you will in an Inquiry. Therefore, it's important to determine whether your solution is a good "fit" for a prospect as early as possible in the prospect relationship.

Marketing content that is insanely honest serves two critical marketing objectives. It functions as a magnet that simultaneously attracts prospects who are a good fit for your business and repels those who aren't. The result is a more effective and efficient demand generation process and a lower likelihood of winding up with frustrated and unhappy customers.

Diagnosing the Performance of Your Demand Generation Funnel

If you're a B2B marketer, describing the major attributes of your lead-to-revenue funnel and measuring the dynamics of your funnel are critical to understanding how well your demand generation system is performing. Funnel metrics will help provide the answers to three important questions:

• Volume - Are our marketing programs generating a sufficient number of raw leads (sometimes called inquiries or engaged contacts or responses) to produce the amount of revenue that marketing is responsible for?
• Conversion - What percentage of leads are progressing or "converting" from each lead stage to the next across the entire lead-to-revenue cycle?
• Velocity - How long is the overall revenue cycle? In other words, how much time does it take, on average, for an initial response or inquiry to result in a closed sales? Funnel metrics can also measure how long, on average, leads spend in each stage of the lead-to-revenue cycle.

When I'm working with clients on lead generation/lead nurturing programs, I usually recommend that they use the Demand Waterfall model developed by SiriusDecisions to describe the major stages of the lead-to-revenue cycle. The graphic below shows the major components of the Demand Waterfall. SiriusDecisions recently revised the Demand Waterfall model to add several lead stages, but the framework shown below is still widely used, and I actually prefer to use the simpler version when companies are just beginning to track and measure the performance of their demand generation system.

When the topic of conversion rates comes up in conversations with clients, the question they inevitably ask is: What should our target conversion rates be? This question is always difficult to answer because conversion rates can vary greatly depending on the type of business involved, and I've never seen reliable conversion rates for specific industries or types of business. Plus, the most important thing is to determine what your current conversion rates are, and then look for ways to improve them.

While broad-based conversion rates should be used cautiously, they can provide a useful reference point. The table below shows benchmark conversion rates recently published by SiriusDecisions and the Aberdeen Group. The SiriusDecisions rates are from a 2014 presentation given by Laura Cross, a Research Director with SiriusDecisions. The Aberdeen conversion rates are from a 2014 research report titled Marketing & Sales Performance:  The Roadmap to Revenue & Its Tollgates.

This table uses the lead stage terminology from the SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall. Aberdeen Group uses different terms for some lead stages, but I believe the table is accurate based on how Aberdeen defines lead stages.

As I noted earlier, lead conversion rates can vary significantly depending on the type of business you're in, and the conversion rates shown above may not reflect your business situation. However, they will provide a good starting point for setting your conversion rate objectives.