Customer expectations will continue to force marketing and sales collaboration. So, as we all know, customer’s purchase habits have changed significantly. B2B customers are doing a lot more research before they reach out to salespeople. A lot of the statistics say that they’re 65 to 75% through the purchase funnel as far as researching information before they make that first contact to a salesperson at a company. So, marketers and salespeople have to work more collaboratively to be prepared for when those customers do reach out. You have to understand their new buying habits to get that deeper understanding than you had before. And, one thing that you can look at on the other side about being more proactive is shifting from cold calls to what Dan McDade of PointClear calls “gold calls” – using things like social information and behavioral data for marketers to provide their salespeople with so they can reach out proactively and be really informed when they’re doing it. Data continues to be a focal point. Customer data has always been important to marketers since the dawn of when data was available, pretty much. But, it has become even more essential due to the velocity of data, the volume of data. I don’t want to use “big data” because it’s not just about that, it’s about every kind of data coming in from everywhere. Data can help marketers with accountability with their marketing performance management. There are opportunities like never before to get not just pieces of data but useful insight right to the frontline – to the salespeople and service people who need it most in that moment of truth with the customer. So, use that customer data to find ways to pull the insight from it that you can and know that doing so can give you a significant competitive advantage. Context will be as important in B2B as it is becoming in B2C. Right now, there’s a huge and building buzz about contextual marketing – taking real-time data about customers and using that in the moment of truth to deliver messages, content, and offers. Most of that conversation is in the B2C area, however there’s the same significant opportunity for B2B marketers to harness that contextual opportunity. Think about the behavioral tracking that you can do on your B2B customers when they’re downloading whitepapers, or they’re attending webcasts, or what have you. There’s a lot of contextual data you have on your B2B customers that you can use to respond to them in that moment of truth. And doing so will give you a competitive advantage because there aren’t a lot of companies doing it yet. The tools are available to do it; it’s just a matter of harnessing it, and understanding your customers, and taking the action in the moment when it matters most.

1.  Top 3 Marketing Predictions for 2015
Ginger Conlon
Editor-in-Chief at Direct Marketing News

2. “ Customer expectations will
continue to force marketing and
sales collaboration
1

3. Customer expectations will continue to force
marketing and sales collaboration
 B2B customers are 65 to 75% through
the purchase funnel before they make
that first contact to a salesperson at a
company.
 Marketers and salespeople have to
work more collaboratively to be
prepared for when those customers do
reach out.
 Marketers should provide salespeople
with social information and behavioral
data to be more informed when
reaching out to prospects.
1

4. “ Data continues to be a
focal point
2

5. Data continues to be a focal point
 Customer data has become even
more essential due to the velocity
and the volume of data.
 Marketers can use customer data
to guide what content they
present and when they present it
to your customers.
 Data can help marketers with
accountability with their marketing
performance management.
2

6. “ Context will be as important in
B2B as it is becoming in B2C
3

7. Context will be as important in B2B as it is
becoming in B2C
 Contextual marketing is about taking
real-time data about customers to
deliver messages, content, and offers.
 There’s a lot of contextual data you have
on your B2B customers that you can use
to respond to them during sales pitches.
 Taking advantage of contextual
marketing will give you a competitive
advantage because there aren’t a lot of
B2B companies doing it yet.
3

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