This presentation covers the key trends that will impact B2B sales and marketing in 2015 and beyond. Key trends include a focus on sales metrics, social media, sales and marketing alignment, buyers funnel and importance of prompt lead follow-up.

1. 2015 Sales and Marketing Trends
Christopher Ryan
info@fusionmarketingpartners.com

2. Reflection
Each year, we have the opportunity to reflect on
the past year’s activity and results, conduct
some industry research, and catalog B2B trends
that we see gaining traction across a wide array
of business models and markets.

3. Purpose
The point of our research (and experience) is not
to write a nice article – you can certainly find
plenty of these. Instead, our purpose is to provide
information that is both timely and actionable.
You can use each and every one of
these trends to increase your
competitive advantage in the
coming year.

4. B2B Trend 1: Focus on Metrics
Metrics are a major Priority
• Although this is not a new trend, it is a continuation of a critical
movement. We see many B2B companies adopting an end-to-end
marketing and sales framework that:
• Attributes new revenue to specific lead sources
• Tracks conversion rates at every step in the process
including:
» Response to Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
» MQL to Sales Accepted Leads (SAL)
» SAL to Opportunities
» Opportunities to Closed Deals
• Combines marketing and sales reporting in dashboard view.
This helps to track the performance on SAL (service level
agreements).
www.fusionmarketingpartners.com/2015-trends

5. B2B Trend 2: Social Media
Social Media is Getting Tougher
• It’s getting tougher because it is getting more competitive. Just like
with past “hot media” (direct mail, email, etc.) when advertiser
activity goes up, response rates go down.
• For a lot of companies, social media is not optional – if your
customers and competitors are there, you need to be also.
• However, only a small percentage of B2B companies believe
they are using social media effectively.
• The good news is that you have the opportunity to achieve
competitive advantage!
www.fusionmarketingpartners.com/2015-trends

6. B2B Trend 3: Sales Funnels
The Buyer’s Funnel is Becoming More Important
than the Sales Funnel
• There are many variations of the sales funnel, but they all have 1
thing in common – they are focused on the methodology sellers use
to find prospects, engage with the, and close business.
• The problem is that buyer’s want to buy the way they want
to buy. Forcing them through a rigid process takes the focus
off of their needs and on to the final sale.
“I have noticed a preponderance of time spent on training sales staff
with rigid processes and not enough time spent training them on how
to understand the customer’s buying process and their unique
challenges. The point is that one size does not fit all.”
-James Franklin, CEO
www.fusionmarketingpartners.com/2015-trends

7. B2B Trend 4: Functional Alignment
Tighter Alignment of the Sales and Marketing
Functions
• We are seeing greater emphasis on sales and marketing alignment
• There are two popular, yet conflicting sales models
1. Direct sales reps that only see leads that have been pre-
qualified, focusing more on quantity than quality to meet
sales goals.
2. A direct sales force with no pre-qualification focuses
more on quality than quantity.
• In the second scenario, we purposefully back
off on the quantity and align our marketing
plan to deliver leads that are more qualified.

8. B2B Trend 5: Follow-up Failure
Failure to Follow-up Remains a Big Revenue Killer
• One of the most striking conclusions is that the number of qualified
prospects that will buy short-term is matched by those who will buy
– from either you or a competitor, at some point.
• This is why nurturing your prospect database is such a valuable
activity.
• This means that you must follow-up not only when the lead
first comes in, but also on a regular basis until they are
ready to engage and buy something.
Our research shows that 51.4% of
inbound inquiries are not contacted.
www.fusionmarketingpartners.com/2015-trends

9. 2015 Success
Taking advantage of one or more of these sales and marketing trends
can have a large impact for your company.
I hope you enjoy and benefit from reading about these trends.
We feel strongly that 2015 can be a great year for B2B companies and
trust that you will achieve your share of revenues and profits.

10. Learn More
Visit our website for more
insight about B2B
marketing and sales trends
and a look at my new book
Winning B2B Marketing.

11. About Fusion Marketing Partners
Christopher Ryan, CEO
We Do This:
Brand building/messaging
Website optimization
Content creation
Lead generation
You Get This:
Much greater levels of awareness
Higher quantities of qualified leads
Ability to generate faster revenue
Lots more information at:
http://FusionMarketingPartners.com/
http://Greatb2BMarketing.com (blog)
info@fusionmarketingpartners.com
719-357-6280