The traditional linear sales model of marketing handing off to sales is becoming obsolete as buyers now spend most of their time doing independent online research. As a result, sales teams have very little time to directly influence buyers, around only 5-6% of total buying time. What buyers really want is the easiest way to get required information. With information now available online, sales reps are no longer the primary information channel. There is no single handoff point from digital to in-person engagement. To be successful, sales teams must understand this new buying journey and provide valuable digital content to support buyers' research, while positioning themselves as experts on that content and solutions.

1. The end-to-end sales journey
The role of sales in modern B2B relationships.

2. The traditional way...
Most B2B sales and marketing teams work in a linear manner. Marketing engages,
nurtures and qualifies prospective buyers, then hands them over to an individual sales
rep.
In a recent article in the Harvard business review, Brent Adamson said:
"Even in more advanced account-based marketing approaches those linear
"physics" remain largely unchallenged. First the marketing, then the sales. Or,
more accurately, first scaled digital engagement, followed by targeted seller
interaction."

3. ...is becoming obsolete.
As buyers become more savvy and more information is available online, the role of the
B2B sales person is changing.
"For years, however, B2B buying has dramatically evolved to a far more digitally dominant buying
behavior, rendering much of that commercial model not only out of date, but nearly obsolete.
Consider the following data from Gartner research: In a survey of 750 B2B customer stakeholders
involved in complex “solutions” purchases within their organization, customers reported spending only
17% of their total buying time interacting directly with supplier sales teams. Instead, much of their
purchase activity comprised independent learning online (27%), independent learning offline (18%), and
building consensus across a wide range of internal and partner stakeholders (33%)."

4. You have less time to get it right.
As small as that 17% is, it was not per vendor, but instead allocated across all suppliers
the purchaser was working with.
"So, if three suppliers are competing for the same opportunity, one can assume customers divide that
time roughly equally across all three, leaving any given sales team with a vanishingly small window of
opportunity to interact directly with that customer — perhaps 5% or 6% of total buying time if they are
lucky.
As one head of sales put it, “We have very few ‘at bats’ to actually influence customer buying behavior.”
Put another way, today’s typical B2B buying journey leaves supplier sales teams very little “surface area”
for actual selling."

5. So what do buyers want?
They want the simplest and easiest way to gather the required information.
"...it turns out customers never really wanted seller access in the first place. Instead, they sought out sales
conversations not for the sake of the conversation itself, but as a practical means to acquire the
information necessary to complete a specific set of buying jobs.
Now that much of that information is available online, sales reps are no longer the channel to customers,
but a channel to customers."

6. Digital content is the buyer preference.
In today’s B2B buying journey, there is no single “handoff” from digital to in-person
"In today’s B2B buying journey, there is no single “handoff” from digital to in-person (or, for that matter,
from marketing to sales). Today’s buyers are not only channel agnostic in terms of behavior, they’re
digitally dominant in terms of preference.
As a result, customers may seek sales rep input early in a deal to explore solutions but return to digital to
build requirements. Later, as additional stakeholders become involved, they may revisit — possibly even
rethink — their initial problem altogether, leading them to then re-evaluate, or even reconsider potential
solutions, all both with and without sales rep involvement along the way."

7. So what's the upshot?
Your sales team is still a vital part of the B2B purchasing journey, but the old days if linear
marketing to sales are over. Content is king.
Your sales team must be agile and understand this shift. Armed with world-class digital content that
simply and easily provides the data purchasers need, the result is dramatic and two-fold. First, instead of
a buyer being wary of sales because they're just trying to do their due diligence, they will see your sales
team as the experts they must be – the best source of that data.
Conversely, with an arsenal of Richter sales enablement content at their disposal, your sales team will
never again be searching for what to say next or how to move the conversation forward.

8. We’d love to setup a Zoom call to run through our model, understand your needs and
advise how we can help.
Use this link to book a call with us.
Let's talk.