Kady Srinivasan, SVP of Marketing, Klaviyo Kathie Johnson, CMO, Talkdesk Cynthia Gumbert, CMO, SmartBear Moderator: Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO, TrustRadius To scale your business customers need to be at the center of all you do. The reason for your business is to solve their largest problems and be mission-critical to their success. If your customers succeed your business will too. However, what if you can’t find or engage your target buyers? The way technology is bought and sold today has dramatically changed. The buyer’s journey is not linear but something they want to control. According to Bain and Co study, 94% of prospective buyers are well informed about a product before ever engaging with a sales team. From our research at TrustRadius, virtually 100% of buyers want to self-serve, 58% of buyers say word-of-mouth is a top source for discovery and evaluation. We’ll evaluate these buyer trends and provide strategies to find and win these new-age customers now and in the future.

1. Cynthia Gumbert
CMO
SmartBear
@cyngumbert
Kady Srinivasan
Former CMO
Klaviyo
Vinay Bhagat
Founder & CEO
TrustRadius
Drive Growth in the Age of the
Self-Serve Buyer
Kathie Johnson
CMO
TalkDesk
@johnsonkathiec
1

2. Today’s B2B Buyers are Millennials and Want to Self Serve
In 2021, 87% of buyers wanted to self-serve part or
all of the buying journey… today, it’s virtually 100%
Boomers
5.6%
Gen X
29.4%
Millennial
59.7%
Gen Z
5.4%

3. Buyers Want Pricing, Product and Use Case Information
3
0% 25% 50% 75%
% of respondents
Find pricing information
View product specs
Access free version / free trial
Explore customer use cases
Self-guided product demo
Online product tour
Schedule sales meeting or call
Purchase product online
Online on-demand messaging
None of the above

4. Sales Reps Less Becoming Less Influential Across Segments
By Purchase Price:
0% 20% 40%
$10k or less
$11k-$50k
$51k-$100k
$101k+
2021 2022
By Company Size:
2021 2022
0% 20% 40% 60%
1-50 employees
51-500
501-1,000
1,001-10,000
10,000+
By Generation:
0% 10% 30% 50%
20% 40%
2021 2022
Gen Z
Millennial
Gen X
Baby Boomer

5. Rising Reliance on Third Party Sources
Resources Consulted During the Evaluation Process
0% 20% 40% 60%
2021
Product Demos
Free Trial/Account
User Reviews
Vendor/Product Website
Communities / Forums
Analyst Rankings And Reports
Your Own Prior Experience
VendorReps
Referral From A Friend
Consultant Recommendation
Vendor-ProducedCase Studies
Third-Party Publications
Vendor-ProvidedCustomerReferences
VendorBlog
VendorMarketing Collateral
Other (Please Specify)
2022
Showing Growth
Decline

6. Talkdesk Averages 17 Touch Points in Customer Journey
Multi-touch leveraging technology - Company A
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
May 1,
2021
Jun 1,
2021
Jul1,
2021
Aug 1,
2021
Sep 1,
2021
Oct 1,
2021
Nov 1,
2021
Dec 1,
2021
Jan 1,
2022
Feb 1,
2022
Mar 1,
2022
Apr 1,
2022
May 5 • Inbound Chat
Key contact #1
May 17, 2021
Opp Created
Jun 22
Industry Strategy Request
Jun 10 • Annual Benchmark Report
Key contact #3
May 25
Guardian & Identity PMM deal support
May 18
PMM supported RFP responses
May 18
RFP request
May 19 • Workspace Demo Webinar
Key contact #2
Aug 24
Reference request
Dec 5 • Bombora surge signal
‘Enterprise Contact Center’
Dec 6
Visited Demo Center
Dec 15 • Visited Forbes
Cloud 100 page
Mar 28
Download Security and
Compliance Guide
Key contact #4
Apr 7, 2022
Opp Won
Number
of
Activities
6sense media campaigns
Web visits
6

7. Multi-touch leveraging technology - Company B
Web visits
Feb 18 • Paid Search: Get Started
Key contact #1
Feb 20 • Researched Contact Center
on Trustradius
Feb 10 • Paid Search: ‘hippa hitech
compliance checklist’
Mar 7 • 13 pages on solutions viewed
3 Anonymous visitors
Feb 23
Opp Created
Apr 18
Opp Won
Mar 23
Partner added to opportunity
Mar 10 • Healthcare Experience Cloud Demo
Key contact #1
Mar 24 • 7 pages on solutions viewed
1 Anonymous visitor

8. 8
ACQUISITIO
N
Alliances
INFLUENCE
Heart of Talkdesk
Customer stories
References
EXPANSION
Starter editions
Product release webinars
Talkdesk Community
RETENTION
Roadmap spotlight sessions
Customer newsletter
Seasonal releases
Intent
Opentalk
SDR Outreach
Search
Events
AE Prospecting
Paid Media
Channel
Partner
Analyst
Product Demos
Web Chat
talkdesk.com
Webinars
Email
CX Strategy
Tradeshows
Product-led Growth
PR
Advocate
Love
Adopt
Purchase
Welcome Kit
Community
Newsletters
Pendo
Notifications
ADVOCACY
Software
Review Sites
SALES ACCELERATION
Targeted digital ads
Regional events
Opentalk CX Summit
PIPE GENERATION
Talkdesk: Creating the flywheel
Customer Journey
Sales
Methodology
&
Sales Process
Community

9. 9
Smartbear: Educational Content and Community Building
● Create content for your ideal
customer personas
● Tailor content based on
sophistication or level
● Build your community where
customers can share their
experience
● Create and nurture customer-to-
customer interactions

10. Smartbear: Social Strategy
10
● Have a presence wherever
your customers are
● Engage through conversation

11. Buyers Want Easy Access to Information … and No Cold Calls
11
What 3 things do software vendors do that make
you less likely to buy from them?
What 3 things do software vendors do that make
you more likely to buy from them?
0% 20% 40% 60%
Cold calls
No software pricing available on website
Unclear messaging about what they do
Must contact sales for demo or free trial
Sales emails
No customer stories available on website
Online advertising
80% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Software pricing available on website
Options for accessing demo or free trial available
Show customer reviews on website
Share customer stories
Thought leadership blogs/webinars/podcasts
Comment on reviews
Online advertising
Outreach from salespeople
Provide copy of analyst reports
Share reviews on social media

12. Smartbear: Selling Through Marketplaces
12
● Make pricing visible
● Highlight key capabilities and
features
● Offer demos, free trials

13. Talkdesk: Harnessing Customer Voice to Build Trust
● Use quality reviews in your
own marketing and sales
channels to boost traffic and
conversions
● Add customer proof points to
your content to increase
conversions and win rates

14. Use Customer Data Intelligently to Engage Buyers
14
Firmographic data
Technographic data
Customer Profile
1st, 2nd, 3rd party
intent data
Demographic data
PII

15. 6 Strategies to Succeed in the Age of the Self-Serve Buyer
15
1. Buyers use a variety of sources, and rely more on third-party ones…so manage your
presence across ALL key buyer research venues
2. Optimize for discoverability/ organic search
3. Make product information easy to find (pricing, features, demos, free trials, use cases,
customer stories, etc)
4. Activate customer voice across channels to increase traffic, conversion, and close
rates
5. Use generic cold calls or emails sparingly. Instead, use customer data including intent
data to identify where they are in their journey and personalize outreach
6. Sales has to be more consultative and align their solution with strategic business
problems

16. THANK YOU
Get in touch hello@TrustRadius.com