How to Improve Buyer Engagement During the Purchasing Process

Two simple but impactful wins for your website. ➡️ Show, or better yet, interact with the product and let your prospect book a call immediately when they are ready. Two common things I often recommend to increase your website pipeline that often get INSTANT objections. The objections are all internal issues. My response, "That's an internal issue. Let's align with the right people and start moving the number." Sometimes you just need to remind people who owns the number and we're all matching to move it together! Next, I use data to show them the potential impact. I pull previous results we've seen but I also reference external benchmarks. 1. Calendar booking to increase conversion rate. Chili Piper just launched a great benchmark report. "86.97% of form submissions are from qualified customers. And 65.09% of those qualified prospects are booking time with sales. Pretty good compared to the baseline of 30-40%" I model this out using their data and show them how this increase can impact revenue. 2. Let people see and interact with your product BEFORE they talk to sales. The best way for your buyer experience is to do an interactive tour. "Interactive tours have 2.5x CTR when compared to videos" Source: Navattic State of the Interactive Product Demo 2024 Video is still a win in my book but it's a half step. If you are serious, take the full step. These benchmarks help show what can be possible based on what others are doing. Model it out for yourself and input your adjustments based on your business but TAKE ACTION. P.S. Not a sponsored post. #gtmstrategy #websiteoptimization #productdemo

Is Speed to Lead still relevant? I've seen a few posts lately saying that it isn't. – 50% of leads will work with the company that contacts them 1st. – Responding to leads within the first min increases conversions by 391%. – Contacting leads within the 1st hour are 7X more likely to become qualified than responding in 2 hours. The challenge with this metric is that it doesn’t account for quality. After all, today, it's all about efficiency. Quality over quantity.  The reality is not all leads are created equal, and not all touches from reps are equal. Instead of going for a mere lead response to satisfy your speed to lead SLAs, it's time to actively engage leads. This means focusing on quality of leads and quality of outreach. 📈 Research by MarketingSherpa shows that companies prioritizing lead quality over quantity see a 10-20% increase in sales productivity. 📈 A study by McKinsey shows that tailored communications, which are crucial for engagement, can increase the likelihood of a sale by 40%. So, what can do you? 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲: Evolve your lead scoring models. Consider firmographic, demographic, behavioral data and engagement data. A download of a TOFU ebook isn't a sign of intent, but a download of a buyer guide or impact report is. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 + 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡: Use insights from buyer intent and behavior data to tailor your messages, making them relevant and compelling. Reps must be able to connect the dots. "Hey, we both cheer for the 49ers" isn't connecting the dots. 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Add a calendar link to demo forms so they can schedule meetings directly with reps on their terms. Be clear and transparent about pricing (and put it on the pricing page!). Give a demo on the first call. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 + 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲: Humans are good at relationships, empathy, etc. And bad at other things. Automation can’t build relationships, but it is good at other things. You must automate everything you can to remove human error. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 + 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: Equip your sales team with the skills to not only respond quickly but to engage effectively, understanding customer needs and crafting personalized solutions. Moving to speed to engagement changes how teams interact with buyers, leading to better conversations, better pipeline and a better buyer experience. 

What is keeping all GTM teams, including myself up at night? Staying relevant to attract and retain the modern buyer. So based on our buyer research, now is the time to ditch the conventional and embrace the impactful. Here are some concepts I am applying to our strategy. Meet buyers where they are: Over 65% of buyer are millennials or younger. These digital natives seek info from trusted sources. Engage them on channels they value and believe. Make product info accessible beyond your website: Buyers crave easy access to details – security, pricing, features. Use third-party platforms for transparency and validation. Address concerns proactively and build trust step by step. Embrace the "Try before you buy": Skepticism is natural, but 74% of buyers said offering free trials or interactive demos builds trust and bridges the gap between marketing and reality. Amplify customer voice: Validate your claims through the voice of your customers. Leverage their voice in all channels – website, online forums, events, reviews. Transparency is the new currency, and social proof is gold. Champion advocacy: Prior experience matters. It top 3 resource for buyers in their decision making. Build advocates. Their success stories speak louder than your marketing jargon. Then when they move to another company, there are a prime target to be a repeat buyer. Understand buying committees: The committee is growing, and C-suite's voice is louder especially the CFO's. Align your pitch with their needs when making a business case. Be multithreaded in the account regardless if it's a prospect or customer. If you only have one POC that deal or customer is at risk. Prove value early: Early bird get the worm is the new mantra. Buyers want to understand value upfront. Showcase cost savings, revenue impact, time savings, and time-to-value. Automation and efficiency are high on their radar. Don't lag behind in the evolving world of modern buyers. #GTMStrategy #BuyerTrends #CustomerVoice #AdaptAndThrive

You buy a new high-end espresso machine… But it’s not just a new coffee maker… It’s a chance to know everything about a new category. Before you know it, you’re watching every tutorial, joining forums and even considering buying Arabica beans for the most premium flavor. That’s Customer Momentum Customer momentum is a powerful surge of excitement and engagement a customer feels right after making a purchase. But here’s the problem: most eCom brands completely IGNORE this. Let’s break this down: When a customer feels excited about their purchase, they’re in a prime state to engage with your brand: → They’re more likely to open your emails → Follow you on social media → Make additional purchases ($$$) But if all you’re doing is sending them DRY emails saying “thank you for your purchase…” You’re WASTING this momentum. Here’s what you should be doing instead to channel this momentum: Post-Purchase Flows: Right after the purchase, send personal text-based emails from a character inside the brand (founder, CEO, etc). Then point them to valuable content like a tutorial on how to use the product, tips for getting the best flavour or stories from other customers. Make sure everything feels personal. Exclusive offers: Show your customers how much you value them by sending them extra discounts and deals. An extra 10% off their next purchase or a discount bundle deal will get them excited to shop for your products. -> Bonus point: introduce them to adjacent, non-competing product lines for a nice LTV boost. Invite them to a community: Your customers shouldn’t be just another sale to you. They’re actual people with different values, interests, and personalities. Address that. After they purchase their product, you need to make them feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. Tap into that emotional side of them that wants to feel like they belong to something. GymShark, for example, is amazing at this. They market their apparel for the "dream chasers". It’s more than just a pair of shorts. They’re the shorts you show up in daily to chase your dreams and achieve your health goals. It’s inspiring, motivating, uplifting. It’s that bigger message of belonging that’ll keep your customers coming back for more of that feeling. A customer in motion will stay in motion IF you can keep that initial excitement alive. IF you make them feel like more than a sale. That’s how you create a customer for a lifetime and keep them coming back. Customer Momentum.

How often are you a buyer? I know for me, it’s something I do every few years and each time it reminds me how to better sell. At ActiveViam we are evaluating rev stack vendors. The same-ness is overwhelming, the true lack of discovery is staggering and the poor basic selling skills are abundant. Here’s what I have been reminded of thus far: * Take care of the details - as a seller, show up on time, ensure the invite is updated and contains relevant context. Don’t make me feel like you aren’t in control of the call. Connect with the buying committee on LinkedIn. * Conduct meaningful and concise discovery. There are so many valuable questions and so many that are just rote. Think about your customer, their potential risk challenges and priorities. Ask the questions that *lead* to your differentiation. I’m tired of answering lazy questions. * Guide me in the buying process- despite how well you nailed your sales pitch, discerning your differentiation vs your competitor is extremely difficult. Help me understand why your differentiation matters to me and my business as we go on this new journey. * Act with empathy - while your goal is to make the sale, my goal is to succeed in my objectives by using your product. Don’t allow your motivations to overshadow ours. * Leverage relationships - if you have someone in your company that knows someone on the buying committee, deploy them to build confidence in the outcome. I’m reminded of the concepts in The JOLT Effect. The buying process is stressful and more than anything the buyer wants someone to Judge their indecision (what risk could they be feeling), Offer Recommendations (what advice could help them feel less risk), Limit their exploration (prospects don’t have time to go fully educate themselves and often ask for things like a POC in an attempt to limit risk) and Take Control (be the advisor in the buying process). I can guarantee you that all that employ this won’t win the business but those that do will have a better shot at being chosen to go on the journey with their prospects/customers. Any other thoughts from those who have sat on the buying side of the table?

Traditional question-based, consultative sales proponents are not going to like what #LinkedIn's new Deep Sales report has to say about why buyers pick one seller over another.   Just look at the top two reasons that increase purchase likelihood:   1) Demonstrate a clear understanding of our business needs   2) Demonstrate a clear understanding of our industry / competitors   Notice what's not on the list?   I don't see anything about whether the seller showed the value or asked about their need, budget, or authority.   In fact, let's take a look what why buyers don't engage with sellers:   1) Not relevant to company   Ok, that one is for the software engineering outsourcing company SDR who has sent me at least 14 emails. But I think most of know that relevance is table stakes.    The next two however:   2) Doesn't have industry knowledge 3) Doesn't have insights or knowledge into my business   Whoa, seems like "tell me what keeps you up at night" isn't going to get you very far these days.   Buyers expect sellers to not only check out their LinkedIn page and company website, but they also expect them to show up with a perspective and an understanding of their industry.   If you or your teams are struggling with building credibility with prospects, check out the two links in the comments.   The first one is how to prepare like Insight-driven seller.   The second one is one of my favorite new discoveries for getting up to speed on industries.   Feel free to drop your favorite pre-call prep resources in the comments. 👇   What I love about this platform is that we're able to learn from each other and it should lead to better buying experiences across the board, garnering the respect the sales profession deserves (when done right).

Discovery is garbage in, garbage out. Bad answers from prospects are the result of bad questions. Part of providing a world-class buying experience is asking questions that provide context. The biggest thing every buyer wants to know? “WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THIS QUESTION?” This is where the Question Stacking framework comes into play: [context] + [open-ended question] Context can take on many forms: - A problem shared by their peers - An effective tactic or strategy their best-in-class peers are using It’s super simple. Load up your question with context to give the buyer the reason why you’re asking the question. And to demonstrate credibility. Here are some examples: 💡 Context: “What we hear from production teams is that their hardware has creative limitations that can a) add delays in getting shows on the air and b) take up a ton of production resources from their team.” ❓Question: “How long is the typical turn-around time to get your show on the air? How many people does it involve?” 💡 Context: “We’re hearing from many digital leaders that staffing concerns are limiting human agent engagement which increases wait times, abandonment rates, and the overall cost to serve.” ❓Question: “How do you measure the impact of wait times on customer loyalty?” 💡 “Sales leaders at a few of our recent clients like Gong and Zoom are starting to implement outbound power hours and providing additional enablement to help their AEs self-source more pipeline.” ❓Question: “What have you put into place to enable AE self-sourcing in your org?” ============ How to put this into action now: Pick 2-3 problem areas you normally ask questions around. Front-load those questions with context by sharing what you’re hearing similar customers say in those areas. You’ll get way better answers to your questions. Was this helpful? Let me know below in the comments. #Sales #Prospecting #Outbound

For years, companies have been leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide personalized customer experiences. One widespread use case is showing product recommendations based on previous data. But there's so much more potential in AI that we're just scratching the surface. One of the most important things for any company is anticipating each customer's needs and delivering predictive personalization. Understanding customer intent is critical to shaping predictive personalization strategies. This involves interpreting signals from customers’ current and past behaviors to infer what they are likely to need or do next, and then dynamically surfacing that through a platform of their choice. Here’s how: 1. Customer Journey Mapping: Understanding the various stages a customer goes through, from awareness to purchase and beyond. This helps in identifying key moments where personalization can have the most impact. This doesn't have to be an exercise on a whiteboard; in fact, I would counsel against that. Journey analytics software can get you there quickly and keep journeys "alive" in real time, changing dynamically as customer needs evolve. 2. Behavioral Analysis: Examining how customers interact with your brand, including what they click on, how long they spend on certain pages, and what they search for. You will need analytical resources here, and hopefully you have them on your team. If not, find them in your organization; my experience has been that they find this type of exercise interesting and will want to help. 3. Sentiment Analysis: Using natural language processing to understand customer sentiment expressed in feedback, reviews, social media, or even case notes. This provides insights into how customers feel about your brand or products. As in journey analytics, technology and analytical resources will be important here. 4. Predictive Analytics: Employing advanced analytics to forecast future customer behavior based on current data. This can involve machine learning models that evolve and improve over time. 5. Feedback Loops: Continuously incorporate customer signals (not just survey feedback) to refine and enhance personalization strategies. Set these up through your analytics team. Predictive personalization is not just about selling more; it’s about enhancing the customer experience by making interactions more relevant, timely, and personalized. This customer-led approach leads to increased revenue and reduced cost-to-serve. How is your organization thinking about personalization in 2024? DM me if you want to talk it through. #customerexperience #artificialintelligence #ai #personalization #technology #ceo

Every sales process has a major flaw And nobody talks about it We tell sellers to think like the customer And then we give them a sales process Which brings the focus back to the seller This is a major mindset misalignment And a pervasive problem among sales ops Remember, it’s the 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 journey And it doesn’t end when the contract is signed It ends when the customer receives value Which is why they are doing this in the first place Keep the focus on a world class buying experience It's not Qualify, Discover, Propose, Negotiate, Close. It’s 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡, 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Put this in a word doc or excel Call it the “Evaluation Process” Please don’t call it a close plan Ask the customer when they want to deliver value Put this date as the go-live date at the end Work backwards from there They will realize they are already behind Which will drive urgency Incorporate the customer’s steps too Share it with everyone regularly Not just your coach/champion Use it as a guide to uncover potential roadblocks ————————— 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 -       Discovery meeting -       Vendor point of view and demo -       Meeting with business sponsors -       Overview of evaluation process 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 -       Custom demo to business -       Solution Day / whiteboard session -       Demo to IT -       Overview of Customer Success program -       High level pricing -       Initial infosec review -       Meeting with executive sponsors 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 -       Complete use case analysis -       POC to validate solution fit -       Develop business case -       Deliver SOW and proposal -       Executive sponsor meeting 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 -       Vendor decision is made -       Procurement and sourcing discussions -       Legal and compliance meeting -       Legal redlines -       Security review complete -       Legal review complete -       Business terms complete -       Final offer presented for approval -       Commitment from lines of business -       Funding approved -       Contract signed 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 -       Project kick-off -       Design -       Develop -       Certify -       Test -       Communications -       Training -       Go-Live

Are you missing sales because you're ignoring the "new" customer journey? I just absorbed some truly eye-opening wisdom from channel and ecosystem guru Jay McBain. Specifically, this notion of the customer "28 Moments". That's right – on average, there are 28 touchpoints from when someone first recognizes a problem to when they actually choose a vendor. Think about how radically customer behavior has changed. We used to rely heavily on salespeople for information and demos. Now, buyers can do nearly all the research themselves (think YouTube reviews, social media, online forums). That classic linear sales funnel? It's getting tossed out the window. This generational shift (hello, millennials!) has pushed me to revamp how I operate with my LinkedIn services. I've implemented a sales-free process. Now, my goal is to: ✅ Be strategically present in those 28 moments when prospects are looking for solutions ✅ Share insights and thought leadership that builds trust and authority ✅ Nurture meaningful conversations that foster organic opportunities Here's how anyone can get in on this approach: 1️⃣ Map your buyer's journey. Where do they gather information and make decisions? 2️⃣ Create value-packed content. Don't just sell; provide helpful information relevant to their pain points. 3️⃣ Optimize your presence. Ensure you show up when prospects search for answers. 4️⃣ Focus on genuine engagement. Connect meaningfully, fostering a positive brand experience. So, my question to you: Have you adapted your selling style to this "new normal"? 🔴 Let's start a conversation in the comments!