In the B2B world, many believe that buyers spend the first 60-70% of their journey consuming content. Then, if they are interested in buying, do they actively seek out a salesperson. While this implies that the salesperson’s primary role is to respond to product questions and present an offer, Forrester’s research shows the exact opposite to be true.

1. 1
Welcome!
Peter O’Neill, Vice President
– Research Director
Forrester
Melissa Andrews, Vice
President - Marketing
Mediafly
Twitter: #mflywebinar

2. © 2006-2015 Mediafly, Inc. | Confidential
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Buyers’ frustrations have
bottom-line impact
• Increase in sales and marketing friction
• Destructive sales experiences
• Decrease in potential revenue
• Increase in competitive losses
Source: SAP What’s the Future of Sales (2014)

5. An Empowered Sales Rep Becomes
A Content Concierge
Peter O’Neill, Vice-President, Research Director
Mediafly Webinar, September 3, 2015

6. “… Considering the material you receive from sales people, how much do you agree with the
following statements about the content you are provided?”
What do buyers think of the content your
sales people offer?
Combined “agree” and “strongly agree” responses
Base: Senior-level IT and business executive decision makers at companies with 1000 or more employees.
Source: Forrester’s Q4 2013 North America and Europe Executive Buyer Insight Study
I usually scan the information, then throw it
in the trash.
Vendors give me too much material
to sort through.
Much of the material is useless.
Business decision makers (N=159)
IT decision makers (N=160)

7. © 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 7
Source: Forrester Q4 2013 Global Executive Buyer Insights Survey
We are not enabling our sales people well

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Customers have their life cycle
The business buyer’s
decision experience
from problem
identification and
comparative analysis
through the purchase
decision and ongoing
engagement with the
supplier
Source: April 2014, “The Customer Life Cycle: A Blueprint For Customer-Obsessed Enterprises” Forrester report

9. © 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 9
Your content and conversations must meet
differing needs through the life cycle
ENGAGE
ASK
USE BUY
EXPLORE
DISCOVER
Customer recognizes need
to solve a problem. Budget
and approach discussed
with stakeholders.
Needs refined into
requirements and
business case.
Vendors invited to present.
Shortlist of vendors invited
to bid. Vendors submit offers.
Solution purchased.
Onboarding/install action
completed. Solution put
to use by customer.
Results measured.
Support and service
are provided.
Relationships with
company are expanded.

10. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 10
ENGAGE
ASK
USE BUY
EXPLORE
DISCOVER
Growth
Retention
New Customer AcquisitionThe life
cycle
is a series
of journeys
Source: April 2014, “The Customer Life Cycle: A Blueprint For Customer-Obsessed Enterprises” Forrester report

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Sales is now asked to do more than selling
Source: July 18, 2015, “Take Lead-To-Revenue Management Beyond The Campaign” Forrester report

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Sales is
now
asked to
do more
than
selling

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What makes a conversation valuable for
business executives?
Source: November 22, 2013,“What Do Executive Buyers Find Valuable?” Forrester report

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Content types and channels vary through the
life cycle
ENGAGE
ASK
USE BUY
EXPLORE
DISCOVER
Custom Social
Content
Videos
Thought Leadership
Paper (TLP)
Executive Summaries
Business Case / ROI / TEI
Webinars
Proposal / Offer
Infographics
Tweet jams
Advocacy programs
Communities

15. The difference between marketing and sales
content
§ Marketing creates content “one to many”
§ Targeted at a segment (or persona)
§ Perhaps targeted to a buyer journey phase
§ Perhaps digitally-interactive for deeper engagement
§ Sales requires content “specific to one”
§ Supports THIS conversation
§ Tuned to the specific needs of the account and/or buyer role
§ Serves as a leave behind
§ Ideally available for further distribution in customer org.

16. Content
+
Buyer(s)Sales Person
Buyer-centric content - “in their moment“

17. Link your content to sales conversations
§ Create (internal) content about the marketing content
§ Tag each content asset: audience, sales stage, next step.
§ Provide sales guides/battlecards around content programs.
• Thought leadership: What is the thought? Who? Why?
What?
• Forrester Wave™ reprint: Where are we good/not so good
— why, what do we say about it?
§ Help sales people be a “content concierge”
§ Recognize Sales as an important content channel
§ Make your content easy to locate
§ Enable your content to be “customized“

18. Content audit checklist - message
Each piece of content must pass these audit test questions
Is the “message” implicitly but clearly positioned?
Is one target-role audience clearly being addressed?
Message Effectiveness Questions
Has the content piece expressed a unique vision - an achievable end-state?
Does the content piece address the buyer's impact proposition with clarity?
Can the content piece be used in more than one buyer journey stage?
If not, is the content piece matched to the appropriate buyer journey stage?
Is there a “call to action”/trigger to move the buyer along their journey?
Does the message align to other content pieces?
If the content piece references products, is that justified?
Source: June 6, 2014, “Valuable Message Development For B2B Marketing In The Context of Sales Enablement” Forrester report

19. Is the content piece being recommended/distributed by Sales?
Is the content piece improving revenue velocity or conversion rates?
Content Delivery Effectiveness Questions
Is the content piece being used by buyers?
Do you know how the content piece performs by content channel?
Have you optimized the content piece with A/B tests?
Content Delivery Effectiveness Questions
Channel(s) used
Buyer-Role(s)
Title
Expiry Date
Last Audit
Call to action
Content audit checklist - effectiveness
Source: June 6, 2014, “Valuable Message Development For B2B Marketing In The Context of Sales Enablement” Forrester report

20. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 20
Forrester forecast: B2B buyers will prefer
NOT to talk to sales reps
Base: 236 B2B buyers; Source: Q1 2015 Forrester/Internet Retailer B2B Buyer Channel Preferences Survey
I do my research online and
prefer NOT to interact with a
sales representative as my
primary source of research.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Agree Disagree
59%
19%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Agree Disagree
53%
17%
I find gathering information
online on my own superior
to interacting with a sales
representative.

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But they will need help from sales reps
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
When
expensive
When complex When
negotiating
price
Requires
Installation
Requires
Service
Note: (N = 224); Source: Q1 2015 Forrester/Internet Retailer B2B Buyer Channel Preferences Survey
67%
82%
91%
67% 64%
When do you want to talk to a sales person?

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Forrester’s B2B buyer/seller archetypes
Source: April 13, 2015, “The Death of A (B2B) Salesman” Forrester report

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Your salesperson archetype mix will
change
Source: April 13, 2015, “Death of A (B2B) Salesman” Forrester report
(US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REPORTS THERE ARE 4.5M B2B SALES JOBS IN 2012)

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› Understanding of their customer‘s life cycle
› Socially networked
› Following data-insight signals
› Engaged in the buyer‘s context
› Marketing skilled
› Content concierge (online and printed)
Sales people attributes in “The Age Of
The Customer”*
* Forrester term for 20-year business cycle which started in 2010

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Modern marketers prime the sales
pipeline
Source: March 2015, “From Priming The Pipeline To Engaging Buyers: The B2B CMO’s New Role in Sales Enablement”
Forrester report.
• Feed the pipeline
• Appreciate role of sales
• Leverage automation

26. © 2015 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited 26
Optimal automation primes the sales
pipeline
Source: March 2015, “From Priming The Pipeline To Engaging Buyers: The B2B CMO’s New Role in Sales Enablement”
Forrester report.
Automation examples
• Lead-to-Revenue
• Content management
• Content delivery

27. Thank you
forrester.com
Peter O’Neill
poneill@forrester.com
blogs.forrester.com/peter_oneill
Twitter: @poneillforr

28. © 2006-2015 Mediafly, Inc. | Confidential
Buyers expect…
• Relevant and engaging content
• Contextual content at every stage of the
buying cycle
• Valuable conversations with sales
• Interactions with an empowered sales
force
• A “perfect selling experience”

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The perfect selling experience
• Customer-centric content
strategy
• White-glove delivery of
engaging and impactful
content
• An empowered sales force;
delivering only the most
relevant and optimal content
• Value and insights provided
during every in-person
interaction
• Establish trust with buyers
and reinforce differentiation
Source: SAP What’s the Future of Sales (2014)

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• 100,000 hours of admin time saved in
1st year
• >1% market share increase, Fortune
500 Food & Beverage customer
• $9 - 18 MM in incremental Net Revenue
per year, Fortune 500 Alcoholic Beverage
customer
• 90% adoption, since 2011 Fortune 500
Financial Services customer

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