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Demand generation trends, challenges and keys in the current reality

MTI Selling

This month, we have the visit of Estrella García at our anniversary meeting of MTI Selling, and there are several contributions that today I want to share with you of her valuable presentation “Challenges of sales strategy in the current reality”:

Let’s start with some trends

Did you know that…

…76% of B2B customers prefer working with companies referred by their network?

…Digital Transformation is a key piece for 66% of CEOs?

…53% of companies are looking for technology to generate new businesses?

(IDC 2021)

In the previous article we talked about the relevance of Digital First and how it is the gateway to building trust with potential customers, especially post pandemic. These trends confirm this.

However, it is not easy to bring this Digital Transformation to our strategies.

Three major challenges we face in demand generation

  1. Data orientation: Achieving a level of quality in data and processes that enable us to constantly measure and adjust on the fly. The reward of this quality lies in the agility when it comes to optimizing these processes.
  2. Resource training and adaptability: The strategy should be focused on the adaptability of the fiscal year end and resources. The sales force must have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to conduct business. We must dedicate the time it deserves to training and measure the effort with valuable KPIs, including, without limitation, effective contacts, meetings and leads. Generating pipeline on time is critical at this point as well.
  3. Digital Tools/Omnichannel:  Knowing what the market demands nowadays, it is good to stop and calculate how to do it. We can spend a lot of money on tools, but if there is no backing from a team behind, those efforts make no sense. For this reason, it is important to consider outsourcing the business opportunity generation team, leaving it in the hands of experts who make it possible.

Key Points

  • Define your buyer persona: If we are not clear about who to address my message to, nothing we do or say in the conversation is going to go well. Know: To whom am I going to address my message? To the user? To a director? To the finance manager?
  • Demand generation is a discipline: perseverance, a clear and measurable process.
  • The IT market had already changed before the pandemic; after the pandemic those changes became demands.
  • The basis of prospecting is to start a conversation where the most important thing is not to be heard, but to listen to the need to find out how we can add value.
  • It is important to identify what type of company we are: “Order Hunter” or “Demand Generator”?
  • Define a constant pipeline generation strategy.
  • Deepen the inquiry from the stage of demand generation to know what exactly my buyer persona is concerned about.
  • Know our differential: It is essential that the entire sales team has clarity about what exactly makes us different from our competition (escape from the cliché that we are “the best”, “we have more offices”, “we know the most”, as nobody believes it anymore). Make a list with your sales team of what really makes you different from your competition.
  • Opportunity Cost: Let our buyer persona know how much they are losing by not hiring our services (in money, customer satisfaction, performance, latency, productivity).
  • Be credible: What we say must be fulfilled (we cannot say that we are experts in technology and keep talking about Excel files).

Conclusions

In the face of these challenges, it is important to reflect on:

  1. In my company, do we understand what it means to generate demand and are we willing to invest in it? 
  2. Do we have the budget, infrastructure and time to manage a team at this level?
  3. Is our sales force doing what it must do? We have to have high-performance teams, teams that are clear about things and understand the relevance of having a healthy pipeline.
  4. Take advantage of the fact that there are already expert companies in demand generation, where risk is reduced, where they are responsible for training resources and for their continuity to focus on what we have to do and be more productive. (Watch VIDEO “4 Reasons to Trust Us Your Marketing”)

Did you find this article helpful? Share it with someone who may find it interesting!

If you want to know how in MTI Selling we can support you with our strategies of demand generation and positioning with tailored digital selling, I invite you to watch this video and follow us on YouTube and LinkedIn.

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