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Customer 2.0: What does it mean to you?
We have done a webinar on the topic (http://www.focus.com/webcasts/sales/changing-buyer/) and just finished another live event on this concept of Customer 2.0 (http://bit.ly/bsvbVs).
The customer or buyer has changed dramatically, what is your opinion on what has changed and how vendors should respond?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
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7 Answers
To play devil's advocate, has the Customer really changed? They still want all the same things...honesty, ROI, transparency, value, solutions that work etc. I don't really think that has changed all that much.
What has changed is our interactions with them because they are smarter than ever before. More informed (and sometimes more confused) by all the information available to them. So does access to this information make them a 2.0 customer or just a better customer? Semantics... probably....
Where sales teams need to go now is away from being a student of our own solutions and towards being a student of the customer's challenges. What do they face on a day to day basis? How do they measure success? How, in turn, are they measured? What do they want to have happen? What does their boss want to have happen?
The days of "we are a leading provider of xxx" are gone. We are now in the dawn of "we work with other xxx executives like yourself to address this very specific problem and here is how". That strategy will get you in the door and on your way.
Thanks for listening.
I am that Customer 2.0 so it's easy for me to speak on this topic because I know their pains and even know why they are "mad as hell" (today's blog post) and they are not going to take it anymore- mainly because they don't have to. Why? Because they don't feel heard, listened to and they are tired of being held in a headlock by salespeople who want to listen to themselves talk. They are independent, self-educated, quick, and move at their own pace. They will buy from you when they are ready or when their social networks recommends you. They are creative, resourceful and will find many channels available to purchase from. Once they decide to work with you, they want extras with lots of frosting and chocolate jimmies on top but it's got to be the mini version because they don't have big appetites. They are private but expect you to know lots about them- they really value relationships but have the tendancy to lack loyalty. Doesn't that sound like someone you want to invite over for dinner?
I think there are a couple of different issues here.
1. A part of the buying journey is much more transparent, and being used/misused by the digital marketing/sales community. That part of the buying journey, however, is exactly the same (the fact that technology can follow it notwithstanding) as it's based on need for, and decisions around, content. Content focus and solution placement has been, and continues to be, the primary role of the job of sales, at least in the incarnation it's now in.
2. Buying Decision Teams - the off-line, private part of the buyer's buying decision journey that sales is never privvy to - has shifted. Because companies are going through so much change, they have added stakeholders to the teams, causing confusion in that: a. the politics of the stakeholder group; b. the personal/professional risks that the stakeholder group must tackle; 3. the way to go about getting/influencing the buy-in necessary for the team to choose to move forward and make a purchase (over its other options such as use internal resources, etc.).
Hope this isn't too optuse :)
Craig,
Customers want demonstrable ROI and now have access to the tools and information to know if you're going to deliver it. They demand complete transparency into the value proposition and how it's going to be delivered. And they'll have a good sense of the risk-benefit of choosing your solution even before they speak to you.
The vendor response is to either be the cheapest provider or differentiated in a valuable way and then to communicate that position effectively. Vendors who are not original will sustain their existence on nothing more than the ignorance of the market.
Chris
Vendor sales teams need to know how to have educated, relevant conversations. Generic scripted cold calling & marketing blasts will continue to decrease in effectiveness as Customer 2.0 becomes more educated, and has more "social" resources at their disposal.
IT customers certainly have changed for the good ... asking better questions and demanding live demos with their own data/apps. The IT vendors I work with take a very careful look at their prospects' and clients' data and business needs as an initial part of determining proper solutions.
Re: Sharon Drew Morgen above: Wouldn't it be great to track the stakeholders and be able to market to them via social networking avenues (see Josiane Feigon above) like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo?
The question is HOW? ... and many answers are starting to emerge in that arena. Get the intelligent buyer component of the stakeholders attracted to your superior offering by being community-recognized thru the use of social net sights.
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