The traditional B2B sales playbook is becoming increasingly obsolete. As buyers become more empowered and self-directed in their purchasing journeys, companies must adapt their strategies to stay relevant and effective.
Recently, Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research and Thought Leadership at 6sense, and Sid Kumar, SVP of Revenue Operations at HubSpot, shared invaluable insights on this shift in a webinar that challenged conventional thinking about B2B sales and marketing.
You can watch the full chat here, but we’ve got the key takeaways below.
The Modern Buyer
We all know the buyer’s journey has evolved significantly; we’ll spare you the long-winded explanation. Cunningham shared some eye-opening research that sheds light on this evolution:
- On average, the B2B buying process spans 11 months.
- The average buying team is made up of 10 individuals.
- Buying teams evaluate four vendors on average.
- Each individual on the buying team engages in approximately 16 interactions with vendors.
This means a total of 640 touchpoints per buying journey. And to complicate things further…
“If you have any content that is going to help buyers make a decision, you’ve got to get it out in front of your forms. Do not have it behind a form.”
Kerry Cunningham
Head of Research and Thought Leadership, 6sense
Buyers are in the Driver’s Seat
The most striking revelation is what Cunningham calls “the 70% rule.” Buyers typically don’t engage directly with sellers until they’re 70% of the way through their journey. This holds true across different organizational levels, from VPs to managers.
Interestingly, 83% of these initial interactions are buyer-initiated. This underscores the level of control buyers now exert over the process. They’re not just passive recipients of sales outreach; they’re actively driving the conversation on their own terms.
Perhaps the most telling is that 84% of buyers start their vendor interactions with the company they ultimately choose. This suggests that by the time buyers reach out, they’ve already done extensive research and have a strong preference.
The new reality challenges traditional sales approaches and emphasizes that companies need to provide valuable, easily accessible information to potential buyers throughout their journey.
Adapting Sales and Marketing Strategies
Both Kumar and Cunningham agreed that companies should adapt revenue strategies in light of this shift.
Content
Cunningham strongly advocates for ungating content, stating, “If you have any content that is going to help them make a decision, you’ve got to get it out in front of your forms. Do not have it behind a form.” This shift aligns with the goal to create frictionless experiences. He further emphasized the importance of making content easy to find through strong SEO practices and organizing it in a way that guides buyers through their journey.
Cunningham also suggested using tools to recommend relevant content to website visitors, noting, “If you don’t know that you have 10 people on your website from a given account and you’re showing every person from that account the exact same content as they come along, that’s introducing friction.” Personalizing content delivery can greatly improve a buyer’s research process.
Audience
With only about 10% of a company’s addressable market likely to be in-market at any given time, it’s crucial to identify and prioritize high-intent accounts. Cunningham suggested that you want to understand where accounts are in their buying journey and focus your spend on accounts that are starting to close to making decisions.
Adding to that point, he said, “Your job is to understand which [accounts] are in-market so that you can focus your attention on them and leave everybody else alone. Let them see the content. Let them fall in love with your brand.”
Outreach
Given that buyers are well into their journey before engaging with sales, teams should also reconsider the traditional approach of early sales intervention. Instead, prepare to engage meaningfully when buyers are ready — armed with a deep understanding of the buyer’s journey up to that point.
Both speakers emphasized the need to balance marketing messaging with clear value propositions. Cunningham cautioned against overly “marketing-y” or “salesy” content, advising instead to clearly address the business needs of buyers. Kumar added to this point, saying, “It’s going back to understanding the persona. Let’s think about ICP. Who are you trying to solve a pain point for within that organization, and how well do you really understand the pain that the persona is experiencing?”
Adapting these strategies better position you to meet the needs of your empowered buyers.
HubSpot’s Customer-Centric Approach
Aligning with the evolving B2B buying journey, HubSpot uses a customer-centric operating model. In the webinar, Kumar shared “The Flywheel” — a closed-loop system at the core of the company’s approach that consists of three phases:
- Attract
- Engage
- Delight
This model is designed to work backwards from the customer’s needs, focusing on solving for the prospect at every engagement point. Kumar emphasized the importance of understanding where customers are in their journey and what they’re trying to accomplish at each stage. By obsessing over these touchpoints, HubSpot aims to create a seamless, end-to-end experience from initial attraction through to post-sale delight.
A key aspect of HubSpot’s strategy is their focus on value realization and impact. Kumar stressed the importance of mapping customer use cases to specific features and capabilities, ensuring that customers achieve the ROI they anticipated. This approach not only aids in retention and renewal discussions but also opens doors for expansion into different lines of business or additional product offerings.
The power of community and word-of-mouth plays a crucial role in HubSpot’s customer-centric model. By fostering a strong, engaged community of users, HubSpot creates a platform for customers to connect, learn from each other, and explore different use cases across various verticals. This approach serves a dual purpose: It enhances the experience for existing customers while also attracting prospects to the platform.
6sense does the same through its RevCity community platform, and by fostering peer-to-peer networking communities on Slack and in-person.
Kumar stressed that the initial sale is just the beginning of the relationship. “The customer came to you to solve a problem. They have a specific use case or pain point they’re trying to achieve,” he said. As an organization, you need to understand those pain points, deliver a solution, and then make sure the customer is getting results.
Conclusion
By embracing a customer-centric approach, revenue teams can remove friction from the buying process and better align with modern B2B purchasing behaviors. Success now hinges on:
- Providing upfront value to aid self-guided research
- Understanding customer pain points
- Engaging meaningfully throughout the entire customer lifecycle
As you navigate these changes, your ability to adapt and truly problem-solve for the customer will be the key to driving sustainable growth for your organization.
