Sébastien Henrot, CEO of INESCRM, explains his move toward Marketing Automation 2 years ago to become more effective across the B2B buying journey.
The premise is an awareness of the B2B buying journey. For the most part, it is now identical to the B2C buying journey.
In other words, each buyer completes around 60% of their buying journey alone in what is often an ultra-competitive environment and does not wish to be contacted at this stage.
So it is necessary to:
At a minimum, be identified in their eyes as an EXPERT in your field in order to maximize the chances that the LEAD contacts us when the purchase is initiated
Be able to contact them first when they identify themselves
Ideally, anticipate the purchase decision
So far, we do not really distinguish the difference between B2B / B2C, but how is it different?
1. The B2B buying journey is often a company-wide process. Several stakeholders may be involved with different levels of involvement, but it is often the engagement of all stakeholders that reflects the maturity of the need. Thus, managing company concepts and aggregating behavioral scores to create a company-level behavioral score is a major challenge.
Example: if you have 3 people from the same company, each with a behavioral score of 100 points. Your LEAD trigger starts at 200 points. In a standard context, this lead is not considered mature, whereas by aggregating the scores it becomes mature.
2. Combine behavioral and demographic scoring. To optimize your OPPORTUNITY-to-SALE conversion rate, it is important to focus your efforts on the most mature projects but also on the ideal PROSPECTS. To do this, demographic segmentation is needed: Revenue – Headcount – Business … It is not uncommon to generate leads that have developed a high degree of maturity and engagement, but in reality the company behind this lead is outside your target.
3. Have an effective AUTOMATION / CRM integration that optimizes lead management. A lead resulting from a behavioral scoring trigger must be handled through a process ranging from qualification to sale. This optimizes callback time, qualification, the start of the sales process through to signature, and finally the detailed analysis that must follow. The goal is to measure conversion by channel accurately in order to refine your “marketing” strategy and optimize its ROI.
Article co-written with Sébastien Henrot, CEO of INESCRM.
