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Insights from the 2024 Buyer Experience Report · Sales Pipeline Radio

• 0:16
  Alright, welcome to another episode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
• 0:19
  My name is Matt Heinz, I'm your host today.
• 0:21
  Thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:23
  So excited to have you all here.
• 0:24
  If you're listening or watching on demand, Thank you for subscribing and listening.
• 0:29
  Every episode of Sales Pipeline Radio, always available at
• 0:32
  www.salespipelineradio.Com.
• 0:34
  Very excited today to have former Forrester SiriusDecisions Analyst,
• 0:39
  Kerry Cunningham, join us to talk about some fairly new research that I feel
• 0:43
  like I'm seeing all over the place, but every time I see it, Kerry, there's
• 0:46
  another angle that is super interesting in terms of how we think about go
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  to market motions going into 2025.
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  So thank you for being here now.
• 0:55
  Yeah, glad to be here.
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  I'm glad that's how you're feeling about it because it does impact a lot
• 1:02
  of how we go to market and be B2B.
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  And it changes what we've been used to and what we treat as the common way of
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  building pipeline in a lot of cases.
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  So I have a lot of questions and points I want to dig into, but wanted to start with
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  just you giving the thesis of the research and why you did it and what you found.
• 1:22
  Yeah.
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  So 30 seconds of it is that we've surveyed buyers in B2B, all kinds
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  of buyers, not just SaaS, but lots of SaaS, of course, as well.
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  And we did it globally.
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  We've done it two years in a row.
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  And what we found is essentially the same thing two years in a
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  row and everywhere in the world.
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  And what I'm going to say applies to 80 percent of buyers.
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  Buyers say that they don't engage with sellers until they're about 70 percent
• 1:45
  of the way through their buying journey.
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  The trigger for engaging with sellers is that they have set
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  their requirements and decided which vendor they want to buy from.
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  And that's the simple thing to say.
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  It really does and should change everything and then there are other pieces
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  of it, like one of the fundamental things that we've assumed in marketing is that
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  you generate leads, you hand them off to BDRs, SDRs to follow up on them and that
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  process can cause buyers often we think can cause them to go into market, which
• 2:16
  is crazy in a way that we'll talk about.
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  But also that the simple thing that just because we're calling and emailing
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  folks, we can get them to engage with us.
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  And what buyers have said really clearly two years in a row is that no, you can't.
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  It's true, right?
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  And I think because we've always assumed that we can just call and dial and
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  email our way out of this problem--.
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  And AI is making this almost worse because AI makes it easier, faster,
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  cheaper to get those emails out.
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  And Challenger almost tells us we can do this, that we can tell
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  people the status quo change.
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  We can challenge the status quo.
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  We can get them to think differently about the problem and
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  move them into a sales process.
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  And I guess the research shows how arrogant are we to think that we are
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  going to change what happens inside these large complex buying organizations?
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  Arrogant.
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  And I think also we've lacked just the basic self consciousness of
• 3:07
  understanding how do we operate?
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  Just think about how you operate in your organization.
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  Could somebody call you today?
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  And cause you to go into market to buy some big system that
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  you rely on this quarter?
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  Unless you were already well along that path.
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  The answer is of course not.
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  It takes longer than that to get the budget for anything
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  above, relatively small amount.
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  So unless you've already got it budgeted, unless you've already got
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  it planned, nobody's going to call and get you to do something that
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  you weren't already planning to do.
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  So from that perspective, I think we all already knew that.
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  But we don't operate that way.
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  We want to believe that we can cause and control things...
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  A moment's reflection would tell you, No, you can't.
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  You really can't.
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  That's not what we're doing.
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  And what we're doing is, I think 6Sense is a great example of this.
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  You build a brand that people want to be associated with.
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  You put yourself in all of the places where your customers and prospects are,
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  and you deliver value to them even when they're not in market, so that when they
• 4:12
  go into market, you're on the top of the list or you're at least on the list, and
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  you get to play for that deal and then build mechanisms that capture all of that
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  and don't miss it when it's happening.
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  And for some, it doesn't sound as sexy, it doesn't feel like you're
• 4:25
  as in control, but I think it's much more aligned to reality.
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  To me, You are still in control because you still can get that message of value
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  and education in front of a prospect.
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  But what you're saying is it's not going to generate immediate pipeline.
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  And to me, this is a fundamental change to how people think about the buying
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  journey and think about what is a sales and what is a marketing motion?
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  Cause what you're saying is that effort to reach prospects before
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  they're ready to buy, before they're ready to engage with you is not going
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  to generate pipeline, but is still critical to generating future pipeline.
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  The models we have need to get a little more complex, but need to be very
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  clear about what motion is doing what.
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  That's it.
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  That's exactly right.
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  And it's really important for everybody to hear that.
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  Cause I think when I talk about it, I get so excited about the new findings and
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  what they mean that it can get lost in the way that I talk about it, that it's
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  not that you should stop doing things.
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  And it's not that you shouldn't even reach out to buyers.
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  You should, but you have to understand, what the research shows really clearly.
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  Whether buyers are receiving calls or emails from sellers
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  and BDRs or not, does not change when or if they engage with you.
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  It just doesn't.
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  So all of that activity that you're engaged in, that you think is causing
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  meetings, is catching meetings that you were already going to get.
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  Maybe a little bit later, maybe a week later, maybe two weeks
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  later, something like that.
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  But if they engage with you, it's because they were already going to
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  engage with you and you're catching that.
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  So you got to have the mechanism out there to catch it.
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  You want that.
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  Make it easy.
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  Remove the friction.
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  All of that.
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  But again, if you work in a decent sized company and you've got systems, things
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  that you've been involved in buying that are 20, 30, 50, $100,000 a year kinds of
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  solutions, how long did that process take?
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  And did it start because somebody called or emailed you?
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  Or did it start because you had a business problem, you all worked
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  on that internally, you decided to go into market and then you engaged
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  with sellers when you were ready?
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  I think it looked a lot like the last thing that I said, right?
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  And I think we just need to be thinking about that.
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  And when we do, then we'll do things that engage buyers, enable
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  them, win them over to our side.
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  And when we do that, then we will be in more control I guess.
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  We work with a lot of companies that have very long sales cycles and then
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  we get into this time of the year.
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  If you're doing in some cases, 12 to 18 months sales cycles, you are planning
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  on building demand next year that is going to generate maybe pipeline, but
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  definitely close business in 2026.
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  So you really are thinking about how do I spend money and then monetize
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  that in a different fiscal period.
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  And it's the same thing we're talking about here, where I'm saying, I'm
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  going to invest in building a market...
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  so if I take this out of the SDR function out of these, spray and
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  pray, trying to get meetings function and say, okay, I'm investing in
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  brand, I'm investing in content, I'm investing in educating the market,
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  which is a bunch of different channels in many cases, it's the same thing.
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  And so are there scenarios where I can now treat people on the phone, not as
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  an appointment setting function, but as delivering value deposits in creating,
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  just another channel and a human to human channel, and perhaps one of our
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  most effective channels at creating value, attention, trust, credibility.
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  Yeah, I think that's where it's at.
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  So I think, you've got to think about the segments of your audience.
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  If you sell to multiple segments, you sell to big companies and large and
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  medium and that kind of stuff, what you're going to be able to do and what
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  you should do is going to differ, like the involvement of human beings in the
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  mid market on down for accounts that are either not in market or early stage,
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  you probably shouldn't have any human beings involved early in those processes.
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  But when you're talking about big accounts, strategic accounts, your sellers
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  should be in there engaged all the time.
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  Your seller should be making friends, developing relationships, building
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  networks inside those accounts.
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  And earlier I said that the numbers I was giving applied to
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  80 percent of buying processes.
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  So there's 20 percent of buying processes where buyers say, I was
• 8:45
  engaged with the seller before I made the a choice before I picked a winner.
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  I think those are the places where you've got really good sellers who build
• 8:54
  relationships with buyers over time.
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  Those relationships travel from company to company as your buyers move
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  around, but your sellers have built those relationships and they don't
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  have to play by the rules that say you don't get to influence the buyers.
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  They get to be involved in those conversations and that puts you
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  in a very advantageous position.
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  So at the right levels, you can do that.
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  When you've got strategic accounts, when you've got really important
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  accounts, you've got the right kind of resource applied there.
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  Absolutely you can do that and you don't have to play by
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  the rules if you do it well.
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  Yeah, I appreciate that.
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  We're talking today on sales pipeline radio with Kerry Cunningham,
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  former SiriusDecisions former analyst and the author of the
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  New 2024 Buyer Experience Report.
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  Highly recommend, search for 2024 Buyer Experience Report,
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  you will find on Google.
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  It is ungated.
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  It is pages and pages of content that I guarantee is going to
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  influence how you think about go to market going into next year.
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  So I think we've already talked about ways to create solutions
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  around how to do this better.
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  I want to talk a little bit about intent signals as we go into next
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  year, and I think about intent signals as three areas, like intent to buy,
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  intent to engage, and then you have need and evidence of need signals.
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  It might be further up the buying committee or buying journey.
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  And definitely our people that are ready, but help us not just reach people
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  earlier in the process, but reach them with the right context, because just
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  going and offering a one to many value prop is one thing, reaching them where
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  they are based on something that's already happening is even more valuable
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  and can accelerate the relationship.
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  So talk a little bit about what that is and what the opportunity is.
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  Yeah, I think first of all, the way every B2B marketer needs
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  to think about things is 1).
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  You've got to know what accounts you care about.
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  That has to be an explicit agreement with sales.
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  You don't have to know the name of everyone, depending upon the
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  size, but there has to be an agreement of what they look like.
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  And then intent signals are about, first of all, never, ever missing a
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  buying journey that happens within that patch that you care about.
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  That should be everybody's goal.
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  Just never miss one.
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  And the way to do that is to see those signals when they arise.
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  What is important about, a 6sense that aggregates signals from many sources
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  is that you increase the odds of seeing those buying processes and you improve
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  the quality of the signal, right?
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  So if I get signals from four or five different sources and they all point
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  to this account, looks like it's in market now, that's a much better
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  signal than any one of the four or five that went into the signal, right?
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  So just a triangulation principle.
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  Intent signals, first and foremost, make sure that you don't miss any, but
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  then what's the content of the signal?
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  What is the content of the signal tell us about what that buying group, because
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  it's always going to be a group signal.
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  What are they interested in?
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  If I've got five different solutions, which of those five solutions.
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  If they've got specific questions that they're researching, what are they?
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  And now do I have content that addresses those questions specifically?
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  I think one of the big things that we need to get away from is not sending
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  them a link and then making them fill in a form to see that content.
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  If you've got questions that you know your buyers have, and you've got an answer
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  to those questions, get it to them with as little friction for them as possible.
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  And they will like you and appreciate you for it.
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  If you give it to them and then make them jump through some hoops
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  or pay you in one way or another, you're just causing friction.
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  That's annoying.
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  It's bad enough that people say I've got this great piece of educational content
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  and I want people to register for it.
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  I got into a spirited discussion with a company a couple of days
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  ago that wanted to put all of their case studies behind a firewall.
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  And I'm like, if people actually want to read your case studies, that sounds
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  like someone that wants to learn a little more about validating that this works.
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  Why would you ever put a barrier in front of them to get that information?
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  You and I know why, it's because they want to know who it is.
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  They want to know who it is so they can track it, but that's a seller
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  problem, not a buyer problem.
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  Yeah, it's a trick to get your email.
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  I mean we've been around a long time.
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  We know content marketing was started as a trick to get emails, but it's evolved
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  to something actually useful for buyers.
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  And I think we're not all the way there in the evolution of it yet.
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  So we need to move away from the trick phase of it and into the All right.
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  We're here to enable buyers.
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  And if we do that effectively, we'll get to win.
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  Yeah.
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  I imagine if we're sitting here in a year and talking about the next version
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  of this we're going to be talking a lot about how AI agents are helping
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  to enable this conversation, where we can build some trust with prospects,
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  but not have to have, a 24 year old on the phone to play that role.
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  We can prognosticate about anything, but how do you see those things evolving?
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  The educational nature of the early buying journey, the leverage of the
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  intent signals and AI agents help you to do some of that work for us.
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  Yeah, I love it.
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  So I go back to 2018 when I was at SiriusDecisions.
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  I did a case study with some folks from the Global Demand Center at Microsoft.
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  They built their own conversational email tool that they put on top of
• 13:55
  some predictive modeling that they did over leads and they applied that.
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  They took a whole layer of their I think they call them inside sales
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  folks, but they took a whole layer of them that were dedicated to going out
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  and trying to get meetings and they moved them up to become people who do
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  meetings and then there's no human being out trying to get meetings anymore.
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  It's just taking meetings.
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  I think that's the model.
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  So we gave them a big award at SiriusDecisions, we wrote a case study
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  about that years ago, because that to me seems like the model we should be on.
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  It's you deliver content at scale.
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  Make sure your buyers get everything from you that could help them prefer you.
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  That you offer yourselves, make yourself available for meetings, but
• 14:36
  that can't be the primary focus of it.
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  And the best way to do that to me is at scale and use AI agents to do that.
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  You don't need your humans doing that.
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  You need your humans in those bigger accounts, mapping those accounts,
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  developing relationships, but that's a different capability to me.
• 14:53
  That's right.
• 14:54
  Where should we send people if they want to learn more about this report?
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  Where do people get this to get the full deal?
• 14:59
  Two things.
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  One is 6sense.com/research.
• 15:03
  It'll send you to the spot and you won't miss it.
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  So that's easy-- 6sense.com/research
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  and then if you just find me on LinkedIn once you do, it's pretty hard to avoid.
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  And so you'll get a lot of exposure to the research.
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  Absolutely.
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  Thank you, Kerry, for doing this.
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  Definitely check out the report.
• 15:20
  I appreciate that, companies like 6sense have taken folks from the old
• 15:23
  SiriusDecsions glory days and put into work on important topics like this and
• 15:27
  saying, go do your thing, go be research.
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  And so to help us figure out what, in some cases, Kerry, are inconvenient
• 15:33
  truths based on what we've always done and what we want to do.
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  But I think if we listen and we follow direction, I think you get an opportunity
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  to create something that is a much more valuable experience for our prospects.
• 15:43
  So thank you for all that you do.
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  Thank you for saying that.
• 15:46
  That is exactly right.
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  How I would put it, if I were to say it better than I have been.
• 15:50
  Thanks everyone for listening.
• 15:52
  Appreciate everyone being here.
• 15:53
  We will be dark next week for the Thanksgiving holiday.
• 15:56
  But thank you everyone for being part of this.
• 15:57
  Thanks again, Kerry.
• 15:58
  We'll see y'all in December for more episodes of Sales Pipeline Radio.
• 16:01
  Until then, happy Thanksgiving.
• 16:03
  We'll see y'all soon.
• 16:04
  Thanks, Matt.