“Why B2B Marketing Fails its Mission (Part 1)”<\/a>, getting on the short list requires proving to be trustworthy. To accomplish that, a vendor has to pass three critical hurdles.<\/p>\nHurdle 1: This is a waste of my time. <\/b><\/h4>\n
From the buyer\u2019s perspective, this is a given until proven wrong. B2B Marketing typically wastes a buyer\u2019s time with self-serving information that doesn\u2019t help the buyer. Now that B2B marketing generally has a bad reputation, it must earn the buyer\u2019s trust by doing the opposite of what it normally does. It must focus all effort on understanding the buyer\u2019s world (perhaps even better than the buyer) to clearly understand the relevant challenges and propose useful solutions.<\/p>\n
The first sign that B2B Marketing is beginning to pass this hurdle is found in the first metric: email open rates. If the targeted recipients are opening at a rate of over 10%, then at least the subject line appears to have been relevant to the prospect.<\/p>\n
Even after opening the email, the recipient still assumes that this is a waste of her time and looks for the first evidence of this fact so she can move on to something else. Gimmicky subject lines designed only to lure the prospect into opening the email are only going to make things worse.<\/p>\n
This happens because B2B Marketers don\u2019t conduct the necessary research to know what message they should be communicating. \u00a0They claim that they don\u2019t have time to do proper research.<\/p>\n
Instead, they do what\u2019s easy for them and write about what they know\u2014their own company and their own products.<\/p>\n
As the result, the buyer gets this message instead of a relevant one: \u201cVendor ABC is the leading provider of product XYZ\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a waste of time for both buyer and vendor.<\/p>\n
However, it doesn\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n
Hurdle 2: Is this for real?<\/b><\/h4>\n
If the vendor has NOT wasted the buyer\u2019s time and has instead described her challenges in a clear and logical way, the buyer\u2019s curiosity should be piqued\u2014 \u00a0because where there is smoke, there is fire, right?<\/p>\n
On the contrary, her next question is still one of skepticism\u2014is this for real? After all, this point is normally where things start falling apart and turning into the usual self-serving, \u201cVendor ABC is the leading provider of product XYZ\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In B2B Marketing, the next step in the buyer\u2019s journey is to turn this cautious curiosity into real interest. This doesn\u2019t happen over one email. It will take several high-quality emails that are consistently on-message to convert curiosity into real interest.<\/p>\n
The first sign of real interest is clicking on links that take the buyer to additional relevant information. \u00a0However, more important than even click-through rates is increasingly high open rates. As a potential buyer begins to recognize the brand of this relevant information, she continues to open communication from that source, strengthening both her interest and belief that this might actually be a different kind of vendor. That\u2019s how a vendor ends up on the short list of vendors that are invited to present.<\/p>\n
Hurdle 3: Should I invite them in?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Some sales executives might say, \u201cWe can\u2019t wait to get invited. We must try to get the appointment as soon as possible. Otherwise, our competitors will get in there first\u201d.<\/p>\n
While in B2B Marketing, you shouldn\u2019t necessarily wait until you are invited to contact the buyer, the best time to call is when the potential buyer is already seriously thinking of inviting you. Then it becomes a simple matter of scheduling the date that works.<\/p>\n
To pass this hurdle, B2B Marketing must make available to the potential buyer (or someone in the buyer\u2019s \u00a0company) a sufficient amount of evidence to prove you are worth the risk of scheduling a meeting. \u00a0Sufficient amount means white papers, case studies, blogs, customer interviews, and more that consistently demonstrate the vendor\u2019s commitment to understanding and solving the buyer\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n
B2B Marketing must provide overwhelming evidence that you are a Top Tier Vendor in that segment.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n
To summarize, the job of B2B Marketing is to get your sales rep onto the short list of vendors that are invited to present to a potential buyer.<\/p>\n
In order to achieve this, your Marketing team needs to provide overwhelming evidence that you are a Top Tier Vendor in the buyer\u2019s sector, which is demonstrated by full understanding of the buyer\u2019s problem and the ability to create \u00a0a viable solution as evidenced by deeply informative content found on your web pages, white papers, social media properties, case studies, customer testimonials, and more.<\/p>\n
While Tier 3 vendors continue to put out \u201cABC, the leading provider of XYZ\u2026\u201d, you, as a Top Tier Vendor, can work on becoming a go-to-resource for your potential customers, giving you relatively easy access at low cost.<\/p>\n
The end result is that you enjoy higher closing ratios and shorter sales cycles, which translate into a high growth rate at low sales and B2B Marketing costs\u2014 which is what we all want in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Proving Trustworthiness in B2B Marketing As we mentioned in “Why B2B Marketing Fails its Mission (Part 1)”, getting on the short list requires proving to be trustworthy. To accomplish that, a vendor has to pass three critical hurdles. Hurdle 1: This is a waste of my time. From the buyer\u2019s perspective, this is a given … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy B2B Marketing Fails Its Mission (Part 2) - SOMAmetrics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The job of B2B Marketing is to get your sales rep onto the short list of vendors that are invited to present to a potential buyer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/why-b2b-marketing-fails-its-mission-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why B2B Marketing Fails Its Mission (Part 2) - SOMAmetrics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The job of B2B Marketing is to get your sales rep onto the short list of vendors that are invited to present to a potential buyer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/why-b2b-marketing-fails-its-mission-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SOMAmetrics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SOMAmetrics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-08T20:19:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T23:14:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/photo-1521189510502-3dbdb40d8bc0-3.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1049\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@eskidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@eskidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eskinder Assefa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SOMAMetrics\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SOMAmetrics\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/somametrics?trk=ppro_cprof\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eskidt\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/SOMAmetrics-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/SOMAmetrics-Logo.png\",\"width\":1605,\"height\":226,\"caption\":\"SOMAMetrics\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/\",\"name\":\"SOMAmetrics\",\"description\":\"Drive Predictable Revenue Growth\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/why-b2b-marketing-fails-its-mission-part-2\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/photo-1521189510502-3dbdb40d8bc0-3.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/photo-1521189510502-3dbdb40d8bc0-3.jpeg\",\"width\":1049,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"teamwork and trustworthiness in B2B Marketing\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/why-b2b-marketing-fails-its-mission-part-2\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/somametrics.com\/clone\/why-b2b-marketing-fails-its-mission-part-2\/\",\"name\":\"Why B2B Marketing Fails Its Mission (Part 2) - 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