Understanding that end users are increasingly oriented on where customers might actually be. influential “option creators”, tech companies are This enables marketing to play a deeper role in the putting together tailored, purpose-driven events customer lifecycle, instead of pushing leads that where the chief technology officer—not sellers— might have little interest in buying. take center stage to talk about new initiatives and topics, such as AI and sustainability. One enterprise software company parted ways with the MQL concept entirely. Instead of artificially Companies are hosting everything from hackathons qualifying customers, it adopted a “conversation to interviews with engineering luminaries to appeal readiness” mindset by simply talking to customers at to this developer demographic. And it works: they events, in surveys, and via the website, asking them are turning these users into influential champions for if they wanted to engage a seller. Customers were their products and, by not inviting sellers, building not pushed to a seller unless they were ready—and trust with them as well. they loved it. From fewer leads overall, the company experienced four times more opportunities and a doubling of account engagement. Impress the customer with a seamless buying journey Make every seller a marketer … and vice versa. Five years ago, B2B customers had around five Nine out of ten B2B decision makers say that distinct marketing and sales touchpoints during marketing and sales need to work more closely their buying experience—now they can have as together to put an end to overlapping work. They many as ten. This journey can be cumbersome, and recognize it would be more effective for both ensuring consistency between touchpoints can be functions to work on the same go-to-market difficult for B2B sellers. strategy, from the same data, and with the same message so that customers don’t get frustrated by They could consider dismantling the barriers contradictory messaging or confusing handoffs. that have long separated marketing and sales, smoothing the experience as customers move from To address this, a leading enterprise cybersecurity one touchpoint to the next. This requires some bold company has marketing and sales collaborate moves, like fixing broken incentives by replacing in “pods” that report to a combined business-unit marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) with measures of leader. They work together to approach prioritized a customer’s readiness to have a conversation, and customers. Marketers lead personalized content combining marketing and sales forces to give the and self-serve digital tools, and train sellers to customer a frictionless experience. deliver these. They also educate sellers on their customers’ key buying factors and strategies to MQLs have long forced marketers into a demand- tailor content. generation trap, where they are incentivized to push customers through a funnel to sellers without Sellers then deliver the pitch and report back on knowing whether those customers are ready how the content resonated or not with customers. to advance. Customers can get annoyed, while Front line reps (field sellers, remote sellers, marketers become frustrated by artificial targets customer success managers, sales development that call on them to engage in low-value activities. reps, and channel partners) all provide critical Sellers can become dissatisfied because these inputs to marketing. Content-management systems MQLs are only marginally more likely to take a and digital-asset managers help access and meeting; often sellers ignore them and develop tag content, while other internal communication separate measures of the pipeline. channels—company intranet sites, townhalls, client- case videos, and employee pulse checks—ensure Smart companies are shifting from a “sales funnel” consistent delivery. This has all contributed to 30 mentality to a “customer buying journey” mindset, percent year-on-year growth. with sales and marketing working togethe and 12 Future of B2B sales: The big reframe