By Arkaprabha Pal | July 25, 2024
In 2024, the misalignment between sales and marketing teams remains a critical challenge for B2B organizations. 50% of misaligned teams reported lost sales and an average annual revenue decline of 4%, potentially costing firms up to 10% of their revenue. Additionally, 63% of leaders believe this misalignment is hindering growth, while 45% cite poor communication as a barrier, resulting in 27% of leads receiving no follow-up and a quarter of leads being poorly qualified. In contrast, 74% of top-performing companies report strong alignment, highlighting its importance for competitive advantage.
So effective alignment is essential for successful account-based marketing (ABM) and reducing buyer’s remorse. Despite advancements in technology and strategy, traditional silos still hinder seamless collaboration. It’s imperative for B2B organizations to adopt a full-funnel ABM approach, where marketing and sales work in harmony to guide buyers through every stage of the sales process. In the following paragraphs, let’s learn how this sales-marketing harmony can be achieved.
Historically, a disconnect often exists between sales and marketing teams in B2B organizations. 46% of marketers report that data quality and accuracy negatively impact marketing optimization. 28% have reported that data is siloed and difficult to access. A recent study by Hubspot reported that 79% of marketing leads never convert due to a failure to nurture consumer connections.
Marketing typically focuses on activities like brand awareness and lead generation, while sales teams are responsible for closing deals and managing customer relationships. This siloed approach leads to misalignment, inefficiencies, and a poor customer experience.
To succeed with full-funnel ABM, B2B organizations must bridge this gap and foster greater collaboration between sales and marketing. Marketing teams need a deeper understanding of the sales process and the buying group’s specific needs and pain points. Sales teams, in turn, must provide valuable feedback to marketing on what content, messaging, and engagement strategies are most effective in driving conversions.
One key way to align sales and marketing is to establish shared metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that span the entire customer lifecycle. Rather than focusing solely on lead generation or opportunity creation, marketers should be measured on the following metrics-
Conversion rate (CR) across the full-funnel
By aligning these metrics, sales and marketing teams can work together towards common goals, identify areas for improvement, and continuously optimize their full-funnel ABM strategies.
Achieving this level of sales-marketing alignment and full-funnel ABM success requires the right technology and data infrastructure. B2B organizations should invest in modern ABM platforms that offer advanced capabilities for account identification, multi-channel campaign orchestration, and comprehensive funnel analytics.
At Intelous AI, we harness the power of data and AI to craft and execute winning B2B marketing strategies that ensure your brand is driving impactful results for accounts that matters to you. We help you engage with leads 1:1, nurturing, qualifying, and unlocking opportunities so you can focus on closing deals. Our solutions include,
To leverage precise buyer intent data to fuel targeted campaigns and connect with prospects showing active interest.
To deliver tailored content to specific accounts, amplifying your impact and reach.
To engage high-quality contacts throughout the buyer’s journey for substantial results.
4. Full Funnel Campaigns
To seamlessly guide leads through the final funnel stages, ensuring smooth transitions from MQL to SQL.
These solutions are your dedicated revenue partners powered by Conversational AI that engages contacts in meaningful, data-rich dialogues thereby driving pipeline growth and conversions.
Buyer’s remorse or regret buying is a significant issue in B2B technology purchases, often resulting from buyers relying solely on self-service digital tools rather than engaging with sales representatives. To mitigate buyer’s remorse, B2B marketers should focus on the following strategies:
Marketers should create content across digital channels that helps buyers understand the true value and benefits of the technology solution. This “value-framing” content should clearly illustrate how the product can solve the buyer’s pain points and challenges. Additionally, marketers should develop “value-affirming” content that reinforces the value proposition and helps buyers feel confident in their purchasing decisions.It should demonstrate how it can solve the buyer’s pain points. Regular feedback sessions between sales and marketing teams will also improve strategy alignment.
| Funnel Stage | Value-Framing Content | Value-Affirming Content |
| Awareness (TOFU) | – Educational blog posts addressing industry pain points | – Brand storytelling that builds trust and credibility |
| Awareness (TOFU) | – Infographics illustrating market trends | – Social proof through testimonials and case studies |
| Consideration (MOFU) | – Detailed product guides and comparisons | – In-depth case studies showcasing successful implementations |
| Consideration (MOFU) | – Webinars or videos demonstrating product capabilities | – FAQs addressing common concerns and objections |
| Decision (BOFU) | – Product demos and free trials | – Customer success stories that reinforce product value |
| Decision (BOFU) | – Comparison charts highlighting unique selling points | – Detailed ROI calculators to justify the investment |
| Retention | – Ongoing educational content like newsletters | – Exclusive offers and loyalty programs to enhance satisfaction |
| – Community engagement through forums or social media | – Continuous support resources and troubleshooting guides |
Marketers should work closely with sales teams to create a seamless, collaborative buying experience. While buyers may prefer self-service options, they are significantly more likely to have a high-quality deal when they engage with a sales representative. Marketers can support this by equipping sales teams with the right tools and content to enhance their digital buyer engagement. This allows buyers to benefit from the expertise of sales reps while still leveraging digital resources.
To further reduce buyer’s remorse, marketers should focus on delivering a positive customer experience even after the sale is complete. This includes providing ongoing support, training, and value-added services to ensure buyers can fully realize the benefits of the technology solution.
Let’s look at some numbers-
Customer Retention:
Ongoing Support and Training:
Consultative Selling Approach:
Overall Customer Satisfaction:
By adopting these strategies, B2B marketers can help their organizations bridge the gap between sales and marketing, deliver a more consultative buying experience, and ultimately reduce the likelihood of buyer’s remorse for their B2B technology customers.
Value-framing content is essential in minimizing regrets when buying B2B technology.
Value-framing content can significantly minimize regret buying in the B2B technology sector by clearly demonstrating the tangible benefits and long-term value of a product or service. Here are some practical tips and strategies to achieve this:
| Strategy | Description | Practical Tips |
| 1. Understand and Address Pain Points | Conduct in-depth research to identify the specific challenges faced by your target audience. | – Develop case studies showcasing how your technology resolved similar issues.- Use customer testimonials that highlight specific challenges and solutions. |
| 2. Emphasize ROI and Long-Term Benefits | Quantify benefits and highlight long-term value, such as cost savings and efficiency improvements. | – Create ROI calculators for potential buyers.- Develop white papers outlining long-term benefits and cost savings. |
| 3. Leverage Success Stories and Case Studies | Use detailed case studies to illustrate real-world applications and benefits of your technology. | – Create engaging video testimonials.- Publish a series of success stories across different industries. |
| 4. Provide Transparent and Detailed Information | Offer comprehensive product details and transparent pricing models to build trust. | – Develop product comparison charts highlighting advantages over competitors.- Offer interactive demos and trials. |
| 5. Foster Strong Relationships and Support | Build trust through personalized communication and provide robust customer support. | – Implement a dedicated account management system for personalized support.- Offer training sessions and webinars. |
| 6. Utilize Multi-Channel Content Distribution | Diversify content channels and ensure consistent messaging across all platforms. | – Create a content calendar with various content types and channels.- Leverage social media to share success stories and informative content. |
| 7. Engage with Thought Leadership and Industry Trends | Position as a thought leader by sharing insights and addressing industry challenges. | – Publish regular blog posts on emerging trends.- Participate in industry conferences and webinars as speakers. |
B2B buyers are less interested in long lists of product features and more focused on understanding how the technology can solve their pain points and deliver tangible business value. Marketers should create content that frames the value proposition, demonstrating how the solution can drive measurable outcomes for the customer. This value-framing approach helps buyers feel more confident in purchasing, as they can see how the technology investment will benefit their organization. It also makes it easier for buyers to justify the purchase to other stakeholders.
At Intelous, we enabled Redington-Dell to generate 200+ top-of-the-funnel leads and 8% traffic to the landing pages from APAC IT decision-makers, promoting products like PowerFlex, PowerStore, PowerVault, and Data Protection.
1. Aligning sales and marketing is essential for ABM success.This can be established by having shared metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that span the entire customer lifecycle.
2. Use data and technology to drive better alignment by investing in modern ABM platforms (like Intelous) that offer advanced capabilities for account identification, multi-channel campaign orchestration, and comprehensive funnel analytics
3. Addressing Regret Buying in B2B Technology is crucial. It often resulting from buyers relying solely on self-service digital tools rather than engaging with sales representatives
4.. Create value-framing content to reduce buyer’s remorse. This “value-framing” content should clearly illustrate how the product can solve the buyer’s pain points and challenges
In the rapidly evolving B2B landscape, bridging the gap between sales and marketing is no longer a luxury but a necessity for successful account-based marketing. A full-funnel approach ensures that potential clients are brought into the funnel and guided through every stage of the sales process, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and sustained business value. By aligning metrics and KPIs, leveraging advanced technology and data, and creating compelling value-framing content, B2B organizations can minimize buyer’s remorse and foster more robust, effective sales-marketing collaborations. Embracing these strategies will enhance the customer experience and drive predictable and sustainable revenue growth, positioning your organization for continued success in 2024 and beyond.
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