Introducing Challenger Marketing

Transcription

1 Introducing Challenger Marketing Competing in Today s B2B Battleground Click the icons on each page to share with your network! 1

2 B2B buying will never be the same. Customers are cutting suppliers out of their learning... Today s customers are typically 57% of the way through their purchase process before they contact suppliers. Marketing needs to be present where customers are doing the bulk of their learning. Learn Define Needs Assess Options Make Decisions Customer Engages Supplier and they re getting more and more of their information from outside sources. Information from Suppliers Information from Non-Supplier Sources Suppliers today account for less than one-half of all information that buyers use to aid in their purchase decisions. This means that depending on how many alternative suppliers are being considered, any given supplier likely will receive no more than 10% 15% share of mind. Historical Today Historical Today 2

3 The Challenger Sale revealed that the winning sales reps lead with insight... The Challenger Sale has disrupted the world of sales by upending conventional wisdom about what matters most for high performance in selling. The book showed that the best sales reps are no longer the relationship builders but rather the Challengers. Challenger Reps push customers thinking and disrupt purchase cycles. Three things that Challengers do with their customers: Teach them new insights about their business. Tailor messages for resonance across prospective buyers. Take control of the sale using the credibility gained with their insight. Percentage of high-performing sales reps in complex sales environments The Challenger 54% 4% 7% The Relationship Builder 19% 25% The Problem Solver The Hard Worker The Lone Wolf so, how can marketers take the same approach? 3

4 Marketers often run to content marketing, but it s not fixing lead generation. 90% of B2B marketers are anchoring their lead generation strategies around content marketing. Effectiveness of Marketing Efforts (Scale of 1 5) Commercial Strategy 3.13 Brand Development 3.04 But sales leaders rank lead generation efforts dead last in terms of effectiveness in helping them do their job. Sales Support 2.94 Customer Segmentation 2.92 Marketers are trying to position themselves as thought leaders, but it isn t leading to commercial results. Analytics and CRM 2.75 Lead Generation 2.53 Source: CEB Commercial Insight Diagnostic, CEB Research 4

5 Most content fails to generate leads because it s based on thought leadership, not insight. The Content Marketing Hierarchy General Information Marketers create many flavors of content in their aspiration to achieve thought leadership, but only one type of content will produce the desired commercial impact. Accepted Information Thought Leadership Insight Commercial Insight Commercial Insight: A compelling, defensible perspective from a supplier that materially impacts a customer s performance and directly leads back to their unique capabilities 5

6 Don t Teach. Unteach. The key difference between thought leadership and commercial insight: Thought leadership teaches customers something about what they could be doing in their business. Content Focus: Benefits of alternate action Commercial insight unteaches customers something they are currently doing in their business. Content Focus: Costs of current behavior Marketers create too much mediocre content in the name of looking smart or being helpful. It doesn t move the commercial needle and only adds to the noise. Marketers creating content that lacks the ability to disrupt customer priorities should stop it. Kill it. Never create it in the first place. Period. 6

7 How to cut through the noise Create content paths that lead to commercial insight and disrupt customer purchase processes. 1 Spark Concern Build interest in an underappreciated business problem with provocative infographics, data, and factoids. 2 Scope the Problem Present evidence, testimonials, and frameworks illustrating the hidden dynamics of the problem. 3 Personalize the Pain Present the problem as it relates to the customer s specific business using benchmarking tools, pain calculators, and diagnostics! Commercial Insight Content challenging customers current thinking this will more reliably reset the customer s purchase criteria decisively in the supplier s favor. 7

8 Meet the Challenger marketer. Customer Native Understands customer purchase motivators and decisions Synthesizes action plans from customer interactions, observations, and data Tailors and contextualizes information Possesses experience beyond Marketing Business Savvy Investigative Thrives in an ambiguous environment Background in Consulting or Strategy Planning Focused on business objectives ahead of marketing metrics. Analyzes outliers Decisive, but not overly confident. Hallmarks of a Challenger Marketer Challenger marketers disrupt purchase processes by generating commercial insight, amplifying that insight in the market and through the sales force. These marketers develop a deep understanding of customers, take an investigative approach to their jobs, and possess savviness beyond marketing. 8

9 Marketing and sales roles: from handoff to collaboration Traditional Sales Funnels Sales Funnels for Challenger Marketers Marketing Marketing Sales Sales 1 Build Content to 1 Prove Superiority Engage Prospects of Supplier Value Proposition 1 2 Position Supplier as Thought Leader Navigate and Align 3 Generate and Nurture Leads 2 Buying Center 2 Stakeholders 3 Close Deals Partner with Sales to develop commercial insight. Create the conditions and content that enable Sales to build prospect relationships in the pre-funnel. 3 4 Co-design demand generation and content strategy that disrupts how customers think of their own business. Collaborate with Sales to equip reps with Challenger collateral. 9

10 This study may not be reproduced or redistributed without the expressed permission of The Corporate Executive Board Company. Take the Next Steps Assess Your Challenger Readiness CEB Report: Getting Paid for Content Marketing CEB Marketing Leadership Council Challenger Marketing Series Getting Paid for Content Marketing Disrupting Customer Buying Criteria Challenger Marketing Series Roadmap to Building a Challenger Commercial Organization The Challenger Sale from 10