Occasionally Allbound invites guest bloggers to contribute to our Partner Sales Acceleration conversation, and today’s blog post is from Mike Wolfe, Associate Consultant at SmartBug Media. Buyer behavior has changed, marketing strategies have changed … has your sales cycle? The power of the information age has changed the way people find products and services. With an endless supply of information available online, people no longer rely on sales reps to help identify problems and solutions. Instead, people do their own problem solving—analyzing product or service features, doing price comparisons and reading customer reviews. According to a study by CEB, 57% of a typical purchase decision is made before a customer even talks to sales. Of course, this isn’t the end of the road for sales and marketing teams — far from it. The shift in consumer preferences has prompted many companies to change the way they promote products and services. According to HubSpot, 93% of companies that are using inbound marketing have increased lead generation. By providing more information to the consumer upfront, inbound marketers help customers make decisions while still having an influence in their decision making process. However, this new method of targeting and helping potential customers has overlapped into traditional sales roles. Here are four ways inbound marketing has changed the traditional sales cycle: Prospecting Instead of traditional prospecting through networking, cold-calls, or drop-in sales visits, inbound marketing draws prospects in by providing relevant, helpful content online that prospects are already searching for. In a survey by…
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