Traditional B2B Buying and Selling Cycles Are Out of Sync

Bob Walmsley Reveals How Marketing Automation Helps Companies Adapt to Changing Buyer Behavior

Robert M. Walmsley is President and CEO of Tailwind Strategies. He's spent over 20 years building high-tech sales and marketing teams. From achieving 3X revenue growth in 3 years to contributing sales leadership to a company ranked #1 on the Inc. 500 list as the fastest-growing company in America, Walmsley has the experience to show you how marketing automation can contribute to your company's growth strategy.

Marketing and sales alignment has long been an issue easier to debate than to achieve. In this section of The Quintessential Marketing Automation Guidebook, Why Marketing Automation is a Must-Have for Every B2B VP of Sales, Bob Walmsley sheds light on the sales implications of the shift to buyer control.

In a buyer-controlled sales process, generic responses just won't do the job. Walmsley validates the increased need for marketing and sales alignment based on the following:

• Sales bottlenecks have moved up the funnel.
• Your website is now the first sales call.
• Shrinking attention spans demand faster response.
• Traditional B2B sales cycles are out of sync with today's buying process.

"…the discovery process has been reversed. It's the buyer who's doing the discovery now, not the seller, and typically they have more information. In fact, it's not unusual for buyers to have read more information on the Web than the salesperson they're speaking with."

Walmsley makes the case for how marketing automation systems support the closed loop process that brings marketing and sales together. In fact, without it, sales cannot possibly gain the right visibility into the activity in the early buying stages or know how to respond with relevant, high-value information to address the prospect's specific stage of the buying process.

The marketing-to-sales process has converged. Both sides need higher visibility and processes to meet buyers on their own turf based on insights from both ends of the buying cycle. Without this, companies are working blindfolded. However, by connecting marketing automation with CRM, your business can now generate that elusive 360 degree view of customer contact, necessary to do business in today's digital business environment.

If you'd like to see your call connect rates improve from the typical rate in many industries of around 8% up to 40%, Walmsley provides insights to how marketing automation will connect your marketing and sales teams, enabling that outcome.

Click here to read Walmsley's section: Why Marketing Automation is a Must-Have for Every B2B VP of Sales or Download your copy of the complete eGuide today.