SalesLoft’s Rainmaker Event Explores ‘Sales Revolution’ In B2B Buying Experiences
- Written by Klaudia Tirico
- Published in Industry Insights
New buyer preferences and demands have forced B2B professionals to make much-needed changes in their go-to-market strategies. With B2C brands like Amazon and Spotify shaping expectations in their personal life, B2B buyers are now expecting a more intuitive customized experience in their professional engagements. And it’s not just marketing teams that have to adapt to new expectations — sales teams are also being forced to adapt and evolve.
This “sales revolution” was the key theme at SalesLoft’s annual Rainmaker event in Atlanta, Ga., where experts from Forrester, Informatica, Gong.io and more took the stage to help address the sales experiences B2B buyers are now demanding.
“On top of the digital revolution, we’re seeing massive changes in buyer behavior,” said Kyle Porter, CEO of SalesLoft, during his keynote address at Rainmaker 2019. “[It’s time to] elevate the profession of sales to focus on delivering customers world class experiences. With that, you can maximize revenue. A sales experience must be authentic, engaging, relevant, human, one-to-one and, most importantly, it understands buyers’ needs and solves their problems.”
View on Demand Gen Report#B2B buyers are more demanding than ever; they expect sellers to know them before the initial sales convo. #Rainmaker19 @sheaforr pic.twitter.com/8xwwKMjKcK
— Klaudia Tirico (@klaudiatirico) March 12, 2019
“We’re all familiar with ideas that you should sell the problem before you sell the solution, but we forget to do that in the micro scenario that is competitive differentiation,” Orlob said. “We sell the broad problem and we deliver the brand solution, but we don’t sell the micro problem that our unique product advantages solve. So, the buyer doesn’t have the context to land.”
At the end of the day, modern sellers must develop authentic relationships with prospects and be a true partner.
“Today’s successful seller has to be a problem solver and you do that by asking great questions and collectively solving the problem with and for your customer,” said SalesLoft’s Sloan. “It doesn’t matter if the product goes 10 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour, it’s the people I want to work with in partnership and at the end of the day, it’s the people I want to work with. I’ll pick a company because of the relationship. The product still has to solve my problems but if two things are equal, I’ll go with the partnership.”