SiriusDecisions Summit Sets The Bar For New “Demand Ecosystem” In B2B

In keeping with the Summit’s theme “Growth Through Integration,” the agenda featured case studies on sales & marketing alignment from B2B leaders such as Symantec, CA, SAP AG, Cognos and newScale. The SiriusDecisions team also introduced several new benchmarks and best practice guidelines to help B2B organizations address the changing buying cycle--including a new “Demand Ecosystem” model and an updated Demand Spectrum which shapes sales and marketing strategies around a “Demand Type” formula.

“B2B buyers now own their own buying process and they control the flow of information,” said Tony Jaros, VP of Research at SiriusDecisions. In order to effectively address the new buying process, Jaros stressed that both sales and marketing teams will be required to adapt their messaging to meet the information needs of buyers. “The bar has been raised in terms of the value both sales and marketing have to deliver at critical points in the buying process.”

In order to help companies align their sales and marketing messaging to “key knowledge inflection points,” Jaros suggested companies build unified strategies based on mapping around the firm’s Demand Type model and the defined stages of the buying process.

The Wilton, CT-based research consultancy has defined 3 models of Demand Type, which address the maturity of a product or solution and help companies build integrated sales and marketing strategies around each type. The 3 Demand Types as defined by SiriusDecisions are New Concept (which are typically cutting edge offerings that require additional budget allocation), New Paradigm (upgrades or replacements to existing solutions) and Established Market (core categories which are often required purchases, and therefore usually highly competitive).

Based on the unique market conditions of each Demand Type, Jaros pointed out that companies should build sales and marketing strategies that target different stages of the buying cycle. For example, a New Concept offering would require specific messaging at all stages because there is a heavy educational component to establish need and justify spend. New Paradigm and Established Market offerings should focus more on the later stages of the buying cycle as prospects are usually more interested in vendor selection and ROI measures.

“Prospects demand increasingly detailed specific information as they advance through their buying cycles,” Jaros said, adding that the marketing department often needs to provide more sophisticated resources to satisfy more granular detail as prospects make buying decisions.

Jaros also pointed out that the growing need for more sophisticated content and collateral later in the buying cycle is changing the traditional “hand-off” of leads from marketing to sales.

SiriusDecisions’ recent Sales Readiness Survey identified a growing opportunity for marketing to have a greater impact on sales by focusing on knowledge management in addition to demand creation.

While B2B organizations are currently spending more than 90% of their budgets on lead generation programs to feed the top of the sales funnel, or “demand waterfall” as SiriusDecisions defines it, Jaros stressed the growing need for marketing to broaden its impact at later buying stages. “Marketing is over-focused on the top of the waterfall,” he said.

To help companies build aligned strategies around these changing market dynamics, Jaros also introduced a Demand Ecosystem, which is built around Demand Type, Target Marketing, Lead Taxonomy and the Buying Cycle. “By focusing on the way prospects buy, sales and marketing can’t help but draw more closely together,” he said. “The most effective BtoB demand creators look at a shared demand waterfall with common definitions of a lead and the process a service-level agreement for how leads will be evolved into opportunities.”