Despite Covid difficulties, your business is still a leaky bucket
Many companies that i engage with have reported that selling was incredibly difficult during covid. it was difficult if not impossible to meet with buyers. Some buyers were reluctant to make decisions ”on line”. So the reasoning went if its impossible to sell, then we’ll retain our business over Covid because of ”inertia”. its too hard for clients to do anything.
Presumably, a lot of firms are getting this wrong, because four in five frequent B2B buyers say they’ve switched suppliers at least once during the last two-year period during Covid.
That’s a nightmare for client relations teams. But it’s great news for sales, because it means there are still great opportunities out there to poach customers from your rivals.
The study highlights several reasons for this growing frustration, including:
- Not meeting buyers’ needs: To survive in the digital ecosystem, some B2B sellers have focused on digital upgrades only to find themselves disconnected from meaningful dialogue with long-time customers. Conversely, other sellers remained focused on traditional sales cycles, without making the digital investments critical to modern commerce. The study finds that for the leaders, this is an “and,” not an “or.”
- Failing to marry technology and human interaction: With so much focus on scaling up digital platforms, it appears that the high-touch, relationship-driven side of the business has taken a backseat in B2B space. In fact, the laggard sellers in this survey were more likely (62%) than those with a service mindset (48%) to invest in sales plays that lacked salesperson support.
- Organizational disconnect: The majority of laggard sellers (69%) identify ‘cultural resistance to change at the board level’ as their primary challenge, while leaders are over four times more likely to have complete senior stakeholder buy-in for digitally-enabled customer service efforts.
how has this changed during Covid – primarily customers increasing comfort with digital engagement
Engaging with customers in the new digital world is different from before. How have you empowered your teams to win in a digital environment.