100 Practical Ways to Revolutionize the B2B Sale
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To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
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You never change things by finding the existing reality.
—Buckminster Fuller
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What's included: The Challenge: Business Development in the New Digital Era The Tool Kit of Solutions
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The Future of Networking
02 The Future of Lead Generation
65%–75% of the general population wants to work in some hybrid capacity (from home and from the office). ThinkLab research suggests A&D sentiment is similar.
03 The Future of Communication 04 The Future of the Customer Experience 05 The Future of Growth
This will fundamentally change the way work gets done in our industry.
That’s a Wrap
–75% %
65
Source: Global Workplace Analytics
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You may be wondering, “How do you come up with this stuff?”
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The researchers in us can’t resist a multiple-choice question:
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We make it up. We like counting to 100. It’s a good, round, research-y number. We guess. 6 months of generative research and focus groups with a cross-functional team of A&D, corporate real estate, manufacturers, and end users Lots of coffee
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Hopefully, you guessed (D) with a little bit of (E) sprinkled in. It’s the truth. We call it our methodology, but this deck of ideas will not use big words. Big words feel hard. This stuff is easy. Let’s dig in. 4
The Challenge Business Development in the New Digital Era COVID-19 has caused us to rethink a lot, quickly. Our industry, formerly built on human interaction, was forced into a digital world that presents unique challenges for business development. Many of us have pushed our business’ evolution forward, faster than ever. And spoiler alert: The world isn’t going “back to normal.” Some of the new practices we’ve adopted along the way are likely to stick. This is a vital time for rethinking. The future will require us to reevaluate our tool kit, adopt new tools, and use old tools in new ways. We have to disrupt ourselves. How, you ask? Read on . . .
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According to 6 months of cross-functional generative research, survey data from over 700 industry leaders, and hundreds of anecdotal conversations, our industry is struggling with business development . . . everywhere.
Roughly 71% of survey respondents say the biggest challenge to business development is “getting in touch with prospects” in this new digital world.
71%
So, let’s break it down by each key area: • • • • •
Networking Lead generation Communication Customer experience Growth
Source: ThinkLab Hackathon Survey, Q4, 2020
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Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to THINK and LEARN, but in a rapidly changing world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more:
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the ability to RETHINK and UNLEARN. —Adam Grant, Think Again
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How to unlearn and rethink your approach: In the old world, our process was more like a relay race where marketing handed the baton to sales, who then took digital tools into the physical world to close deals.
OLD NEW Marketing DIGITAL
Marketing
PHYG ITAL
Sales Sales
The new world requires a synchronized swimming approach where disciplines work together and create a combination of physical and digital tools to elevate the experience for a phygital world.
P HYS IC A L
Source: HowToSaaS
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How to Use This Tool Kit
If you're TYPE A Step 1: Print or project this packet, and grab some sticky notes or have a MIRO BOARD at the ready. Step 2: Invite your brightest bunch of internal B2B sales and marketing minds together (fully vaccinated, socially distanced, or virtually).
If you're TYPE B Treat it like a coffee table book. Pick it up, put it down. Flip to a random spot that suits you. Have a read, chat it over. Do something about it.
Step 3: Provide lunch, coffee, or lots of chocolate to keep the creative juices flowing. Step 4: Divide this packet into small doses: Take it one chapter per week, or one page per day, and make time to talk through it. Step 5: Prioritize the ideas that provide the most bang for your organization’s buck. Brainstorm how to implement these, assign ownership, and go revolutionize sales with simple things that make a big impact.
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The Tool Kit of Solutions You do you. Be open. Test. Iterate. Each organization is starting from a different place. We’re here to cast a wide net that allows your business to personalize the journey that’s right for you. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. All of this may not apply to your role, or even your business. You do you.
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The Future of the Customer Experience PRESENT
FUTURE
VIEW FROM INSIDE OUT
BONDED CHAOS
VIEW FROM OUTSIDE IN
Structured upon the industrial revolution: Departmental assembly line
Shared experience + rapid reframing
Structured upon the digital evolution: Empathy-driven + experiential
Pat’s company leads Joe through the buying process, silo by silo, explaining the structure along the way with “clean handoffs.”
Chaos reigns. Pat and Joe are in triage mode to get the project done.
Pat and her team do an internal mapping session to create a seamless, phygital buying experience for Joe.
PAST
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#4
BE YODA, NOT LUKE
Telling your story is a great way to go bankrupt. Instead, try inviting customers into a story.
“Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.” —Yoda
And when you tell that story, remember: “Do or do not. There is no try.” —Yoda
Your brand is NOT the hero. You might have been born on a rainy day in June — so what? The customer is the hero. Your job is to guide the hero successfully through a journey to solve their problem. Create for them a vision of a better life.
Help them overcome challenges.
Give them a happy ending.
Pro tip and Source: BUILDING A STORYBRAND, BY DONALD MILLER
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#23
PHYGITIZE THE EXPERIENCE
Flip the experience to samples first, conversations later. Here’s an example:
In a phygital world, clients need to touch and feel product, coupled with seamless digital support.
You’ve scoured dozens of websites looking for a closet system. Your eyes are starting to glaze over in the sea of sameness.
You get to the EZCloset website, where you’re encouraged to order a free sample kit.
The samples arrive at your doorstep. You see the example of the closet substrate, all your color samples, the works.
They call you to follow up, answer your questions, and set up a designer work session to create your closet solution over the phone. You may have looked at a thousand other websites, but you keep returning to the samples in your hand, and someone is on the phone making it easy(er) for you to say yes.
They won. Because you did something as simple as get them something to touch-and-feel, paired with a trusted guide to walk them through the process of discovery to point of (confident) purchase. How might you apply this to your customers’ experience with your business? 13
#47
DIVIDE TO CONQUER
3 roles for a dragon-slaying presentation: The host: the main presenter whose job it is to stay focused and deliver. The guardian: the facilitator, engaging and reading the chat, popping in and out of the conversation, reading the room.
You can’t just take your physical presentation and transfer it over to Zoom. It doesn’t work. And in a physical world, someone is stuck if you suck, but over Zoom, they can bail. You need help. You need friends. You need to divide to conquer. If you get good at this, your team will become a well-oiled machine. Meaningful content, great delivery, solid participation, seamless tech. You came. You slayed. You conquered.
The scribe (aka tech geek): the note taker, the tech figure-out-er, the one who keeps it all running smoothly in the background.
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100 Tips at a Glance 01 The Future of Networking #1 Don’t be a square peg in a round hole #2 Pass the snore test #3 Pass the “grunt test” #4 Be Yoda, not Luke #5 Find yourself #6 Up your video skills #7 Leverage video #8 Visualize your advantage #9 Crowdsource cheerleaders to reinforce your awesome sauce #10 Feed the FOMO #11 Empathize with your customer’s journey #12 Map it out #13 Reframe your value #14 Speak business #15 Speak design #16 Take the “un” out of “uncomfortable” #17 Elevate the experience of meeting your brand #18 Create a digital brand spokesperson #19 Perfect your pitch #20 Be the finger on the pulse
02 The Future of Lead Generation #21 Feed off feedback #22 Don’t snooze, you’ll lose #23 Phygitize the experience #24 Whet their appetite #25 Give to get #26 Work smarter (not harder) #27 Spread love, not hate #28 Pester lesser #29 Create, don’t wait #30 Surprise and delight #31 It’s not me, it’s you . . . #32 Highlight-reel your project expertise #33 Partner across party lines #34 Retire your Rolodex #35 Be proud of your problems #36 Let’m try it before they buy it #37 Be the “don’t know it all” know-it-all #38 Liven things up #39 Channel your Enneagram 2 #40 Keep the conversation alive 03 The Future of Communication #41 Create choose-your-own-adventures #42 CC you later . . . #43 Resist being Captain Obvious #44 Don’t overstay your welcome #45 Take your CEU to infinity and beyond #46 Don’t standardize, customize #47 Divide to conquer #48 Exercise your digital thumb #49 EQ is the new IQ #50 Popsicle-proof yourself #51 Establish communication ground rules
#52 Host “lessons learned” events #53 Flip the pitch #54 Lead by example #55 Embrace emoticons #56 Break the ice #57 Up your game #58 Feedback the process to process the feedback #59 Be socially savvy #60 Strut your stuff 04 The Future of the Customer Experience #61 B2C your B2B #62 Politics aren’t their problem #63 See yourself through their eyes #64 Humanize the experience #65 If you build it, they will come #66 Lead your horse to water #67 Don’t sell a product in an experience economy #68 Help them, don’t teach them #69 Ditch the “trust me” approach #70 “Undercover Boss” the situation #71 Walk a mile in their shoes #72 Align before they sign #73 Assess to impress #74 Get to the point #75 Dare to dream #76 Hire for DE&I #77 Hire designers as CSRs #78 Job shadow #79 Don’t be a taxi in an Uber world #80 Help yourself hybrid
05 The Future of Growth #81 Rethink regions #82 Push process over product #83 Invest in ABM #84 Tip the scales #85 Kill 10 birds with one stone #86 Eighty-six the 911 #87 Fail forward #88 Get agile, quick #89 Embrace your inner entrepreneur #90 Mentor Gen Y & Z #91 Offer a freemium model #92 Set up subscription services #93 Design new payment plans #94 Leverage the gig economy #95 Create new partnerships #96 Bring the outside in #97 Six-Sigma your sales process #98 BHAG it to achieve it #99 Don’t lone-wolf it #100 Keep looking to the future
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Dive deeper . . .
Want more? We have 95 more actionable ideas for you and your team in the full version of our playbook HERE
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