Iron Horse recently surveyed 403 US-based senior marketing and sales leaders to find out what their goals and priorities are, and how they discover, research and decide to buy technology solutions. These B2B decision-makers are at the helm of organizations generating $100M+ in revenue who have made a martech or salestech purchase of $75K+ in the last two years.
Our report reveals 3 eye-opening shifts that have occurred across today’s B2B buying journey that can help you focus your company’s priorities. Here are the findings.
B2B buyers are forging the path to purchase independently.
A significant portion of buyers, specifically 54%, are engaging in a primarily self-serve journey when making purchase decisions. Not only are these buyers independently navigating and gathering information throughout their decision-making process, but more than 75% of the entire buying journey is spent by these buyers without direct involvement from sales or marketing teams.
A buyer’s website experience matters—like, a lot.
63% of senior executives spend the majority of their self-serve time on the vendor’s website. This underscores the importance of creating a compelling, informative and user-friendly online experience to effectively influence perceptions and decisions throughout the B2B buying journey. In the past, it may have been enough to rely on your sales team to answer questions from this critical audience. But today, businesses must assume senior executives are among the buyers who are trying to answer key questions about a solution online before talking to sales.
Both marketing and sales seek to drive revenue from existing customers.
By concentrating on upselling and cross-selling, both marketing and sales aim to capitalize on the untapped potential within their current customer base, recognizing that these relationships provide fertile ground for expanding revenue streams. The common goal between marketing and sales to pursue upsell and cross-sell strategies underscores the importance of a unified and customer-centric approach in maximizing business opportunities and fostering long-term customer loyalty.
The Iron Horse insight.
Significant shifts in B2B buying highlight the need for your business to (1) enhance its online resources and support mechanisms to facilitate a digital-first, self-serve journey, and (2) to foster a united front between marketing and sales to implement a holistic, customer-centric approach to revenue growth. Read our entire Buyer Insights Report to discover how these strategies can be woven into your approach—empowering your teams to not just adapt but thrive in this era of digital-first B2B interactions.
