No matter how long a business-to-business sales process takes, perhaps 60 percent to 70 percent of potential business product buyers have conducted research on solutions to their problems before they contact a sales professional.
In other words, “B2B customers today progress more than 70 percent of the way through the decision-making process before ever engaging a sales representative,” according to some studies.
The B2B sales journey in 2020 began online, using search about 90 percent of the time, according to Forrester Research. Search is involved 90 percent of the time, according to Google.
In 2020, 80 percent of the average B2B buyer journey took place online, and whatever statistics you choose to believe, online research is a huge part of the buyer journey.
Though intensified by the pandemic, 96 percent of B2B sales teams have shifted to remote selling, according to McKinsey.
That includes checking a supplier’s website, doing online searches and reading user reviews, according to Marketing Charts. Some 94 percent of all potential business customers conduct online research before making any purchases valued at more than $100,000, for example.
Accenture notes that business buyers also increasingly expect a “consumer online” experience when buying B2B. In 2014, for example, about 40 percent of prospects conduct online research for a majority of goods priced under $10,000, and 31 percent do so at that frequency for goods costing at least $100,000.
More importantly, perhaps, many B2B transactions take place online as well.
That remained true in 2020. More than half of prospects reported found solutions online. And 70 percent of buyers defined their solutions before they ever contacted a sales professional.
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