The lines between sales and marketing have blurred and the two departments must work more closely than ever before if they are to maximize effectiveness in today’s omni-channel world.
According to Gartner, buying groups spend 27% of their time researching independently, and only 17% meeting with potential suppliers. Buyers today are empowered and independent. They have a wealth of tools at their disposal to carry out their own information gathering.
As Caitlin Olmsted, Associate Director (Marketing Strategy), Fjuri says, “it’s common knowledge among most demand generation professionals that by the time a buyer is getting close to a sales representative they have gathered around 60-70% of the information they need to make a purchasing decision. The companies who don’t acknowledge this are missing the opportunity to be part of that buyer’s consideration process.”
The buying journey today is not linear, with prospects no longer moving predictably from the ‘awareness’ stage to ‘consideration’ and ‘purchase’. Digital has transformed the purchase funnel. Buyers jump around using numerous different channels, platforms and devices to explore existing problems and possible solutions.
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