Building on the foundation of an effective sales equation that was established in our first post, this post explores how the rise of the anonymous buyer is reshaping the roles of marketing and sales—and how those that understand this shift are poised for success.

In the past, marketing and sales focused on generating “contacts” through high-volume email and voicemail campaigns. These outreach tactics, however, have driven prospects to avoid direct engagement and adopt an anonymous buyer profile. Today, an estimated 70–80% of the buyer’s journey happens anonymously, as prospects research solutions online while avoiding lead forms as well as emails and phone calls for sales engagement.

Today, the odds of being invited to a discovery meeting are about zero. Prospects have little time and even less interest in sitting through a one-hour meeting for an introduction, overview presentation, and planning discussion. Instead, they prefer to stay anonymous for most of the buying cycle, researching solutions independently until they are ready to engage—at which point they expect real expertise.

Shift Between Marketing and Sales

The characteristics of the shift between marketing and sales include the following:

• Inside Sales—Driven by the rise of account-based marketing (ABM), inside sales becomes part of marketing to map and correlate the multiple touch points of prospects (and customers) as they follow a non-linear and extended online nurturing journey. Inside sales and marketing now work together as a team, leveraging high-quality educational content and industry-specific context to nurture engagement. Inside sales teams actively monitor prospect interactions across websites, emails, and social channels to identify patterns of interest. By analyzing these engagement signals, they can fine-tune their approach and reinforce the tactics that produce the strongest results. In this environment, both content and context are critical to building lasting connections.
• Outbound Sales—Due to the fact that anonymous buyers wait until the final 20–30% of their buying cycle before engaging with sales, outbound sales now face a more educated and experienced buyer. This shift changes the game for outbound sales; they need to have the level of product expertise and competitive knowledge normally found in product marketing. Buyers expect expertise late in the buying cycle and sales, for the most part, has one shot with prospects. The buyer’s high-value experience of online content and context has to continue into the audible-ready skills of outbound sales.
• Training—Training for marketing and sales teams changes to match the realities of the anonymous buyer journey.  Marketing and inside sales need to understand analytics for all customer and prospect touch points.  Knowledge of and expertise with the marketing automation stack—and a shift from a "spam cannon" mentality to a "contextual rifle" approach—become key for success.  Interested prospects and customers value educational content and insights. Sales training must go deeper into solution expertise and competitive positioning, as buyers expect this knowledge from the first meeting onward.  Why is your solution better and what are the results? This gets back to the New York City one-minute meeting test of being audible ready, concise, and knowledgeable. Can you pass the test for your solution or service?
• Content—Content becomes more concise, clear, and impactful as people have less time for long storyboards, large papers and reports, or one-hour videos. The eye sweep, often from upper left to lower right, results in headlines and sub-heads being absorbed while long paragraphs get looked over. Trust in peers, their projects and results, and their recommendations outweigh lab tests, canned case studies, and numerous awards. This changes what marketing and inside sales leverage for content and how outbound sales communicate the sales equation for their solution. The conversation is more about the prospect and validation comes from their peers.
• Warning Signs—Signs that your company needs to make the shift include long overview presentations that repeat known facts about a problem and include the company history, journey, and product portfolio. Look for a haystack of contacts (often incorrectly called leads) from marketing that sales refuse to engage, as they are not qualified and a waste of their time.  Another indicator is sales teams missing new prospects because they are relying on old contact lists and outdated rolodexes. People change roles, jobs, and companies more frequently, and digital signals along a non-linear online journey are lost when sales rely on outdated contact information.

Summary

Buyers today expect expertise when they engage with sales at a product marketing level and are likely to find your company online from content that educates and provides insights. To meet these expectations, marketing, inside sales, and outbound sales must adapt to the new engagement model, where anonymous buyers prefer to gather information independently before initiating contact. Training and content must evolve to support this shift and deliver the expertise buyers demand.

The next blog in this series will look at the evolution of inside sales and why this team is quickly expanding under marketing leadership to nurture prospects and analyze analytics.

The CyberEdge Advantage

Reaching today’s anonymous buyers starts with the right messaging and a clear understanding of your audience. If you’re struggling to synch your strategy with the anonymous buyer journey, you’re in the right place. CyberEdge helps you develop focused messaging and buyer personas that align with how modern buyers prefer to engage. Contact us today for a personalized consultation and position your brand to meet today’s buyers on their terms.