Why Your Outdated Strategy Is Costing You Customers (And How to Fix It)

Ah, the good old days of B2B sales and marketing, when companies could just spam potential buyers with unsolicited sales pitches until they finally caved and agreed to a meeting. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Nowadays, buyers are a lot smarter, more independent, and more skeptical of sales tactics than ever before.

Most traditional B2B GTM models work against these fundamental shifts in buying behavior because they aim to create demand primarily using solicited outbound sales outreach to buyers that aren’t even in-market yet. Talk about a waste of time and resources.

This creates friction and misalignment in the buying process because buyers now want to execute research independently and prefer to leverage sources they trust more than vendor representatives, especially in the early stages of the buying process. So, if you're still relying on old-school sales tactics to reel in new customers, you're going to have a tough time keeping up.

This misalignment leads to longer sales cycles, lower win rates, higher customer acquisition costs, lower scalability, overall lower ROI, and a less productive GTM. Ouch, that's a lot of negatives. The root cause? Companies are selling in a way that no longer aligns with the buyer’s preferred buying process. You need to change your approach, and fast.

The Move From Lead Gen to Demand Gen

Luckily, there's a solution. With buying behavior changing, a significant shift has happened within GTM strategies to keep up with how buyers want to buy: the transition from lead gen to demand gen, or demand creation. Instead of collecting “leads” or other signals to facilitate unsolicited outbound sales activities, marketing is now responsible for guiding, empowering, and accelerating these independent buying journeys at scale.

Demand is then captured and converted into a sales pipeline through various sources and tactics. In other words, you need to be a lot smarter about how you market to potential customers. You can't just blast them with generic sales pitches and hope for the best.

Lead Gen

Let's start with the old way of doing things: lead gen. In this approach, marketing identifies a contact (or account) so that sales can try to make unsolicited sales. These leads are often marked as an MQL or MQA. Basically, companies are asking prospective buyers to have a meeting with them. Sounds a bit pushy, doesn't it?

Demand Creation

Now, let's talk about the new way of doing things: demand creation. In this approach, marketing educates the market and enables independent buying processes within their ICP at scale so that ideal buyers come to them and engage when they’re ready to buy. The buyer is asking for a meeting. See the difference? Instead of being the annoying salesperson who won't stop calling, you become the helpful guide who provides valuable information to potential customers.

We Need a Critical Mindset Shift

Of course, making the switch from lead gen to demand gen isn't easy. It requires a fundamental mindset shift for marketing organizations: they become direct revenue contributors rather than a support function for sales. In other words, marketing can no longer be seen as the department that creates pretty brochures and hosts conferences. They need to step up and take responsibility for driving revenue. It's a big change, but it's necessary if you want to succeed in today's B2B landscape.

Actionable Tips

So, what can you do to start making this shift? Here are a few actionable tips:

1. Remember in the B2B world that only about 1% of your prospects are ever in the market to buy your product or service at any one time. You need to build brand authority in your category so that when they are ready to buy, you are the first and only choice..
2. To do this, focus on creating valuable content that prioritizes solving their most pressing challenges. Rather than constantly talking about your product or trying to sell them, give freely and earn their trust and business.
3. Optimize the buyer’s journey for… *gasp* …the buyer. Give them the information they need to make informed decisions, and make it easy for them to reach out to you when they're ready to take the next step. And most importantly, listen to their feedback and adjust your approach accordingly. Remember, the buyer's journey isn't about you – it's about them.
4. Get your sales and marketing teams on the same page. Everyone needs to be singing the same tune or your company’s discourdance will confuse and drive prospects away. Your sales narrative and brand experience is driven from the top, so everyone on the executive team needs to take ownership of this.
5. Use data to inform your decisions. Don't rely on gut feelings or assumptions – use hard data to figure out what's working and what's not. You do this by talking to your customers as often as you can. Collect unstructured feedback and build a system & process for interpreting and managing it.
6. Finally, don't be afraid to experiment. The world is constantly evolving, so you need to be willing to try new things and take risks.

Recommended Next Steps

If you're serious about making the shift from lead gen to demand gen, here are a few next steps to consider:

1. Start by assessing your current GTM strategy. What's working well? What needs improvement? Where are the biggest areas of misalignment between your company and your customers?
2. Once you've identified the gaps, start building a roadmap for change. What changes do you need to make to your marketing and sales processes to better align with the buyer's journey?
3. Finally, don't forget to measure your results. Use KPIs like win rates, sales cycle length, and customer acquisition costs to track your progress and adjust your strategy as needed.

A Few Things to Ponder

1. What role does empathy play in B2B marketing? How can you better understand your customer's needs and pain points?
2. How can you build a marketing strategy that's focused on long-term, sustainable growth, rather than short-term gains?
3. Finally, how can you stay agile and adaptable in a constantly-changing business landscape? What processes do you need to have in place to pivot quickly when needed?

Thanks for reading, and good luck out there.