Recently, we discussed how marketers should adapt to the elongated sales cycles that are plaguing several industries in the face of today’s economic headwinds. While such sluggishness is the news that so often fills our feeds, it’s not the case for all B2B marketers. Some are even facing expedited sales cycles.
For example, regulatory-driven sales cycles don’t slow down, and often have a quick timeline for decision-making and implementation in order to avoid risk. Other technologies that help to solve the biggest challenges we’ve seen over the last few years – namely, supply chain technologies and cybersecurity solutions – are also in high demand.
So what’s different for these companies than those we wrote about before? How is optimizing B2B marketing efforts different for companies facing an expedited sales cycle vs. those that are elongating? Read on to find out.
Double down on later stages of the buyers’ journey. Marketers for in-demand industries like compliance, automation and cybersecurity should focus more of their efforts on the consideration and decision phases. These buyers are already fully (and, in the case of supply chain companies, painfully) aware of the challenge they need to solve, so you can dive right into why your company is their best bet to address that problem. With that being said, the awareness phase of the buyers’ journey shouldn’t be neglected completely, as it’s critical to continue educating target personas on the challenges they face.
Re-invest in relationship building. Events are back in business. It’s only February, and we’ve already seen a huge uptick in the number of events and tradeshows our B2B tech clients are both attending and hosting. In the face of accelerated sales cycles, buyers often go with the names they know, not having the time or resources to conduct in-depth research into new vendors. Events are a key way to build the relationships that will ensure your company is a finalist in the decision making process.
Update your nurture cadences. How often have you gotten an email promoting a product you’ve already bought or offering a demo of a tool you’ve already evaluated? In fast moving sales cycles, it’s an easy mistake to make, especially if your sales cycle has sped up from its previous norms. Be sure all of your rulesets and workflows are set to exclude people in active sales conversations from earlier stage marketing messages. Plus, consider accelerating the pace of nurture messaging to match the new flow of your sales cycles.
With recessionary fears, many marketers might consider you lucky if you are facing accelerated sales cycles, but we know they come with their own set of challenges. See how we helped one telehealth company address the increased demand ushered in at the start of the COVID pandemic, and contact us to see how we could do the same for your brand.