B to B Sales and Consolidated Marketing Platforms

From CustomerThink

The Salesman’s Resurrection by AI Featured Column by CustomerThink Advisor!  by Thomas Wieberneit

The B2B salesperson is dead. .... Or so it is said.

There are scores of studies telling us that most of a customer’s buying process is already accomplished before a salesperson is even contacted and is merely allowed to make the transaction.
Forrester Research predicted in 2015 that 1 million US salespeople would lose their jobs to self-service and ecommerce by 2020. While they updated this report in March 2017 the statement largely stays the same.

The highly reputed Edelman Trust Barometer reveals in 2017 that trust in businesses declines and that “CEO credibility decreased the most, dropping to an all-time low”. Instead, people trust a person like themselves, or technical and academic experts most.

And the trust in experts is declining, too.

The Environment Has Changed

Today, enabled by technology, especially mobile devices, and social media, customers have a far higher reach than they had, say, in the 90’s. Today they can get a wealth of information online, via sources they trust. And they reach out for it, especially when it comes to products of low complexity. Especially for these products they can’t be bothered contacting a sales person at all but simply buy online.

Customers simply go through the process in their own time and at their own pace.

.... Towards a Consolidated Marketing Platform  driven by AI  ....  "