Revenue Stocking Stuffers — Break Down Barriers to Inbound Interest (5 of 8)

7 min readDec 12, 2023

This is part five of the Stocking Stuffer Series

Understanding Target Audience Behavior
Improve Outreach Credibility
Support the Ideal Purchase Process
Reassess Product-Market Fit
Break Down Barriers to Inbound Interest
Adopt a Digital Adoption Platform
No Sales Allowed! Outreach
Invest in Long-Term Customer Success

Break Down Barriers to Inbound Interest

In the dynamic realm of business, cultivating inbound interest is a pivotal indicator of a company’s success in various facets such as brand reputation, product dominance, and strategic marketing efforts. Capturing the attention of consumers is just the beginning; ensuring they remain interested and engaged is imperative for optimizing the likelihood of converting interest into a purchase. This article delves into the intricacies of the buyer’s journey, explores the characteristics of the modern buyer, and analyzes strategies adopted by forward-thinking companies to facilitate a seamless and engaging experience for potential customers.

First, thought, let’s refresh on the buyer’s journey, akin to a sales funnel from a prospect’s perspective, unfolds in three crucial stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Mapping this journey is essential to gaining insights into how potential customers navigate the purchasing process. While internal processes vary, it is crucial to comprehend the key flows that resonate with the majority of the ideal customer base. Inconsistencies in these flows can create friction, hindering the optimization of the buyer’s journey.

The modern buyer, representing the contemporary era of consumer behavior, has been summarized across four key areas:

Informed Decision-Making: Modern buyers are well-informed, with 61% conducting extensive research before contacting a seller. Social media plays a pivotal role, serving as the primary research resource for 72% of buyers. When facing challenges in outreach response and Sales Accepted Leads (SAL) conversion, a strategic evaluation of the market and influencers’ perspectives is imperative. The landscape has shifted from relying on traditional channels to leveraging digital platforms for comprehensive product evaluations.
Instant Gratification: A staggering 91% of modern buyers prefer content that can be accessed immediately upon demand. Swift responsiveness is key, with buyers being 21 times more likely to enter the sales process when contacted within the first 5 minutes. This shift in dynamics emphasizes the need for real-time engagement strategies, where a timely response can significantly impact the buyer’s decision-making process.
Value for Quality Content: Quality content is paramount, with 65% of B2B buyers emphasizing its impact on the buying decision. Sales teams employing structured methodologies such as MEDDIC, Gap Selling, or Challenge Sale excel in delivering unexpected value and identifying unanticipated factors that influence buyer decisions positively. The emphasis on content quality underscores the need for businesses to invest in compelling and informative materials.
Experience-Driven Decisions: Buyers today are experience-driven, willing to pay 30% more for a superior experience. A significant 53% of the purchase decision is centered on the overall buying experience, extending beyond traditional sales interactions to encompass engagement on websites or during free trials. This shift highlights the importance of optimizing not just the sales-driven experience but the holistic engagement customers have with a brand.

(sources: DemandGen, InsiderSales, Avanade, and CEB)

To appreciate the transformation in buyer behavior, a comparison between modern buyers and those from the 1990s provides valuable insights into how the advent of technology has reshaped the purchasing landscape. In the 1990s, limited access to information necessitated dependence on sales professionals for product details, leading to a more controlled sales process. The contemporary buyer, empowered by extensive pre-purchase research capabilities, seeks autonomy in decision-making, requiring businesses to adapt strategies to meet evolving expectations.

The prevalence of digital platforms today enables modern buyers to conduct thorough research independently, a stark contrast to the reliance on traditional channels in the 1990s. The shift in power dynamics underscores the need for businesses to align their strategies with the preferences of today’s informed and autonomous buyers, who expect a seamless and personalized purchasing experience.

In the next section, we will explore strategies adopted by forward-looking companies to facilitate the modern buyer’s journey effectively.

Strategies to Facilitate the Modern Buyer’s Journey

Forward-thinking companies recognize the evolving landscape of consumer behavior and actively implement strategies to cater to the preferences and expectations of the modern buyer. Here, we explore several approaches that businesses have adopted to break down barriers to inbound interest and enhance the overall buyer’s journey.

Freemium Access Models

Drawing inspiration from the success of innovative companies like Heroku, businesses are increasingly adopting freemium access models to provide potential customers with a hands-on experience before committing to a purchase. Much like building online applications, this approach enables users to explore and understand digital products or services, fostering a sense of engagement and personalization. Evaluation teams that prefer not to engage directly with sales or marketing teams have the autonomy to explore and interact with these teams entirely at their discretion and control.

Acceleration of Buyer’s Journey: Freemium models accelerate the buyer’s journey by allowing motivated buyers to experience the product firsthand. This not only expedites the decision-making process but also serves to convert hesitant prospects into the sales funnel more effectively than traditional outreach methods.
Time and Access Considerations: When implementing freemium experiences, companies need to consider whether to offer unlimited access or time-bound trials. Options range from providing a bare-bones version for free, supported by non-traditional revenues such as ads or data collection, to time-boxing feature-rich trials that create compelling events for purchase decisions. Striking a balance that aligns with the target audience’s expectations is crucial.
User Limitations: Another consideration is whether to limit user access in freemium models. Companies often tailor pricing tiers based on user packages, consumption metrics, or specific features. Understanding what drives consumption and value allows businesses to set up an ideal lever for driving adoption and growth.
Curated or Blank Slate Content: Companies should carefully consider whether to present a curated or blank slate environment when users first log into their freemium platforms. This decision depends on the technical proficiency and preferences of the target audience. Technical users may prefer a blank slate, while others might benefit from a curated experience.

Guided Experiences

While some sales professionals may be hesitant to provide free trials, recognizing the loss of control over the buyer’s journey, a strategic sales engineering team can play a crucial role in guiding prospects. A good sales engineer not only provides a customized demo but also scopes the evaluation in favor of the company. However, a great sales engineer goes beyond and walks in the prospect’s shoes, offering alternative routes and methods for securing a win. Utilize their expertise and insights in crafting the following to emulate the high-touch experience traditionally delivered by sales engineers.

Visibility Through Data: To maintain control and visibility over user engagement, all digital products should be API-backed, providing metrics on usage, performance, and availability. This data is essential for making informed decisions and optimizing the buyer’s journey.
Strategic Documentation: Providing easy access to key areas of documentation within the product trial is crucial. Offering snippets or links to specific sections ensures users can find essential information without navigating an overwhelming amount of documentation. Additionally, explaining differentiators positively without directly criticizing competitors contributes to a positive user experience.
Risk Reduction Through Information: Addressing the concerns of serious buyers regarding security, privacy, and legal compliance is vital. Providing public-facing documentation on these aspects, linked directly within the product trial, reduces friction in the evaluation process. For more detailed information requiring an NDA, clear processes should be outlined to make the bureaucratic step seamless for the evaluation team.
Chatbot-Level Support: Recognizing the challenges of providing Tier 1 support for all during freemium evaluations, companies often implement chatbot-level support. With the support of AI, chatbots can draw from internal knowledge bases, documentation, and input from engineering or product teams. Additionally, insights into chatbot activity shared with relevant teams through Slack to enhance the support process.
Digital Adoption Platforms: Services like Pendo and WalkMe, categorized as digital adoption platforms, offer seamless support for many of the aforementioned strategies. These tools require minimal changes to production code and can be managed by various teams, including sales, sales engineering, product, or marketing.

Seamless Purchase Options

As buyers progress through the evaluation process and reach the decision stage, transparent pricing and flexible purchase options become critical. Evaluators, often without discretionary budgets, take their technical findings and purchase terms to final decision-makers. Hiding terms and conditions or restricting communications can lead to a “Closed-No Decision” outcome, indicating a failure to adapt to the buyer’s journey.

Deal Desk Transparency: To enhance the buyer’s journey, businesses should bring transparency to the complexities of their Deal Desk. An articulate explanation of the pricing model and available levers is essential. Adopting Configure Price Quote (CPQ) solutions, such as SalesBricks, streamlines the quoting process, allowing evaluation teams to make purchases independently after completing their assessments.
Self-Service CPQ: CPQ solutions are self-service, enabling evaluation teams to generate quotes and make purchase decisions without unnecessary hurdles. This seamless approach ensures that the buyer’s journey is completed effortlessly, contributing to a positive customer experience. Similarly automated purchasing tools efficiently manage numerous transactions, alleviating the burden on sales and deal desk teams. Additionally, compensation models can align CPQ transactions with specific regions or individual territory representatives.
Adaptation and Flexibility: Businesses should continually adapt their pricing models to align with the evolving needs of the market. A dynamic pricing strategy that accommodates various buyer personas, industries, and sizes ensures flexibility in meeting diverse customer requirements.

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Breaking down barriers to inbound interest involves a strategic alignment with the preferences and behaviors of the modern buyer. By comprehending the buyer’s journey, understanding the characteristics of the modern buyer, and implementing effective strategies such as freemium access models, guided experiences, and seamless purchase options, businesses can enhance their appeal to potential customers. In the ever-evolving landscape of business, the ability to adapt and optimize the buyer’s journey is a cornerstone for sustained growth and success.