B2B Relationships: Not That Different Than Personal Relationships
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010“Just like a good relationship between a man and a woman; when there is open communication and an honest desire to reach a common goal then your probability of success is much greater,” said Anthony DeAngelis, one of the participants in a recent LinkedIn discussion, and I couldn’t agree more.
I love the comparison between a personal relationship and sales/marketing relationship. In fact, I think B2B relationships – sales/marketing and also the relationship between businesses and prospects – are not that different than personal relationships, and the comparison is beneficial because it helps to explain, and to understand, why these relationships are so complex.
Aligning Marketing and Sales to agree on the same goal and to define that goal, then work together to achieve it, is a lot like aligning mutual expectations in a personal relationship.
Patiently nurturing leads in a long buying cycle, getting to know them better and tailoring your communication to their needs is very similar to nurturing a long-term personal relationship.
The idea is simple: in the B2B space, we’re not dealing with a single, quick sale of goods. We’re typically dealing with complex, expensive transactions that take time. It takes time for the buyer to decide to buy, and as a result the business needs to be very patient while the buyer takes their time, while remaining top of mind for the buyer. Not an easy task!
This also reflects on the Marketing/Sales relationship, because the complexity of these sales requires a lot of cooperation between Marketing and Sales and a highly knowledgeable Sales rep when the time finally comes to make the sales pitch.
The complexity of these relationships in the B2B space means that automation is very important – without automation, efficiently managing these long buying cycles is nearly impossible. The beauty of Marketing Automation systems is that they enable not just lead nurturing over long periods of time, but also a much better relationship and understanding between Sales and Marketing.
