Proven ways to boost your B2B energy business’s revenue by 23%

Accenture reports that:

Before ever meeting with a sales representative, most B2B buyers are already 57% of the way through the buying process.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your buyer touchpoints align with your brand and B2B customer experience? Or is there a disconnect between platforms?
• Are you meeting buyer expectations of consistency and access at every point along the sales cycle—visually and via communications?

Failing to meet enterprise buyers’ expectations often results in loss of trust.

Lucid Press data shows that:

Revenue increases by 23% with a consistent brand presentation.

Potential clients who visit your tradeshow booth or pick up a brochure, later end up on your website or receive a follow-up email.

Touchpoints might include direct mail pieces, email marketing, banner ads, websites, LinkedIn, even the messaging you use. All are ways customers might interact with your brand.

If your messaging and visual style differs between these touchpoints, then it introduces uncertainty, skepticism, and confusion to the customer. Whereas, a successful brand strategy aligns your brand across platforms and moves your leads towards the end goal.

Satisfy your buyer’s need for speed and consistency with a cohesive and accessible customer experience across touchpoints.

Buyers are impatient.

With every minute of wait time, buyer satisfaction decreases. Temkin Group research finds that:

Among B2B decision makers, lack of speed in interactions with their suppliers is the number one pain point, mentioned twice as often as price.

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Digital-savvy executives expect high-level energy providers to deliver information with agility. Although you’re nurturing leads for months along the sales cycle, your potential buyers won’t wait for answers. That’s why Gartner says:

Sales reps are no longer the channel to customers, but simply a channel and alignment across in-person and digital channels is crucial for supporting customers in the way they actually buy.

Successful energy providers go where their customers are and use technology-driven solutions to smooth the buyer’s journey.

Buyers want to stay connected.

As more enterprises turn to AI to aid in the sales cycle, disconnect might occur.

When correctly used, self-service options like chatbots instill trust in buyers and improve your company’s operational effectiveness. CMS Wire says that robotic process automation:

Allows agents to spend more time on relationship building and problem-solving activities rather than mundane, routine actions.

Virtual customer assistance (VCA) and chatbots. VCAs improve customer service response times and decrease costs. For successful implementation of VCAs, you should:

• Use conversational language.
• Provide options for accessing human assistance.
• Integrate across customer service channels.
• Brand your bot to match the look and feel of your site.

Self-service. Resources provide multiple opportunities to enhance the customer experience and position your brand as an authority in the industry. Forrester reports that:

82% of B2B buyers viewed at least five pieces of content from the vendor prior to purchase.

Your brand extends beyond just logos and websites. Customers and staff, messaging, and your goals are all part of your brand.

Add resources to your website to increase buyer satisfaction and improve your search engine results.

• Learn what type of support your clients need by mining social mentions, reviews, and your sales team for data.
• Turn that information into FAQ pages, in-depth product information sheets, and downloadable templates.
• Make your site searchable by using relevant tags and categories for your content.
• Keep content consistent in visuals, tone, and voice.

Buyers explore beyond your website.

Your brand experience doesn’t begin or end with owned touchpoints. Recent Business2Community data shows that:

77% of buyers report using more information sources for research and evaluation.

That means energy providers need to increase their visibility with branded content across social media and trade publications. However, if your LinkedIn profile, Forbes article, or paid advertising don’t match your brand tone and voice, then buyers drop off.

Deliver seamless customer experience using a communications strategy that moves buyers through your funnel while maintaining your brand’s visual style and messaging.