3 steps to improve the B2B energy buyer’s journey and unite your sales team

Collaboration and innovation are fundamental to your B2B energy brand. Internal coordination across teams and tech improves the buyer’s journey. SalesForce reports:

75% of business buyers say that connected processes are very important to winning their business

Seamless customer experience depends on smooth transitions throughout the sales funnel. Forget the traditional buyer’s journey. Gartner’s CSO Update: The New B2B Buying Journey and Its Implication for Sales says:

If we were to map out a real B2B buying journey, it would look a lot less like a step-by-step linear process and a lot more like a big bowl of spaghetti.

Technology Roadmap Survey. Source: Gartner Multimedia Gallery URL

This shift in consumer behavior means that stakeholders—from board members to the heads of departments—must adopt internal processes that make communications and data-sharing easy.

Results from a global study by LinkedIn on The Payoffs of Improved Sales and Marketing Alignment found:

• 65% said a lack of collaboration between departments meant missed business opportunities
• 46% believed that the disconnect leads to customer frustration

Avoid overwhelming your B2B customers during a long sales cycle with a top-down approach. Start by getting leaders on board with new strategies. Then help your sales, marketing, and service teams to develop tools for communication.

The result is a connected organization that consistently delivers value throughout the buyer’s journey.

1. Align views for buy-in from all teams.

At the core of your energy brand is your value proposition. This statement differentiates your company from the competition and positions your business as a solution to specific pain points.

Your value proposition is the foundation for all communications goals. Smart Business Network says:

Manufacturers should put themselves in their buyers’ shoes and construct a communication platform that addresses all stages of the buying cycle. The company’s value proposition should be integrated into every aspect of the cycle.

Get stakeholders on board by:

• Providing a purposeful framework for building brand advocates
• Creating key messages around the benefits of goal alignment
• Giving teams communications guidelines for successful presentation across networks

2. Enlist a team to oversee the buyer’s journey.

The problem with data is that there’s so much of it that it’s hard to prioritize and share in a meaningful way. Appoint a team to balance the flow of data and keep track of progress towards objectives.

• Review incoming data and determine how that information impacts both shared KPIs and individual goals.
• Develop a schedule of communications for social channels, email marketing, and trade show PR that balances and satisfies various stakeholders.
• Provide valuable time-saving solutions with clear benefits.
• Give all stakeholders the info they need, when they need it, and in a way that they can use it.

3. Employ a collaborative approach for data-sharing.

Strategic collaboration is purposeful and fact-driven. However, Hubspot indicates that salespeople spend:

17% of their time entering data

Therefore, your sales team needs access to systems and tools that make them more efficient. Avoid costly distractions and focus on what matters using shared goals and automation.

Share top of funnel KPIs.
The need to meet a quota isn’t going away. However, improving the buyer’s journey in measurable ways should be an overall goal of your energy organization. Create shared objectives across teams to encourage coordinated efforts.

Build in processes to ensure smooth data transfer.
Gaps in workflow between sales, marketing, and service teams create a disconnect that directly impacts customer experience. Develop systems for transferring and accessing buyer data across platforms.

Use API to connect systems.
Automate the flow of data and analyze buyer insights quickly by connecting your internal communications systems.

By using a data-driven approach to collaboration and turning your energy brand value proposition into a tool, you’ll improve the buyer’s journey. Enhance your communications with a defined strategy that accounts for all members of your organization.