Annual Trends & Perspectives from B2B Buyers & Sellers
The sheer quantity of data that can be analyzed and processed in real-time and immediately distributed in tools and applications is transforming the way sales and marketing is being managed. The approach is much more modern versus the old, static methods of outbound calling and prospecting that simply don’t drive the same results any more. Many are now referring to this as sales acceleration.
Sales acceleration is a discipline that delivers refined information to make business-to-business (B2B) data more current, connecting it with buying signals, and providing it with relevant context. It’s the key to increasing the yield of sales and marketing activities by surfacing information that’s up-to-date, connected, insightful, customized, accessible, and actionable.
But even as more sales and marketing teams leverage data and analytics to speed up the sales process, they still seem to be struggling to truly understand how to connect with their audience.
The State of Sales Acceleration Survey
We surveyed over 300 B2B buyers and sellers from across the globe to get their thoughts on the current state of the B2B sales landscape. Here are some of the highlights from our sales acceleration survey, with more findings in the infographic and associated report at the bottom of the page.
What Buyers Had to Say
51% of B2B buyers believe sales and marketing communications have improved.
67% of buyers agree that business data can and should be used to better engage buyers.
When it comes to receiving cold calls, here are the major sources of frustration:
- Salespeople fail to do basic research about their business
- Salespeople call at the busiest time of day
- It’s apparent that they’re only one of many leads on a list
- Sellers use them to talk to someone else
48% of buyers say that sales calls and content are very important or vital to their purchase decision, if sellers go about each properly.
What Sellers Had to Say
92% of B2B sellers say accurate and complete data helps them understand a prospect’s business needs.
85% say having the right data helps save them time and increases efficiency.
B2B sellers still spend about 2 hours researching each prospect.
Here’s the percentage of survey respondents using the following sales and marketing technologies:
- 51% are using advanced analytics
- 58% use account-based marketing
- 26% use artificial intelligence
- 39% make use of persona-based marketing
- 44% deploy personalized web experiences
- 41% engage in programmatic advertising
