We have all seen many companies with amazing solutions and value propositions go out of business because they did not have a strong sales and marketing leader and team that was able to get their value proposition in front of a key decision-maker. Having this ability has never been more valuable in today’s noisy world. However, these are challenging times. While there are more channels and access points to decision-makers than ever (Web, Social, LinkedIn, Online Conferences, Trade Shows, etc.), actually booking a 30-minute meeting to demo your solution has become significantly more challenging.
For VP Sales and their lead generation teams, who are under increasing pressure to deliver on quotas, this reality is particularly daunting. The traditional approaches that once yielded consistent results are now falling short, and sales teams are grappling with new obstacles. In the past, we used to go knock on someone’s door. Now people don’t answer their doors, or you get stiff-armed by the receptionist. So, we adapted to cold calling via the telephone. This worked for years, but people don’t answer their phones anymore. Then we moved on to email messaging. This strategy also worked for years, but now, spam filters are highly sophisticated and effective at dumping our most brilliantly worded and exceptionally high-value messages into the spam folder. That happens even with basic email systems like Gmail. IT departments at large organizations have even more effective methods of blocking our critical, company-saving emails.
Recently, I was looking for a vendor. The first thing I did was check my spam folder to see if I could find a company that was assertive with their services and in hunt-mode. I wanted to find a company with a hungry and proactive culture. Sure enough, I found several that had never made it to my inbox.
So this is our new reality. The question is, what do we do about it? While the market may have changed, our sales and marketing quotas have not, and our budgets remain stagnant or are getting squeezed.
In order to solve this dilemma and get our senior salespeople in front of more decision-makers, we need to be fully aware of the problem. Let’s explore the reasons why booking demos and meetings is harder than ever regardless of the increasingly sophisticated spam filters. In my next article, I will outline a playbook we have used to successfully navigate this evolving terrain.
Choice Overload
As salespeople, one of our biggest challenges in getting in front of prospects for 30 minutes is the fact that today’s buyers are inundated with information. Psychologists call this “choice overload” or “overchoice.” The concept of choice overload refers to the paradoxical phenomenon where having too many choices can actually become detrimental to the decision-making process and lead to paralysis or inaction. Further, with an overwhelming amount of content available at their fingertips, prospects have become more discerning and skeptical. If they don’t know your company and trust you, they generally conduct extensive research before engaging in a meaningful way (30-minute demo). This self-education process combined with choice overload makes it harder and takes much longer for sales teams to capture enough attention (a 30-minute demo) to be able to demonstrate value.
Competition and Market Saturation
The SaaS market is booming, leading to increased competition and market saturation. It is easier than ever to create a start-up and go after business (being successful is another thing!). With numerous companies vying for the same prospects, standing out has become increasingly difficult. Prospects are bombarded with similar pitches, making it challenging for sales teams to differentiate their offerings. The sheer volume of outreach and choice overload can desensitize prospects, causing them to tune out even our most brilliant and value-enriched messages.
Purchase Behavior Changes
Buyers’ preferences and behaviors are continually evolving. Today’s buyers prefer personalized, relevant, and timely interactions. They expect sales teams to understand their unique challenges and provide tailored solutions. Generic, one-size-fits-all approaches no longer suffice. This shift in buyer behavior necessitates a more sophisticated and customized approach to booking demos and meetings. Of course, this makes sense but how do we achieve the critical mass of outbound messaging (the number of prospects we need to reach to get a response) by creating one-to-one messaging? AI-powered sales solutions can help in creating personalized messaging for targeted B2B prospects. FYI – I address this in my next article.
Engaging Decision Makers
It’s not 2011 anymore when Aaron Ross published his wildly popular and quite effective strategies in his book Predictable Revenue. Reaching the right decision-makers is more challenging than ever. Organizations have become more complex, with multiple stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Gatekeepers, such as executive assistants and procurement teams, play a significant role in filtering out sales pitches and they are not as willing to recommend the right person to talk to in their organization. Sales teams must navigate these layers of complexity to get their message across to the actual decision-makers.
Technology and Automation Overload
Ironically, the very technology designed to streamline sales processes can contribute to the challenge. With the proliferation of sales automation tools and CRM systems, prospects are receiving more automated messages than ever before. While automation can enhance efficiency, it can also lead to choice overload, impersonal and generic outreach, which prospects are quick to dismiss. Balancing automation with genuine human interaction is crucial.
To overcome sales process challenges with AI, it’s essential to integrate advanced sales AI into your strategy. This not only helps in automated sales prospecting but also ensures sales process optimization.
So, the landscape for booking demos and meetings has become more challenging. The question is what we can do about it. As mentioned, the first step is fully understanding and being aware of the problem. Now, how can we solve it? See my next article for some of the solutions and strategies we have used to get our value proposition in front of decision-makers in a meaningful way and thrive.
Enjoy more sales strategies, content, and ideation on the Resources page of our website here: www.autonow.ai
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About Rob Craig
Rob has spent his career entering cold markets in the U.S. and Canada to establish recurring revenue models and sell SaaS-based enterprise software and solutions to Fortune 500 companies and SMBs. He has founded and built four successful, sales-centric tech start-ups, including Stratford Technologies, ActiveStream, 3 Tier Logic, and AutoNow.