How well do you know today’s B2B buyers? A glimpse at your company’s sales should give you a pretty good idea. If you experience consistent year-over-year growth, you know buyers well. If your sales are flatlining or decreasing, you may need to take a closer look at the path of B2B buyers and tweak your sales and marketing strategies. You don’t need to go bother your accounting department to scrutinize the numbers. We’ve got a quick and easy way for you to measure your knowledge of today’s B2B buyers.
The 10-question quiz below will confirm your B2B brilliance or point out some areas that, if adjusted, will help increase your company’s sales. Go through the questions and make note of your answers. Then, review the answers at the bottom of this post to see how well you did and get into the minds of buyers. Good luck!
B2B Buyers Quiz
1. Active buyers have a need or a pain point. What percentage of active B2B buyers search Google using basic keywords & phrases?
a. 53%
b. 72%
c. 79%
d. 21%
2. Non-active buyers are complacent or haven’t become aware that they have a need. They require sales & marketing to…
a. Attract them
b. Educate them
c. Motivate them
d. All of the above
3. For both active & non-active buyers, no matter the channel or tactic used, what % will visit your website first before reaching out to sales?
a. 86%
b. 57%
c. 9%
d. 96%
4. The best marketing channel to attract B2B buyers is:
a. Social Media
b. Email Marketing
c. Tradeshow
d. Every buyer is unique and requires their own strategy
5. The best place to hide a body is:
a. In a crawlspace
b. In a remote field
c. Page 2 of Google
d. That’s a sick question! (Clue: C or D is correct)
6. What percentage of marketers rate their lead-generation efforts as “extremely effective?”
a. 48%
b. 16%
c. 32%
d. 5%
7. Once a visitor lands on your website, how many seconds do you have to capture their attention?
a. 59 seconds
b. 32 seconds
c. 15 seconds
d. 90 seconds
8. A B2B website should have 2 primary goals. Which is #1?
a. Convert the “buy-ready” so they call, email or submit a form
b. Engage the “tire-kickers” so you can nurture them to conversion
c. Amaze everyone with stunning visuals
d. None of the above
9. The average salesperson makes how many attempts to reach a prospect?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 5
d. 7
10. Up to what percentage of the buyer’s journey can be complete before a prospective buyer reaches out to sales?
a. 50%
b. 70%
c. 43%
d. 31%
Answers
1. 72% — It’s the Digital Age, and people have endless amounts of information at their fingertips thanks to cell phones, tablets and computers. Google allows buyers to research solutions to their problems anytime from anywhere without having to rely on a salesperson to provide information. This demonstrates the vitalness of having an engaging, informative and user-friendly website and search engine optimization efforts to help buyers find it.
2. All of the above — Making sales is rarely easy, and the challenge is multiplied when dealing with non-active buyers. You first need to grab and hold their attention (Attract). Then, you need to inform them of who you are and how you can help them (Educate). Finally, you need to convince them that they need your product or service (Motivate).
3. 96% — Like Question 1, here is another example that demonstrates how technology has changed the buyer’s journey. The modern buyer is a researcher who no longer needs help learning about solutions. For most buyers, the website serves as a first impression, and by visiting websites they can learn almost everything they need to know to make a purchase decision. So, if your website isn’t helpful or is difficult to find, you’ve got problems!
4. Every buyer is unique and requires their own strategy — Marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. What attracts one B2B buyer may not be appealing to another. Demographics and psychographics need to be considered. This is why we stress that strategy is so important!
5. Page 2 of Google OR d. That’s a sick question! — We obviously had a little fun with this question, so hopefully, you aren’t too grossed out. On a serious note, it’s critical to rank on the first page of Google search results. Most people only look at the first few results before clicking to a website or trying a different search.
6. 16% — If your company is happy with its lead-gen results, congratulations! You are in the minority. Most marketers see room for improvement. The good news is that it’s not an impossible task. Adjusting your marketing strategy and doing some A/B testing can help you get on the right track. Hiring a proven marketing agency helps, too.
7. 59 seconds — Think most buyers will take the time to check out every page on your website and read all your content? Think again. Buyers want to find promising solutions fast, and they won’t stick around long if there’s not something that immediately grabs and holds their attention. Your website should be easy to navigate, utilize calls to action and make it easy to contact you.
8. Convert the “buy-ready” so they call, email or submit a form — Get that money in your pockets! When someone is “buy-ready” you have to act fast so they don’t spend their money with one of your competitors. Your marketing/website should pass hot leads on to sales to close the deal. Tire-kickers will need engaging and nurturing before they’re ready to buy, so there is less urgency with them.
9. 2 — Not all salespeople are created equal. Only the best successfully nurture cold leads from the top of the funnel down by making regular, relevant touches providing the right content at each stage of the buyer’s journey. B2B sales typically have longer buy cycles, which means salespeople instinctively spend more time following up, answering questions and providing details to their warmer leads. And oftentimes, cold leads get neglected. Not to mention, today’s buyers — like the ones that found your company without a salesperson — are digital consumers that are NOT as reliant on the traditional sales process. This is where marketing automation — which can handle the engaging and nurturing for you — comes in handy.
10. 70% — Once again, technology makes its presence felt. There is so much information online that buyers can make their way through most of the buyer’s journey without the assistance of another human being. If your marketing is running at peak efficiency, the first words your sales department hears from a prospect could be, “Where do I sign?”
