WHAT BUYERS WANT

Understanding what your prospects really want to read and talk about in the decision-making process is
key to success in a modern sales world where patience is lacking and the pressure is on to seal a deal

MOST VALUABLE CONTENT TYPES USED TO MAKE DECISIONS BUYER-SELLER DISCONNECT

Percentage of business-to-business (B2B) buyers who found the following valuable during the Disparities between what B2B buyers and sales representatives want to discuss in the first call
decision-making process Buyer Sales

12% 77%
Podcasts Third-party/ 63%
analyst reports 33% 61%
65% 33%
33% 23% 42%
Assessments 72%
23% 44% 37% 32%
42%
Case studies 47% 24%
54% 24%

58% 15%

36% 69%
70%
White papers
Return-on-investment
calculators
60%

39%
Infographics 62% 50%

Webinars
34%
Interactive presentations 40%
54%
45% E-books
30%
Video/motion graphics

Demand Gen 2016

20%

10%

D E F G
C H
HOW DEPENDENT B2B BUYERS ARE ON SALESPEOPLE DURING DECISION-MAKING 0% B
Current dependence compared with two to three years ago A I

A Product pricing F My companys overall goals

57% 22% 22%
Less dependent More dependent No change
B How the product works (demo) G Budget or who has budget authority

C What my company is trying to achieve with the purchase H My companys timeline for the purchase

D Advice on how similar companies have used the product I Who is responsible for the purchase?

E Reason my company needs to make the purchase

HubSpot 2016 HubSpot 2016

TOP REASONS WHY MEETING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS IS TOP-RATED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING CONTENT
A TOP CHALLENGE FOR SALES TEAMS Most selected recommendations for content by B2B buyers
Survey of B2B sales teams
Add more insight from industry
thought leaders/analysts
96%

1 2
Customer needs have
grown more sophisticated
3 4
Provide more benchmarking data 95%
Make content easier to access
(shorter lead gen forms) 94%
Use more data and research 94%
Customers expect Customers expect the Customers expect to support content
us to be a trusted same level of service interactions to happen
advisor every time we interact in real time Curb the sales messages 93%
with them
Package related content together 93%
Focus less on product specifics

5 6 7 8
and more on value
92%

Dont overload content with copy 86%

Make it more mobile friendly 86%
Customers are less Customers have become Customer motivations Customers expect a
loyal because theyre more experienced with have shifted from consistent experience Create shorter content 85%
wary of being locked competitive, disciplined price to value across every channel
into a vendor bidding
Salesforce 2017 Demand Gen 2016