Inside Global 2021 Wrap Up

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What have we learned this year? 

As we close off the calendar year, we thought it would be useful to share some observations and trends from our global sales development in 2021.

2020 set a trend for what followed in 2021: the importance of multi-channel engagement, focusing on persona-based messaging and the role of an SDR as a trusted advisor for the prospect.

There remains a great deal of opportunity related to the changes the world is going through. Projects that would have taken place in the next 5 to 10 years are happening quicker than expected.

Some projects are moving to an advanced stage of the sales cycle swiftly and require less engagement and education but, for most of them, we have seen touch points increase from 2 to 3 to 6 to 7 per contact in order to effectively position a solution and qualify a need.

Prospects are still busier than pre-2020 which makes it harder to engage with them and pushes us to offer value and differentiate from competitors quickly.

Problem solving is more than ever part of our SDRs roles. As they build relationships with prospects, SDRs need to differentiate themselves from a wide range of other solution providers. It’s by having this problem-solving approach that they earn the prospects’ trust and ultimately, their business.

A multi-channel approach for the win

Leveraging multiple channels has given prospects the chance to engage in their own time and on their preferred channel, giving the team the ability to adopt the right approach.

Ultimately, having access to a wide range of channels is a chance for our teams to get the right value across in the most effective way.

Account Based Marketing: the answer to a higher ROI?

According to Martech alliance, almost 85% of marketers measuring ROI say that Account Based Marketing outperforms other marketing investments. And it continues to grow in demand and success across organisations.

The concept plays perfectly with the challenges organisations face in selling more effectively today. Taking time with an organisation to map the buyer personas, identify their challenges, position relevant content and influence thinking has generated the best results for clients with a key target account acquisition strategy.

Localisation has played a big role in 2021. Our EMEA team are leveraging local language messaging, content and cultural understanding more than before in order to build a relationship early on in engaging a new account on behalf of their clients. This approach has proven to help finding opportunities faster and shortening the sales cycle.

Our US team has been supporting more clients with converting prospects at multiple points of the sales funnel. Developing leads who have been engaging with content are further along the sales cycle than we typically see for whitespace target account sales development.

We think this shows that the increase in content and use of digital channels is not slowing but – crucially – action is needed in order to close the loop and convert these prospects to sales ready opportunities.