B2B Change Agent Handbook: Customer Centricity - B2B Marketing was once a second-rate business function equated with the unscientific mysteries of branding and traditional advertising, but with far less panache than B2C. That was then. This is now. B2B marketing is about knowing what information your buyers need and delivering it just when they need it. It's about guiding your customers through their decision-making process and continuing to be of value long after the sale. It's about being accountable and using scientific methods to show how marketing directly impacts sales and company revenues. …But that’s not all. To succeed in this rapidly evolving environment, you must become the agent of change in your organization. Who are your customers? What challenges do they face? Most B2B marketers know tons about their own products but little about their customers. You need to champion the seismic shift away from your solutions to one focused squarely on customers. Evangelize customer centricity! Unless you know who your buyers are, how they play a role in the decision-making process, and what steps they take to arrive at their decision, your content is just window dressing for your website. Or worse, spam in your prospect’s inbox. Rather than creating content to support the sales cycle, you need to design a revenue model that matches the buyer journey and aligns lead-nurturing content to that model. Here’s how to do it. Learn everything there is to know about your customers. Listen, gather data, and draw insights from inside and outside your company. Customer knowledge sharpens your content marketing and lead-nurturing strategies and helps you tie marketing to revenue. Think of your brand as a service. Your job isn’t to win contests based on how clever your collateral or campaigns are, nor is it about keeping track of how many “likes” your company has on Facebook - its about how many relationships you foster and what you do to make them flourish. You need to campaign for this idea within your company and convince others that this is the new path to success. Keep the focus on the customer, even after the sale. It’s conventional wisdom that landing new customers can cost as much as five times more than keeping the customers you have. Engage them in useful conversation. See the world through their eyes. Cultivate a lifelong partnership that encourages them to sing your praises far across the digital landscape. Being an effective B2B marketer means doing more. That’s why we propose that today’s successful CMO also take on the title of Change Management Officer and become CM0². That means turning your marketing skills inward to sell change upstream and down. That means keeping track of progress and showing results. That means staying the course, even as fear, uncertainty, and doubt get in the way. It means becoming a change agent and taking the lead.

1. Customer
Centricity

2. #b2bchangeagent2 #b2bchangeagent
B2B Marketing was once a
second-rate business function
equated with the unscientific
mysteries of branding and
traditional advertising, but
with far less panache than B2C.
That was then.
This is now.

3. #b2bchangeagent3 #b2bchangeagent
B2B marketing is About
knowing what your buyers need and delivering it
just when they need it.

4. #b2bchangeagent4 #b2bchangeagent
B2B marketing is About
guiding your customers through their
decision-making process and continuing to
be of value long after the sale.

5. #b2bchangeagent5 #b2bchangeagent
B2B marketing is About
being accountable and using scientific methods to
show how marketing directly impacts sales and
company revenues.

6. …but that’s not all.
To succeed in this rapidly
evolving environment, you
must become the agent of
change in your organization.

7. 7 #b2bchangeagent
Who are your customers?
What challenges do they face?

8. 8 #b2bchangeagent
Most B2B marketers know tons
about their own products but
little about their customers.

9. you need to champion the
seismic shift away from your
solutions to one focused
squarely on customers.

10. 10 #b2bchangeagent
EVANGELIZE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY
Unless you know who your buyers are, how they play a role
in the decision-making process, and what steps they take
to arrive at their decision, your content is just window
dressing for your website.
Or worse, spam in your prospect’s inbox.

11. 11 #b2bchangeagent
Rather than creating content to
support the sales cycle, you need to
design a revenue model that matches
the buyer journey and aligns
lead-nurturing content to that model.
Here’s how to do it..

12. Learn everything there
is to know about your
customers.

13. 13 #b2bchangeagent
Listen, gather data, and draw
insights from inside and
outside your company.
Customer knowledge sharpens your content
marketing and lead-nurturing strategies and
helps you tie marketing to revenue.

14. Think of your brand as a
service.

15. 15 #b2bchangeagent
Your job isn’t
to win contests based on how clever
your collateral or campaigns are, nor
is it about keeping track of how many
“likes” your company has on Facebook.

16. 16 #b2bchangeagent
It’s about how many
relationships you foster
and what you do to make
them flourish.
You need to campaign for this idea within
your company and convince others that
this is the new path to success.

17. Keep the focus on the
customer, even after
the sale.

18. 18 #b2bchangeagent
It’s conventional wisdom that
landing new customers can cost
as much as five times more than
keeping the customers you have.

19. 19 #b2bchangeagent
Engage them in useful conversation.
See the world through their eyes.
Cultivate a lifelong partnership that
encourages them to sing your praises
far across the digital landscape.

20. 20 #b2bchangeagent
Being an effective B2B marketer
means doing more. That’s why we
propose that today’s successful
CMO also take on the title of Change
ManagementOfficerandbecomeCM0².

21. 21 #b2bchangeagent
That means turning your
marketing skills inward to sell
change upstream and down.

22. 22 #b2bchangeagent
That means keeping track of
progress and showing results.

23. 23 #b2bchangeagent
That means staying the course,
even as fear, uncertainty, and
doubt get in the way.

24. 24 #b2bchangeagent
It means becoming a
change agentand taking the lead.

25. follow us:
There’s more to the story.
Visit Yesler.com for the full B2B Change
Agent Handbook and for more resources
that will help you become a marketing
change agent for your organization.
Download now