Information Climate — Selling & Buying
It’s routine at Outsell to regularly gather important benchmarks and provide guidance about key metrics or operating practices in our industry. Many clients know us for market size, share, forecasting and trends, or for competitive analysis and coverage of vertical segments. We are building out our segmentation under the leadership of our new Chief Analyst & Product Officer updating it and going deeper into areas germane to the industry and B2B vertical tech writ large. And while this is going on we also benchmark:
- Annual CEO and Industry Sentiment
- Operating Metrics for the CEO & CFO (quarterly)
- Product Management (annual functional benchmark)
- Sales Performance (quarterly trending)
This last item we just completed and rolled out to participants with a discussion on video. (If you’re not participating and wish to, contactus@outsellinc.com. You’re missing out!). Now that the results are firmly in their hands — and after our normal embargo — we can share this snapshot:
- The outlook for growth in the 2nd half of 2023 is optimistic, but cautious.
- The majority of participants had a difficult Q2 and missed plan: 63% were below plan, 27% at plan, and only 10% exceeded plan.
- Buyers deferred decisions over the last few quarters. There is some firming-up of decision-making and budgets. Every month is looking a bit better than the last.
- Participants are also turning to new markets and new logos vs. upsell and cross-sell and finding some yield from that.
- Traditional buying cycle seasonality trends are out the window.
- The biggest challenges & risks?
- Lots of “maybes”
- Seeing more “decision by committee” vs individual decision-maker
- Difficulty getting attention and a conversation with new prospects
- The average sales cycle remains ~80 days
Here are a few of our recommendations and actions we’re seeing sellers take:
- There is work to be done on sales operational efficiency.
- Manage BDR incentives to focus on “selling meetings vs. selling products,” especially with the C-suite.
- Messaging is more important than the sequencing and cadence of outreach, but multiple touch points are required to get beyond digital noise.
- Talk with C-suite decision-makers (potentially exec-to-exec handshakes) early in the sales cycle to offset challenges moving people down the funnel.
- Keeping logos, even at a lower price (downgrade), vs. letting them go entirely. This doesn’t mean discounting, it means “basic vs. premium versions” if necessary to “hold the logo.”
- Focus on multi-year deals to lock in pricing or slow-up price increases which benefit buyers today.
- Recognizing much of what’s going on right now is a battle for market share. Said another way: It’s about win/loss.
We are getting more questions about this topic and it’s because customers are voting with their dollars. Another cycle is upon us, even if it’s loosening up a smidge given the results of our latest survey.
Focusing on tactical benefits right now is meaningful — making money, saving money, and mitigating risk. During tough economic times it’s all about “what will your solution do for me today?”
Here, too, is more of what we’re seeing from buyers:
- Removing duplicate solutions.
- Asking for multi-year deals.
- Insisting on solutions that move the needle.
At the end of the day we’re seeing more requests for comparisons of vendors on a side-by-side basis vis a vis requirements and needs. Whether buyer or seller this on-the-ground intel in the climate we are in. Give us a call.