What the heck is everyone waiting for?!

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run; you missed the starting gun.”

“Time.”

from: The Dark Side of the Moon

Right now there are some tremendous opportunities for commercial businesses to get a big jump on their competition. I see these opportunities everywhere I look! However, what surprises me is that there isn’t yet a sprint going on to be first. I know it is coming, but seriously, what in the heck is everyone waiting for?

What am I talking about?

The Internet of course! We all know it has caused a fundamental shift in the way customers find and buy products. It is a change that allows companies who are agile to make huge gains on their competition.

What do you mean?

Take one minute right now to think about how your buying habits have changed over the past few years. I know, right? Well, the same thing is happening all over your industry, and it is happening faster than ever as millennial-aged buyers take over the B2B buying process.

Check out this 2014 report from Google:

“Over the past two years, there's been a dramatic shift in the B2B researcher demographic. Back in 2012, there was a pretty even mix across age groups. In 2014, however, 18- to 34-year-olds accounted for almost half of all researchers, an increase of 70%.”

So think about this with me. Your customers are NOT the middle-aged people who have been buying your goods forever. Not anymore! Those people are bosses now and are delegating the bulk of the buyer research to their much younger colleagues. It paints a slightly different picture, doesn’t it? Imagine the 29-year-old researcher and what do you see? Phone, laptop, tablet, right?

Are these people coming to your website and reading “we are all about quality” and thinking “hey these guys are all about quality – so they must be great - maybe I should call them up and find out more about what makes then so great?” Yeah, right … probably not! Instead, these XBOX-raised researchers have dismissed you in a millisecond and are now watching a video at your competitor's site explaining “Water Treatment 101”. Don’t worry though I am sure they will back …

If you look at the digital presence of small and medium B2B companies in the U.S., you will see most of them are stuck in the first wave of the Internet. Somehow they missed the subsequent waves and are waiting for the surf to bring them home. However, if they do not learn to ride the waves it is likely they will drown. Sure they all have websites – but those websites are now nothing more than ineffective billboards.

So right now, there is a MASSIVE opportunity to make a jump in the very fundamental business processes of getting goods and services to market. You could say it is time to ride the next big wave!

So why is everyone waiting?

Well, I think there are two primary reasons companies are not yet maximizing their competitive advantage in the digital world:

Denial:

Long established commercial companies seem to be living in denial. The school of thought is “this does not apply to my business.” If you are thinking this, you could not be more wrong. If your industry is technical or complex or your sales cycle is long, and the value of a customer is high then it DOES apply to you. If your primary advantage over your competition is your expertise, then it DEFINETLY applies.

Ignorance:

Most of us did not grow up selling in the Internet age, and we might not like it much. (I have never been a big fan of posting my daily activities on Facebook). It is a confusing reality; complete with terms and concepts foreign to many of us ... SEO, PPC, metrics, conversions, social selling, etc.’s! is tempting to bury your head in the sand tell yourself it does not apply to you – but see reason #1! Yes, it is hard to know where to start but do NOT let this dissuade you. You can do it and it can be fun.

So, what am I supposed to do about it?

Close your eyes … take a deep breath and let it out slowly … now is the time to kick butt on your competition.

Start by accepting reality for what it is. The Internet has changed how you need to do business. Make this your mantra. It is what you know that your competition does not….yet. Don’t worry I will get to them too.

Now, take a very business-like approach to solving the problem. Start by understanding what this change means and educate yourself on the fundamentals. You do NOT need to be an expert in all things Internet; you just need to understand the big concepts. Like these:

The Internet allows people to learn what they need to know long before they ever talk to your sales people. They search for what they need before making buying decisions.
Buyers are building powerful roadblocks to block your efforts to sell to them.

You might have figured out by now that you need to implement a plan to match your sales methods with how modern buyers make purchases. If so, you are lucky. Because while you might be paving new ground in your industry, the process has already been well established by others - including Amazon and Travelocity, etc. You do not have the burden of inventing the wheel; you just have to put the wheels on your business. There are plenty of people who can help, but you should know enough to oversee the process.

Here’s what NOT to do:

Do not haphazardly try different Internet marketing tactics like SEO or PPC without any logical plan, rhyme or reason. It will gain you very little and probably reinforce the notion that these things do not apply to your business.

Instead, try this:

Plan how you will make a plan to:

Get buyers to your website. This is where things like SEO and PPC come into the mix.
Educate customers once they get to your website. This is where content marketing comes in (it means giving away really good free information).
Engage buyers who are using your website to educate themselves. This is where technology like marketing automation and CRMs come in.

Use these three pillars as your guide when working with the people who design your website or promise to get you on the first page of Google. So what if you are on the first page of Google? What happens next? How does that translate into customers?

If you would like to take your education further download my free eBook:

Or if you would like to have a 30 minute exploratory meeting: