People, not companies

The way buyers buy is changing. People, rather than companies, are central to the buying journey.

This is a result of the infocalpyse. Buyers are overwhelmed with all of the information thrown at them. They’re tuning it out. Instead, they’re relying on trust to cut through the noise.

Mac Reddin (Founder & CEO at Commsor) explained it like this,

“The atomic unit of business is shifting from organization to individual."

thThis shift largely impacts two aspects of the business:

1. How we create value for our customers

2. How we go to market and surround our customers with trust

How we create value for our customers:

20 years ago, a company like Salesforce designed itself to be a silo of relationship data. That’s too simple for today’s complex ecosystem-driven world.

Today buyers expect custom, value-packed, easy-to-use solutions. Most companies couldn’t do that alone, so we integrate and partner.

An example of this is Reveal’s integration with Salesforce. In the past, customers would have to buy Salesforce and Reveal and then hack together a solution on their own. Now, Salesforce and Reveal make it easy to get one value-packed solution with the click of a button.

That’s game-changing for a customer’s experience.

How we go to market and surround our customers with trust:

According to Jay McBain, it takes 28 moments for a buyer to make a purchase decision, and your company only owns 4 of those moments.

Individuals are becoming central to the buyer’s journey because individuals can go where companies cannot—places like communities. 

Mark Kilens (Co-Founder & CEO at Tack GTM and Club PF) and Nick Bennett (Co-Founder & CCO at Tack GTM and Club PF) furthered this point by sharing,

“You used to go-to-market as a company or brand. Now you go-to-market as individuals representing a company or brand.”

Individuals who live in-market become part of a buyer’s 28 moments that influence a purchase decision.

Here’s a perfect example from Mac Reddin’s presentation. Sara Blakely (CEO and founder of Spanx) is admired and respected by many of Spanx’s ICP. She has 2 million followers while the brand Spanx only has 93k. Sara’s reach and influence is almost 21 times the size of the brand’s.

All that said, don’t underestimate your power of influence!

Listen to both session recordings from the Nearbound Summit here.

Thank YOU

As the atomic unit of business shifts from organization to individual, your individual impact becomes wildly important.

Thank you for everything you do day in and day out.

For all of the fires you put out.

For all of the tough conversations you have.

For all of the executive buy-in you fight for.

For the never-ending task list.

For your commitment to a nearbound future.

Without you, nothing we do would matter.

Thank you.

Gobble gobble partnerships 🦃

Forget the mashed potatoes and turkey! This year we’re feasting on Thanksgiving partnerships!

• Influencer collabs

• User-generated Thanksgiving recipes and stories (partnering with your customer!) 

• Cross-promotions 

• Joint social media campaigns 

• Co-branded Thanksgiving-themed products

• Brands partnering with charities 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

🍁 Williams Sonoma partners with home cook, author, and food influencer Deb Perelman on holiday recipes

🍁 Amazon partnered with the NFL in 2021 to offer Thursday Night Football to its subscribers. This year, they’re making history by broadcasting the inaugural Black Friday game.

🍁 Green Giant, a vegetable brand, is partnering with Tariq, the legendary "Corn Kid" in their Thanksgiving marketing campaign.

The next time you’re out and about, pay attention to all of the partnerships! There are so many.

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.

• Nov 29, 2 PM EST —WTF is a System Integrator?— Join Omair Rana, Former Microsoft Director of Partner Strategy, and Scott Pollack, CEO at Firneo, and get ready to demystify System Integrators (SIs) and their pivotal role in the tech world. Register here.

• Nov 30, 1 PM - 4 PM EST —The CRO Playbook : How to fix sales in 2024— The old sales playbooks don’t work. Join GTM Partners for their Leadership Summit. CROs, CEOs, and sales leaders will unite to define how to fix sales in time for 2024 SKO. Register here.

Send this to someone you’re thankful for

Send this to someone you’re grateful for today. Maybe they’ve been instrumental in building an alliance. Maybe they’re your champion. Maybe they’re just an awesome co-worker! Share the NbD with them today!