How has the B2B customer transformed in recent years? More importantly: how should we transform B2B sales to adapt to this new consumer profile?

At Catalog Player we have met with an expert in Customer Journey and customer experience to find the answers.

In this interview, Toni Seijo, expert researcher in Customer Experience and member of the board of the IE Center for C-Centricity, explains how sales have transformed in recent years and what role people should play in this new reality marked by the emergence of new technologies.

Discover, with Toni Seijo, what companies can do to increase engagement with today's customer and succeed in their sales:

Key ideas 💡

Below, we present some of the key ideas that summarise the content of this interview.

Toni Seijo:

Understanding the person is the key to engagement.

With new technologies, the role of the salesperson is revolutionised and enhanced, but not lost.

The branding has changed, it is no longer the big advertising campaigns; now the brand is a comprehensive concept of the company.

Regardless of how the customer consults, communicates or buys, the brand experience must be the same.

Engagement is not functional, it is emotional. An emotional proximity with the customer must be created.

The ones who deliver emotions best are people; that is why salespeople have a fundamental role.

Salespeople no longer need to be experts in a subject, technology is already there for that. (…) the most important thing is to understand how that business can help the customer. This is something that machines cannot do.

As Toni Seijo explains in this interview, branding is a global concept, which goes beyond marketing. This includes, of course, the experience we offer to the customer. To do this, we must offer a brand experience seamless: without seams. That is, the different inputs that customers and prospects receive from the company must be consistent throughout the entire Customer Journey.

This includes both marketing content and sales content -catalogues, presentations, success stories, etc.- and the sales pitch. In this sense, Sales Tech has revolutionised the world of sales, as it allows content to be managed more easily to present a sales pitch more aligned.

But, at the same time, as important as consistency is the ability to offer a personalised experience. It is true that new technologies can help us a lot with this through data collection. However, Toni Seijo, in this interview, highlights a key element: emotions.

On this, the expert is clear: those who best convey emotions are people. Therefore, we are not talking about a salesperson role that is disappearing, but rather one that must be transformed. Salespeople must be able to understand what the customer really wants and connect with them, and in this, Sales Tech is not the enemy, but a tool that, precisely, allows salespeople to focus even more on this aspect.