The New Reality: Buyer 2.0and the Changing Information Landscape

Customers Are Changing. Are you?

Buyer 2.0: The Social Self-educated Buyer

Who did we speak with and research?

By The Time We Get in the Door, They’re More Than Halfway Done

Customer Due Diligence Begins

Customer’s 1st Serious Engagement with Sales

Purchase

75% Complete

Customers Turn to Non-supplier Sources to Guide Purchase Decision Making

Other Sources8%

Colleagues / Cus-tomers23%

3rd Party Consul-tants22%

Suppliers47%

Other Sources8%

Facts About Buyers

IT Buying is a part-time job on top of a full time job. Team member spent, on average, 44% of their time on pre- and post-purchase activities

Executive and line-of-business buyers just want to address a business need and move on

41% of the decision process to decide which vendor to use is already made BEFORE IT buyers speak with a sales rep

Buyers are more connected then ever before: 62% visit tech blogs; 52% Linkedin; 21% contribute to blogs and 10% post to twitter on a regular basis

Sales Growth – No Longer Predictable

Of sales interactions are considered worthwhile

Forrester

Of buyers use 9+ means to research product purchases

IDG Of sales teamsachieve quota

DemandCon

Of the buy cycle is completed before sales is engaged

Forrester60%

50%

3%

75%

80% of Buyers Find You … If You’re Lucky

Being connected on a larger scale is becoming increasingly important to your competitiveness in the market

Buyer 2.0 Starts Their Journey on Social Media and with Peer Connections

How Much Content Depends on What You Are Selling

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATIONPRODUCT PORTFOLIO

PRODUCT FUNCTIONS BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTScop

e of

Offe

rings

Knowledge transfer required

Portfolio of technology, services & expertise

Single product line

High intrinsic valueLow knowledge transfer

Low intrinsic valueHigh knowledge transfer

Source: Forrester Research Inc.

Buyer 2.0 ContentNeeds

Phase 0:Strategic Planning

Phase I:Determine Needs

Phase II:Evaluate Alternatives

Phase III:Evaluate Risk

This Changes the Sales Process

1.0

2.0

Buyer Access Checklist

• What business problems are you going to help me solve?

• How are you an expert to help me solve that problem?

• How well are you communicating a clear visionfor me to address the problem?

• How do you help me manage all ofthe risks of executing the project?

• Do you have a better way to address the problem?

• How well can I trust you?

• How credible are you?

• What impact have you had with others?

Sales Buyer

Micro-marketer• www.workintelligent.ly

• Ricoh blogs (socialmedia.ricoh-usa.com)

• Ricoh Thought Leadership papers

• Retweet @RicohTweets, @RicohProPrint,@RicohHealth, etc.

We Have the Tools You Can Use

3 Toolkits

Situational Influencer• Simplified Solutions

• Monster in a Box

• CHAMPS services

• Ricoh Learning Institute

We Have the Tools You Can Use

3 Toolkits

Risk Manager- Case studies

- Ricoh expertise (proof of having done it before)

- Ricoh market leadership position (Marketshare, Gartner Magic Quadrants, etc.)

- RFG DealerBuzz App

We Have the Tools You Can Use

3 Toolkits

What Makes Buyer 2.0 Return a Reach Out From Your Sales Rep?

Make the Sales Conversation

all About the Customer

• Dig deeper into their business processesSolve real business problems

• Position offerings around key trends impacting their business (mobility, cloud, social, big data)

• Expertise outweighs technology

• General wariness of treating a product vendor as a strategic consultant

• A knowledgeable rep has the permissionto teach them what they don’t know

• Proactively come up with solutions

• Be ahead of the curve innovative solutions

• Adapt with their changes and marketplace changes quickly

• Have a continuous relationship all interactions should not be about selling something

• You can’t sell “services-led”

Key Learnings From Our Research

What Customers Want

Harris Interactive, Ricoh custom research

SalesMarketing

Buyer 2.0 and Your Dealership

The role of sales has changed (social marketer, situationally fluent, risk manager)• Invest in education• Provide know-how to align sales approach

to each phase of the buyer’s journey• Provide tools and content to progress the buyer

through each phase of their unique buyer journey.Sales must understand the new Buyer 2.0• Prepare and prospect using the

“Buyer Access Checklist”Become obsessed with your customers’ experiences

Your marketing campaigns need to reach the Buyer 2.0 where they are going for information • Social• Web• Events• Email

Your marketing content needs to speak to the buyer 2.0 about the things that are most critical to them (“snackable content”)• Business impact• Relevant to their needs• Key trends keeping them up at night

(social, mobile, information overload, cloud, generational workforces)

Dealership

Thank You