Do you think online presence will continue increasing in importance? And if so, what are the implications for high-ticket purchases and B2B inbound sales?
Tens of millions of Americans changed how they research and make major purchase decisions -- 100% online. And most of these shifting habits are likely here to stay.
Even though I consider myself pretty digitally savvy, before March 2020, my family and I had never ordered a full order of groceries online. For the next year, none of us ventured inside a supermarket, drugstore, or warehouse club.
(A year after that -- we now occasionally visit retail stores, but 95% of what we used to purchase brick-and-mortar now gets ordered online.)
The extreme time-savings and convenience have now permanently shifted our habits.
And yes, one might argue that these changes are in my personal habits (business to consumer/B2C), most B2C habits sooner rather than later move over into peoples' professional purchase preferences in a business-to-business (B2B) context. I sometimes refer to this as the B2C to B2B eventuality.
Now that so many companies have figured out that it is possible to close large five-, six-, and even seven-figure deals 100% over video conference, business travel will permanently change.
There will be some bounce back, but it's likely that the days of flying an entire sales team across the country for a one-hour meeting may have already met its digital replacement.
Which of your personal shopping and consumption habits changed during the COVID-19 lockdowns?
And how has that impacted how you research and make purchase decisions for your professional interests on the B2B side?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you're serious about updating and modernizing your B2B inbound sales playbook and overall go-market plans, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.