As the roller coaster economy of 2011 comes to a close, I offer perspectives I’ve observed over the last year to plan and provide insights to B2B marketers for 2012 and beyond.  Here are three critical trends for B2B marketers to consider… and the related impact to the senior B2B marketer.

• All companies are technology companies
• Time is the critical constraint
• With senior leadership…social media is not social

All Companies are Technology Companies. 
With the unprecedented access to development tools, platforms and new technologies – IT is ever present in products and services delivered by all organizations.  Take for instance a century old company in an even older industry - Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).  Their CIO, Heather Campbell, is recognizing that technology can have a profound impact to differentiate the business and provide competitive advantage.  In her role, she is propels CPR to “Drive the Digital Railway” by deploying new technologies to monitor and control train movement, managing systems that provide safer railways for all.  The focus in providing insight to transportation information and rapid development cycles for customer specific solutions today is the differentiator of CPR from competitors.
 
Every industry today is experiencing technology innovations that include how products are made, how they are used, and how they are delivered.   Customer engagement is equally being impacted by technology throughout the customer lifecycle.  Development cycles are much more rapid, further enabling an organization to respond to demands of customers in a manner that can differentiate you from competitors.

Impact to the Executive Marketer:  Lead the company in customer engagement to understand the levers of differentiation that can be developed to separate your organization from the competition.  Recognize that your customers are technology companies who need your products or services to differentiate them in the market.

Time is the Critical Constraint.
Today, the most precious element in our lives is not money, it’s not our family, it’s not our job.  It’s the time we have to spend and balance the demands on our lives.  The choppy economy has organizations pigeonholed and reluctant to hire.  The global workforce requires late night conference calls and early morning start times to keep up with the world around us.  Consequently, the pressure to do more with less takes time away from all the other balanceable facets of our lives.  The demand on time is true for the B2B customer as well.  Time especially becomes more precious as you move up to more senior roles in an organization.
  
Take Michael Petrisko, CIO at Hill International.  While on east coast time, Michael frequently takes late night calls with Australia and early morning calls with India.  His day is booked solid for weeks in advance.  To gain access to his time and his calendar requires advance planning and a compelling reason for anyone to meet with him.   A vendor approaching Michael has limited opportunity to gain access to his calendar, capture his attention, and win over his business.   Michael quotes:  “What’s important to me is that a discussion with a vendor has purpose and is relevant to my business – anything short of this is a waste of my time.”

Impact to the B2B Executive Marketer:  With a senior executive, your objective must be to win them over and to have them want to spend time with you and your organization.  Realize that every encounter must have a compelling business cause and reason to engage.  The more time you seek, the stronger the value proposition of your encounter must be.  Over prepare for your engagement and be sure your contact leaves the encounter with the sense that time spent with you and your organization was a valuable use of their time.   

With Senior Leaders, Social Media is Not Social.
I recently had the opportunity to host a CIO Advisory Council meeting with a large, well-recognized technology company.   Before the meeting, I thought I’d check the LinkedIn profiles of the 14 executives scheduled to participate.  I found that four of them don’t have a profile and three have less than 50 LinkedIn connections.  Hardly grounds for thinking these executives are social media junkies.  And these are CIO’s who live and breathe technology!   For a senior executive, the social media experience isn’t proving to be beneficial to their role, responsibilities, and networks.  More and more, senior executives are becoming aware and concerned about privacy and security.  Because an executive’s time is so critical, they tend to disengage or not engage in personal efforts to extend their networks and share their opinions.  Many public companies have social media rules and regulations limiting engagement and disclosures in public and even private forums.   The reality is that senior executives remain somewhat “Old School” in terms of how they engage socially and prefer a real conversation.
 
Impact to the Executive Marketer:  Think about the audience you are trying to reach and balance your budgets and portfolio investments accordingly.   If you are targeting a senior executive, don’t expect your answer to be social media.  Think about the encounter and the engagement… and invest accordingly.

For those who already have a customer advisory board and are critically assessing content and its mutual benefit for your company and board members, agenda-planning is a critical component.  What priority issues loom?  What strategic insight can you capitalize on most with these select executives from your top accounts?

An effective agenda usually contains three to five successfully prioritized areas for discussion that are relevant to your company and your customers.  Make certain the topics address business goals or competitive advantage.  Consider:

• Discussing topics to be addressed at upcoming corporate Board meetings for broader understanding.
• Evaluating product planning ideas before committing deeper resources.
• Obtaining candid input about their perspectives of competitors to perfect that strategy.
• Learning about their major challenges and obstacles for overall strategic purposes.
• Walking through relevant market trends and brainstorming how your company can leapfrog with solutions.

It bears repeating:  These vital customers care about your organization’s success because they have a vested interest in it.  They get involved and give of their time because they want to offer strategic insight. 

BE A STAR.  Invest smartly.  Wisely use precious resources.  Make your board a strategic initiative.

If your company already has a customer advisory board in its tool belt, how determined are you to make this tool as sharp as it can be?  How committed are you to making it an investment?  (See Part 1.) 

For those with their sleeves rolled up and ready to get to work, the first step is to critically assess its overall effectiveness as well as each element essential for success.  One of the top essential elements is content and its value for both your company and your customer members. 

1. What rating would your management team place on the value of insights and perspectives uncovered in the meetings?
2. What score would your members give for the value of the discussions?

Keep in mind:  This is not the time for a sales presentation.  This is not the place for telling your story … unless, of course, you need strategic insight on massaging your story.  Executives do not want to take precious time out of their jammed schedules for an advisory board that isn’t truly “advisory.” 

These vital customers care about your organization’s success because they have a vested interest in it.  They get involved and give of their time because they want to offer strategic insight. 

That said; invest smartly in your members’ time—wisely use these exclusive resources.  Make your board a strategic initiative.  BE A STAR. 

1. The opportunity for Sean to present the principles of his new book, The B2B Executive Playbook
2. The chance to witness one of our customers receive the ITSMA Diamond Award for Marketing Excellence in the category of Building Client Loyalty and Trust.