Hey , here’s how B2B companies want their buyers to buy:

• Click an ad promoting their product, webinar, or ebook and go to a landing page
• Fill in long sign-up forms and wait until somebody contacts them
• Meanwhile, an SDR checks the buyer's data. If it fits the ICP, he will follow up and book a discovery call
• On that call, the SDR runs BANT qualification and passes the deal to an AE if the buyer is qualified
• Then the AE closes the deal, hurrah !!!

How I wish the buying process was that simple!

Well, here is how B2B buyers actually buy:

• ✅ They first consult their peers and colleagues who have already used the product or service before 
• ✅ Following that, they conduct their own research, read content from experts and SMEs, and settle on what they believe is the right solution
• ✅ Then they try to find out the proper budget for the product they need, without even speaking to sales representatives
• ✅ After all these steps, they will then book a call. During that call, they want an expert to answer their questions (real quick) and show them how the product/service will benefit them.

Dear , if your marketing and sales are not aligned with how your buyers are buying, you are leaving money on the table and missing out on a huge opportunity.

Not to say that the friction points you create make you lose 50% of the inbound pipeline beforehand. To help you avoid this, Andrei Zinkevich had a talk with Nicolas Vandenberghe and 🌶️Arthur Castillo from Chili Piper. They broke down the art and science of the dark funnel and explained how to go from a leaky funnel to a revenue flywheel.

In today's newsletter, we'll show you how to influence the dark funnel.

Before we dive in, here is a job offer that you or someone around you might be interested in.

TRENCHES JOB BOARD

Flashtract is hiring Head Of Marketing (Remote US, >150k)

Learn more and apply here (or recommend the job if you know somebody who is looking for it now)

Requirements:

• 5+ years of B2B marketing leadership experience ;
• 1+ year of experience in a managerial/leadership role, with the ability to recruit, retain, and motivate both existing and future talent;
• Experience working with marketing and sales automation systems (Outreach, Salesforce, and Pardot experience a plus) ;
• Experience with selecting and managing outside agencies ;
• Construction industry knowledge or experience is a plus

Apply here.

Now let's get to the meat of the matter.

How to influence the dark funnel?

Marketing and sales have changed drastically in recent years. Yet, some marketers still cling to some old concepts that reflect the traditional marketing funnel: MQLs, SQLs, and the likes. 

Let’s see what is wrong with this approach.

In the old days, you could get raw leads by giving someone what interests them and then get their email address in return. Thereafter, you try hard to nurture them until they come back to your website and take an action.

The nurturing cycle was central to everything the marketing did. And that has completely changed today. Why? Simply because of the rise of the dark funnel. 

In its simplest form, the dark funnel is the fact that people now have access to better sources of information about the vendor than the vendor himself.😁 

Here’s a quick example of how that is possible. 

A member of Trenches, our B2B marketing community, was looking for recommendations about revenue intelligence platforms. Although he visited Gong’s website and read everything written out there, he still sought recommendations from peers who’ve had hands-on experience with the platform.

That's how buyers build knowledge around particular problems and solutions.

The company that came up with the idea of the dark funnel is 6sense. 

It's an interesting concept because it's dark from the perspective of the vendors. On the prospect’s side, it's not dark at all. Matter of fact, the buyer has all the freedom to look for the type of information they need. They’re under no pressure and it can be much more pleasant and credible than receiving an email from a vendor.  

A study done by Gartner revealed that nowadays, prospects only spend 17% of their time with the vendor when it comes to researching a particular product. 

What about the 83%? They spend it meeting with buying groups, researching independently online and offline, and asking questions around.

, here’s a quick story of when and how Chili Piper started influencing the dark funnel.

A couple of years ago, Chili Piper wanted to launch a new product. As the product was a few months away from being ready, the team did what most marketing teams do: create a page for the product, talk briefly about the product (teasing), and then ask people to join the waiting list. 

As a result, over 450 people left their emails and joined the waiting list. But surprisingly, once the product was ready, emails were sent to the waiting list and only 02 people clicked on the product’s link. 

That’s 0.45% of all those who expressed interest in the first place. 

Moral of the story: prospects move on very quickly. The last thing you want to do is capture an email and say you’ll reach out to those contacts later. It doesn’t work. Well, not anymore. 

Instead, what Chili Piper’s team should have done at the time and what they’re doing now is called: the Straight-To-Meeting imperative. Booking meetings instantaneously is the new imperative.

If somebody's expressed interest, get to a meeting. Engage with them and do all the discovery work. Otherwise, if you get people to wait either because it's part of your process or because you think it's good to capture emails and wait, chances are you will end up with a leaky funnel. 

The straight-to-meeting imperative helps a lot because when people sign up or come to your website, they already know a bit about your product. It's not as if you still need to educate them with tons of emails. They’re already aware, and even if they're not completely ready, it’s still the perfect time to have a meeting with them, clear all their doubts, and get the chance to influence the dark funnel.

NOTE: If you found this newsletter interesting and useful, chances are you have 1 or 2 colleagues (well, maybe 03) who'd also enjoy it. Help them by sharing this and earn some exclusive perks. 

Best Shares From Trenches Community

• 7 signs of marketing and sales misalignment (and the consequences B2B companies are dealing with) by Andrei Zinkevich
• I thought I screwed up my marketing campaign… and ended up getting 600 people into a webinar and selling out a new course by Nabeel Keblawi
• My favorite content distribution approach - by Vladimir Blagojevic

You can watch the full interview of Andrei Zinkevich, Arthur Castillo, and Nicolas Vandenberghe here.

See you in Trenches 😉

Adechina D. Odjo,

Content Editor @Trenches