Can you sell an enterprise solution in 800 words?

The short answer is no.  Yet B2B companies continue to try, often with disastrous results.

We somehow expect prospects to “get it” after reading a single blog post.  Or receiving a single email.

We expect prospects who showed the faintest interest in our latest webinar to enthusiastically rush into a deep, protracted demo.

We push prospects to move faster, often at our speed rather than theirs.

Just because we know and love our own products, we expect prospects to drop everything and develop that love as well.

There’s a reason we call it a buying journey and not a buying event.  It doesn’t happen at once.

So the lesson for B2B sales & marketing professionals is to respect the process.

Be proactive about challenging the prospect’s status quo and helping them understand the cost of doing (or not doing) something new.  Be intentional about building value and building a relationship that differentiates you from others.

But don’t ask individual acts of sales and marketing to do more than they’re reasonably able to achieve.

Each step in the journey moves the ball forward.  Each step builds value, momentum, progress towards the a result you both desire.

But when you push too fast, too far, all you really do is push the prospect away.