The second chart shows that the length of the buying cycle is shorter. This is defined from first lead inquiry to purchase. While the most common cycle is 1-3 months in both 2010 and 2011, the number increased in 2011. There were fewer in the ranges of 4-6 months and 7-12 months in 2011, and only cycles of more than a year held steady. One of things that we have learned about the buying cycle in the social media era is that prospects contact a sales rep after 60% of the cycle is complete. This follows the first chart pretty naturally. MORE >>

Social media, content aggregation and curation , user-generated content and other developments have dramatically changed the B2B buying cycle over the past few years. Marketers need to think like publishers not only to improve their company’s visibility in search (which is where 93% of B2B buying cycles now start ) but also to address the differing information needs of buying team members, at different stages during the decision process. Prospects often don’t surface until much later in the buying process than they did just a few years ago. MORE >>

  Buying today has become more sophisticated and has a multitude of variables that did not exist even a decade ago.    It is fair to say that many organizations are adopting specific buying strategies whereby decisions are often made well ahead of any sales involvement and the decisions are more about who to purchase from versus what to purchase.    Without investing in informing buyer insight, executives will be in the dark on how to craft buyer experiences that makes them part of an organization’s buying strategies. MORE >>

This expands the sales cycle to a much longer and precarious customer lifecycle: the prospect becomes a buyer; who becomes a customer; and then becomes a potential prospect again for renewal or at least advocacy. Social media and our digitally-driven on demand culture has drastically changed the way that buyers navigate their purchase process. Curiously, B2B buyers tell us that 70% of the content they read and study before making a purchase decision is actually found by themselves; as opposed to being given to them by marketing or sales. Peter O’Neill: Yes, that is true. MORE >>

Eccolo Media conducted a study to learn which collateral tech buyers use to make purchase decisions. It also validates the need for content that provides information buyers need, not just what you want to tell them. Eccolo Media set out to learn: "We asked them about their preferred collateral types, how they used content, if they shared it, and just how influential it was on their final technology purchase. They were asked if "the collateral was viewed, listened to or read in the six months prior to a technology purchase." companies. video. MORE >>