Walnut, the disruptive product demo startup, has designed its buzzworthy Sales Experience Platform to help SaaS sellers seamlessly connect with their prospects. It utilizes personalized, codeless interactive demos that are fully optimized to maximize the B2B sales process.
Walnut’s goal is to perfect the B2B buying experience. This has pushed its founders to minimize and simplify the sales process rather than add yet another layer of complexity to it. The goal from day one has been to revolutionize B2B sales process and rebuild each buying experience from the ground up.
That’s why the startup hasn’t stopped with equipping salespeople with its groundbreaking SaaS solutions. Walnut has also worked to give those on the receiving end of B2B sales transactions a very real voice through its viral #WeAreProspects campaign.
The Struggle to Sell …and the Bigger Battle to Buy (Especially in B2B Sales)
Selling is a complex and increasingly difficult process. The internet has brought the world together, which has naturally increased competition. Target audiences are easily accessible, too. But this can lead to a case of analysis paralysis as sales departments attempt to spread their budgets across a variety of sales channels and opportunities.
While selling remains a complicated challenge, buying isn’t getting any easier, either. In fact, the process of making a purchase has become more convoluted than ever before. Even for B2C interactions — which have thrived in the online 21st-century marketplace — the process of buying something remains intensive and, at times, even overwhelming. Consumers must navigate through an endless myriad of advertisements thrown their way. They need to choose between countless options and different communication channels in order to engage and make a purchase.
And yet, the B2C sales experience is, in many ways, better than its ever been. Consumers have the ability to learn about products. They can both seek out (and provide their own) real feedback. Consumers can ask questions and search for answers. They can conduct research that helps them connect their own pain points and concerns with the solutions that best fit them.
Traditional Obstacles to the B2B Sales Process
In contrast, B2B sales are arguably more difficult — especially in the complex world of SaaS platforms and software. For the B2B sales process, there are many obstacles that get in the way of an efficient sales experience.
For instance, business prospects often need to jump through a myriad of different hoops in order to even get near to a product. This is problematic because, according to Forrester, three out of every four B2B purchasers prefer to educate themselves rather than speak with sales professionals to learn about products and services. In other words, they need access in order to assess their needs and how a particular product might address them. When a product remains elusive throughout the earlier stages of a sales funnel, it can dampen the sales experience and even, at times, kill it prematurely.
In addition, many organizations also focus on the seller rather than the prospect. They employ seller-centric sales strategies that focus on the performance of a salesperson or sales team rather than keeping the emphasis on the prospects themselves.
Data Silos and Fragmentation
Data silos also restrict the ability of many companies to put their best foot forward in the B2B sales department. This means marketing teams and sales reps don’t always have the most relevant and detailed information available when engaging with a prospect.
All of this leads to a stagnant and even frustrating B2B sales experience — and the proof is in the pudding. A recent report released by Gartner claimed that nearly 80% of respondents used the phrase “very complex or difficult” to describe their most recent purchase. It doesn’t help matters that the average B2B SaaS sales cycle is a staggering 84 days long. That’s equivalent to spending an entire quarter making a purchase.
The B2B sales experience is clearly broken, and it’s high time for innovators to do something about the matter. The B2B sales process needs to make a shift that brings it more in line with the B2C model that works so much better. That’s where Walnut comes into the picture.
The #WeAreProspects Campaign Is Rewriting the B2B Sales Experience
In response to the dysfunctional B2B sales process, Walnut has launched its new viral campaign, #WeAreProspects. The brand designed the initiative to attract real-world input from others about how they might want to improve their B2B buying experiences.
The campaign highlights specific cases of poor sales experiences for buyers. It also offers discounted solutions to those purchase-related struggles. These focus on targeted B2B sales solutions starting with Walnut’s own innovative and industry-leading sales demo platform.
Walnut has focused its entire business model on enhancing the B2B sales experience. But that doesn’t mean the company has been exclusive in promoting its own goods and services during the #WeAreProspects campaign. It has also brought a number of other companies in on the initiative with tools that also complement B2B sales.
For instance, Dooly helps improve Salesforce hygiene. Postal aids in automating offline marketing. Additional partners SimilarWeb, Contractbook, Sales Assembly, and Cloudshare all bring their own unique B2B sales support to the table, too.
By offering cloud-based solutions for prospective buyers, the #WeAreProspects campaign is providing relevant 21st-century solutions that are flexible, scalable, and affordable. They can enhance the B2B selling process in the present while also setting companies up for future success.
#WeAreProspects — Every Single One of Us
The #WeAreProspects initiative is focused on one thing: bringing the attention back to the buyer. It is bringing the power of cutting-edge SaaS sales solutions to bear on the B2B sales process.
By doing so, Walnut and its partner companies are trying to overhaul the needlessly complex buyer journey. Current efforts are stifling SaaS platform adoption. They are collaborating to collectively simplify the buying experience between businesses. Walnut hopes to create a more seamless, faster experience for buyers and sellers alike.
It’s a necessary and long overdue change in the B2B sales process. After all, in the words of Walnut’s CEO Yoav Vilner, “we are all someone else’s prospects.”
Deanna Ritchie
Managing Editor at ReadWrite
Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.
