Customer Centred Signalling: Stop selling and start responsible influencing New insights into online and social B2B marketing strategies

Klaas Fleischmann
Customer Centred Signalling
Stop selling and start responsible influencing

Managers, sales professionals and marketers need to adjust asap to the customer revolution that is taking place - as we speak- in the online B2B marketing arena. Never before have customers had such an information advantage. The power has shifted from seller to buyer.

Klaas Fleischmann shows us convincingly that traditional marketing strategies such as pipeline management and the good old sales funnel approach no longer work. Customer journeys have become too complex to control. Marketers must start to engage with potential buyers on all touchpoints and find out more about their individual customer journey. And - most importantly- start managing the dynamic customer experience.

B2B will need to use social media (Facebook, Linkedin, vlogs and blogs) but without thinking they can push sales through them. They must stop selling and start responsible influencing. Instead B2B management and marketers need to invest in establishing contacts on the basis of clear and reliable signalling. But that alone is not enough. They must invest in a new type of relationship - one that recognises the change in power from seller to buyer. This may be achieved through individuals who are embedded in the social networks of potential customers and are regarded by them as reliable sources of information. The end goal being: creating brand confidence, an excellent reputation and long lasting customer relationships.

Fleischmann recognises that for some B2B marketers it is still a lot to come to terms with. But the good news is that there is a need amongst buyers to be able to find and assess information quickly. This means there are chances for companies to reach potential customers if they make use of responsible influencing. Using academic research and personal experience as well as tapping into his own extensive B2B network Fleischmann introduces a new engagement model and agile marketing strategy roadmap that companies need in order to develop positions of trust online.

Fleischmann's first marketing textbook offers comprehensive new insights - based on academic research - into online and social B2B marketing strategies as well as practical insights and managerial implications and tips. It also includes an online toolbox and case studies.

Klaas Fleischmann MSc (1971) holds a first-class degree in Economics, Business Administration & Marketing from Maastricht University as well as a post-graduate diploma in Journalism from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Business and Economics of the VU Amsterdam, where he is carrying out research into the digitalisation of the B2B customer decision journey. He is also a lecturer in marketing at the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. He lives with his wife and their 3 sons in Utrecht in the Netherlands.