Salesforce of Pardot's Adam Blitzer shared that the strategy of B2B marketing is similar to a strategy in judo. He admitted that his background in judo plays a huge role for him in developing the marketing automation products in Pardot.
In an article written for Venture Beat, Blitzer said the word judo literally translates to the flexible way. It is similar to how modern B2B marketing do sales work- in a flexible way.
A judo player, Blitzer asserts, must constantly adapt to his opponent's next move. Just like in B2B marketing, a good B2B marketer and sales representative has to be able to learn and adapt to their buyers.
To be a successful B2B marketer, one needs to adapt, to size up each individual buyer understanding that every buyer needs a unique approach.
Here are specific ways to apply judo to a B2B marketing strategy:
Learn from the past
Before playing, a good judo player will learn the opponent's previous moves. This will be a good start to decide the right move to overcome the opponent's. If a judo player knows about their opponent's style, their tournament history, then it will be easier to decide the best move to beat their opponent.
This first principal is similar to what we need to do to be a good B2B marketer. Let's consider the buyer as an opponent in judo. Before we meet the buyer, it is important to learn, to collect any possible data about the buyer. Seek and learn about their activities, interests, demographics, and more. Remember that every buyer needs their special approach. Use this collected data about the buyer as tools on approaching process.
The possible data of buyers that we need to collect, according to Smarta, includes name and contact details, transaction history, communication records between you and buyer and any response they make.
React in the present
The most important part in playing judo is to be able to react to your opponents every move in real time. It needs flexibility and ability to react to any moves, the expected and even unexpected moves. This is the same way that a B2B marketer needs to be able to react to their buyer activities and needs.
To perform a good reaction to what buyer's want, a B2B marketer only must present solutions specific to the needs, the budget and the timing previously identified, but nothing more, the National Association of Sales Professionals advises.
Prepare for the future
The last judo principal is to prepare for the opponent's next moves. It is important to be predictive to prepare and decide the next move needed to take. This last judo move is similar to anticipating the buyer in the marketing process. In anticipating what buyer wants in a B2B process, according to
So, to be a good B2B marketer, just remember these three judo moves.
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