According to Gartner, the b-to-b sales process involves the following “buying jobs”:
- Problem identification: What issue are we trying to solve?
- Solution exploration: What tools exist to solve it?
- Requirements building: What exactly do we need to buy to solve our problem?
- Supplier selection: Which tool does the best job at solving our problem?
- Validation: Did we choose the right solution?
- Consensus creation: Are the relevant stakeholders aligned with this choice?
Buyers typically manage the first three jobs as they begin their search. That means it’s up to the GTM team to complete the last three tasks, and DSRs are the ideal location to store all of this information.
DSRs provide buyers with a singular location they can return to at their leisure to read and reread pitch decks, ebooks and other personalized materials. It both simplifies the information-gathering process for buyers and allows sellers to easily access the context and history of their relationship.
An important caveat: DSRs are only successful when they are thoughtfully utilized and carefully maintained. Asking prospects to navigate a hodgepodge of various case studies and product descriptions can be counterproductive, so be sure to keep things consolidated and well-organized.
On a similar note, sales reps should work with their marketing counterparts and the rest of the GTM team to consistently upload new, customized content to the DSR. Sharing assets that prospects are already interested in can only get you so far; it’s crucial to manage a steady stream of up-to-date, on-brand information that’s tailored to specific opportunities to keep potential buyers coming back. This aligns with the common buyer behavior known as “looping,” or the process of visiting the same channel multiple times throughout the sales cycle.
By the numbers
DSR usage at Seismic increased by 187% from 2021 to 2022, with buyer engagement increasing 197% year over year. Furthermore, a recent internal study revealed that sales reps who met or exceeded their quota created 150% more DSRs for their active opportunities than those who failed to hit their goals. These reps also had five times as many opportunities where they used DSRs in the sales process and generated 420% higher net new revenue.
