I know what you did last summer

If your business is growing right now, I can take a pretty good guess as to what you did last summer. As well as the spring, winter and autumn preceding it.

You didn’t suddenly figure everything out in the last 30 days. You didn’t get lucky with a random big deal. You didn’t rely on a single campaign or burst of random activity.

You likely did something much simpler. And infinitely more powerful. You kept showing up, week in and week out.

Growth doesn’t happen in quarters

Most B2B business think about growth in short windows. This quarter. This campaign. This big push.

But growth doesn’t work like that. What’s in your pipeline today is the result of what you did three months ago, six months ago or even a year ago.

Pipeline is a lagging indicator, which means that success is rarely sudden. It’s accumulated.

The myth of the big push

When pipeline slows, the instinct is to react. Launch a campaign. Increase activity. Offer discounted deals. Try something new.

And sometimes that creates a short-term lift. But it rarely creates long-term growth. Because growth doesn’t come from intensity. It comes from consistency.

Think about why. B2B buying cycles are long, and popular consensus is that only 5% of your market is in buying mode at any moment. While your reactive campaign may ‘get lucky’ and find some of those ready buyers, a short-term offer will do nothing for the other 95%, who will enter the market sometime in the next six months to three years.

Instead, those not yet ready to buy may experience a flash of recognition or find something appealing in your message, but it will be meaningless when you default back to doing nothing and your business becomes invisible again.

Consistency is the secret sauce here, because it ensures you’re in front of as many people as possible all the time. And that means you are a good chance of making the cut on their mental shortlist when they enter buying mode.

Consistent visibility for the win

The businesses that win in B2B don’t disappear and reappear. They don’t rely on random bursts of activity. They do something far less exciting but far more effective.

They show up consistently. Week after week and month after month and year after year. They build familiarity and trust through constant visibility.

Over time, this compounds into something very powerful. What the great Byron Sharp calls ‘mental availability’. Which simply means that when they are ready to buy, they think of your business.

You need to be top of mind when they are ready to buy

B2B buying cycles are long and when most prospects first encounter your business or brand, they are not yet ready to buy. But they are willing to learn. To find out about what you do and how it can help solve their problems and challenges.

While they continue to read, learn and compare, you need to show up consistently so you stay part of the process. If you disappear, you’ll be quickly forgotten.

And when they eventually enter the market as active buyers ready to choose, they don’t start from scratch. They will immediately conjure a mental shortlist, choosing what feels familiar and mentally available to them.

Typically, this shortlist includes up to three businesses, and 90% of eventual purchases go to one of these mentally shortlisted businesses.

Get a competitive advantage

Consistency is the advantage that is easy to attain. Why? Because in simple terms, most companies don’t do it. For whatever reason they are incapable of staying the course.

Often, they get off to a strong start, but most companies quickly lose momentum. Or change direction. Or stop then restart. Whatever the excuse (and there are plenty), they continually reset and lose the compounding effect that consistency provides.

If you set your plan in place, ensure you have the resources and commitment to stick with it, and then actually stick with it, you will earn a powerful competitive advantage.

And over time, you’ll see the benefits of this advantage build and grow as your pipeline stays consistent and you spend less time brainstorming ways to give a quick boost to marketing to hit your targets next month or next quarter.

You’ll also find yourself a lot more relaxed!

How to build consistent presence

It’s true that what is simple is not necessarily easy. It takes time, effort, commitment and resources to set the course and be consistent in execution over time.

If you like the idea of building real demand but are unsure exactly how you might go about it, talk to the experts at The Demand Stream. We’re here to work as your partner to keep you consistently in market and visible through long B2B buying cycles.