The ''Push'' Model v The ''Pull'' Model

Chris Ritson

•

22 Sept 2023

•

2.5 mins

Share to:

The way we generate pipeline has changed dramatically in the last 20 years.

Think about it this way; 20 years ago the only ‘‘inbound leads’’ were ones that physically walked into your shop.

10 years ago we started launching demand generation teams to bring inbound leads to companies digitally.

Now, there are huge shifts in buying behaviour and salespeople need to keep up.

Our buyers want to self-educate. They want buying experiences that involve less contact with salespeople. Not more.

Think about that for a second. They want LESS contact. Less touchpoints. And yet we are sitting here doing more calls and sending more emails.

This is only pushing buyers away more.

So how can we adapt?

In this newsletter, I’ll outline the old ‘‘predictable revenue’’ Push Model and introduce the new ‘‘experience first’’ Pull Model.

Let’s dive in.

Senior leadership sets activity-based KPIs and assumes more activity = more meetings.
You build loads of sequences and add more and more people to those sequences to hit those activity targets.
You don’t have time to learn the actual problems you are solving.
You end up sending 1000s of emails, doing 100s of calls, and pitch-slapping everyone on LinkedIn.
If they do respond you don’t know what to say to have a constructive conversation because no one trained you.
Instead, you try to force the conversation down the prospect’s throat to book the meeting at all costs.
The prospects that accept the meeting don’t turn up.
The meetings that do show up close at a 5% win rate.
You wonder why you’ve made $0 commission when you were promised double OTE.
You burn out by pushing so hard you can’t push anymore, and leave.
You join a new company and repeat the cycle roughly every 2 years.

Leadership teaches reps the buying journey and they are thoroughly enabled on the problems their buyers face.
You ignore product enablement as a priority (You die by the mantra that problems sell, products don’t).
You only outreach prospects that have shown some level of intent.
Your sequences have reduced levels of automation.
You use an omnichannel approach accompanied by producing content on social media to help educate your buyer.
You know when they’ve started a conversation with a prospect your job is to continue it over a long time frame.
You know ‘‘not right now’’ is okay as most people aren’t in the market yet but your job is to build a relationship until they are.
You know demand creation can take months or years in enterprise and patience is key. You build content and personal brands to attract buyers (eyeballs = attention).
You encourage marketing to build resources for your buyers that aren’t just ‘‘case studies’’.
You measure yourself on ‘‘meaningful’’ touches with prospects once they’ve started a two-way conversation.
You NEVER automate a nurture sequence.
You celebrate long-term wins not just ‘‘meetings booked today’’.
You build a ‘buyer-centric’ culture by sun-shining data points like high open rates, high response rates etc.