Mighty Guides and NetLine Corporation teamed up to co-sponsored the new book, 9 Experts Rethinking Demand Generation. The book gathers controversial perspectives and new strategies from top demand gen thought leaders to help tackle the business-to-business marketplace.

Brent Adamson, Principle Executive Advisor at CEB (now Gartner) and co-author of The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation and the newly released The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results, a contributor for the book, features his insights in the essay, “Demand Gen Content Must Sell Change.” Here is an excerpt from the essay:

Many emotional and rational factors contribute to a buyer’s decision to buy, but none of them will prevail if the buyer is not ready to make a change. The science of decision making shows that people are more motivated to change to escape a loss than to seek a gain. Compared with the status quo, disruptions associated with a possible gain seem riskier. Successful demand generation content must make the status quo seem riskier than not acting to avoid an imminent loss. Good salespeople instinctively understand these principles, but content marketers often fail to apply them to demand generation content creation.

Adamson goes on to describe three fundamental flaws he finds in today’s demand gen content. He also explains that the focus must first be put on the customer’s current state, rather than your new solution:

Talk about what your customers are currently doing and how that behavior exposes them to cost or risk or missed opportunities in ways they haven’t fully appreciated.

This essay is one of two that Adamson contributed for the new book, 9 Experts Rethinking Demand Generation, an important read for all B2B marketing, sales, and executive teams.

9 Experts Rethinking Demand Generation

This eBook collects essays based on discussions with the experts and consolidates their insights into fresh approaches to demand generation content creation and lead nurturing. Experts featured in the eBook include:  Brent Adamson (CEB/Gartner), Tim Riesterer (Corporate Visions), David Fortino (NetLine), Samantha Stone (The Marketing Advisory Network), Pam Boiros (Bridge Marketing Advisors), Babette Ten Haken (Sales Aerobics), Heather Vaughan (InfoBlox), and David Rogelberg (MightyGuides).

The book is structured in two parts:

Content that Converts: How to create and use disruptive content to sell change.

1. Demand Gen Content Must Sell Change
2. Tearing Down the Status Quo
3. Find Your Disruptive Story
4. Focus on Situations, Not Personas
5. Demand Gen Content Must Recognize the Many Voices in a Buying Decision
6. The Making of a Champion
7. Create, Identify, and Enable Mobilizers
8. Content Types That Disrupt the Status Quo

Lead Generation and Nurture Strategy: How to identify the mobilizers to drive sales.

1. Marketing Beyond the C-Suite
2. Find and Qualify Mobilizer Leads
3. Lead Scoring: Focus on Intent Rather Than Engagement
4. Get the Most Out of Content Distribution
5. Infoblox Case Study

If you’re interested in capturing more high-value leads—not to mention improving relations between sales and marketing—this eBook is a must read for you and your team. Plus, an important read for 2018 content and demand gen planning!

Download your free copy of 9 Experts Rethinking Demand Generation.

Featured in this Article:

As the principal executive advisor at CEB (now Gartner), Brent Adamson is a sought-after speaker and facilitator. He has more than 20 years of experience as a researcher, teacher, and trainer in sales, marketing, and customer service. He is the co-author of the The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation and the newly released The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results.

Mighty Guides makes you stronger. Our authoritative and diverse guides provide a full view of a topic. They help you explore, compare, and contrast a variety of viewpoints, so that you can determine what will work best for you. Reading a Mighty Guide is kind of like having your own team of experts. Each heartfelt and sincere piece of advice in our guides sits right next to the contributor’s name, biography, and links so that you can learn more about their work. This background information gives you the proper context for each expert’s independent perspective.