Just as the old model of news dissemination has been shattered – a few dominant outlets now replaced by a cacophony of voices - so has the traditional approach to healthcare marketing. Your healthcare B2B customers are turning into B2C right before your eyes, side-stepping your funnel and doing research and evaluation on their own, without seeking a contact with your sales team. According to a 2017 study by research company Forrester, 68% of B2B customers said they preferred to do their own research, rather than interact with a sales rep. This is a big change over 2015, when this figure was only 40%.

We hear a lot about how the B2B sales process has changed. From push to pull, from outbound to inbound, from talking to a live person to receiving automated marketing replies …. The funnel looks a lot different now than it did 10, or five, or even two years ago.

If you’re a B2B marketer working in 2017, you’ve likely switched over to an inbound marketing approach, based on the three stages in the buyer’s journey: awareness, consideration, and decision. But has your sales team made the same switch in how they sell your product or solution?