Hand Raisers vs Learners: Nurturing the 97%

What if the reason you’re pipeline is dry is that you’re selling too much across content channels?

Links in every post, CTAs leading to your booking calendar, replacing thought leadership with sales pitches — we get it, B2B has long been hyper-product-focused.

But this content only serves a tiny portion, about 3%, of your audience who are actively interested and ready to buy.

What about the other 97%?

Our take: When you tap into your 97% and build an owned audience — people who come back again and again simply to consume your content — that vast majority shifts from casual scrollers to fans, eventually making their way into your pipeline when they’re ready.

Take it from Jen Allen-Knuth — stop being annoying AF. Your audience can be separated into two categories: handraisers and learners.

Yet, most B2B organizations are forcing everyone through hand-raiser sequences packed full of enablement content. This completely misses or worse, scares away, the learners who make up 97% of your potential owned audience.

Newsflash: You’re completely ignoring your top-of-funnel.

Your learners want:

➡️ Actionable tips

➡️ Lessons and insights

➡️ Market information and trends

➡️ Your expertise as an industry leader

Learners don’t want:
❌ To be told what to do

❌ Sales content when they’re not ready to buy

Value-driven content is the way!

Create content that consistently gives your learners what they want without selling to them. When they trust you and come into the market, you’ll be at the top of their list. Make your hand-raiser content easily accessible for when they are ready.

Focus on delivering value without asking for anything in return — your audience will grow and so will your pipeline.

Your turn: When was the last time you segmented your audience? How are you serving your learners?