B2B transactions are “bet the company” decisions

As I was reading, however, it occurred to me that the characteristics that both Paul and I ascribe to B2B businesses may be a function of scale and complexity, rather than just the target audience.  After all, most consumer acquisitions are not “bet the company decisions”.  Notable exceptions include real estate, new jobs, mates, and the most major of surgeries.  In each of these situations, individuals’ buying behavior is more like that of businesses than consumers.

Nevertheless, I still think the points that Paul outlines are what distinguishes most B2B from most B2C transactions.  Even those B2B purchases that are not “bet the company” decisions, occur in the spotlight, are ones for which the buyer is held accountable by others, and are therefore “bet the job” decisions.

Long sales cycles are expensive

Of the points Paul mentioned, my own focus as a B2B marketing consultant has always been on shortening the sales cycle.  As he notes, B2B sales cycles stretch out because success depends on addressing the needs of multiple people at multiples stages of the buying process, each of which have different priorities.

Long sales cycles are expensive.  Ironically, any time that salespeople spend on prospecting for new business, building relationships, pointing out the benefits of the company’s wares, or ensuring that each stakeholder gets satisfactory answers to the questions she or he has is relatively unproductive.  The company only makes money when its salespeople are closing deals or negotiating their terms.  Any time spent on the activities leading up to a sale has a huge opportunity cost, because that’s time that the salesperson isn’t closing other deals.

Advance preparation is the secret to accelerating the sale

Advance preparation is the secret to shortening the sales cycle.  Salespeople tend to only have messages for a few of the audiences that they need to reach.  Because they are under pressure to close the transaction, salespeople don’t have the time it takes to research and prepare the nuanced responses that others who influence the buying decision often require.  Consequently, their communications are not as powerful as they could be–and the sales cycle stretches out as prospects continue to shop.

This is where B2B marketers, and B2B marketing consultants like me, make their greatest contribution.  Our job is to anticipate who will be involved in the buying process, what they’ll need at each stage, and how they prefer that the company meet these needs–with the goal of developing targeted communications and tools well before Sales needs them.

B2B marketers are at a disadvantage

Unfortunately, we can’t take advantage of many of the tools that B2C marketers have at their disposal.  They get reams of data gathered through surveys and via scanners at the point-of purchase.  They also have many media in which they can cost-effectively place highly-targeted ads.

Our audiences are smaller and buy less frequently.  They are also less homogenous both due to the greater complexity of the B2B buying decision–and because our total available markets aren’t generally large enough to divide into sizable segments.

It’s, therefore, hard for us to get relevant survey data.  For one, it’s hard to capture the nuances of complex buying decisions in a survey that’s limited to forced choice answers.  For another, there aren’t enough of us, targeting any given market segment, to justify third-party investments in any but the most general survey data.

Historically, our best alternative, for getting at the heart of the buying process, has been to gather information from decision makers through one-to-one interviews, or in small groups.  Doing so requires special skills to avoid predetermining the answers by the way we pose our questions.  Moreover, because the available data collection methods were expensive, we could only speak with relatively small samples of the population.

From a communications perspective, we’ve never had a cost-effective media.  As Paul notes, our goal is to reach multiple audiences that buy relatively infrequently–and whose needs vary depending on where they are in the buying process.  If we purchase spots in broadcast media, we’re paying to reach too many people we don’t care about.  On the other hand, direct marketing, which allows for more targeted messaging is also expensive–since we still don’t know which prospects will be receptive to our messages at any point in time.

Search and social media promise to be a tremendous boon

Search and social media have the potential to make us both more efficient and more cost-effective.  They promise to improve both the quality and quantity of the information we can obtain.

By searching on germane keywords, we can find out what prospects have to say, unaided, on relevant topics.  This information will add value, since discussants are likely speaking about what matters to them– rather than just responding to questions about the dimensions that we think to ask about.  Search and social media also provide access to the crowd, decreasing our reliance on the insights of a few available individuals.

The news is even better from a communications perspective.  Organic search and pay per click dramatically reduce our costs.  One is free and the other only requires us to pay for audiences that are likely receptive to our messages.  We also can reach members of our target audience through social media via the online peer groups in which they participate or the lists members make of their peers using tools such as Listorious.

The availability of better tools is a double-edged sword

The good news is that search and social media have made getting the right message to the right person at the right time easier and less expensive than ever–and should enable us to significantly shrink the sales cycle.  The bad news is that customers will be less forgiving of companies whose marketing messages still  do not anticipate and address their needs.

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At that point, however, most buyers have a heightened awareness of the cost of delay–and are anxious to move forward. When they don’t, it’s a telltale sign that your product or service is missing the mark.

When interested buyers fail to purchase, after learning about how your solution will address their concerns, sales cycles stretch out as they seek a better match. If they find another provider that will give them exactly what they want, they’ll purchase there. Even when prospective buyers later purchase from your company, delays hold up your ability to recognize revenue—and may also run up your sales and marketing expenses as you try to close the deal.

In short, maximizing sales productivity clearly depends on your readiness to give prospective buyers exactly what they want, the way they want it. The question is, “How do you determine what that is?”

Effective marketing research is the fastest route to winning solutions

To design great solutions, you need a thorough understanding of prospective buyers’ most pressing needs and want. To get this information, it’s helpful to conduct primary marketing research by going straight to “the horse”, but not necessarily to the horse’s mouth.

One of the best ways to find out what’s most important to prospective buyers is to observe what sells and what doesn’t. One common mistake, however, is asking prospective buyers what they want. That’s because most of us only think we know what we want. We get it wrong, however, because we fail to take into account all the factors that come into play at the time of purchase.

We’re lousy predictors of our own behavior

Look at your own clientele. If you ask them, many would say they want an accountant who will find tax savings that they would otherwise miss. They might add that for this reason they seek out professionals with experience in their industry with a demonstrated track record of generating savings for others just like them.

Nevertheless when you look at actual buying behavior, many factors come into play—some of which ultimately end up taking precedence over the ones that are top of mind. Examples include availability when clients need to meet a pressing deadline, the ability to accept 90 day payment terms, a pleasant reception when they contact your office, or a plethora of other factors that prospective buyers are not fully aware are important to them until faced with a real situation.

Look to actions, rather than words

In our experience, the best way to find out what prospective buyers want is to look at their past purchasing patterns. That’s because we’re creatures of habit. We tend to do things the way we’ve always done them and maintain the same priorities.

One way to do that is to start with your existing clientele, specifically your best clients since they’re likely to be the best proxy for your most promising prospects. If, on the other hand, you’re losing the most promising prospects to the competition, start there with prospective buyers that chose to buy elsewhere. In either case, it’s important to focus on just your most promising prospects because you can’t be all things to all people.

Get at past purchasing patterns by reviewing your company’s sales history. If you maintain a lead tracking or contact management system, review your notes to determine:

* Which solutions did prospective buyers purchase right away?

* When they delayed why did they delay?

* What questions did they ask?

* What was the single most important reason they purchased?

* What concessions, if any, did you need to make to get their business?

* Under what circumstances were they willing to pay a premium and why?

* What caused them to select you over the competition?

* When they recommend your company, what do they say?

* If they went to a competitor, what was the reason?

* When you lost, what if anything could you have done to get the business?

If you didn’t record answers to these questions, it’s okay to go back and ask. Nevertheless, remember to focus on past purchases. As we discussed above, most people make far better reporters than analysts.

Worried about annoying people? Don’t! Most people are flattered that you’re interested in their insights and happy to share them with you if you are courteous and schedule an appointment in advance. If you’re just starting out, and don’t have any clients, interview your competitors’ clients.

Tip: Build your sales history as you go

At BB Marketing Plus we do a lot of marketing research to help our clients rank development priorities. Here are some tips your company can use to capture what is important to your clientele:

1. Implement a system that helps you map prospective buyers’ behavior including the stages of their buying process and:

* Who was involved at each stage

* What information each individual required

* What follow up questions each individual asked

* The time it took to move to the next stage

* The reason for any delays it took to move from one stage to the next

* Why you won when you won

* Why you lost when you lost

2. Ensure that you keep your system up to date, calling back buyers and prospective buyers to fill in knowledge gaps

3. Ask a lot of questions to get a sense of their entire situation and priorities, rather than just their immediate requirements

* Keep your questions open-ended, rather than making assumptions

* Ask individuals to report on past behavior, rather than to predict the future

4. Follow up regularly to assess satisfaction

* Ask about every aspect of your business interactions

* Find out what you’ve done well and what needs improvement

* Act on what you learn

* Thank people for their insights and communicate what you’ve done as a result.

Our clients find that they can learn a lot from the past. One of the findings that many find surprising is that while price is important, it’s generally not the deciding factor. Another revelation is that their clientele often has different perspectives—than they do–when it comes to defining quality. These are important insights when your goal is to give prospective clients exactly what they want and do it their way.

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1. Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds
2. Making the sale depends on addressing an urgent need
3. Getting top dollar depends on first determining who values your solutions most

Step one is recognizing that for the most part, we can’t convince anyone to buy something from us that they don’t want. When it comes to shortening the sales cycle—as with other forms of behavior change, the thing to remember is that it’s all about attraction and motivation—rather than persuasion and pursuit.

Purchasers decide what they want to buy and equally important how they prefer to buy it. All we can do is make it easy for them to buy from us.

The key to success is anticipating prospective buyers’ needs and then making sure you give them exactly what they want, when they want it, how they want it—before they ask. When we neglect to first understand how our clients prefer to buy, we run the risk of failing to make the necessary connection and causing sales cycles to stretch out. Let’s look at a few examples.

Suppose prospective buyers need a written understanding of what you will deliver, and you don’t have it. Sales cycles will stretch out while you prepare the necessary documents. If they require certain payment terms, and you can’t provide them, the sale stalls until you obtain authorization to give them what they want—or worse, you may end up losing the deal. If they depend on their trusted advisors for recommendations and these advisors aren’t familiar with your business, you’ll need to wait while they perform due diligence, or more likely, miss out on the opportunity altogether.

The better you understand prospective clients’ buying behavior, the greater is your ability to anticipate obstacles, and then take action to shorten the sales cycle. In short, upfront marketing research pays. More about that in a later post.

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1. Shorten the sales cycle: one marketing message at a time
2. Accelerate revenues, reduce the cost of sales, and boost profitability
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