A recent survey (2015 Buyersphere report) revealed that although buyers say they are looking for the best price, they end up making a decision based on a number of other factors. As marketers we need to understand all the factors that may influence a buying decision.
Generally B2B buyers will make a list of essential criteria that the product or service needs to meet. However there are a number of other factors that will influence a final decision; some of which the buyer may not even realise themselves.
People buy from people, so suppliers that communicate well and can build good relationships are more successful in winning new business. Integrating telemarketing into your campaigns can be hugely beneficial to create a dialogue with prospects and build good relationships, which cannot be achieved through email and digital marketing alone.
Buyers surveyed revealed that the following factors are more important than the lowest price:
- Suppliers who show a good understanding of my needs
- Suppliers who respond more quickly with better quality of information
- Suppliers who providing more frequent communication
- Suppliers who use email more effectively
A buying decision is not only made on the needs of the business, the motivations and needs of an individual buyer are very important. Understanding the individuals pain points and tailoring your communications to show how your solution can help, will put you above your competitors in the supplier evaluation.
A good way to do this is to develop buyer personas to provide clarity on who the person is you are communicating with, what their needs and challenges are and how best to address these.
The impact that a buying decision can have on an individual in their working life is considerable. Buyers are keen to realise benefits that help them in their job or make their life easier, but they are acutely aware of the risks if a purchase decision goes wrong. A bad decision could damage their credibility and status within the organisation or even put their career in jeopardy.
These risks make B2B buyers highly cautious and risk-averse. It explains why reliability is such a key desired attribute of an ideal supplier, but also why confidence in the supplier and buying the best product overtakes all other factors when it comes to the suppliers that are actually selected.
B2B purchases usually involve a medium to long-term working relationship, and so cultural fit is extremely important. Creative brands want to deal with other creative brands; big businesses want to deal with other big businesses. If your typical customer is highly professional and corporate in approach, you should aim to match this in your communications, tone, branding and sales conversations.
This article first appeared on the Beanstalk Marketing blog
