The customer is always right; so it makes sense to find out what they’re thinking. Alex Aspinall shares insight from the Buyersphere 2015 report
There’s no lack of research projects purporting to offer marketers insight into how to go about achieving their objectives more easily, quicker and more profitably. They are usually written by consultants, agencies or publishers and they generally represent a mixed bag of quality offerings and copy-and-paste advice you’ll have heard before. There are relatively few reports, however, that offer straight-from-the-horse’s-mouth, insight from the most important people in any business operation: the customer. The annual Buyersphere is one such report.
Now in its fifth year, the Buyersphere report – the product of a collaborative research project between B2B Marketing, Base One, McCallum Layton and Research Now – offers marketers a unique opportunity to access the real-world buyer insight that even the most advanced data analysis would struggle to garner. This year’s report, based on insight gathered from decision-makers involved in business purchases worth in excess of £20,00 from across 211 UK-based businesses, offers the who, what, where and why of the buyer decision-making process, and pieces together a portrait of the ‘perfect’ supplier.
There’s little doubt that buyers are in control. It’s been that way for quite some time, and there is little to suggest a change is likely any time soon. Even the most cursory examination of this year’s report serves to underline the degree to which buyers are very much masters of their own destinies. Recent years have seen the range of sources from which buyers can look for information on business decisions increase beyond recognition. And when you consider that you are far from the only organisation, individual and cause hoping to attract the attention of your prospect on any given day, the imperative to deliver on their terms has never been more important.
Decision-makers
But who are these illusive decision-makers you’re supposed to be basing your every marketing effort around? You won’t be hugely surprised to hear that you’re not aiming your messages at one or two individuals here, B2B is about complex decision making units. But they aren’t necessarily structured in the way you might imagine.
For example, this year’s Buyersphere reveals that the dreaded procurement team aren’t particularly influential in that many B2B purchase decision processes. In fact, only 12 per cent of respondents reported that ‘procurement/purchasing’ specialists were involved at all. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there was no one doing the maths to make sure everything stacked up, but it does mean that you’re likely to be talking to people closer to the subject and with more specific knowledge about exactly what benefits they’re likely to see, rather than to people who are charged with evaluating purchase decisions on terms more difficult to acknowledge in marketing materials.
It was also worth noting that among the job roles and personas quoted as being part of the process – and there are many, ranging from departmental managers and members of the legal team, through to finance and IT professionals – there was one person that cast a very long shadow over the whole process. And, unsurprisingly, that shadow belongs to the person sitting at the top: the owner, CEO or MD. The boss was involved in 38 per cent of all the purchase decisions under the microscope.
This presence was felt across the entire purchasing process too, it’s not just the final yes or no. Our research sought to divide the process into four stages: need identification (where the CEO was the most influential voice in 21 per cent of respondent organisations), researching solutions (19 per cent), researching specific suppliers (18 per cent) and making the final decision (28 per cent).
Within this, it’s clear to see that business leaders are typically involved most at the start and end of the purchase decision process, and wise marketers would be well minded to target messaging accordingly. There’s a tendency to discuss ‘marketing to the c-suite’ as some separate consideration, which has to involve the manipulation of fierce gatekeepers and expensive personalised DM. But in reality almost all marketing is talking to business leaders in some way. Make sure you know who you’re addressing, and when. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the non-CEO prospects you’re addressing are themselves marketing your products and their own reputations to the CEO. The influence of the people at the top of the hierarchy stretches further than you might think.
Information and influence
Content is everywhere we turn these days; it’s as defining a feature of our times as iPhones, selfies and data. Its abundance also represents one of the most challenging elements of modern marketing: that of achieving cut-through. For marketers cut-through means making sure vital messages are digested by the incredibly busy people they are intended for. This is another area in which the Buyersphere 2015 can help.
We asked senior B2B buyers what kinds of information they most commonly sought out when selecting suppliers for purchases worth in excess of £20,000, and their feedback was encouragingly rooted in a sense of tradition. Despite the focus on snackability and the oft-quoted reduction in attention spans, it seems B2B buyers are still willing to put in the groundwork when it comes to making purchases for their business.
The three most-commonly used information types were ‘pricing information’ (sought out by 67 per cent of respondents), ‘technical and product specs’ (58 per cent) and ‘industry competitive comparisons’ (49 per cent). The message here is clear, it’s important to be present in narrative surrounding your industry, and relatively few people are immune to well thought-out pieces of brand content but, when it comes to the crunch, hard facts proving the business value of your proposition are still what matters most.
There is more to the story though. Digging a little deeper, we asked respondents to reflect on how influential the same set of information sources were, and a different story emerged. Though technical and product specifications were still at the top of the list (and awarded eight, nine or 10 out of 10 for influenceby 52 per cent of respondents), the relevance of pricing and industry comparatives plummeted. Of more influence than either of these
seemingly essential factors were ‘reports by external analysts’ and ‘interviews with company experts’.
When plotting how frequently an information type is used against how influential these sources are it’s possible to see opportunities to shape influence that may currently be going under-acknowledged as well as to highlight the areas that should be regarded as essentials to tick.
As previously mentioned, tech specs – the real meat of what your potential customers are going to be getting in return for their investment – are the most widely-sought and most influential factors at play. If your product and/or services are up to scratch these shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Just make sure they are easily accessible for any interested parties. Make it easy to select your brand.
An area that could be an opportunity for some organisations, if they haven’t mapped it before, is the significant role played by external influencers. The usage/influence chart highlights that ‘external analysts’, ‘interviews with company experts’ and – to a slightly lesser degree – ‘testimonials’ are more influential than they are widely used. By focusing on building relationships and facilitating peer and industry endorsement, B2B organisations could leverage a greater influence over their prospect lists than by relying on more standard marketing collateral alone. The concept of ‘star influencers’ and how to leverage their potential contributions is dealt with in greater detail in the main Buyersphere 2015 report.
Successful suppliers
Once you’ve aligned your messaging according to the needs and pain points of the people you’re trying to reach, ensured the influential and most useful pieces of information are right where they need to be, you could be forgiven for relaxing and giving yourself a pat on the back. But it would be a mistake. You would have ignored what is one of the most important elements of this year’s report. It’s all well and good hitting the right people with the right messages in the right places and at the right times but unless you have a plan in place regarding what effect you’re looking to create, you’re not going to be selected as the supplier of choice too often.
All marketing is designed to solicit responses from its intended audience. There are many ways of going about achieving this. But ‘brand’ – the intangible element that plays such an important role in buyer decision-making – is up there at the top. It’s always rather risky asking respondents to reflect
on the influence brands have on them; so much takes place on a subconscious level. But to secure some understanding about
the impact brand can have, we included a section examining the rational decisions and emotional elements that underpin a purchase decision.
When we invited respondents to provide three words to describe their vision of the perfect supplier before the buying process began, three clear leaders emerged: ‘price’, ‘reliability’ and ‘trustworthiness’. It’s clear B2B buyers are looking for a product or service that comes at a price that offers fair value for money, and is provided by a supplier they can trust. The price factor is pretty concrete; it’s either reasonable or it isn’t. But trustworthiness – and specifically the ability to convince potential suitors that your brand is the one to rely on – is something that is very much wrapped up in a brand offering.
To further underline these points, similar responses were provided when we asked respondents to discuss the characteristics of the supplier they eventually selected; brand and a sense of being able to rely on the partner were evident again. The characteristic recognised by most buyers in the supplier with whom they did business was their ‘product or service being better than the others’. The second most commonly selected attribute was having ‘heard of them before’.
In a bid to shed some light on the emotional factors underpinning supplier selection, questions were posed to encourage buyers to reflect on how the supplier they decided to do business with made them feel. Once again, the most popular responses brought an element of trust into the equation. ‘Confidence they would deliver’ and ‘confidence a fair price was being charged’ were the two most-selected options. The recurrence of this theme highlights that building a brand and a service offering centred on something real – something that you can point at to emphasise your brand’s honesty and reliability – is vitally important in B2B.
Interesting lessons were also located at the other end of both the rational and emotional tables. Far less importance was attached to more ‘lightweight’ factors such as notions that suppliers were ‘cool or forward thinking,’ ‘offering something unique,’ had ‘impressive websites’ and – interestingly, given the overall focus of this report – offered ‘more creative marketing’. B2B buyers are looking for suppliers they can trust, products and brands they can partner with and believe in, not box-tickers and bandwagon-jumpers hoping to impress with the latest trends. It’s time to get real.
