**by Chris Elwell**
Here's a common experience for anyone who sells products and services
to businesses. A prospect is moving toward becoming a customer, and
then inexplicably becomes unresponsive. Why?
B2B buying is not a rational process. That straightforward yet
profound conclusion makes reading /The BuyerSphere Project/ by Search
Engine Land Just Behave
<http://searchengineland.com/library/just-behave>
columnist Gord Hotchkiss worthwhile. Other findings from the
research multiply the return on time invested.
The BuyerShere Project concludes that B2B buying is a decision
process driven by the emotions of the people involved. Fear is the
principal emotion in play. B2B buyers are motivated principally to
limit their personal risk—to keep their jobs or stature in the
company by avoiding mistakes. Risk to their company's well-being is
also a factor, but a secondary consideration to their own reputation.
The marketing funnel is a flawed analogy that presumes B2B buying
is emotion-free, BuyerShere concludes. The process is much more
complex, involving both doers and buyers within the company, and
the unique needs of each for information and emotional reassurance.
Doers are frequently the individuals that initiate the purchase of a
B2B product or service, but the responsibility for mitigating
corporate risk is typically handed off to a buyer at some point.
That handoff is the point at which many B2B sales efforts are
derailed.
Doers and buyers need information in the B2B buying process, and
that need can be satisfied online. B2B website design should consider
the information needs of the personas who use the site and create
unambiguous navigation paths leading to the information they seek.
In-person meetings are critical to fulfilling the emotional needs of
prospects. Building trust through in-person meetings with both doers
and buyers is necessary in the complex B2B sale.
Other conclusions from The BuyerSphere Project:
E-mail is the favored communication channel for B2B buyers, yet
inquires are frequently handled poorly and responses are inaccurate.
Clear product and pricing information is the most useful website
content for prospective B2B buyers.
Sellers of B2B products and services should initiate contact with
prospects before they are actively looking to buy. Doing so allows the
seller to help define the requirements of the solution and procurement
process, and establishes the seller as a trusted advisor to the
prospect.
Low risk and high risk purchases have different friction points for
B2B vendors to overcome.
Reducing friction is paramount in low-risk transactions (like
ordering office supplies) and can be accomplished by making product
and pricing information easy to find and ordering simple.
High-risk, high-consideration purchases demand comprehensive online
information about the product and company selling it, satisfying the
information needs of doers and buyers, respectively. In-person
meetings are frequently necessary to satisfy the emotional needs of
both doers and buyers.
The conclusions of the BuyerSphere Project are richly supported by
multiple sources from a wide variety of scientific disciplines,
including research on information foraging, brain function and
technology adoption, as well as the groundbreaking eye tracking
research performed by the author's firm, Enquiro.
For all of the insight it provides, Hotchkiss concedes that The
BuyerSphere is just the beginning of research into the complex topic
of B2B buying.
The book attempts to cover the continuum of mundane repeat purchases
of office supplies from a known entity in the B2B environment all the
way to the adoption of a new technology from an unknown supplier. This
proves an ambitious task and is fertile ground for future writings.
The book's exploration of the impact of digital natives (those born
after 1980) on the B2B buying process is another area for future
exploration. Beyond saying these individuals will behave differently
than prior generations, there's little insight about how they will
change the dynamics of B2B buying.
Many books have been written on mastering the art of the complex
sale. Most were based on the experience of the author as a sales
manager or consultant. The BuyerSphere Project is a valuable extension
to that field of knowledge and a worthwhile read for anyone involved
in B2B sales.
*The BuyerSphere Project <http://www.enquiro.com/thebuyersphere>
*
by Gord Hotchkiss
ISBN-10: 1439261679
PDF: Free
Print: BookSurge Publishing, $39.99
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Chris Elwell <http://searchengineland.com/author/celwell/>
is President of Third Door Media <http://thirddoormedia.com>
, Search Engine Land's <http://searchengineland.com>
parent company. He has more than 20 years interactive media and
marketing experience in management, product development, marketing and
editorial positions.
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