A new maverick buyer: B2B end-users!

A friend of mine recently sent me a new Study on the purchasing habits of B2B end-user buyers and I heartily recommend reading it. It confirmed some things that we have been witnessing for the past few years or so, and yet it also confirmed something else: Business customers are regular folks, just like me and you!

Tradition tells us that they are not. It tells us they are an entirely different animal to a “normal” private end-user. They need to be spoken to differently, addressed differently, provided with different information, led by the hand through a complex, long-winded acquisition process and stored in a separate database and CRM, etc, etc. Now some of that still applies, but most of it belongs to a tradition that it seems is slowly but surely dying out.

Some traditions never “die”

An enterprise or small to medium sized business of any kind does however still have requirements and demands over and above those of a regular private customer. They want support, for instance, as often they are responsible for a network of employees. They expect regular upgrades of the product or service along with ongoing maintenance, different licensing options and purchasing alternatives to a private customer. They often demand deeper, more complex product material including use case scenarios, ROI and competition analysis, to mention but a few. The crazy thing about the findings in this report though is that B2B end-users buyers can still have all that. Sure they can. And you can still give them all that, and more! So what’s crazy about that? Well, only that it can now all be done online as well as offline too: automated, streamlined and optimized to provide the ultimate contact and experience for a B2B visitor.

Offline to online – same principle, different practice

More and more B2B customers are buying online and direct. This can and does also include partners, those essential resale and consultant friends of ours for whom one can and should also present everything “online” as well as offline. This all puts a little extra pressure on us providers: it used to be the case that we knew one contact within a customer or partner organization responsible for “Purchasing” and that was our single target. These days however, end-users within a company no longer allow themselves to be constrained by internal procedural “chicanes”, and the potential target now could be literally anyone in that company. We must now cater for them online too. An ever-increasing number of customers and partners alike are skipping those complex, traditional procedures of old by:

• Obtaining product information and material online
• Comparing products and services with the competition online
• Getting accurate ROI analysis online
• Getting use case scenarios online
• Getting a quote or direct pricing online (and easily too, thanks to full transparency)
• Placing orders, including delivery terms, tax aspects and support online

Not only is it therefore clear that companies providing products or services have to gear themselves up to providing the ultimate online “flow” for B2B buyers too, what also became clear to us was that often there had been no traditional “contact” between the customer or partner and ourselves beforehand. But is that really the case?

Define “contact”

What does actually qualify as contact nowadays, in this context? We all know what it is in the traditional sense: a meeting, a telephone call, a mail, a fax or letter with some questions or negotiations - but online? If you as a provider of products or services are doing it right, all questions, discussions and requirements will be answered online. This redefines “contact”. The contact becomes a touching point between visitor and the website or shop. It does the very same thing as traditional contact, just without the intervention of direct human interaction. So if you see that a B2B buyer bought online and someone makes the observation “Hey, they didn’t even contact us!” – think again. They did, and at several critical contact points. If they went on to buy, you know you have your critical online contact points in pretty good fettle.

Perfect your Critical Customer Contact Points

I can only speak in terms of how we do this but I am confident, regardless of your industry or business models, that the basic important instances when your potential customers make critical “touchdowns” on your web pages and in your shop will be similar:

• Product or service page: sleek design, easy to navigate, all important information at a glance or never more than a click away
• To include: ROI, usage scenarios, reference customers, comparison charts, technical data and whitepapers
• Option to test: one click away, free, prominently placed
• Option to contact: Prominent, transparent, by telephone, mail or even live chat. Never leave them hanging!
• Option to buy: Same, but even easier, even quicker and even more prominent!
• Payment terms and options: All available methods, full delivery details.
• In-shop simplicity: Try to make your check-out one page simplicity. Good for your customers, and good for you as a customer will break the chain if it gets too complex or ahs too many steps/page.
• Phone and Tablet friendly: As that is where most people are doing their surfing these days, we better make sure our site and shop are compatible and responsive.

These are just examples and the list cannot be considered exhaustive, but if you get these right and make them clear and nice on the eye, you’re welcoming guests in through an open door into a very warm and well maintained home. Your company, their experience.

Don’t totally ignore tradition

It is important to remember though that some companies and establishments, especially in the public sector, still have to jump through bureaucratic hoops and follow old and trusted procedures in order to test, purchase or indeed even make any contact with you at all. Make it clear that the old methods and ways of doing things (offline) continue to be available too. One does not exclude the other, and you don’t want to scare any old customers or traditional purchasers away.

The human touch

Isn’t it nice to know with some certainty that our potential and existing business customers are just like us?! They too have become accustomed to shopping online in their private lives. They are used to reading all about something before they buy, to testing online before they buy, to reading customer reviews before they buy and then ultimately taking advantage of a highly convenient “One Click Payment” option. They often do this while on the go over a smartphone or tablet, for instance. Logically, the touch generation now includes an ever-growing number of business end-user buyers too.

I hope I got all the contact points right in this article, but if not I’m still available offline too :-)