The Art of Understanding B2B Customers: Closing the Perception Gap for Better Relationships

In the complex landscape of B2B sales and marketing, understanding the needs and behaviours of B2B customers is paramount. B2B CRM systems play a critical role in these efforts, offering the tools and insights necessary to cultivate deeper relationships with existing and potential customers.

However, companies often complain that their customers and prospects just don’t seem to understand what they offer, or what differentiates them from the other competitors on the market. By analysing what people say and what they hear, often enough results can surprise us.

Due to different forms and means of communication, a perception gap can occur when communication styles are different to your own. Gaps can significantly differ in size depending on the different levels of value that you, or your customers, attach to each factor. Furthermore, many natural cognitive biases can influence the degree of the perception gap, making us believe we know what other people are thinking, more than we actually do.

This article aims to bridge the perception gap between businesses and their B2B clients, outlining strategies for leveraging customer insights and showcasing successful case studies in perception management.

Understanding Your B2B Customer

1. Business Entities as Customers

B2B customers are not individual consumers but are businesses and organizations that engage in transactions primarily involving the exchange of goods, services, or information. However, it should be a human-centric approach since we communicate and work still with other people. Typically, a B2B “customer” is actually multiple people within an account, each of whom plays a distinct role at one or more stages of the B2B life cycle.

2. Rational Decision-Making

These customers typically make purchasing decisions based on rational factors such as price, quality, and the long-term value of the offered solutions. Nowadays, especially in highly competitive markets as tech is, having the competitive edge is positioned either in the field of innovation, branding or exceptional service delivery.

3. Complex Buying Cycles

The buying cycle in B2B transactions is characteristically longer and involves multiple decision-makers, which adds layers of complexity to the purchasing process. Pin each step-down, prioritise the most important ones which represent consideration points and accordingly address those in your marketing and communication plan. The outcome of this stage is having a fully defined Buyer’s journey. If you have multiple B2B target audiences, especially if from various industries, the chances are high that you would be required to define multiple buyer’s journeys to address the processes your targeted customers go through. Understand their journey of Getting-the-Job-Done!

4. The Need for Deep Understanding

Understanding the unique needs and challenges of B2B customers is crucial as it allows businesses to tailor their offerings and enhance customer experiences significantly. What we need to complete in this stage is Customer Needs Clarification and classification because not all the needs are essential and knowing which needs customers consider as must have, nice to have, and can leave without. Such an understanding of customer needs also enables us to enhance our negotiation process by taking tradable needs into account.

5. Reaching out to the right people

Deloitte's research analysis showed this complexity: Each organisation is unique, and the needs and expectations of different people within that organisation can’t be summarily categorised. In addition, customers with identical titles, working at different organizations in the same industry, will often have broadly divergent needs. One may be laser-focused on price, while another has her eye on product specs and regulatory compliance. The exact reason why we need to have a clear understanding of our buyers’ different persona and accordingly craft the messaging towards them.

Identifying Perception Gaps in B2B Markets

A common issue in B2B markets is the perception gap, where there is a misalignment of priorities between a brand and its customers, often leading to misunderstandings and missed opportunities.

1. Customer Insights

B2B customer insights are crucial market-based discoveries that aid in understanding behaviours, experiences, and needs, which are essential for crafting targeted marketing strategies and product developments. Asking the right questions and understanding the bigger picture.

2. Simplifying Customer Interactions

B2B customers value simplicity and seamless experiences during transactions, preferring interactions with a single service provider rather than multiple suppliers.

3. Understanding Indirect Relationships

In B2B markets, it is also vital for businesses to understand their customers' customers, especially in a B2B2C context, to effectively manage relationships and expectations. I can not stress this point enough, consider this question

“What is the job that your customer needs to get done?”

To simplify the approach, it is not about your excellence, it is not about the brilliance of your solution, product or service It is about helping your customer get the job done! The job of his end-customers and their various pain points, and that is exactly the space where you need to position your communication of how You with your brilliant product or service will enhance/ empower/ support/ help your customer to get the job done. Simple as that.

Identifying and Addressing Customer Needs

1. Levels of Customer Needs

B2B customer needs can be categorized into company, department, and individual levels, each with distinct motivations and triggers for purchasing decisions.

2. Types of Customer Needs

These needs range from functional and performance needs to strategic and service needs, each requiring specific strategies for identification and fulfilment.

3. Strategies for Customer Engagement

Effective strategies to meet these needs include conducting thorough industry research, tapping into existing data, and actively seeking customer feedback to refine offerings.

Fact Alert: Give prospects a little space

A Forrester study in March 2020 showed that B2B prospects often prefer to use online resources before engaging with a sales rep.

• 68% prefer to research online on their own.
• 75% use social networks to learn about different vendors.
• 62% develop selection criteria and finalize a vendor list based solely on digital content.

How to reduce perception gaps

Sadly, perception gaps are always going to exist due to our interpretation of the insights we collect and the fact that we are not the actual users. Next few tips can help reduce the perception gap:

1. Challenge assumptions – too often we assume we know about our customers, how they are interacting with our site and what they are thinking. Unfortunately, these assumptions can get rooted over time into deeply held beliefs of how users think and behave. However, challenging these assumptions leads to true innovation and new ideas that may not have been thought of before.
2. Always optimize based on two supporting evidence – the perception gap is more likely to occur when research into a focus area is limited or based on one source of insight. Taking a multiple-measure approach means insights are likely to be more valid and reliable.
3. Read between the lines – research revolves around listening to your customers but more importantly, it is about reading between the lines. It is the difference between asking for their responses and then actually understanding them. As Steve Jobs once said “Customers don’t know what they want”; whether you believe that or not, understanding their preferences is still vital for closing the perception gap.

Strategic Brand Positioning

1. Utilizing Brand Maps: Employing tools like Brand Positioning Maps and Brand Reality Maps aids in identifying and addressing gaps between customer perceptions and brand positioning.

1. Targeting Decision Makers: Using strategies like account-based marketing helps in reaching the right decision makers, bridging the gap between sales and marketing efforts.

Case study: Starbucks and Pepsi with their product lunch Mazagran from the mid-1990s, a flavoured bottled soda you never heard of.

Case Study: Successful Perception Management - Maersk's Strategic Brand Perception Shift

Maersk, recognized globally as the largest container shipping company, undertook a significant shift in its marketing strategy to reposition itself as a challenger brand within the logistics and supply chain management sector. This strategic pivot was not merely about changing marketing tactics but about influencing customer perceptions to see Maersk beyond just shipping – as a comprehensive logistics provider.

The Role of Emotional Connection and Brand Differentiation

1. Emotional Marketing Approach: Maersk's adoption of a more emotional marketing approach was critical in altering customer perceptions, aiming to connect on a deeper level than traditional B2B marketing strategies typically allow.
2. Differentiation Through Branding: According to a survey, 76.7% of B2B leaders believe that branding is essential to differentiate their businesses from competitors. Maersk leveraged this insight by enhancing its brand appeal and emotional engagement with its audience.

Impact on Business and Marketing Strategy

The rebranding and shift in customer perception were crucial as they addressed the biggest challenge faced by a fifth of B2B marketers – proving the effectiveness of their brand strategies. This change was also timely, considering that one-third of B2B marketers were contemplating reducing their brand-building investments over the next six months.

CEO's Perspective on Brand Marketing

The majority of CEOs recognize the importance of brand marketing, with many viewing it as a vital component of their overall business strategy. This is evidenced by the fact that 70.0% of respondents believe their customers have formed an emotional connection with their brands, which is pivotal for long-term business success.

Importance of Brand Marketing

Brand marketing holds a high level of importance among B2B respondents, with 39.1% rating it as essential. This underscores the critical role that effective branding plays in not only driving sales but also in building a sustainable competitive advantage.

Conclusion

Throughout this discussion, we've delved deeply into the intricacies of understanding B2B customers and the critical role of closing perception gaps to foster better relationships and business outcomes. From leveraging B2B CRM systems for deeper insights to the strategic positioning of brands like Maersk, it's clear that a profound understanding of customer needs, relevant communication and ongoing engagement are pivotal.

As businesses continue to navigate the complex terrain of B2B relationships, the principles discussed here offer a roadmap for narrowing perception gaps and aligning more closely with customer expectations. The journey of understanding and engaging B2B customers is an ongoing one, and businesses that commit to this path can anticipate not only improved relationships but also a stronger, more resilient market position.

FAQs

1. What if we don’t have CRM data available? Start by asking the right and meaningful questions, understand better current customers and what they value the most in collaboration with your company, etc. If possible expand the research to potential customers, based on customer persona or Ideal Account profile, in this stage, you might be considering collaboration with a research agency.

2. What should we do if we compete in numerous markets? In B2B marketing, the foundation of successful lead generation is built on addressing the right needs and establishing connections with your potential customers. Complete market segmentation and identify all decision-making personas profiles within the target audience you want to address. Afterwards, construct the messaging relevant per persona.

3. Is there a difference between B2B Lead Generation and Account-based marketing? Yes, the approach is fundamentally different, might even say slightly reversed. I will cover this topic in one of my upcoming articles. Stay tuned. Or if the answer is urgent, contact me directly.

References:

https://www.deloittedigital.com/content/dam/deloittedigital/us/documents/offerings/offering-20210129-b2b-cx.pdf

https://hbr.org/2023/03/what-do-your-b2b-customers-really-want

https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/product/customer-priorities-what-customers-really-want-2006/

https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/

https://nethunt.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-b2b-crm/ https://www.allianz-trade.com/en_US/insights/b2b-relationship-management-strategies.html

https://growthnatives.com/blogs/analytics/understanding-the-b2b-customer-a-key-to-business-success/ https://60secondmarketer.com/2018/01/03/close-gap-brand-customers/ https://calibermind.com/articles/fixing-the-biggest-gaps-in-marketing-analytics/

https://conversion.com/blog/the-perception-gap-can-we-ever-really-know-what-users-want/#:~:text=Due%20to%20different%20forms%20of,customers%2C%20attach%20to%20each%20factor.

https://business.yougov.com/landing/consumer-panel-services-cps-gfk-yougov-campaign?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=CPC-RS-Generic-Secondary-Markets-EN&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3fsb5yptthR08y3Lv2st6uxsTuIzOdM_-34joIQTSwnTRISV65MChDRoCwdoQAvD_BwE