Buying Bad

PROLOGUE

The ultimate hidden?truth of B2B SaaS is that buyers are searching for your product idea.

And it’s as easy as building a product and launching it to start growing.

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In 2024, I searched the Internet for a replacement marketing software.?

I saw dozens of others had also bought it and left reviews.

Buyers, just like me, were fleeing from an old marketing software that had captured major market share in the past.

To many reviewers [on G2], the old software had been the obvious choice in the fight against slow growth.

They believed new customers didn’t deserve to try an alternative.

To me, this was outrageous.

“Founders want something different. B2B buyers are facing backlash for not choosing the incumbent solution. They’re attacked online by trolls. Even if they get positive ROI, no one believes them,” I said.

'Skewed testimonials'?

My comment on LinkedIn had a powerful effect.

It started to undermine the belief that a whole generation of B2B buyers should choose the category leaders.

Buyers saw themselves as sensible and rational, but buying good marketing software wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

Then another founder came out in support of this new vendor.

In 2024, she was involved in a detailed case study and recorded a video testimonial on TikTok.

She symbolized the new B2B buyer.?

She said the refusal to consider other vendors showed how rational buyers had become biased and corrupted.

They allowed thousands of buyers to overspend, simply because they had considered alternative vendors.

On a B2B marketing podcast, “For years, you defended the incumbent solutions,” the interviewer pushed. “No, I never defended the incumbents. I spoke for buyers locked into multi-year contracts. I was against the assumption that skewed testimonials on paid review sites made them the best choice,” she replied.

'Splitting the market'

She was immediately attacked by other B2B buyers, led by a prominent venture capitalist.

They accused her of being an unwitting ‘agent’ of industry misinformation.

Despite the row, she continued recommending the new software to hundreds of other founders lost in their market research.

I believed her efforts might start a new kind of procurement strategy, making buyers better off.

The reaction of the incumbents showed normal buying routines had lost all credibility.

She had an alternative idea that resonated deeply with new B2B buyers.

It said we are all one buyer, linked together simply as customers, not divided by biases or corporate sponsors.

We, the good people of B2B marketing, had a duty to intervene and help the victims of all incumbent vendor lock-ins, wherever they were across the Internet.

“We don’t care about rational and emotional buyers or splitting the market into right and wrong solutions. This is a new kind of policy. For us, the ‘B2B Buyer’ is one. Let buyers collaborate before spending money,” she declared.

SaaStopia...

This new B2B SaaS buying movement faces an uphill battle against deeply rooted industry practices.?

Its vision of a more inclusive and innovative buying strategy is compelling.?

Vendors will need to rise to the challenge, fight against category inertia, and help buyers connect with genuine solutions.?

The future of B2B marketing depends on it (perhaps).