Make B2B Buying Easy

From our last post , we understood that B2B buying typically involves six stages. Seemingly six straightforward steps. But, are they really that simple.

Where do buyers stand today?

With the surge in digital information, buyers have become increasingly aware of the market situation, product usability, and service quality. Over the decades, the most important revolutions in the business are about consumers and their choices. From Amazon’s one-click order option to recommendations and personalizations by Netflix, every new feature is to make it easier for buyers to choose.?

This customer-centric selling approach has created the expectation of a fabulous buying experience, for all the segments of customers. Personalized, seamless, and on-demand, these expectations are no longer limited to B2C. It has spilled over into B2B buying behavior.?

Incidentally, B2B buyers are empowered with tools and resources that enable them to do independent and comprehensive research on their problems. They seek and try new solutions. By collecting information from various reliable sources, B2B buyers control their buying journey more than ever. Now they contact vendors at the later stages of the sales funnel for finalization.?

Where does the trouble lie?

As per the latest research, 85% of B2B buyers place a premier on the experience a company provides, making it as important as the product or the service offered. This number is 6% more than B2C consumers’ expectations.?

Thus, B2B buyers seek more information, and the marketers continuously supply it. The result is - exhaustion and information inundated buyers. With the tide of never-ending information and complex buying processes involving multiple stakeholders, all equipped with their research, buyers are overwhelmed. Organizational purchase decisions have become troublesome instead of a smooth activity.

The way-out

The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) proposes “Prescriptive Selling” as one of the solutions for B2B buyer exhaustion. Instead of flooding buyers with more information, this strategy focuses on providing clear and actionable suggestions.

Prescriptive selling places the buyers rather than selling as the primary objective. It rescues the buyers from the unfamiliar territory of information that most do while deciding the best business solution. The process equips the buyer with tools to make informed and confident decisions.?

The prescriptive approach enables B2B marketers to have a deeper understanding of the buyer journey. They will even have a better comprehension of the types of content to create and circulate to simplify purchasing tasks.

The next step is researching genuine buyer journeys and identifying their unique hurdles and obstacles. This knowledge will give marketers the pathway to follow for real engagement and assistance to the customers before any business association.?

With the evolution of market and buyer behavior, selling strategies will change. The key takeaways for today’s customer-centric marketers are “Focus” and “Engagement”.

Focus on clarifying information for the buyers. And engagement with all the stakeholders associated with purchase decisions.?

You make your customers understand what is the best solution for them and also why it is the best. That means you focus more on your customers' troubles and try to lessen them, not on your sales targets. In return, you get loyal and happy customers.?

At OT Marketplace we vouch for the value of “Prospective Selling”. We are committed to providing not only the information our customers need but also the services they want. We make corporate upskilling easy with our Learning Marketplace, Procurement Automation, LXP, Custom Content Development, Consulting, Assessments, and a lot more.

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