Buyer’s are in the driver’s seat. Fortified by online research and social networks, buyers of B2B solutions control the buying process.
So can we assume that the buyer is always right? Has a state of buying nirvana been reached?
If the buyer is always right, then the buyer seemingly operates in a perfect world:
- The buyer is able to identify a business problem and articulate pain points.
- The buyer easily finds online information using precise keywords.
- The buyer’s social network consists of similar and comparable organizations with unbiased opinions.
- The buyer is aware of all solutions that are available and relevant.
- The buyer clearly understands the benefits and drawbacks to each solution and can easily compare one solution to another.
- The pricing of all solutions is transparent and easily compared, even if the solution is delivered in different flavors by the vendor.
- The buyer makes a decision in the best interest of her/his organization.
If you are a believer in efficient financial markets and that buyers are rational, then you might find the above scenario to be mostly true.
Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at MIT and author of the book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.” states: “I became engrossed with the idea that we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives and that research could help change some of these patterns.”
Although Dan focuses his research on consumers, the point is that people bring irrational behavior to buying.
Ask any seasoned sales or marketing professional and their observations on this irrational behavior will include:
- Buyers who are unaware of issues or cannot articulate their needs. Unable to ask the right question, this buyer finds online information searches to be futile.
- Buyers whose networks provide biased or inappropriate recommendations.
- Buyers who are confused by complex pricing analysis on total cost of ownership that could include services & products, rent vs. own and lease vs. buy.
- Buyers who compromise the buying process due to internal obstacles such as politics, the definition of their role and inadequate time to conduct an evaluation.
- Buyers who make buying decisions based on minimizing their personal risk or to enhance their corporate status.
Despite the boon that the internet has brought to buying, the nature of human behavior results in an imperfect world.
Taking a passive approach will lead to missed opportunities with the buyer who doesn’t know your solution, may have misconceptions or inertia. We can’t afford to assume that the buyer will find us and be appropriately informed.
Outbound marketing is an integral part of the marketing mix designed to create opportunities with irrational buyers or to find more suitable buyers within an organization. As much as everyone would like interruption marketing to go away, the irrational buyer needs to be stimulated to consider alternative options.
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Photo Credit: Joetelling
5 Comments
Robert,
Another great post, and you’re right – “As much as everyone would like interruption marketing to go away, the irrational buyer needs to be stimulated to consider alternative options.” It does an organization no good to completely forego outbound marketing options such as appointment setting and sales opportunity development. I’m a firm believer that there are some prospects that will never be reached via inbound marketing efforts (though not many), and the only way to reach them is through outbound attempts. Should an organization pass on those prospects? I can tell you one thing, my clients certainly don’t want to pass on ANY prospects. ;-)
Thanks for the post!
Hi Robert,
Good points, all. One thing I’d like to point out is that buyers being right doesn’t have a lot to do with them being smart. As Chris points out above, the need for outbound marketing will not go away. The problem is that many buyers charged to solve problems outside their core area of expertise don’t know what they don’t know. Things change fast and innovation is hard to keep up with in theory, let alone in practice.
Outbound marketing designed to educate buyers will help them build the confidence to be right because they’re being smart. The higher the relevance, the smarter they’ll think you are – then they’re really right. Right?
Just my 02.
Ardath
Great, provocative post.
Echoing Ardath’s point above, outbound marketing hasn’t gone away, it just has to be much more intelligent.
Whether or not they use search to investigate options or social media to participate in relevant conversations with third-party experts as part of their evaluations, buyers are certainly much more in the box seat today. Outbound marketing that shouts ‘me, me, me” probably won’t get their attention in sufficient numbers. Listening to how they frame their problems -even if they are unsure or inarticulate about that – and responding with outbound marketing that demonstates you’ve heard is a much more fruitful avenue.
Great post and a great blog. Thanks for sharing.
I agree that it does not make sense to drop outbound as a tactic. And that a passive approach to B2B Marketing will leave opportunities on the table.
But I am also a big fan of Stan Woods/Velocity’s thinking. What you have to say is as important as where and how you say it.
Outbound has often optimized the volume (call to action/offer) rather than the relevance (content) of the message in an effort to target the 10% who are ready for an immediate transaction.
Like Ardath, I suggest trying to understand what your buyer “wants to know”.
We recommend looking at what a buyer “wants to know” at each decision-stage and then testing content that truly tries to provide the prospect with useful information related to what they want to know in both outbound and inbound and online and offline marketing programs.
We have a working framework on how to identify high value content for each decision-stage. I have posted it here on our blog ( http://blog.brainrider.com/2010/03/decision-stages-content-map/ ) in the spirit of the discussion (and a full blog post on its way). I think it maps closely to the questions/unknowns shared by Robert but would love your comments.
This approach requires marketers to segment their communications, share more of their knowledge and expertise, and develop more content assets. But in the end Ardath is right “the higher the relevance, the smarter they’ll think you are” and the more they are likely to keep you in their decision set until the end.
Scott
http://www.brainrider.com
Another great post, and you’re right – “As much as everyone would like interruption marketing to go away, the irrational buyer needs to be stimulated to consider alternative options.” It does an organization no good to completely forego outbound marketing options such as appointment setting and sales opportunity development. Whether or not they use search to investigate options or social media to participate in relevant conversations with third-party experts as part of their evaluations, buyers are certainly much more in the box seat today.