The Changing B2B Buyer

How has the B2B Buyer Changed? Glossary Terms

The B2B buying process has changed, and so has the B2B buyer. Buying Committee – Refers to all individuals involved in the B2B
Gone are the days when salespeople actively “sold” to prospects buying decision at an organization
and marketers would participate in “interruption marketing”— Heuristics – Quick methods often involved in problem solving,
doing their best to get in front of prospective customers regardless such as gut instinct, educated guesses or “common sense”
of their level of interest or qualification. Thanks to the Internet, so- Interruption Marketing – A type of outbound marketing that seeks
cial media and other major online influences, prospects are spend- to capture a prospect’s attention by forcing marketing communica-
ing more time on the web doing independent research, obtaining tions in front of them; opposite of permission marketing
information from their peers and other third parties. Companies
Lead Scoring – The process of determining the sales readiness of
are meeting prospective buyers earlier than ever, and they must
leads using a pre-determined scoring methodology and ranking
avoid having sales engage with every early-stage lead that is not
them accordingly
truly sales ready.
Marketing Asset – A piece of marketing content (e.g. white papers,
videos, newsletters, webinars, etc.) used to educate and generate
interest for a company’s products or services
Permission Marketing – A type of marketing that seeks to first
Why Marketers Must Reduce Risk in the gain permission from prospects before marketing to them
B2B Buying Process Persona – A fictional person used to represent a specific target
Research shows that the B2B buying process is a highly emotional segment for a company; personas aid in marketing, product
one, one that lends itself to irrational behaviors and heuristics, or development, usability and other areas
quick methods of coming to a solution that are, at best, educated Sales-Ready Lead (SRL) – A lead that has been qualified by market-
guesses. The emotion that most impacts the B2B buyer is fear (e.g. ing based upon criteria agreed upon by both sales and marketing
job security, loss of professional credibility, monetary loss, etc.) B2B
marketers must do their best to minimize this fear by eliminating
risk, which can be done only through building trust with prospects.
While there is organizational risk involved in the process (often
stated in the procurement or RFP process), personal risk is what The Changing B2B Buyer - Analyst Facts
marketers must seek to understand best. This type of personal risk “Business buyers are people, not faceless companies. Rational
is often unstated, different for each person in the buying committee decisions get clouded by emotions, motivations and desires. B2B
and a potential source of internal tensions and ineffective buying marketers must stop pushing out communications and start listen-
processes. Many qualified leads disappear because of personal risk, ing to what buyers need. Customer research, segmentation, under-
and when sales and marketing don’t acknowledge and tackle this standing the buying process and creating relevant information that
fear, revenue suffers. engages prospects in conversations – and ultimately long-lasting
relationships – all require marketers to understand their customers
deeply.” – Laura Ramos, Will B2B Marketing Become Obsolete? (Part II),
The Forrester Blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals, 2008
“Buying 2.0 is a better metaphor for the buying/selling interactions
of today’s selling environment as the hunter has become the
hunted. Buyers are more informed and seek information independ-
ent of sales. Buyers have access to overwhelming amounts of infor-
mation, but seek intelligence they can trust to support their
decision making process. How sales people want to sell has little
impact on how buyers are choosing to buy. The knowledge-driven
buyer has raised the bar for sales people to be more informed and
better prepared to bring value to the interaction.” – Marketing
Needed for Sales 2.1, SiriusDecisions, 2009
“The shift from product-led selling to relationship-led selling calls
for a significant transformation of sales — enabled by a transfor-
mation of marketing.” – Sales Enablement 3.0: A Transformation of Sales
Enabled by a Transformation of Marketing, IDC, 2009
 Engaging the Changing B2B Buyer – Basic Techniques Changing B2B Buyer Comparison
• Pay attention to the emotional needs and cues of B2B buyers
and have sales engage with only sales-ready leads.
• Provide prospects with sufficient amounts of relevant information
to help guide and educate them during the buying process.
• Encourage sales to approach every meeting armed with as much
knowledge about the prospects and their organization as possible.
• Leverage face-to-face sales meetings to help build trust and
ongoing relationships with prospects.
• Be where the prospect wants to be – participate in social media.
• Make best use of marketing tools like marketing automation
and CRM.
Buyer Stages – Different Perspectives
With the changing B2B buyer comes new ways of looking at the
Engaging the Changing B2B Buyer – Adv. Techniques different buying stages involved in the B2B decision-making process.
By evaluating these different approaches and perspectives, you’ll be
• Eliminate risk by developing thought leadership through relevant
able to formulate the stages that make the most sense for your own
marketing assets, blog postings and more. By becoming a leader
organization.
in your category, you build trust with prospective customers.
• Consider the various feelings of risk felt by every individual in the • Traditional Buying Stages
buying committee and how personal agendas and internal tension • Stage 1: Awareness – Identify a business need
can affect decision-making. • Stage 2: Consideration – Determine possible solutions
• Create marketing personas for key decision makers to promote • Stage 3: Research – Evaluate different solutions
more relevant and consistent marketing and sales interactions • Stage 4: Purchase – Select a solution and negotiate the purchase
with prospects.
• Strive to establish yourself as a “preferred vendor” in your • Buying Stage Framework (according to analyst firm, SiriusDecisions)
industry by differentiating your product or service and building • Stage 1: Loosening of the Status Quo
brand awareness. • Stage 2: Committing to Change
• Stage 3: Exploring Possible Solutions
• Stage 4: Committing to a Solution
• Stage 5: Justifying the Decision
Social Media and the Changing B2B Buyer • Stage 6: Making the Selection

Social media plays a key role throughout the entire revenue cycle, • The BuyerSphere (according to research firm, Enquiro)
beginning before prospects are even identified (while they research According to B2B research firm Enquiro, the buying process is
or follow thought leadership on social media sites), to after they not a simple logical, rational and linear process where a prospect
become customers, (as they remain loyal customers through moves neatly from one stage to the next; rather, prospects move
retention and cross-and up-sell opportunities). Marketers can use chaotically forward and backward through the process as they
social media to reduce feelings of risk and build trust with prospects, balance rational decision making with the emotional impacts
and ultimately drive revenue and new business. Here’s how: of fear and risk.
• Listen to what unidentified prospects are saying through social
media, in which valuable relationships are built through blogs,
Twitter and other nontraditional marketing vehicles.
Top Resources
• Engage prospects with greater relevancy by using what they say
on social media sites to enhance profiles, trigger more targeted • Modern B2B Marketing Blog: blog.marketo.com
nurturing flows and provide deeper insight into their • Enquiro: www.enquiro.com
conversations with sales. • Funnelholic: www.funnelholic.com
• Lead Sloth: www.leadsloth.com
• Continue to build profitable relationships with new customers
• BtoB Magazine: www.btobonline.com
through more informed retention marketing and cross- and
• MarketingSherpa: www.marketingsherpa.com
up-sell activities.
• MarketingProfs: www.marketingprofs.com

Information for this B2B Marketing Cheat Sheet was taken from
Marketo, SiriusDecisions, and Enquiro thought leadership including:
• Mapping the BuyerSphere – www.enquiro.com/b2bresearch
• Integrated Persuasion – www.enquiro.com/whitepapers
• B2B Branding: Why Branding Matters in B2B Marketing –
blog.marketo.com/blog/2007/03/b2b_branding_wh.html www.returnpath.net www.marketo.com