Tips, tools, and best practices for B2B marketers.

What does your buyer want?  Dissecting the complex B2B sale.  Part 2: Awareness.

August 13, 2008 | Posted by: Lee

A series of posts that looks at the complex B2B technology sale.  Specifically, what's changed, who's involved, what they want, and where they go to find answers.

PHASE 1: AWARENESS

Who's involved? 

Potential users of the solution typically lead the charge.

Individuals who will use the product, or solution, are typically involved early on in the decision-making process. They’re often the first group to bring the need for a new or improved solution to the attention of management.  

They're instrumental in defining functional specs or baseline requirements, and may often recommend vendors.  They tend to fall out of the mix after requirements have been defined, but are often brought back in the final purchasing phase to provide input.

What do they want?

Heavy focus on features and functionality.

As potential users of the solution, they’re looking first to ensure your solution does what they want.  Specifically, they're looking for:

• Detail descriptions of features and functionality.
• Clear and easy to find pricing.
• Downloadable whitepapers that educate them on need for technology and benefits.
• Downloadable product literature.
  

They're also interested in rich media presentations, especially when it comes to complex solutions.  Rich media is often easier to digest and lets them get a quick sense of what you provide.

Where do they go?

Word of mouth still rules.  But web and offline have impact too.

Recommendations from colleagues are still the most important when it comes to initial awareness, but online and offline channels are also influential.

Technology buyers spend roughly the same about of time reading and relying on offline, or traditional media channels, as they do online sources of information.  Specifically: 

• 84% of technology buyers begin search with one of the major search engines (77% with Google)
• They visit multiple sites in their search for information.  Online sources include news sites, opt-in emails, and social networking sites. 
  
• 80% said offline materials created enough interest to have them often seek more information online.  Popular sources include print trade publications and direct mail.
• 33% of decision makers and 29% of influencers said they “found” their vendor because they were already a client, so working those existing relationships is key.
  

ITtoobox found that “IT decision-makers and influencers spend more time with and increasingly consider online communities as extensions of their existing network of personal contacts.”  Social media sites have influence and your buyer is spending time listening to what others are saying.

According to MarketingSherpa, nearly half of IT buyers learned about a product or service that they began using through a social networking site.

What does this mean for me?

Be where your customer goes for answers.

The increase in the amount of online sources means your buyer is more informed and educated than ever before.  And this awareness and education is happening earlier in the buying cycle. 

Buyers no longer have to wait to have sales meetings or presentations to get a better understanding of what solutions are out there.  And many times, they may not even be looking for a specific solution to a problem but instead come across a solution as part of their daily search of the blogosphere looking to get smarter about what they do.

With all these different sources of information available, it’s critical to be where your customer goes to find information.  It's not enough to just have a web site. 
Creating targeted content that answers your buyers' questions and distributing that content on multiple sites increases your chances of being found online.

Help them spread the word.

In the early stages of the decision making process, users often need to convince others that a new solution is needed.  Providing downloadable content they can pass on makes it easier for them to create awareness for others in their organization and make the case for a new solution.