Consumers and the people in B2B companies all follow the same decision-making process — whether it’s buying a pack of gum or buying a $100,000 consulting package. In this video, our Founding Partner Jeffrey Cooper outlines the three insights in B2B marketing and the tactics you can use to close the sale.
 

1. Get your customers to emotionally connect with your offerings

Your focus should be on getting your customers to emotionally connect with your offerings, without forgetting to give them a rational justification for why they should buy from you.

We process information using one of two systems: System 1 and System 2 — according to Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman. (You can read more about it here). System 1 is our natural response to stimuli. Most decisions are filtered through this System, as it’s the path of least resistance.  However, System 1 decisions are susceptible to bias, irrationality and ‘gut’ impulses. The implication is: you need to make sure you build rapport by looking professional and being genuine in your interactions. Then, you need to ask specific questions to prompt a deeper thought process, engaging their System 2. We often use System 2 to make important decisions. System 2 is more analytical, logical and forces people to consider options impartially.

2. We value personalisation and relevance

The information you provide needs to be tailored to each decision maker as you’re never selling to just one person. In B2B sales, there will be multiple decision makers with multiple decision-making processes.

Your job is to identify all the stakeholders in the business and find a way to engage them. You need to understand their role in the organisation and what they’re looking for from you. To save you time, develop a system that allows you to create multiple proposals as fast as possible. 

3. When we are focused on one idea, we often forget about another

Money is usually on the client’s mind. To avoid them flipping to the back of the proposal looking for the price and missing on the value you deliver, employ the contrast tactic. When presenting the proposal to the client, the value and the price need to be next to each other. This way, when they’re making the decision and looking at the price, the value is right next to it — acting as the justification. This ensures the value of your service stays top of mind.

PS. If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog.