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Build Your PS Brand . . . Increase Sales, Value & EBITA |
Understand the B2B Buying Cycle
A steady stream of business awaits you
by Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
"I'm late again," I mumble under my breath as I squeeze through the yellow light. My car radio carries the sing-song voice of a barista telling me she can't live without her daily triple espresso. I see the green logo of the coffee shop up ahead. I know I don't have time to stop but find myself turning in anyhow, palate already salivating. In that moment, the brand owns me. Stimulus — response. Like a Pavlovian dog.
This experience is the complete antithesis of B2B buying. Consumer brands count on a buying experience easily stimulated, impulsive, cheap, low-risk and readily accessed. B2B decision-makers, by comparison, practice buying patterns that are:
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Methodical
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Complex
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Budgeted
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High-risk
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Analytical
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Coordinated
B2B buyers know their budgets run in cycles. For most of them, it's use it or lose it. That makes them motivated to spend. However, their spending processes are usually complex and methodical. The bigger the desired results, the more methodical and analytical the process. The driver is always risk. If a business spends $250,000 on a solution that does not deliver desired win-results, people can lose their jobs. That makes decision-makers and influencers careful.
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Marketing Health Checkup:
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In my previous article entitled Build a Strong Professional Services Brand, I promised to make a clear link between professional services (PS) brands and continual growth that can lead to a strong future liquidity event for stakeholders. This article is the first step in fulfilling that promise.
The key to "next-level" growth is PS brands, which are comprised of the following:
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Service offerings
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Positioning
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Value proposition
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Brand strength
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Brand awareness
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Brand identity
The B2B buying cycle
The B2B buying cycle is comprised of six stages:
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Identify the problem
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Create criteria
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Search for providers
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Evaluate options
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Test the solution
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Procure the solution
Identify the problem: In this stage, a business recognizes it must address a problem. If a company has not allocated a budget, discussions begin about how much a desired win-result will cost. A desired win-result is a vision in the mind of the client of what their business will be like in the future — increased productivity, streamlined operations, newly tapped markets or any other business position. Sometimes negative circumstances motivate solving the problem, such as an under-performing computer network. Often, however, motivators are positive in nature, such as the desire to exploit a new market opportunity.
Create criteria: In this stage, decision-makers and influencers discuss solutions. A solution is anything that bridges the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. They create criteria against which they will compare solutions providers in the search stage. The initial criteria are always subject to change based on input from the solutions providers.
Search: In this stage, they search for solutions providers that can deliver desired win-results. This is the critical entry-point.
Evaluate options: After the search is complete, and solutions providers have made their pitch, decision-makers and influencers evaluate their options. Depending on the size and complexity of the desired win-result, this stage can be short and simple or long and arduous. Sometimes decision-makers and influencers square off on each other and take opposing sides.
Test the solution: In this stage, decision-makers choose one solution, usually, and perform some type of test. If a desired win-result is not complicated, they may bypass this stage. The more expensive the solution and the larger the desired win-result, the more complex and involved the test.
Procure the solution: If the solution passes the test, procurement begins. There are many forms of procurement. For ongoing managed services, procurement continues every month. For one-time solutions, procurement has a finite life.
What does this teach us?
The B2B buying cycle has many implications for those of us responsible for building PS brands. I believe there are six primary lessons:
Get in early through awareness: Most decision-makers and influencers have a strong sense of their desired win-results and some sense of the solution that will deliver those results. Oftentimes, these assumptions can be off base or entirely re-shaped through the search stage. However, only those providers that get in early shape the criteria that constitute success, which greatly increases the likelihood of winning the deal. So how does one get in early?
Consistently raising awareness is the key to being contacted first in the search stage, or even before the search stage formally begins. In a future article, I will discuss the three stages of brand life: awareness, presence and preference. Suffice it to say that preferred brands are likely to receive calls first because the market is already aware of them, they don't require much searching, and they already have credibility.
Within the total universe of companies in your market, you never know where decision-makers are in their B2B stages of buying. If you have not raised awareness with them and made it easy to find and understand your position and value proposition, you will not likely win many deals. This puts the onus of business development on sales people making cold calls, the most painful and expensive way to win deals. Raising awareness is critical to getting into as many B2B cycles with as many different companies as possible and controlling the cycle in your favor.
Position effectively: You'll recall in my previous article, I stated that your position is the intersection of three dynamics: the needs of the market, your ability to deliver solutions profitably and competitive differentiation. If you position your firm effectively, B2B buyers will discover in the search stage that they have few, if any, options to choose from other than you. This is the ultimate position.
The trick is finding a set of problems prevalent enough that you have constant business opportunities while offering a solution that is unique enough that no competitor can easily nullify your advantage.
Do your homework: Too many PS firms simply do what they learned to do — along with everyone else at competitive firms who went to the same colleges or training facilities. This is a mistake. If you do your homework and discover unmet market needs or think of a new way to meet market needs in a way that no one else is — you have an advantage. Research is key to uncovering unmet needs. Creative thinking is key to building a unique position.
Articulate a simple value proposition: If you do offer a unique solution, it should be easy to articulate a value proposition that resonates with decision-makers and influencers conducting a search. Keep it simple. Address the real needs of the market and show concisely how your solution is the hands-down best.
Position win-results: Too many PS firms talk about what they do rather than the benefits of what they do. Remember that B2B buyers want a desired win-result, not a solution. Your solution is simply the intervening step they have to go through to bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. Project benefits-driven messages that demonstrate your ability to deliver win-results as you move through the B2B stages. Those who fail to articulate benefits that speak to win-results will struggle.
Protect brand strength: In my previous article, I stated that brand strength is the sum total of opinions that the market holds of your business. People must perceive your business as highly competent, knowledgeable and ethical, which is key to winning confidence and ultimately leads to a contract.
When going after deals, PS firms deliver references, and everyone expects those references to be positive. However, many smart B2B buyers will seek other opinions. If you have not protected your brand by consistently doing the right thing and keeping your brand (reputation) healthy, it could cost you the big-dollar deals. A strong brand addresses one of the biggest lose-results every B2B buyer fears — picking the wrong firm. A strong brand reduces perceived risk.
What you can do
Do your research, understand what the market needs and find a unique position that no competitor can quickly nullify. Raise awareness with your target profile decision-makers and articulate benefits-driven messages that speak to win-results. Get in early in the B2B buying cycle and control it to your advantage. Protect your brand — it's all you have. Do this, and clients will line up at your door to give you money. I promise.
About the author:
Randy Shattuck is a senior marketing executive and founder of The Shattuck Group, a full-service marketing firm that specializes in professional services firms www.theshattuckgroup.com. You can reach him at randy@theshattuckgroup.com.
