When I stop to think about it, I realize that marketers (like me) and salespeople (like many I work with) sometimes forget that business-to-business buyers are people, too. From Chief Learning Officers to mechanics, investors to librarians—no matter what position they hold or what they’re in the market to buy, people usually have a few things in common: they use social media, want to be recognized for good work, and have limited time to balance work and home life. In short, behind every title is a real person whose decisions are driven by a combination of reason and emotion.
If you work for a company that is trying to sell a product or service, you might be forgetting that, although the purchase your prospect is about to make is for business, the sale is still emotional. It has to feel right. If the service and/or salesperson isn’t providing value—information to help someone do their job better, a way to save time, or another kind of convenience—a potential buyer will remain nothing more than that. And the need for a positive experience doesn’t end with the sale—it starts with the buying process, goes all the way through delivering service, and continues into contract renewal.
Winning over a reluctant prospect
I run Intrepid Learning’s marketing department. I manage a lot of vendors on a daily basis, and am solicited by even more. Based on my experience, it comes down to this: if you’re not making my job easier, I’m not going to use you. If you’re difficult to work with or I need to babysit you, I’m not going to re-hire you. If you aren’t providing me value in the form of content or convenience, don’t waste your time with me. The sale has to feel right, and it won’t feel right if I’m just a number on the bottom line for you.
I do have some extremely successful relationships with vendors, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give you the key to what does make me want to answer your call, return your voicemail, or respond to your email. Speaking as a decision maker, here are three factors that will help convince me (and likely, other potential clients) to work with you:
- Know your product. Know what it does, how it works, and how it will benefit me. I can’t always promise that I’ll be in the position to buy, but I can promise you that if you can’t tell me exactly what you’re selling, or why, our conversation will be short.
- Customer education counts. Providing me with content— blog posts, articles, and whitepapers —gives me a way to learn more about your product and company that doesn’t involve a time-consuming game of phone tag. Build a relationship with me that shows me, from the first email, that you’re an asset to me and my team.
- If content is king, then relevance is its queen. In Seth Godin’s poignant article, “How do they know you’re not a flake?”, he walks through a slew of questions people ask themselves any time they receive information. I ask these questions every time I talk to a new vendor, so please make sure you really know me and my company’s needs before making assumptions.
Your product or service may be excellent, but never underestimate the power of relationship building and understanding to round out the emotional side of the sale. After all, business-to-business buyers are people, too.
What do you think?
What has your most successful relationship with a client or customer looked like? What made it work so well? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
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If you’re interested in learning more about how your organization can effectively target time-starved, curmudgeon-type clients like me, download our paper on Customer Education from our Resources page.
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