In the B2C (Business To Consumer) world, since people buy entirely for their own personal reasons, they are 100% emotionally involved and, more often than not, entangled in the process. That's why scumbaggy techniques like emotional manipulation, such as "create pain and agitate it", "Find their hot buttons and push it hard repeatedly", "Scare them shitless and sustain fear" work on them.
But in the B2B world purchases are made by executives or professional buyers, and you can't dazzle them with traditional B2C type emotional bullshit. They will throw you out of their offices before you can say Jemima Puddleduck.
The big hairy truth is that in a B2C scenario if you can't blind your prospects with brilliance, you still can dazzle them with bullshit. Numerous weight loss schemes (scams?), exercise machines and a broad range of health-related crap are sold that way. Consumers buy - almost - any rubbish that is presented to them in an emotionally attractive manner.
In the world of B2B selling you're facing sophisticated and professionally skilled buyers who are looking for one thing above everything else: Return On Investment. And they don't care how cheap your stuff is, unless and until you can "show the money", well, ROI. Otherwise they won't buy anything from you. Not a sausage.
B2C consumers buy from you because they like you. Again, the emotional stuff. In contrast, B2B buyers buy from you because they believe you can offer new value to their companies. There is still a certain level of emotion in the buying process, but it's really bare minimum. Most B2B buyers are not emotionally entangled in their companies, so their decisions are more cerebral and less emotional.
While B2C buyers are shopping around, checking prices, collecting "more information", etc., B2B buyers are shopping for something very specific, and they want to complete their purchases as soon as possible. For B2C buyers shopping is a social event. For B2B buyers it's a practical event, merely a means that support an end. After all, they have other things to do too. They can't spend a lifetime pondering upon one single purchase. Since the purchase contributes to improving a specific metric in the company, until the purchase takes place and the situation is improved, the metric is the same.
B2C buyers buy lots of stuff they don't need for any practical reasons, but want. Or let's use the word "covet." They may buy ribbed condoms in a fancy package because it looks so cool. But for a nightclub owner who owns 20 condom dispensers in his club, dispensing 500 condoms every single night at $2.50 a pop, the buying decision is made differently.
Some B2C buyers subscribe to over 100 TV channels in their homes. They don't need them but want them. Desire them. Covet them. Long for them. There are not many businesses that subscribe to 100 magazines. Again, B2C decisions are more impulse-driven, whereas B2B decisions are more pragmatic.
In the B2C world, the large percentage of business development is all about getting the orders, and making sales in one step.
And this doable when you're selling impulse items, may they even be expensive ones, like cars or homes. One person is selling to one person, or maybe to both spouses.
In contrast, in the B2B world a large chunk of the business development is dedicated to lead generation and lead nurturing, although some dumb companies try to peddle their merchandise in one-step sales processes. And they either lose or are forced to sell their products and services at heavily discounted prices to purchasing agents through bidding wars.
B2B sales are complex and expensive, so normal that transactions take longer to come to fruition. Actually, some 50% of all prospects take longer than 12 months to make a decision.
And if the seller company wants to sell, its people have to stay in touch with buyers using various methods and to provide ongoing value to buyers to facilitate their decisions to a concluding yes or no.
Yes, "No" must be an acceptable outcome. Only street peddlers and bazaar hucksters don't take "No" for an answer.
While in B2C sales decision-making takes place with the active involvement and usually in front of salespeople, in B2B situations decision-makers make their decisions behind closed doors and usually in the absence salespeople.
In B2B sales above $10,000, there can be as many as 22 advisors, evaluators and decision-makers on the buyer's side alone. These people discuss lots of things among themselves in which they don't want to involve salespeople, which means salespeople can't influence the buying process the same way they can in B2C situations.
It also means that teaching B2B salespeople 10,000 more closing techniques and 1 million more ways of handling objections is useless because they have nothing to oppose.Once the buyers and their advisors and evaluators finish the evaluation process, they notify sellers about their decisions, and that's all. And no amount of closing- and objection-handling skills can help sellers.
Buying decisions are based partly on salespeople's actions, overall buyers' experiences right from the beginning of relationships and the buyers' companys' internal systems and idiosyncrasies.
Unlike consumers who can buy whatever they want to buy whenever they feel fancy to spend some money, business buyers have to justify every purchase they intend to make.
The more expensive the purchase, the more justification is required. Business buyers need pretty extensive financial analysis on expected ROI to "conjure up" budgets for their new purchases.
Also, while consumers make purchases all by themselves, in the B2B world there are buying committees, and they all have to agree that the purchase in question is a good one with lucrative payoffs.
Actually, the size of the purchase buyers have to justify has grown smaller and smaller over the years, and it's still shrinking... pretty rapidly. I even dare to say that we're just a hare's whiskers away from the point when buyers have to justify the purchase of a "Reduced for Clearance" pack of serviettes for the staff kitchen.
In the world of complex, high-ticket sales, the transaction of the "thing" is only the first part of the sale. Since we're talking about complex solutions here, there is always some additional service needed from sellers to integrate the new "thing" into their businesses.
Let's say the buyer buys CRM software. After the purchase, the seller's specialists go in to set it up. Install it on the buyer's system, customise it according to the buyer's specification and often also provides skill-building programmes for employees to help them to get up to snuff on the new system and get its full benefits.
By contrast, in the B2C world, the dealership that sells you a car doesn't offer you courses to get your driving licence. Once you buy the car and hand over your money, you're on your own.
B2C customers' loyalty lies with brand and companies. In the B2B world, clients' loyalty lies with individuals, that is, salespeople.
So, while in the B2C world salespeople's attrition is irrelevant, in the B2B world it can be a financial disaster. As your salespeople leave your company, they take their best clients with them.
That is, their best clients automatically follow the people with whom they have developed relationships.
B2B marketing messages are for skilled and sophisticated professionals. While B2C buyers respond positively to some hype, B2B buyers despise it and ignore the whole message when they notice even the traces of hype and bullshit.
All a B2C buyer of some beauty products wants to know is that this magic potion will firm up her skin and prevent it from sagging, so she'll look like a she did 25 years ago. B2B buyers want to know the ingredients and some aspects of the manufacturing process behind that product. Is the cat pee in the product certified organic? Was it tested on animals?
B2B marketers know that it's quite possible that buyers know more about the services they want to buy than the people that are marketing them. The only exception is professional services firms, where the same people both market and deliver the services. Therefore B2B marketers must be very judicious about exaggerations.
B2B marketers have to do significant research on the services they're promoting. B2B buyers can't be suckered with catchy slogans and colourful images.
Since, unlike B2C buyers, B2B buyers are not impulse buyers, they take time to read and digest long and detailed information packages. Their mantra is, "The more I know the better decision I can make, and the bigger bang I get for my buck!" Therefore they read long copy.
Many B2B buyers are turned off by typical advertising-type, colour-rich materials that smell "advertising." They want information about what they are about to purchase.
While in the B2C world one copy is supposed to do the job, that is, to sell your stuff, the B2B buying cycle is a multi-step process with several decisions makers in the loop. Actually, B2B deals, over $10,000, can have as many as 22 decision-makers on the buyer's side alone.
While a typical B2C sales cycle is 1-60 days, the typical B2B sales cycle can be as short as 30 days or as long as three years from first contact of enquiry to the signing of the agreement. It takes several well-planned steps to turn an enquiry into a paid contract.
Also, in the B2B world there are several buyers. Purchasing agents consult with several senior executives in their organisations before making the purchase. B2B services are purchased by teams. Therefore, unlike B2C purchasing, B2B purchasing is not an impulse buy, but a coldly calculated process with very specific expected outcomes.
B2C buyers buy for personal benefits, but B2B buyers buy both for personal and company benefits.
B2B buyers acquire merchandise to benefit their companies. This means the merchandise must make or save money or save time for the company. But B2B buyers also buy for their own benefits. As humans, we all are selfish. Buyers want to improve their personal situations in their companies by making the right buying decision, "Using this IT system can save money for the company and make me look like a hero in my bosses' eyes."
But B2B buyers are scared too. When B2C buyers make mistakes, they lose a bit of money. When B2B buyers make mistakes, the whole company looks at them as if they were idiots. Upon making a mistake, B2B buyers lose face, which is riskier than losing money. And B2B buyers also have their jobs to protect.
So, your solution may save $50,000 a month for my company, but I don't know you and have no confidence in your system. I'm not going to risk my own career and prosperity to save a few grand for my company.
As the saying goes, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM." even when there is a better solution. Or in the financial world, "No money manager ever got fired for losing money for their clients invested in blue-chip stocks."
So, in the B2B world the more expensive safe solution wins. The other issue is myopia. A purchasing manager who uses typewriters and knows nothing about computer must be pressurised very hard to purchase a computer for the computer savvy accountant because the purchasing manager is allergic to computers due to lack of skills, and the last thing he wants to do in life is having to learn a new skill to keep his position.
By the same token, the purchasing manager who lost his drivers licence to impaired driving and has to use public transport will fight tooth and nail against buying company cars for salespeople regardless of how much more productive they could be by being able to drive around.
So, it's important to understand that even in B2B situations, buyers are for themselves first and for their companies second. Therefore B2B marketing materials must address both company benefits and personal benefits for the buyer.
On summary, the rules for B2B business development are different from B2C consumer development. You know, both the toothbrush and the toilet brush are brushes, but with different mandates. Interchange them at your own peril.
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