Why Understanding the B2B Buying Process is Important for Marketers

B2B is known for its complex nature, which is why it is important to understand the buyers’ journey and the buying process to simplify sales. The b2b purchase decision involves a lot of decision-makers, and different functions play an important role in taking the final buying decision.

Let us see how different factors in the b2b domain impact the ultimate buying decision and why marketers need to be aware of these factors.

Key decision-makers in b2b

First let us understand why it is important to consider the stake-holders’ opinions in the b2b buying decision. B2B buying can put a lot at stake and if done wrongly it can bring heavy loses. Therefore, it’s important that the final decision is taken only after a lot of scrutiny and consideration from various different stake-holders belonging to different functions.

Since the product or services to be purchased would most likely be used for multiple functions in the company, the stake-holders and other decision makers consider the goals and objectives and analyze whether the purpose of buying the product or service will be properly served. It is also important for the b2b decision-makers to see if the product or service justifies the costs and investments and whether or not it is designed to give the best ROI in less time.

This clarity is very important for the marketers, because it can help a lot in developing the strategy, messaging and even customized solutions. To know who it is that will be involved in the decision-making process can determine the success of the sales for b2b marketers.

Vendor selection

Some of these decision makers are also involved in the vendor selection. Vendor selection is a very critical decision as it involves a lot of investment for companies and the sales results depend upon the expertise of the vendor they select.

It’s important that the purchase strategy also includes the vendor options and that they are tallied properly before they finally arrive at a choice. It depends on which function has more weightage in decision-making and who it is that is more involved in vendor selection. Unlike the sales funnel picture that most people have in mind, finance and other functions are also included in decision-making and stake-holders from these functions are also involved in the vendor selection.

This knowledge of who will be taking the final decision in vendor selection and what are the elements that qualify to be a good vendor for your customer is important for you as a marketer. These will help you gain more advantage over your competitors as you can target these decision makers with the right positioning of your services and solutions and messaging too.

Ultimate solution

Buying decision is ultimately about which solution the customer wants to select and invest their money into. With so many decision-makers at every stage of the buying process its quite time-consuming and it involves deep analysis of how exactly the solutions will be helpful to address and solve their business challenges.

This is a critical decision for every b2b marketer as it can tell which solutions need to be offered to make a sale or which solutions need to me customized to convert high-potential leads into paying customers.

Conclusion-

Knowledge and analysis is an important part of any business. Whether it is the knowledge about the customer, what is it that he is looking for or what is the buying process; ultimately all these factors impact sales and ROI. Therefore as b2b marketers it’s important to know the buying process and align your strategies accordingly.