In B2B buying decisions and consumer purchases, humans do not always make optimal or even rational economic decisions, as predicted by Rational Choice Theory. If this is true, why do we continue to preach value-based selling? The fascinating and evolving study of Behavioral Economics may hold the answers.
The buyer's journey has evolved from a linear, predictable process to a complex expedition with twists, turns, and multiple decision points. Unfettered access to information puts the buyer in charge but something important is missing: a clear perspective of a product's value to the business.
The concept of the buyer’s journey seems to have lost some of its appeal. Some B2B pundits now contend that the journey is a convoluted route with many twists, turns and dead-ends instead of a neat, linear process. How can sellers nurture sales if they’re not sure where buyers are in their process?
Societal upheaval over the past year has profoundly changed the buyer’s journey. Beyond mandates and restrictions, buyer behavior has been influenced by declining levels of trust in government, institutions, and other people. The result is that buyers have become less trusting and more firmly rooted in their beliefs.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going... working harder and focused on meeting their challenges. The tough ones in our business are those who can convince cautious customers to buy in an exceptionally challenging economic environment.
Value propositions need to be constantly refreshed as customer, competitor, and market dynamics change, which is all the time. Successful, energetic companies embrace this renewal and use it to sustain ongoing profitable growth. Let’s examine more closely why and how to adopt this approach.
Has your organization built its marketing and sales programs around selling your product? Well, here’s a news flash. B2B customers don’t buy features and functions; they buy solutions to their problems. So not only should you be selling your solution, you should also be “selling money.”
What’s your sales strategy for 2021? The global pandemic has wreaked havoc in every business sector and will likely dominate the economy going into next year. And the upcoming presidential election is sure to add more uncertainty. What better time to build a sales strategy that delivers business value?
In pre-pandemic days, sales and marketing efforts focused on enhancing the customer’s total experience (e.g., brand assurance, strategic growth, ESG, responsiveness, and future enablement). But COVID-19 has flipped this paradigm, at least in the short term, as buyers keep retreating to more basic considerations.
In the economic downturn of 2008, Philip Lay, Todd Hewlin, and Geoffrey Moore wrote a thought leadership piece for Harvard Business Review (HBR) entitled, “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers.” I give them credit for setting off a chain reaction that we now know as “Selling Insight.”
