B2B buying process: Let's put ourselves in the buyer's shoes
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 8:40 am
Marketing and sales
What is the key to facilitating decision making and alleviating the difficulties of a B2B buying group? What marketing functions, tasks and sources exist to facilitate a B2B purchasing process?
in general, more and more complex, with a growing number turkey whatsapp mobile phone number listof interlocutors in all of them, although it is true that complexity is linked to the type of product or service, its technical complexity, the cost of implementation, the learning curve or its economic value. Depending on this complexity, the number of actors involved in a purchasing project can be from 5 to 10 people .
Nowadays, in the industrial purchasing process , those responsible have to deal with an ever-increasing volume of information when making decisions, which in some cases is difficult to manage. And not only that, they must share the information they obtain from their searches with other people involved, reach consensus, reduce friction and conflicts that may arise during the process, etc.
One of the objectives of this process, from the perspective of the selling company, must be to minimise the difficulties that the identification, selection and acquisition process in a B2B project entails for the buyer.
In reality, even if you try to position the buyer in a phase of a process (the famous customer journey), the most normal thing is that the potential client goes through one path and the other (probably on multiple occasions) before making the final purchase decision. Especially when there are more and more interlocutors and interests involved in the purchasing group .
What functions or tasks can be identified in a B2B purchasing process?
Consensus building is a cross-cutting function within the purchasing process in which multiple interlocutors are involved. In fact, consensus is essential in all the tasks defined above and especially when it comes to identifying a need , evaluating existing technological alternatives and defining technical requirements.
For example, the production manager of an industrial company may place greater value on the technical characteristics of a product/service, the maintenance manager on reliability and after-sales service, and the CFO on payment and financing conditions.
The selling company must be able to empathize with this process and the difficulties that arise from it. But what is the key to facilitating decision-making and alleviating the difficulties of a purchasing group?
The key is most likely in the information
The role of information in B2B projects is becoming increasingly important . People involved in purchasing processes are increasingly becoming more and better informed before contacting a supplier. When it comes to obtaining information, companies no longer contact a supplier's sales team initially, but instead search independently on the Internet, seek advice from former colleagues or ask experts for advice, and only when they have a certain amount of information, do they contact the sales team.
In such a scenario, it is essential to be present in the channels where the buyer obtains information.
The role of the commercial account manager is increasingly that of channeling the correct information to the right interlocutor at the right time, rather than that of a technical-commercial person with extensive experience and knowledge, in short, an authority on the subject.
What is the key to facilitating decision making and alleviating the difficulties of a B2B buying group? What marketing functions, tasks and sources exist to facilitate a B2B purchasing process?
in general, more and more complex, with a growing number turkey whatsapp mobile phone number listof interlocutors in all of them, although it is true that complexity is linked to the type of product or service, its technical complexity, the cost of implementation, the learning curve or its economic value. Depending on this complexity, the number of actors involved in a purchasing project can be from 5 to 10 people .
Nowadays, in the industrial purchasing process , those responsible have to deal with an ever-increasing volume of information when making decisions, which in some cases is difficult to manage. And not only that, they must share the information they obtain from their searches with other people involved, reach consensus, reduce friction and conflicts that may arise during the process, etc.
One of the objectives of this process, from the perspective of the selling company, must be to minimise the difficulties that the identification, selection and acquisition process in a B2B project entails for the buyer.
In reality, even if you try to position the buyer in a phase of a process (the famous customer journey), the most normal thing is that the potential client goes through one path and the other (probably on multiple occasions) before making the final purchase decision. Especially when there are more and more interlocutors and interests involved in the purchasing group .
What functions or tasks can be identified in a B2B purchasing process?
Consensus building is a cross-cutting function within the purchasing process in which multiple interlocutors are involved. In fact, consensus is essential in all the tasks defined above and especially when it comes to identifying a need , evaluating existing technological alternatives and defining technical requirements.
For example, the production manager of an industrial company may place greater value on the technical characteristics of a product/service, the maintenance manager on reliability and after-sales service, and the CFO on payment and financing conditions.
The selling company must be able to empathize with this process and the difficulties that arise from it. But what is the key to facilitating decision-making and alleviating the difficulties of a purchasing group?
The key is most likely in the information
The role of information in B2B projects is becoming increasingly important . People involved in purchasing processes are increasingly becoming more and better informed before contacting a supplier. When it comes to obtaining information, companies no longer contact a supplier's sales team initially, but instead search independently on the Internet, seek advice from former colleagues or ask experts for advice, and only when they have a certain amount of information, do they contact the sales team.
In such a scenario, it is essential to be present in the channels where the buyer obtains information.
The role of the commercial account manager is increasingly that of channeling the correct information to the right interlocutor at the right time, rather than that of a technical-commercial person with extensive experience and knowledge, in short, an authority on the subject.