The curious case of B2B buying

Be it personal, professional, or organizational, buying is as hard as selling. This has never been truer for the B2B segment than it is today.

Let’s explore what has changed for B2B buying.

Whom Do B2B buyers trust?

Around 39% of B2B decision-makers get primary awareness about a new product or service from peer reviews, be it thought leaders or colleagues. Direct vendor experience and advertisement contribute towards knowledge of 34% and 32% of people respectively.

Review of peers and other digital-influential people also contribute to trust in the new launch in more than 51% of B2B buyers. While vendor experience comes close second with 45% of buyers in its favor, reviews from other users affect the perception of 33% of people.

The statistics clearly show that B2B decision-makers tend to go for informed conscious decision making.

What influence buying decision?

B2B buyers rely on better knowledge of the offerings for purchase decisions. Professional peer reviews account for 41% of B2B knowledge sharing, while case studies and consultant services act as for 36% of people’s information points. Other sources that lead to a greater understanding of the new solution are vendor experience and social forums.

Social proof of the product or service along with end-user validation are primary criteria that influence B2B buyers in decision making. The reviews also build trust in the offerings and the seller, which translates into a loyal customer base in the long run.

The recent trends in buying decision making

Recent Gartner research proposes that the availability of quality avenues in digital channels has made it convenient for buyers to do independent product research and gather information. This is true for all types of buyers including people from B2B. And the result is, the sellers have scarce access as well as opportunities to influence customer decisions.

Out of total time spent on the buying process, only around 17% of the time is usually spent in meeting with any suppliers while the rest of the time is spent doing research and internal meetings. If there are multiple vendors involved, this direct contact time between buyer and seller further reduces to 5% for each seller.

Trouble in taking the decision

Sellers are finding it hard to influence the buyers. However, the situation is not at all rosy for the buyers in spite of all this information.

B2B customers are struggling to buy. More than 77% of buyers agree.

Most B2B buying decisions involve a group of people, each armed with individual independent research. While trying to come to a consensus decision, the group analyses individual opinions, proposed solutions, new technologies, products, services, and vendors.

The typical B2B buying process involves:

• Problem identification

• Solution exploration

• Requirements building

• Supplier selection

• Validation

• Consensus creation

Although the processes are straightforward, the buying path is not linear. The buyers create multiple assessment and action branches from each process. They also loop across the processes by revisiting each step at least once.

Why B2B buying is difficult and how to make it easy?