1. { MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS } { MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS }
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eelings and emotions. We all have them.
And marketers do their best to appeal
to them when developing consumer
campaigns. Just think of all those twee TV ads
for John Lewis, M&S and the like leading up to
Christmas.
But what part do they play in the typical
business-to-business (B2B) buying decision?
Surely hard-headed commercial types are far
more likely to be persuaded by more tangible
and practical factors than raw emotions?
Wrong! Recent research by Google and
The Conference Board, shows that a business
purchaser’s emotions are, in fact, twice as
important as more rational features and benefits
in a B2B sales cycle.
It’s all about creating ‘brand connection’.
This applies as much to how the average SME
communicates its offering to clients and,
critically, the specific messages it conveys to
them through a sales cycle, as it does to large
corporate advertising campaigns.
And here’s why. The research reveals that if a
B2B buyer has a high brand connection they are:
• 5 times more likely to consider buying from
the company;
• 13 times more likely to purchase from them;
• 30 times more likely to pay premium prices
for their services.
‘High brand connection’ customers are defined
as those who give brands top scores for trust,
image and industry leadership. In other words,
they feel confident using the brand, believe it is
an industry leader and see it as having a unique
and positive image.
The Google researchers tested ‘brand
connected-ness’ by dividing the perceived
benefits of B2B brands into two distinct
categories – business value and personal value.
Business value included the facets of a
brand that we are familiar with – the traditional
appeals to logic and reason regarding a product’s
functional benefits in areas such as performance,
comparative data, structure and order, as well as
business outcomes e.g., achieving business goals
and objectives demonstrated though case studies
and thought leadership.
(This is the material that you should be
presenting to clients on your website and in your
sales collateral. It’s how you can demonstrate
the practical superiority of your product.
Performance data, client case studies and
quotes, technical fact sheets, awards won and
sector-leading articles and thought papers offer
clear evidence of business value.)
Personal value included how the brand could
impact on buyers professionally, socially and
emotionally. Would the purchase result in the
buyer being perceived as a leader? Would it
help them to fit in with colleagues and receive
admiration from others? Would the product
provide excitement, happiness and/or a sense
of accomplishment?
(This is a much more subtle area and one
where large B2B companies sometimes
struggle. The triggers are much harder to
communicate though owner/managers tend
to unknowingly deliver them through the close
relationships they form with individual clients.)
Researchers analysed the impact of both
values on 14 commercial outcomes including
consideration, propensity to purchase, pay a
premium, and advocacy.
Personal value was shown to have twice as
much impact as business value. So not only do
emotions matter in B2B buying, they actually
matter more than the rational aspects of
business value.
It clarifies what many marketers have always
suspected – that business purchase decisions
are, like consumer ones, largely based on
emotions. Indeed B2B buying decisions are
more emotionally charged than consumer
decisions because there is often so much more
riding on their success.
Although buyers who don’t perceive any
business value at all won’t consider buying a
product or service, in reality this is rarely an
issue as a massive 74% of B2B buyers believe
that most B2B brands will create the value they
seek. However, 86% of B2B purchasers don’t
see or believe the facets of B2B brands that
suppliers claim are unique.
This lack of perceived differentiation has a
dramatic effect on willingness to pay a premium.
Only about 14% of customers perceive a real
difference in a supplier’s offerings and value
that difference enough to be willing to pay for it.
So business value is important as a qualifier
– something to establish you in a buyer’s
consideration – but it won’t make you stand
out against your competitors. This state of
ubiquitous business value eventually leads
to the need for price competition. No clear
differentiation means buyers will select the
supplier that is willing to drop their price.
How then do you appeal to the personal
emotional triggers that will create a
differentiator?
Once your business value is established,
and you therefore qualify to be considered,
achieving the above will set you apart, appeal to
the buyer’s fears, emotions and prejudices, and
provide a route to differentiation and greater
margins.
Part of the answer must lie in your brand
positioning and messaging, as well as at a more
tactical and relationship level. For example, in
complex, high value sales processes it might
be possible to weave subtle messaging into
conversations, correspondence and meetings.
In summary then:
• Can you easily and clearly articulate the
functional and performance benefits (bus value)
of your product or service?
• Importantly, are these benefits quantifiable
and do they have third party endorsement? Are
they unique?
• Can they be customised to the needs of the
particular client or sector you are targeting?
• Don’t forget that these benefits merely qualify
you to play.
• Think carefully about what you can do to
appeal to more emotional personal benefits.
This will become easier the more you know
about your clients either personally or through
careful research around the buying cycle.
• Can you make the client look good to his
colleagues? Can you involve the client in some
philanthropic exercise in the course of your
business? Can you raise the profile/boost the
ego of your client through PR?
There are a myriad of ways of tackling this
critical aspect of business development strategy
that will play at different volumes and at different
times. I suspect that after some examination,
getting emotional about your brand won’t seem
quite as barmy as you might first have thought.
PUT SOME EMOTION
INTO YOUR SALES EFFORT
“Feelings and emotions. We all have them. And marketers do their
best to appeal to them when developing consumer campaigns”
By Chris White,
Marketing & BD Consultant, EMC
CONTACT:
EMC Management Consultants Ltd,
Rochester House, 48 Rochester Gardens,
Hove BN3 3AW
Chris White
Tel: 07970 710543
Email: chris.white@emcltd.co.uk
Web: www.emcltd.co.uk
Professional benefits – how will choosing
your brand enhance the buyers career? His
professional kudos? What will make the
purchaser look good to his boss?
Social benefit – how will it enhance the
purchasers popularity amongst their peer
group, sector, colleagues?
Emotional benefits – There is often a huge
amount of personal risk at stake in the
purchase decision how can you give the
purchaser more confidence? (No one ever got
fired for hiring IBM?)
Self-Image benefits – How will a choice
for brand create pride in the buyer? Have
Apple achieved this through iPad in the work
environment?
- Can you create and publish a case study or
press article featuring the client?
- Are you associated with sector forums or
networking events that you can invite your
client to?
- Can you structure success based pricing?
Can you underwrite product performance?
Can you introduce him/her to clients that have
faced similar risks?
- Are the products that you are supplying best
in class? Aspirational?
- What is the CSR or social business aspect
to your strategy? Can you involve the client in
some way?
Personal value triggers Practical strategies