1.
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research:
Nordic Research Reveals Significant
Buyer Personality Differences by Company Size
May 2015
R Johnson
Principal Analyst
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

2.
IDG Connect surveyed 262 IT professionals in Nordics countries; Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. 209 of the
respondents were from the non-tech industry while the further 53 respondents were from the tech industry.
Respondents were asked a multiple choice question to discover which buyer type they adopt when participating in a
buying team.
From this, the respondent’s answer was categorised into one of the three buyer behaviours:
• Collaborator: A collaborator seeks comfortable team consensus when it comes to a purchase decision. They
consider member opinions, including the “pros” and “cons,” to be as valuable as facts and figures.
• Challenger: A challenger consider themselves the experts in the group and will not hesitate to challenge points
to arrive at the “best” decision. Challengers respect competence, know-how and the views of industry
authorities.
• Advocate: An advocate is vested in the potential impact the team’s decision will have on employees, company
image and personal visibility. Advocates are action-oriented, working to promote their favoured vendor(s)
forward.
This research is part of a global survey that was conducted by telephone to 3420 IT and Business Professionals.
The survey was conducted across Benelux, DACH, EMEA, Latin America, MEFA, Middle East, Nordics, Scandinavia
regions.
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 1

3.
56%
29%
15%
COLLABORATOR ADVOCATE CHALLENGER
56% OF NORDICS
IT PROFESSIONALS ARE
COLLABORATORS
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 2

4.
26%
14%
60%
LESS THAN 500 EMPLOYEES
ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR
32%
15%
53%
500+ EMPLOYEES
ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL
1 - 499 35 19 79 133
26% 14% 59%
500 + 41 20 68 129
32% 16% 53%
GRAND TOTAL 76 39 147 262
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
BY COMPANY SIZE
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 3

5.
29%
15%
56%
ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR
ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL
BUSINESS DIRECTOR + 1 1 3 5
IT DIRECTOR + 12 5 21 38
IT MANAGEMENT 63 33 121 217
OTHER 0 0 2 2
GRAND TOTAL 76 39 147 262
ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL
DIRECTOR + 13 6 24 43
MANAGER BELOW 63 33 123 219
GRAND TOTAL 76 39 147 262
30%
14%
56%
MANAGER & BELOWDIRECTOR & ABOVE
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
BY JOB TITLE
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 4

6.
INSIGHTS & IDEAS
IDG Connect defines three B2B buyer personalities within organisations, “action oriented” Advocates, “expert”
Challengers and “consensus oriented” Collaborators.
On a global basis, research in 15 countries rates Collaborators supreme with the highest percentage of team members
(49%) falling into that category. In Norway there is an even stronger Collaborator presence (56%), a fact certain to
impact go-to-market efforts of every vendor.
Nordic buyers are more team consensus centric and interested in the impact of investment on other people. In
organizations of greater than 500 employees, advocates appear more often, driven by the needs of business functions
to get the solutions that drive their processes.
The implications are clear. Address the process and people interests of Collaborators, those individuals who tend to
represent the rank and file. They have their ear to the ground and actively communicate with others with a position
that can enable vendor success or slow the decision process and cause post-purchase challenges to up and cross sell.
R Johnson, Principal Analyst at IDG Connect
Bob_Johnson@idgconnect.com
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 5

7.
IDG Connect is the demand generation division of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s largest technology media
company. Established in 2005, it utilises access to 38 million business decision makers’ details to unite technology
marketers with relevant targets from any country in the world. Committed to engaging a disparate global IT audience with
truly localised messaging, IDG Connect also publishes market specific thought leadership papers on behalf of its clients,
and produces research for B2B marketers worldwide. www.idgconnectmarketers.com
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