5 Irreversible Shifts In Buying Behaviour

In recent months, I have seen an ever-increasing amount of attention dedicated to the fact that B2B buying is changing - and fast. And that's a good thing: it finally seems like everyone’s coming to terms with the fact that buyers are firmly in charge of the buying process today.

As a former B2B buyer and senior executive, I’ve seen the writing on the wall for years now. Anything from advances in technology to the lingering impact of the financial crisis on corporate decision-making has conspired to create the perfect storm for sellers. One in which statements like “always be closing” sound decidedly obsolete and antiquated.

In a recent post on this very blog, George Bronten said “In the Internet age, the power of information has shifted from seller to buyer. In the past, buyers needed to contact sales people for product information. Today, massive amounts of product information is available online. Buyers can educate themselves without sellers knowing about it, and competition is global.”

George also lays out a pretty convincing case for what this means for sellers – but he doesn’t cover in great detail why those changes are surfacing in the first place.

There are five major trends that, whilst broader in nature than simply sales, have a deep and substantial impact on how buyers buy - and therefore, on how sellers should be selling to them.

Trend #1: The Abundance Of Information

Think of something you'd like to buy right now. Could be anything. A lawnmower. A brand-new car. A seven-figure ERP systems integration project.

Now think about where you would go first to find out more information. That’s right: good old Google.

Well, you're not alone. According to SiriusDecisions, “67 percent of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally. Our research shows that online searches are executives’ first course of action (just like everyone else).”

But there is a problem. Even though there's a tremendous amount of information available, and more and more people (in fact, virtually everyone) starts the buying journey by looking for information online, a lot of that information is generic, at least in part irrelevant and not in line with where most buyers’ are in the buying process.

Far from making the seller obsolete (as some claim), this actually means the role of the seller is even more important – but in a different way. Our job as sellers is no longer to simply “provide information”, but to help buyers navigate the maze of choices they face when making decisions. 

Our focus should be on providing context, relevance and guidance. 

• Context - to help the buyer translate the generic information that is available to them to their particular situation, needs and challenges 
  
  
• Relevance – to highlight or tune up those aspects which are most relevant to what our buyers need - at the expense of tuning down everything else
  
  
• Guidance - to support the buyer in their decision-making process, informing their thinking and influencing their final decision

Trend #2: The Complexity Of Globalisation

Life used to be simple. You lived in one place, worked in one place and also did business in one place. Today, in our uber-networked, globally connected society, virtually any corporate project has extensive, global implications and wide-ranging impact.

Unfortunately, for us sellers, this also means are many, many more dimensions and potential implications that we need to take into account. And it means the decision-making process on the buying side is vastly more complex, and involves many more stakeholders, of an ever-increasing diversity.

This, of course, leads to increased inertia, longer sales cycles and substantially more deals lost to the dreaded “status quo”. 

As sellers, in order to be successful, we’ll need to overcome those forces: to act as a change agent, educating and inspiring our buyers, whilst encouraging them to take action.

Trend #3: The Rise Of Risk

In an environment where:

1. There is more information  and choice available than ever before

2. Every decision you make has vastly broader implications

... risk takes on substantially more importance. Corporations today put much more emphasis on risk when making decisions. And they do so much earlier, at a much lower level of investment and to a much greater degree.

If you're not addressing risk proactively and conclusively in the sales process, you're likely end up with “no deal”. As sellers, we need to address risk proactively, honestly and reduce its impact to the point where it no longer blocks the deal.

Trend #4: The Drive Towards Diversity

Corporations, by their very nature, are consensus oriented. Virtually every single decision (even seemingly trivial ones) are made by committee. Everyone in the organization, from the cleaning lady to the CEO, has to get all their ducks in a row before being able to get anyone to commit to anything.

I’ve spent 20 years watching the hallways of corporations, large and small. None of this is new. Corporations are consensus-building machines. I have never (ever) seen anyone make a major decision in complete isolation- virtually always by committee.

But what is new is that the members of those committees today are much more vocal, attuned to their own needs and committed to what they want than ever before. They have a voice, and they’re not afraid to use it. 

Trend #5: The Chaos Of Commoditization

When I speak with sales leaders today, many conversations focus on how difficult it is to differentiate from the competitors, and how this leads to increased margin erosion and constant price pressure.

In a world where information is abundant, risk is a crucial factor in decision-making, and any decision has global – and often significant – implications. This, in turn, means many buyers are overwhelmed.

Welcome to “the chaos of commoditization”. 

When in doubt, buyers will choose that which is either familiar, or cost effective. In short, they will either go with the default option (incumbent vendor, household name) or they will simply pick whoever is cheapest.

As sellers, our job is to clearly differentiate ourselves from our competitors. And when I say “ourselves”, I mean first and foremost “us” as people. The individual sellers has a disproportionate impact on buyers’ decisions on what to buy, when to buy and who to buy from.