B2B Companies Need to Be Facilitators, Not Sellers – Here's Why!

How and why do people make purchasing decisions? This is a tough topic to answer since there are categories of purchasers. Some of them are simple impulse buyers, and others utilize an intensive system and conduct extensive research before making a purchase choice.

Today’s B2B decision-makers desire high-quality, data-driven insights that will enable them to drive results. They seek the sort of knowledge that solves their problem and makes them want to make a purchase without being "sold to”.

What is Buyer-Enabled Selling?

Buyer-Enabled Selling is a mindset as well as a systematic movement toward empowering purchasers and going beyond simply focusing on their requirements and expectations. As a result of this transformation, B2B sales organizations must take the position of facilitators – a facilitator who is deeply embedded in the customer's domain.

Why do B2B Companies Need to Be Facilitators?

The easy availability of high-quality information via digital channels has made it significantly simpler for buyers to research on their own, implying that dealers have little access to and fewer possibilities to influence buyers' decisions.

According to Gartner's research, when B2B customers are making a buying decision, they devote just 17% of their time to attending the potential suppliers. When customers compare various suppliers, the total time spent with any sales professional may be as little as 5% or 6%. (Source)

While these various sorts of purchasers approach their purchasing decisions in different ways, seven key criteria impact all purchasing decisions:

1. Economic Factor
The most important and first on our list is the Economic Factor. This is the primary pillar of every purchase choice. The rationale is simple: individuals cannot afford to buy what they cannot afford.

2. Functional Factor
The component is entirely about requirements, and it is supported by reasoning that this is what makes good sense and also matches the best interests of the customer. This one component is likewise crucial in the purchasing decision.

3. Marketing Factors
The marketing mix consists of four factors: product, pricing, promotion, and location of distribution, and each of these components has a direct or indirect influence on the purchasing process of customers. However, the mode or channel of promotion being used, as well as the quality of the promotion will have a huge impact on the purchasing decision. If buyers are receiving marketing messages that appeal to them, that help them with their pain points, they will be far more likely to buy the product.

4. Personal Factors
The buyer's age, occupation, lifestyle, social and economic position, and gender are all personal factors. These factors can have an impact on customers' purchasing decisions, either individually or jointly.

5. Psychological Factor
Perception, motivation, learning, beliefs, and attitudes are the most essential psychological aspects influencing buyer’s purchasing behavior. These factors can define how they approach the decision, what kind of biases they have during the process, and ultimately what’s the final component for them that makes them tick.

6. Social Factors
Group norms, family, and social position are all examples of social determinants. These characteristics, in turn, indicate an ongoing and strong input through which individuals learn various values that guide their purchase decisions throughout life.

7. Cultural Factors
Cultural variables have a modest impact on a buyer's purchase decision. Because each person lives in a diverse cultural context, the products or services they plan to use might be impacted directly or indirectly by the general cultural context in which it occurs and develops.

Content Marketing critical to B2B Buying Decisions

Gartner research identifies six B2B stages of the journey that buyers must accomplish to their delight to effectively finish a sale in an attempt to comprehend how to best help buyers proceed through a difficult acquisition:

1. Identifying the issue. “Something must be done!”
2. Investigating potential solutions. “Is there anything out there that can help us address our problem?”
3. Creating requirements. “What precisely do we require the buy for?”
4. Choosing a supplier. “Does this do what we want it to accomplish?”
5. Validation. “We believe we have the correct answer, but we need to double-check.”
6. Consensus building. “We urge everyone to get on board.”
Content marketing is, however, one B2B weapon that may help a company across all these 6 stages of the buyer’s journey. It helps B2B buyers get top-of-the-funnel information, while also identifying chances further in the funnel.

B2B content marketing is growing as a realistic and successful technique for locating and pitching to qualified leads in the digital age. It's no surprise that a rising number of B2B marketers are including content marketing in their B2B marketing plans. The three leading most successful forms of content used by B2B marketers are eBooks/white papers (50 percent), case studies (47 percent), and social media postings. (Source)

Information drives purchase ease and high-quality sales

According to Gartner's research, clients who viewed the information they got from suppliers as useful in progressing in their buying tasks were 2.8 times more likely to have a high level of buying ease, and 3 times more likely to acquire a greater deal with less disappointment. B2B buyers

Content marketing is one such weapon in the B2B arsenal that can help a firm achieve its across-the-funnel goals and identify opportunities deeper in the funnel. These become crucial lessons to consider while developing a framework for Buyer-Enabled Selling – a framework that positions sales as an enabler and has four important components.

Buyer-Enabled Selling Framework – 4 Key Components

1. Goal Enablers:
As a result of the coronavirus epidemic, buyers confront several uncertainties, new concerns, and new obstacles. This indicates that their objectives are shifting. It is also feasible that customers will want assistance in establishing their objectives. There are several sorts of goals and sub-goals from the standpoint of buyer insights.

2. Journey Enablers:
B2B sales strategy has mostly outlined the buyer's journey in a general manner. The emphasis is on attempting to address the question of where they should produce and enter their material. The emphasis needs to be on understanding what the buyer has to go through while purchasing. Salespeople who possess such expertise may be facilitators of their buyers' purchase processes, and provide the ability to overcome roadblocks along the way.

3. Scenario Enablers:
To be great facilitators, sales must look beyond purchasing procedures and trips. Buyers find themselves in situations with unique goals, difficulties, and challenges. Empowering buyers will necessitate the creation of two new skill sets. One is how to comprehend the circumstances with which purchasers are challenged. The second step is to take on the role of facilitator as a scenario planner.

4. Success Enablers:
Buyers' success might be temporary. What is required are facilitators who have a common interest in purchasers accomplishing their objectives. Furthermore, allowing purchasers to have their desired circumstances come true. It has been seen that the epidemic has made client retention a major priority for many businesses. It is also important to recognize that loyalty can be transitory. One method for retaining loyalty is to become "success" facilitators.

Whether you use content marketing, social media, or any other B2B marketing technique, it will help you better target your B2B buyers. The goal, however, is to go from pushing products to them to enabling them through the purchasing process.

Our experts can help you understand how to prepare your business for buyer-enabled selling. For any assistance, we are just a click away..