Understanding the B2B Buyer: 4 Rationales of a Purchase Decision (Part 1 of 2)

Understanding the B2B Buyer 4 Rationales of a Purchase Decision Part

 

In order to predict a behavior, one must determine the cause. In a business setup, the purchase process of buyers can be traced back to their inherent or emerging needs to maintain their operations. It’s so basic a principle that marketers actually tend to forget to look into.

We can’t blame them. B2B lead generation is an intricate practice, and most of their attention is built around converting prospects into paying customers and nurturing leads down the sales funnel. But for those who can’t seem to put their finger on why they are failing to close a sale, it’s best to be reacquainted with the essential motives why buyers make a purchase decision:

There are four basic reasons, and the first two are as follows:

To perk up production

For a typical business, enhancing productivity is definitely part of the goal. Owners, CEOs and managers are always finding ways to make their operations efficient, and that includes software, general tasks and data reporting. This is common for large businesses that operate mostly on large scale productions or those that handle a big number of human resources. They would usually go for solutions that aim to make everything fast and efficient.

Now when a B2B buyer has that motive in mind, marketers should highlight these desired features on their products. That means putting forward a mantra of efficiency in all lead generation channels such as content marketing, telemarketing or email. This kind of buyer is interested in statistics and real-world evidence that a product can enhance the way they business runs.

For business expansion and growth

When a business decides to expand, it will definitely acquire help in the form of additional tools and outsourced manpower. Although some companies would rather hire a fresh batch of new employees, it would still need to purchase equipment and software for them to use. That also means there will be an influx of customers in the future, which then leads to more purchases.

Again, to position yourself in front of these expansion buyers, you need to offer something that can aid them in the transition period, especially in terms of delivery, packaging and even throw in a discount for bulk purchases. This is usually a big sales opportunity considering the scale of potential purchases. This type of transaction deserves the best nurturing treatment as they could end up regular customers in more years to come.

The other two reasons for B2B buyers’ purchase decisions will be discussed in the next article.