There are differences between a consumer buying behaviour and a business buyingbehaviour.
It is true.Business buyers are also people.They make emotional buying decisions just as they do in their consumer lives.The days of feature-driven industrial marketing campaigns are over.Business marketers are using more engaging and entertaining strategies.
There are still differences between business-to-business and B2C.The source of the differences is the interdependent relationships between business buyers and sellers in the supply chain.
Consumer marketing sells products to individual consumers.The B2B market is composed of a succession of companies buying and selling goods and services to other companies.This creates a sequence of businesses buying from each other.
B2B marketers may benefit from keeping critical differences in mind.
Entertainment services, consumer electronics, and vacation travel are discretionary products that people don't necessarily need.Style, fashion and peer acceptance are some of the perceived characteristics of consumer buying behavior.Consumers make purchase decisions based on emotional factors.Consumer marketing focuses on stimulating discretionary buying behavior through persuasive messaging and media investments.
Businesses usually come prepared to buy a solution to a need, such as products that are required for daily operations or a specific business problem.They have a need pre-exists.Product performance characteristics are more important than the image of the product.Business buyers are more focused on the task at hand.It is a matter of finding a supplier who can fulfill that need.
Business marketers are more likely to sell to narrower vertical markets.B2B marketers may only target a few hundred prospects, but consumer markets can number millions.Due to the smaller size, it is possible to identify and profile all the prospects within a particular business market and approach each with tailored marketing communications and in-person sales contact.
Business marketers are more focused on intimate and long-term customer relationships.Sales involve higher average dollar amounts to smaller groups of customers.The majority of a company's revenue can be accounted for by a few large customers.B2B tactics can accommodate a higher marketing investment per contact due to the higher transaction amounts.
A remote transaction is one of the ways in which a relationship ends in consumer marketing.The manufacturer doesn't make personal contact with the consumer.The buyer-seller proximity is reversed in business marketing.The supplier will usually visit the customer in person and establish a one-to-one relationship over time.
In consumer markets, the physical product is the most important.B2B markets include an array of economic, technical and personal relationships between buyer and seller.
Quality and reliability of the relationship are more important than the product quality.The buyer depends on the supplier for many things beyond the product itself, including an assured supply of materials, service, efficient order handling, delivery, and often extension of credit.Since supply chain problems cost the customer in terms of stock, downtime, lost orders, etc., these factors can have more influence than having the perfect product.
A high degree of technical customization is required for many business products.Ordinary products are more complicated because of their use in specialized business processes.Highly personalized marketing is dictated by the varying needs of business customers.Meeting basic operational buying needs requires some level of customization.
B2B marketing requires that all parts of the business be customer-oriented and that marketing decisions are based on a complete and accurate understanding of customers' needs.B2B companies are usually more knowledgeable about their customers' needs than consumer companies.
In a single-step transaction, consumer purchases typically involve an individual decision maker.Business buying behavior is characterized by a multi-step process that involves many people in a formal organization.
Consumer marketing doesn't require deep knowledge of the product or supplier to make a purchase decision.Business buyers are more educated than consumers.The business customer has years of training in his or her field and knows more about the product than the B2B marketer.
Business buyers have two types of expertise: buying process or technical expertise.The sole function of procurement managers is to procure products and services for the company.Technical experts and users have an interest in the problem to be solved and the product being marketed as the solution.Business buyers learn about a supplier's cost structures, production methods, development expertise and financial viability throughout the sales process.
Business organizations have formal purchasing policies, procedures and levels of purchasing authority that are not available to consumers.Business buying processes are complex and highly structured requiring multiple steps drawn out over a period of time and involving a wide range of individuals representing various areas of expertise or interest from within the organization.
When it is time to stop nurturing leads through marketing channels, marketers should hand them over to the sales team.Sales have to know when to recycle leads back to marketing.