The Winding B2B Buying Journey

To no one's surprise, the B2B buying journey is complicated.

👇The illustration below from Gartner really hits this home.

🙅‍♂️~95% of buyers are not-in-market to buy today, and will not be in-market for months (sometimes even years), according to a study by Prof. John Dawes for the LinkedIn B2B Institute.

5⃣ The report also found that on average, companies change their solution providers every 5 years, which means that ~20% are in market each year (5% a quarter).

👩‍💼👨‍💼👩‍💼 To add to this challenge, a typical B2B buying committee includes 5-10 decision makers. The more complex or costly the solution, the more decision makers are added to minimize the risk of making an expensive mistake and regretting it.

🤝 Gartner research found that B2B buyers spend 17% of the time meeting with potential vendors, which goes down to 6% when they're comparing several vendors.

So what does this all mean to B2B sales?

How do you make the buying process easier?

👨‍🏫 Educational content is extremely valuable. Share thoughtful and educational content freely and often (no gates!).

📋 Help prospects shape the selection criteria through educating them on what they should look for in a solution and why.

⏳ Shift focus from short-term sales goals to long-term goals- this is a long game.

🎯 Have a solid understanding of your ICP and best target accounts.

✨Define and show how you are different than your competitors and/or the status quo.

🧭️ Show prospects what would happen if they get your solution (should be good things), and show them what would happen if they don't (should be not so good things).

💯 And of course, make sure your solution is a good one that solves a problem in the market, no amount of stellar marketing and sales can make up for a crappy product.