Sales Psychology: What You Need to Know About B2B Selling – Part 2
Tapping Into the Psyche of B2B Consumers
In Part 1 of our series on the psychology of B2B sales, we discussed the importance of understanding how B2B buyers think. In Part 2 of our series, we will be digging even deeper into the subject as we show you how to tap into the actual psyche of B2B consumers and learn about B2B buyer behavior.
How should your salespeople approach prospective B2B buyers, and what psychological tactics should they use to understand said buyers’ pain points and desires?
What drives them to make a purchase?
What motivates them?
We find delving into the psyche of the B2B buyer to be a fascinating study in human behavior. If you can truly begin to understand B2B buyer behavior and psychology, your company will be well on its way to bigger sales success.
Below, we’ve highlighted a 3-step process that you can use to determine what makes a B2B buyer tick so your company can make more sales.
1) Understanding that B2B buyers are human beings just like you—they experience life through their 5 senses
With our innate human ability to perceive the world using sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste, we unconsciously connect with emotion and memory. The more an experience reaches each of these 5 senses, the stronger the memory that is created and the more likely we are to recall that which gave us the experience, whether it be positive or negative.
If your company can tap into the emotions that are unconsciously engaged in the B2B buyer who is connecting with your message—using their 5 senses in a positive way—you will more easily make a sale.
Learn more about engaging the 5 senses of your B2B buyers to increase sales by reading this article from the Huffington Post. Now let’s delve even deeper into what makes B2B buyers tick and what motivates them to buy.
2) Identifying B2B buyers’ hidden motivation
B2B buyers have certain, deep-seated needs that you must satisfy. Below we have listed the major things that motivate them to buy:
- Personal Gain – At the heart of the matter, your B2B buyer is more interested in what your product or service can do to solve their problems and address their pain points than they are in your actual company. They are looking for a product or service that goes beyond the others they have researched, and you can pretty much bet they have already done their research before they chose you.
- Social Influence – Human beings are hardwired to first trust recommendations from people they know. This even applies to people who think of themselves as freethinkers. This explains why having your social media followers share your information is so important. If your message is compelling enough, you will end up with what is called the bandwagon effect, as discussed in this Business2Community.com article. It is a fact that we tend to trust things that are widely adopted by others. The Viral Solutions team enjoyed this bit of historical trivia from that article:
“The phrase ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ comes from American politics in the late 1800s. Dan Rice used his bandwagon and loud music as a ploy to gain attention for his political campaign. As his popularity picked up, more and more people saw his success and wanted a seat on the wagon.”
- Familiarity – Psychology says that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Therefore, it is no surprise that buyers are motivated by their past experiences. Buyers make purchases based on what has worked for them in the past. Another reason B2B buyers like making purchases from someone they are familiar with is that they already trust you. They don’t have to worry about security or the risk of sharing their credit card and other personal information.
3) Making sure you have created a brand personality that resonates with them and evokes emotion
In a previous blog post, we discussed understanding how your customers perceive you. That post talks mainly about positioning and can be a great help to your company, but the following statement is particularly relevant to our point about branding:
“The key to successful positioning is to create a campaign where you position your brand in such a way that your target segment thinks specific things (you want them to) when they consider your brand.”
One of the most crucial aspects of creating a brand personality is making sure the message you are sending to potential B2B buyers is consistent across all of your marketing channels.
Think of the Nike slogan “Just Do It.” That message appears wherever you see a Nike ad. That subliminal message, repeated enough times, becomes what people associate your company with and helps create customer loyalty.
As we stated in the blog post we linked to above, “Loyalty starts in the heart, and people have a heart response when they witness authenticity from a brand. Regardless of what you do, it’s the emotional connection that will keep customers coming back for more.”
Another aspect of creating a brand personality that evokes emotion is how color can affect your potential buyers—even having an impact on B2B buyer behavior. In this article from Design & Function, they point out what message different colors send. We have listed those below:
- Blue – Associated with security, peace, and trust; versatile enough that it’s used for a number of industries, including banks
- Yellow – Evokes feelings of optimism, youth, and warmth; grabs the attention of passersby
- Red – Creates a sense of urgency and increases energy levels; great for sales
- Green – Represents wealth and nature; provides an overall positive message and is good for relaxing customers
- Orange – Commands attention; ideal for CTA buttons
- Pink – Represents femininity; great for marketing to women
- Black – Associated with power; frequently used in luxury marketing
- Purple – Considered regal, soothing, and imaginative; ideal for beauty and finance
Isn’t that fascinating? It just goes to show that, at our core, we are all first and foremost emotional creatures. So, let’s do a quick recap of the 3 steps we listed above for tapping into the psyche of your B2B buyer.
- Understanding that B2B buyers are humans and experience through their 5 senses
- Identifying your B2B buyers’ hidden motivations
- Creating a brand personality that evokes emotion and resonates with B2B buyers
The world of B2B sales is very competitive, so every single thing you do to create advantages for your business are well worth the efforts. By tapping into the psyche of B2B consumers and having a firm grasp of B2B buyer behavior, you are one step closer to beating out your competitors.
If your company and your marketing team put these 3 steps into motion, you will soar above your competition and your business will definitely see increased sales.