Know Your Buyer

By Perry Rearick, Chief Editor, Follow Your Buyer

For a while now B2B marketers have known that prospects complete most of their buyer’s journey before they contact sellers. The latest research indicates buyers are delaying first contact with sellers even more and they are better informed when they do.

B2B sales teams can expect buyers to have already researched solutions, ranked the options that fit their needs, and established what they are willing to pay before the first conversation.

This begs the question! If buyers are spending this much time understanding sellers, are sellers spending as much time understanding buyers? And by understanding, I mean deep empathy for the buyer.

If you want to stimulate a discussion that will help your marketing and sales efforts win business by engaging prospects throughout their buyer’s journey, here are some starter questions.

• What problem does my buyer have that I can help them solve?
• Are they aware of the problem?
• How much is this problem costing them and how painful is it?
• How does my buyer describe the problem and what terms do they use?

Taking the time to answer these questions can help you orient your marketing communications and sales follow-up to your buyers, and the results will be amazing!