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A Matter Of Choice
How B2B Buyers Choose In
Today’s Complex Markets
                by Tony Zambito
Copyright Notices
A Matter Of Choice: How B2B Buyers Choose In Today’s
Complex Markets

Copyright 2012 by Buyerology and Goal Centric Management,
Inc., All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic,
including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for
permission or further information should be addressed to
Tony Zambito at: tzambito@goalcentric.com.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   2
Legal Notices
While all attempts have been made to verify information provided
in this publication, neither the author nor the Publisher assumes
any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation
of the subject matter. This publication is not intended for use as a
source of legal or accounting advice. The Publisher wants to
stress that the information contained herein may be subject to
varying state and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised
to retain competent counsel to determine what state and/or local
laws or regulations may apply to the user's particular business.

The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility
for the use of these materials and information. Adherence to all
applicable laws and regulations, both federal and state and local,
governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising
and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any
other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or
reader. The author and Publisher assume no responsibility or
liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of
these materials. Any perceived slights of specific people or
organizations is unintentional.

Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. All
rights reserved.

http://buyerology.com | 1-888-972-8937
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.       3
Table of Contents
Slow Death of the Funnel                                          6

Revenue Growth by Choice                                          14

Psychology of Choice                                              25

3 Ways to Connect with Buyers                                     34

4 Ways to Transform Business                                      43




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Slow Death of the Funnel:

        Why Buyer Choice
        Matters to Revenue




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   5
Finding the keys that unlock improving revenue
performance and achieving growth is becoming
harder and harder as we go from a single buyer
model to that of more interdependency among
ecosystems and networks by B2B buyers. B2B
marketing and sales is still predominantly
tethered to traditional ideas, approaches, and
systems that are being dragged into the modern
era. While we have seen modifications, the idea
of the traditional funnel is still at the core of
many B2B organizations today. It matters little
whether you keep it vertical or flip it sideways
and make it horizontal – it is still suggesting a
funnel that winnows down opportunities down
to a “buy” decision.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   6
As the modern era rages on with increasing
speed where the Internet and Social Technologies
are converging into new forms, the
oversimplification of the funnel becomes more
and more apparent. Simply put, buyers just don’t
act or behave in that way anymore. Evidence
suggesting that buyers are behaving well out of
the norm of our conventional views of the funnel
as well as the buying process is abundant from
surveys. These behaviors cannot be represented
in the view of a funnel.

DemandGen, for example, reported that B2B
buyers don’t talk to a sales rep until they’ve
conducted independent research 77% of the
time. There are plenty of surveys around showing
buyers acting and behaving differently – yet – the
willingness to snap the tether cord of the funnel
doesn’t appear readily apparent. It does beg the
question of: what is going on?

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I believe that is still an open question without an
answer. We are about to see an uptick in Big Data
being touted as the next Big Thing. Why? To
figure out what’s going on. My thinking is that if
this Big Data explosion is designed to tell us
what’s going on within the confines of the funnel
– then B2B organizations can find themselves in
the untenable position of explaining why Big Data
is not telling them anything. Here’s why: we will
learn a lot about what buyers purchase and we
will learn a lot about how they are purchasing –
perhaps.

What is missing is the most important question of
all – why. And there are two very important
components to the why question:

First, why are they buying and second, why are
they making the choices they make.


Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   8
Traditional marketing and sales, oriented towards
the funnel, don’t answer these why questions
very well. To get close, it may take years of piling
on data after data to get a clue. This is a very
expensive proposition for companies to take on
today.

Despite the many super hyped concepts coming
to the forefront attempting to address the 77%
who are not getting a sales rep involved until
much later, the funnel – whether vertical or
horizontal or even cyclical – seems to be glossed
over like a sacred cow. The language of these
many new concepts is spoken through the prism
of the funnel – still.

For example, if we take an often used expression
of the first part of a funnel – awareness – many
of the new concepts are really talking about how
to make awareness happen differently in the new
social buyer era.
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Buyers Explore vs. Become Aware. B2B
buyers are less likely to become aware of
solutions and more likely to explore and find
them. And they are making significant choices
during their exploring based on what they find.
Unlike consumer purchases where there is an
object of purchase desired – for example a HDTV
– B2B buyers are making choices on which path
they will invest more time hiking and exploring.

Buyers Are Part of Ecosystems and
Networks. The age of the single buyer has come
to a close in complex B2B environments. While
there may be a target buyer per se’, they are
increasingly dependent upon various ecosystem
participants who are directly impacted by
purchase decisions and have a voice in these
decisions. The funnel is very limited outside the
scope of the single buyer.

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Buyers Just Don’t Make New Buys. In the
complex realities of today, buyers are not
repeating the new buy orientation of the funnel.
There are many choices being made around how
to modify different alternatives. In the age of
just-in-time – and now in the age of real-time,
buyers look ahead into the longevity of
repurchase – or continuous supply that feeds the
ecosystem with little disruption.

Buyer Views Extend Beyond Purchase. The
funnel is based on the short-term view of making
the sale and it is measured in quantities. In
today’s environment, the funnel cannot
accommodate the long term views buyers have
on the overall buying experience and doesn’t
account for many factors that happen well after
the sale.


Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   11
Given these limitations, I believe that companies
today must attempt to understand buyer choices
and adopt a different model. A Buyer Choice
Model that begins to reflect buyer behavior and
provides the language and terminology needed
to understand why buyers choose as they do. It
puts the buyer at the center of B2B marketing,
sales, and service and reflects, more accurately,
that buyers are making multiple choices
throughout their actions as well as behaviors that
ultimately lead to a purchase decision.

But – it doesn’t stop there at the purchase
decision. There is a continuous loop that extends
beyond the purchase decision. The idea of buyer
choice modeling is to understand choices that are
being made in this continuous loop – so as not to
be left out of the loop.



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Revenue Growth by Choice

                               and

              The Buyer Orbit



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Growth is getting harder and harder to come by.
With this comes the realization that some of the
embedded thinking about how to reach and
market to buyers are not working well.
Previously, we looked at how the funnel is facing
a slow death and the limitations of so called
funnel thinking. We are entering a new era of the
buyer. Buyer behaviors are shifting yet we know
only a fraction about this shift. One emerging
insight is that of buyer choice. Simply stated,
buyers are making multiple choices prior to as
well as well after buying decisions.

Important to Understand Buyer Choice

Buyers Have Many Options. The floodgates have
opened on channels, social media, old media, the
Internet, and countless other ways to interact,
explore, retrieve, and digest information in this
new era of the buyer. With countless options
available, buyers are making choices on where to
start their exploring.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   14
The Buyer At The Center Of Strategy,
Marketing, And Sales.

Conventional funnel thinking has a hard time
doing this. A better way of stating this is that
conventional strategy, marketing, and sales
decisions are funneled through an old paradigm
of the buyer where marketing and sales held the
information cards – cards used to target, sell, and
persuade buyers.

Today, buyers make the choice on which
information cards they decide to deal. B2B
leaders today must find ways to focus strategy on
the buyer, the choices they make, and the
experiences they have with their organizations.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   15
Experience Determines Choice. A while back,
I made a choice to attend a Broadway musical –
of which I am a big fan. The pre-show experience
and excitement was plenty of fun with a great
dinner in New York. The musical started and
about 20 minutes into the musical the dread
began to overcome me. I knew this musical
production was going to be – dreadful. We made
the choice to leave at intermission and the choice
didn’t ruin the entire experience of the evening
but it sure changed it. We chose to find a jazz
club and had a great time which meant cancelling
out the plans we had after the show.

Buyers today are taking experience cues well
before the buyer decision journey and well after.
The buyer experience cues they take-in alter their
thinking about the choices they make. And they
could be choices about whether to continue
having an experience with your organizations – or
– find another.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   16
Understanding Buyer Choice Helps You To
Make The Right Choices Available

Buyer choice anchors five choice elements that
can be thought of as continuously orbiting buyers
today. A fundamental shift is happening here. In
the conventional DNA of funnel thinking, we are
accustomed to thinking that involves phases or
steps. One phase ends and another phase begin.

What I propose is something we can call the
Buyer Orbit. This is meant to shift the thinking
towards recognizing that buyers are continuously
addressing goals, challenges, issues, uncertainty,
and growth that are in a continuous orbital loop.
This applies to buyer choice:




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   17
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   18
Explore. As mentioned, funnel thinking usually
started with attempts to make buyers aware of a
product or solution. It is still rooted in the
thinking of flashing attention-getting means
before buyer’s eyes as well as push messaging
outwards in the hopes of making buyers aware.

Today, buyers are mapping out deliberate
exploration prompted by the orbital loop of the
goals and etc. that orbit them. Confronted with
many choices, buyers are taking time to map out
where to explore, how to explore, and etc.

Network. As buyers make progression towards
less of a single buyer model to that of a world
that includes ecosystems and open networks,
buyers are making choices to interact with
networks and different ecosystem players to
collaborate on addressing the issues orbiting
them.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   19
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   20
Decide. The way buyers decide today is
becoming increasingly complex. Choices are
being made on such things as the rules for
deciding,    who    is    included,     checking
dependencies, and assessing impact. Buyers
today no longer make decisions in a vacuum.

Buy. The actual buy choice has become a higher
stakes game in the B2B world. Not only are the
rules for deciding more complex, but there are
more dependencies related to buying and
potential impact as well. The experience element
here is now more critical than ever because of
the high stakes. Making the wrong choice, for
example, on a software platform designed to
measure quality of manufactured parts could
have drastic affects downstream with OEMs and
distribution.


Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   21
Relate. The word – relate – has more
applicability in a B2B context than say engage for
example. The higher stakes involved means
buyers needs an organization that can relate to
the high stakes and a relational bond is being
formed. In the example mentioned above, there
may be many discussions before and after the
buy choice to ensure that the software platform
meets an intended goal.

The ability for B2B companies to provide
relational choices and experiences becomes an
important factor. Does the company provide
relational choices whether they are face-to-face,
telephone, or complex networking technology
that involves exchanging design ideas and
specifications?



Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   22
The new era of the buyer is resulting in a
paradigm shift on what is required thinking about
the buyer today. Letting go of funnel thinking is
no easy task – especially when you strip away the
hyperbole and promotion that can surround
strategy, it is still very much about the funnel.

Buyers today have many elements related to
growth, goals, and uncertainty orbiting their
world. Making choices as this orbital loop
continuously impacts their world is changing the
very nature of buyer behavior today. These
changes are rocket propelled by a new world of
hyper-connectivity and hyper-competition.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   23
How B2B Leaders Respond

                            to the

Psychology of Buyer Choice



Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   24
When it comes to understanding the psychology
of the buyer, much has been done in the world of
B2C to get inside the mind of consumers to
understand buying choices. For B2B, it has been
harder to translate B2C research dynamics into
ways that would make the psychology of B2B
buyers readily understood. However, what we do
know is that there is an increasing
consumerization effect happening in B2B buying
whereby B2B buyers have the same desires for
more experiential purchasing.

In the previous section we discussed the Buyer
Orbit and the elements of the Buyer Choice
Model. Each of these now filled with more
psychological aspects related to why B2B buyers
buy. This comes with implications for B2B leaders
to not only understand new buyer psychology but
to also shift business models, operations,
strategies, and interactions that transforms the
way they connect with B2B buyers.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   25
Understanding buyer choice has many
implications for B2B strategies and tactics –
whether they are focused on demand generation,
content marketing, or selling approaches.
Addressing new buyer psychology and buyer
choice paradigms, within elements of buyer
choice modeling, can be transformational:




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   26
Explore
With more and more buyers mapping out
exploration due to the proliferation of content
and information channels, a side effect of B2B
businesses scrambling to be noticed in the 50%
to 70% window of buyers remaining anonymous,
B2B businesses are considering the implications
of buyers taking deliberate action to map out
their exploration.

      What this means: predicting and modeling
      how buyers map and begin their exploring
      as well as what forms of navigation they
      usually take specific to their industry.

      How to respond: devote more resources to
      qualitative investigative means, such as
      contextual interviewing and ethnographic
      research, to uncover how buyers begin their
      efforts to explore and how they are dealing
      with content proliferation.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   27
Network
As elaborated upon recently, the single buyer
model is no longer sufficient and more and more
B2B buyers operate from the new buying model
of working within ecosystems and relying on
network participation. Codependency is here to
stay and B2B businesses must adapt

      What this means: reexamine how buyers are
      viewed internally and what forms of
      outmoded approaches may be resulting in
      missed opportunities.

      How to respond: use various forms of B2B
      buyer research and begin working with
      buyers to understand important ecosystem
      and network drivers for their business and
      industries. Incorporate important ecosystem
      views into strategy and organizational
      infrastructure.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   28
Decide
The art and science of decision-making is
becoming more complex each year. An increasing
number of variables are being introduced into
decision-making      such      as     globalization,
uncertainty, ecosystem considerations, and more
– shifting how buying is taking place.

      What this means: how buyers are buying
      today is shifting dramatically and B2B
      businesses need to understand the new
      rules of decision-making, in addition to the
      buyer decision journey, that are being
      implemented for purchase decisions.

      How to respond: shift internal focus to
      understanding new rules affecting decision-
      making, acquired through the mix of
      analytics and qualitative insight, and support
      how buyers are making purchase decisions.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   29
Buy
Buying today is a higher stakes game for many
businesses today. The margin for costly mistakes
is the slimmest in decades. The extent of poor
choices can have disastrous effect on many
aspects of a business.

      What this means: B2B leaders must not
      confuse how buyers buy with why buyers
      buy. The focus is on understanding new
      buyer psychology in terms of their collective
      attitudes, goals, beliefs, and perceptions.
      This new collection of mental models are
      changing each time new variables, such as
      new technologies, are introduced.

      How to respond: getting an understanding of
      buyer mental models via qualitative
      research efforts will become crucial each
      year as buyer psychology continues to shift.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   30
Relate
With higher stakes involved in decision-making
and purchases today, B2B buyers seek more
assurances post-purchase than ever before.
Unlike the emphasis on engagement in B2C post-
purchase, the need for deeper ties relationally is
affecting long-term loyalty.

      What this means: shifting out of funnel
      thinking and viewing the entire buyer
      experience cycle is a new rule of B2B
      thinking today.

      How to respond: post-purchase support and
      talent can no longer be an after-thought of
      organizational planning but be seen as the
      gateway to being included in newly formed
      ecosystems and networks by buyers.



Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   31
What we are witnessing today is a marked shift
from funnel-thinking to that of focusing on the
total buyer experience that does not fit neatly
into stages or step approach thinking.

The new buyer psychology compels B2B
businesses today to make the buyer the
centerpiece of strategy and respond to the
continuous loops of what confronts them (the
buyer orbit) and the choices (buyer choice
model) they must make.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   32
3 Ways

                                 To

                         Connect

 With Today’s B2B Buyers

Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   33
Connecting with today’s B2B buyers is on the
minds of most CEO’s and their teams today. Not
too long ago, reaching and connecting with B2B
buyers was a straight forward proposition.

Depending on surveys from such sources as IDC,
IDG Connect, DemandGen Report, Forrester, and
more, we know that buyers are remaining
invisible to B2B businesses and spend only a
quarter of their time talking directly to sales
when making purchase decisions.

The idea of connecting to B2B buyers has gone
from straight forward to major league complex.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   34
There are plenty of debates regarding the best
tactical means to connect with B2B buyers. The
effectiveness of these tactical means, as reported
by once again the likes of IDC and etc., show that
many B2B leaders believe these tactical efforts
such as content marketing and marketing
automation may only be effective about a
quarter of the time. It does represent a big gap
and it begs for a rephrasing of the challenge –
this a big disconnect with B2B buyers. Enough to
keep any sane B2B CEO and their senior
management team scrambling for answers.

We have pointed out in this book that
conventional funnel thinking is woefully
inadequate in today’s B2B buyer landscape and is
limited in the ability to address new and evolving
complexities.


Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   35
Buyer Modeling To Understand Buyer
Choices and Scenarios

Business executives today are using the concepts
of buyer modeling to understand as well as
visually illuminate buyer choice. Buyer modeling
incorporates the elements of attitudes, beliefs,
values, goals, perceptions, needs, and
motivations. By modeling buyers, buying
scenarios, buyer experience, and decision
journeys, B2B executives can then map strategy
as well as tactical marketing and sales activities
that enable them to connect with B2B buyers on
a relational level.

Buyer modeling is based on qualitative research
that addresses choices being made versus
inadequate interviewing that is done in the
context of the funnel.

Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   36
On The Total Brand and Buyer Experience

B2B businesses are learning how to think outside
the context of the funnel and how to encompass
the total view of the brand and buyer experience.
The invisibility of buyers who are in explore and
network mode of the buyer choice model makes
it an imperative for B2B businesses to better
understand how different buyers interact with
different channels that create impressionable
brand and buyer experience.

 The emphasis here is on identifying critical Buyer
Moment of Truth™ impression points that
contribute to the overall brand and buyer
experience. For example, does the web channel
brand and buyer experience stay true to form
when buyers interact with either the social
media, sales, resellers, partner, or service
channels?
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   37
HP, for instance, has a strong ecosystem of
reseller and partner channels where the brand
and buyer experience has many potential pitfalls
and has several challenging Buyer Moment of
Truth handoff points that can make or break their
involvement.

B2B leaders today can conduct buyer experience
mapping that identifies critical Buyer Moment of
Truth and ensure that the brand and buyer
experience stays true to form throughout.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   38
Descriptive Buyer Segmentation Based on
Buying Behavior and Opportunity

By integrating the benefits of predictive analytics
with that of predictive buyer modeling, B2B
leaders are gaining smarts on taking
segmentation to a new level. With the use of
visually illuminating B2B Buyergraphics, buyers
can be segmented descriptively by explore and
buying behavior and also by modeling buying
scenarios that identify where the organization
can reach a “best fit” level with buyers.

This can be especially useful in industries where
there is a strong company or account focus as
well as complex buying scenarios that involve
lengthy buying cycles.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   39
Descriptive means of segmentation helps to
illuminate the many elements related to choice,
needs, goals, attitudes, behaviors, values, and
experience. This approach enables both
marketing and sales to focus on resonating with
buyer segments that have similar goals and
buying behaviors where knowledge in doing so is
dynamic and enriched with each company or
account interaction.

In essence, allowing B2B businesses to build
strong connections with B2B buyers in buyer
segments that have higher winning percentages.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   40
When B2B leaders can do these three things,
they can be better informed on how to guide the
overall trajectory of their organization. Their
focus is on identifying the buyers and buyer
segments that they can best establish a
connection within the context of understanding
choices being made.

More importantly, they can learn how to connect
with B2B buyers today in ways that resonates and
invites participation into the buyer driven world
of goals, challenges, issues, uncertainties, and
growth objectives that orbit them continuously.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   41
4 Ways the Power

                                  of

                  Buyer Choice

               Will Transform

        Business Marketing

Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   42
How buyers make choices today, in large part
driven by empowering new technologies, will
transform how B2B businesses will view buyers
as well as redefine what is meant by business
marketing. The rigid funnel will no longer serve
as a workable means of communicating unique
views of buyers and their buying behaviors.

This not to say that buyer processes, stages, and
steps are no longer relevant but to highlight that
buyers today no longer make choices neatly in
the paradigm of the funnel. A rigid funnel view,
whether it is drawn up horizontal or vertical,
cannot provide the orbital view of choices being
made continuously.

There are four ways that new buyer choice
dynamics will transform the practice of business
marketing and alter the view of what practices
are relevant:
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   43
Predictive Buyer Modeling And Intelligence

As we covered, many B2B businesses are
wrestling with the unknown and the invisible.
B2B buyers are remaining invisible in their
behaviors associated with exploring as well as
establishing new networks of participants in
decision-making. There will be a rise in the use of
buyer modeling techniques as well as integrating
the use of buyer intelligence, predictive analytics,
and the illuminating aspects of predictive buyer
modeling.

The changes underway in buyer behavior will
cause B2B business marketing to extend well
beyond conventional buyer profiling as well as
simplistic buyer persona creating for demand
generation.



Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   44
Reorient From Business Marketing Teams
to Buyer Driven Marketing Teams

Traditional business marketing has been
historically put together teams that are seller
driven and narrowly funnel focused. The single
buyer model view narrowly shared across all
channels. Leaders in B2B marketing and sales will
soon have to migrate towards buyer segment
teams that are focused on activities that are
focused on the buyer’s entire brand and buyer
experience.

We are beginning to see leading organizations,
such as GE, move towards aligning their
organizations to industry buyer segment teams
focused on deeper understanding and alignment
with buyers.



Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   45
Create Orbital Match With Buyers

B2B is becoming more complex with every
passing month. When informed with deep buyer
intelligence, business marketing can begin to
align to the continuous orbital loop of what
confronts buyers and how they make choices.
The new role of business marketing is to pull
buyers into an orbital loop that mirrors their
own. The new business marketing strategy is to
create the gravitational pull that buyers are
drawn to because it aligns with their own orbital
loops. Conversely, how can your organization get
close to the buyer’s own gravitational pull and be
drawn into their orbital loop?

This is a departure from the seller driven and
narrow funnel view of push messaging. Another
way of positioning this concept in simple terms is
this: either your B2B business becomes part of
the orbital loop or you can watch it from afar
with a telescope – and be out of the loop.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   46
Total Brand and Buyer Experience

Business marketing today can take a leadership
role by transforming itself to orient around the
buyer. Historically, in the seller driven view world,
business marketing has been positioned as the
conveyers of getting information in front of
buyers. Producing material that buyers could
read, provide messaging to sales, and putting
together promotional programs with the aim to
get sellers to sell harder. My intuitive guess is that
in the world of business marketing, this
positioning still exists in a large majority of B2B
organizations – perhaps trapped within the label
of marketing communications.

To influence corporate strategy and decision-
making, business marketing must now become
the conveyors of buyer intelligence and
influencing organizations to orient around the
buyer. Conveying that what counts is the total
brand and buyer experience.
Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   47
Business marketing today, by making these four
ways the cornerstone of transformation, can
enhance their leadership role in organizations.
Orienting businesses around the understanding
of buyer choices being made in a new complex
buyer driven world. This is no easy challenge yet
one that business marketing must take up.

Business marketing must demonstrate that it
understands buyers deeply and that a designed
focus on the total brand and buyer experience is
the new business marketing strategy. It is time for
business marketing to come out of the literature
closet and lead.




Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   48
About Tony Zambito
                          Tony is the originator of buyer persona research and creation. Today,
                          Tony is breaking new ground in establishing Buyerology℠ as the new
                          qualitative research means of understanding buyer behaviors and
                          choices to make better informed decisions.

                          A seasoned corporate senior executive with Fortune 100 firms and now
                          entrepreneur since founding Goal Centric in 2002, Tony offers the rare
                          combination of both executive experience and unique buyer insight
                          approaches. He is the author of his widely read blog Buyerology Now
        Contact:          and keynote speaker on the topic of how changing buyer behaviors are
                          impacting business today. Tony has helped Fortune 100 companies
tzambito@buyerology.com
                          such as FedEx, HP, and Reed Elsevier to make informed decisions using
 Twitter: @tonyzambito    buyer personas, buyer insight, and Business Buyergraphics™. He holds
                          a B.S. in Business and an M.B.A. in Marketing.
 LinkedIn: Tony Zambito
                          Tony and his wife Cindy with their two daughters returned to the east
  Blog: Buyerology Now    coast after nearly a dozen years living through the boom and bust of
                          Silicon Valley. He is an avid jazz fan as well as jazz percussionist and you
Web: www.buyerology.com
                          just may catch Tony playing with his band My Cousin Tone’ somewhere
                          on the east coast.


                                       Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc.   49

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A Matter of Choice: How B2B Buyers Choose in Today’s Complex Markets

  • 1. A Matter Of Choice How B2B Buyers Choose In Today’s Complex Markets by Tony Zambito
  • 2. Copyright Notices A Matter Of Choice: How B2B Buyers Choose In Today’s Complex Markets Copyright 2012 by Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to Tony Zambito at: tzambito@goalcentric.com. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 2
  • 3. Legal Notices While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter. This publication is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice. The Publisher wants to stress that the information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and/or local laws or regulations may apply to the user's particular business. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, both federal and state and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. The author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations is unintentional. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. All rights reserved. http://buyerology.com | 1-888-972-8937 Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 3
  • 4. Table of Contents Slow Death of the Funnel 6 Revenue Growth by Choice 14 Psychology of Choice 25 3 Ways to Connect with Buyers 34 4 Ways to Transform Business 43 Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 4
  • 5. Slow Death of the Funnel: Why Buyer Choice Matters to Revenue Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 5
  • 6. Finding the keys that unlock improving revenue performance and achieving growth is becoming harder and harder as we go from a single buyer model to that of more interdependency among ecosystems and networks by B2B buyers. B2B marketing and sales is still predominantly tethered to traditional ideas, approaches, and systems that are being dragged into the modern era. While we have seen modifications, the idea of the traditional funnel is still at the core of many B2B organizations today. It matters little whether you keep it vertical or flip it sideways and make it horizontal – it is still suggesting a funnel that winnows down opportunities down to a “buy” decision. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 6
  • 7. As the modern era rages on with increasing speed where the Internet and Social Technologies are converging into new forms, the oversimplification of the funnel becomes more and more apparent. Simply put, buyers just don’t act or behave in that way anymore. Evidence suggesting that buyers are behaving well out of the norm of our conventional views of the funnel as well as the buying process is abundant from surveys. These behaviors cannot be represented in the view of a funnel. DemandGen, for example, reported that B2B buyers don’t talk to a sales rep until they’ve conducted independent research 77% of the time. There are plenty of surveys around showing buyers acting and behaving differently – yet – the willingness to snap the tether cord of the funnel doesn’t appear readily apparent. It does beg the question of: what is going on? Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 7
  • 8. I believe that is still an open question without an answer. We are about to see an uptick in Big Data being touted as the next Big Thing. Why? To figure out what’s going on. My thinking is that if this Big Data explosion is designed to tell us what’s going on within the confines of the funnel – then B2B organizations can find themselves in the untenable position of explaining why Big Data is not telling them anything. Here’s why: we will learn a lot about what buyers purchase and we will learn a lot about how they are purchasing – perhaps. What is missing is the most important question of all – why. And there are two very important components to the why question: First, why are they buying and second, why are they making the choices they make. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 8
  • 9. Traditional marketing and sales, oriented towards the funnel, don’t answer these why questions very well. To get close, it may take years of piling on data after data to get a clue. This is a very expensive proposition for companies to take on today. Despite the many super hyped concepts coming to the forefront attempting to address the 77% who are not getting a sales rep involved until much later, the funnel – whether vertical or horizontal or even cyclical – seems to be glossed over like a sacred cow. The language of these many new concepts is spoken through the prism of the funnel – still. For example, if we take an often used expression of the first part of a funnel – awareness – many of the new concepts are really talking about how to make awareness happen differently in the new social buyer era. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 9
  • 10. Buyers Explore vs. Become Aware. B2B buyers are less likely to become aware of solutions and more likely to explore and find them. And they are making significant choices during their exploring based on what they find. Unlike consumer purchases where there is an object of purchase desired – for example a HDTV – B2B buyers are making choices on which path they will invest more time hiking and exploring. Buyers Are Part of Ecosystems and Networks. The age of the single buyer has come to a close in complex B2B environments. While there may be a target buyer per se’, they are increasingly dependent upon various ecosystem participants who are directly impacted by purchase decisions and have a voice in these decisions. The funnel is very limited outside the scope of the single buyer. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 10
  • 11. Buyers Just Don’t Make New Buys. In the complex realities of today, buyers are not repeating the new buy orientation of the funnel. There are many choices being made around how to modify different alternatives. In the age of just-in-time – and now in the age of real-time, buyers look ahead into the longevity of repurchase – or continuous supply that feeds the ecosystem with little disruption. Buyer Views Extend Beyond Purchase. The funnel is based on the short-term view of making the sale and it is measured in quantities. In today’s environment, the funnel cannot accommodate the long term views buyers have on the overall buying experience and doesn’t account for many factors that happen well after the sale. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 11
  • 12. Given these limitations, I believe that companies today must attempt to understand buyer choices and adopt a different model. A Buyer Choice Model that begins to reflect buyer behavior and provides the language and terminology needed to understand why buyers choose as they do. It puts the buyer at the center of B2B marketing, sales, and service and reflects, more accurately, that buyers are making multiple choices throughout their actions as well as behaviors that ultimately lead to a purchase decision. But – it doesn’t stop there at the purchase decision. There is a continuous loop that extends beyond the purchase decision. The idea of buyer choice modeling is to understand choices that are being made in this continuous loop – so as not to be left out of the loop. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 12
  • 13. Revenue Growth by Choice and The Buyer Orbit Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 13
  • 14. Growth is getting harder and harder to come by. With this comes the realization that some of the embedded thinking about how to reach and market to buyers are not working well. Previously, we looked at how the funnel is facing a slow death and the limitations of so called funnel thinking. We are entering a new era of the buyer. Buyer behaviors are shifting yet we know only a fraction about this shift. One emerging insight is that of buyer choice. Simply stated, buyers are making multiple choices prior to as well as well after buying decisions. Important to Understand Buyer Choice Buyers Have Many Options. The floodgates have opened on channels, social media, old media, the Internet, and countless other ways to interact, explore, retrieve, and digest information in this new era of the buyer. With countless options available, buyers are making choices on where to start their exploring. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 14
  • 15. The Buyer At The Center Of Strategy, Marketing, And Sales. Conventional funnel thinking has a hard time doing this. A better way of stating this is that conventional strategy, marketing, and sales decisions are funneled through an old paradigm of the buyer where marketing and sales held the information cards – cards used to target, sell, and persuade buyers. Today, buyers make the choice on which information cards they decide to deal. B2B leaders today must find ways to focus strategy on the buyer, the choices they make, and the experiences they have with their organizations. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 15
  • 16. Experience Determines Choice. A while back, I made a choice to attend a Broadway musical – of which I am a big fan. The pre-show experience and excitement was plenty of fun with a great dinner in New York. The musical started and about 20 minutes into the musical the dread began to overcome me. I knew this musical production was going to be – dreadful. We made the choice to leave at intermission and the choice didn’t ruin the entire experience of the evening but it sure changed it. We chose to find a jazz club and had a great time which meant cancelling out the plans we had after the show. Buyers today are taking experience cues well before the buyer decision journey and well after. The buyer experience cues they take-in alter their thinking about the choices they make. And they could be choices about whether to continue having an experience with your organizations – or – find another. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 16
  • 17. Understanding Buyer Choice Helps You To Make The Right Choices Available Buyer choice anchors five choice elements that can be thought of as continuously orbiting buyers today. A fundamental shift is happening here. In the conventional DNA of funnel thinking, we are accustomed to thinking that involves phases or steps. One phase ends and another phase begin. What I propose is something we can call the Buyer Orbit. This is meant to shift the thinking towards recognizing that buyers are continuously addressing goals, challenges, issues, uncertainty, and growth that are in a continuous orbital loop. This applies to buyer choice: Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 17
  • 18. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 18
  • 19. Explore. As mentioned, funnel thinking usually started with attempts to make buyers aware of a product or solution. It is still rooted in the thinking of flashing attention-getting means before buyer’s eyes as well as push messaging outwards in the hopes of making buyers aware. Today, buyers are mapping out deliberate exploration prompted by the orbital loop of the goals and etc. that orbit them. Confronted with many choices, buyers are taking time to map out where to explore, how to explore, and etc. Network. As buyers make progression towards less of a single buyer model to that of a world that includes ecosystems and open networks, buyers are making choices to interact with networks and different ecosystem players to collaborate on addressing the issues orbiting them. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 19
  • 20. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 20
  • 21. Decide. The way buyers decide today is becoming increasingly complex. Choices are being made on such things as the rules for deciding, who is included, checking dependencies, and assessing impact. Buyers today no longer make decisions in a vacuum. Buy. The actual buy choice has become a higher stakes game in the B2B world. Not only are the rules for deciding more complex, but there are more dependencies related to buying and potential impact as well. The experience element here is now more critical than ever because of the high stakes. Making the wrong choice, for example, on a software platform designed to measure quality of manufactured parts could have drastic affects downstream with OEMs and distribution. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 21
  • 22. Relate. The word – relate – has more applicability in a B2B context than say engage for example. The higher stakes involved means buyers needs an organization that can relate to the high stakes and a relational bond is being formed. In the example mentioned above, there may be many discussions before and after the buy choice to ensure that the software platform meets an intended goal. The ability for B2B companies to provide relational choices and experiences becomes an important factor. Does the company provide relational choices whether they are face-to-face, telephone, or complex networking technology that involves exchanging design ideas and specifications? Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 22
  • 23. The new era of the buyer is resulting in a paradigm shift on what is required thinking about the buyer today. Letting go of funnel thinking is no easy task – especially when you strip away the hyperbole and promotion that can surround strategy, it is still very much about the funnel. Buyers today have many elements related to growth, goals, and uncertainty orbiting their world. Making choices as this orbital loop continuously impacts their world is changing the very nature of buyer behavior today. These changes are rocket propelled by a new world of hyper-connectivity and hyper-competition. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 23
  • 24. How B2B Leaders Respond to the Psychology of Buyer Choice Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 24
  • 25. When it comes to understanding the psychology of the buyer, much has been done in the world of B2C to get inside the mind of consumers to understand buying choices. For B2B, it has been harder to translate B2C research dynamics into ways that would make the psychology of B2B buyers readily understood. However, what we do know is that there is an increasing consumerization effect happening in B2B buying whereby B2B buyers have the same desires for more experiential purchasing. In the previous section we discussed the Buyer Orbit and the elements of the Buyer Choice Model. Each of these now filled with more psychological aspects related to why B2B buyers buy. This comes with implications for B2B leaders to not only understand new buyer psychology but to also shift business models, operations, strategies, and interactions that transforms the way they connect with B2B buyers. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 25
  • 26. Understanding buyer choice has many implications for B2B strategies and tactics – whether they are focused on demand generation, content marketing, or selling approaches. Addressing new buyer psychology and buyer choice paradigms, within elements of buyer choice modeling, can be transformational: Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 26
  • 27. Explore With more and more buyers mapping out exploration due to the proliferation of content and information channels, a side effect of B2B businesses scrambling to be noticed in the 50% to 70% window of buyers remaining anonymous, B2B businesses are considering the implications of buyers taking deliberate action to map out their exploration. What this means: predicting and modeling how buyers map and begin their exploring as well as what forms of navigation they usually take specific to their industry. How to respond: devote more resources to qualitative investigative means, such as contextual interviewing and ethnographic research, to uncover how buyers begin their efforts to explore and how they are dealing with content proliferation. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 27
  • 28. Network As elaborated upon recently, the single buyer model is no longer sufficient and more and more B2B buyers operate from the new buying model of working within ecosystems and relying on network participation. Codependency is here to stay and B2B businesses must adapt What this means: reexamine how buyers are viewed internally and what forms of outmoded approaches may be resulting in missed opportunities. How to respond: use various forms of B2B buyer research and begin working with buyers to understand important ecosystem and network drivers for their business and industries. Incorporate important ecosystem views into strategy and organizational infrastructure. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 28
  • 29. Decide The art and science of decision-making is becoming more complex each year. An increasing number of variables are being introduced into decision-making such as globalization, uncertainty, ecosystem considerations, and more – shifting how buying is taking place. What this means: how buyers are buying today is shifting dramatically and B2B businesses need to understand the new rules of decision-making, in addition to the buyer decision journey, that are being implemented for purchase decisions. How to respond: shift internal focus to understanding new rules affecting decision- making, acquired through the mix of analytics and qualitative insight, and support how buyers are making purchase decisions. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 29
  • 30. Buy Buying today is a higher stakes game for many businesses today. The margin for costly mistakes is the slimmest in decades. The extent of poor choices can have disastrous effect on many aspects of a business. What this means: B2B leaders must not confuse how buyers buy with why buyers buy. The focus is on understanding new buyer psychology in terms of their collective attitudes, goals, beliefs, and perceptions. This new collection of mental models are changing each time new variables, such as new technologies, are introduced. How to respond: getting an understanding of buyer mental models via qualitative research efforts will become crucial each year as buyer psychology continues to shift. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 30
  • 31. Relate With higher stakes involved in decision-making and purchases today, B2B buyers seek more assurances post-purchase than ever before. Unlike the emphasis on engagement in B2C post- purchase, the need for deeper ties relationally is affecting long-term loyalty. What this means: shifting out of funnel thinking and viewing the entire buyer experience cycle is a new rule of B2B thinking today. How to respond: post-purchase support and talent can no longer be an after-thought of organizational planning but be seen as the gateway to being included in newly formed ecosystems and networks by buyers. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 31
  • 32. What we are witnessing today is a marked shift from funnel-thinking to that of focusing on the total buyer experience that does not fit neatly into stages or step approach thinking. The new buyer psychology compels B2B businesses today to make the buyer the centerpiece of strategy and respond to the continuous loops of what confronts them (the buyer orbit) and the choices (buyer choice model) they must make. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 32
  • 33. 3 Ways To Connect With Today’s B2B Buyers Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 33
  • 34. Connecting with today’s B2B buyers is on the minds of most CEO’s and their teams today. Not too long ago, reaching and connecting with B2B buyers was a straight forward proposition. Depending on surveys from such sources as IDC, IDG Connect, DemandGen Report, Forrester, and more, we know that buyers are remaining invisible to B2B businesses and spend only a quarter of their time talking directly to sales when making purchase decisions. The idea of connecting to B2B buyers has gone from straight forward to major league complex. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 34
  • 35. There are plenty of debates regarding the best tactical means to connect with B2B buyers. The effectiveness of these tactical means, as reported by once again the likes of IDC and etc., show that many B2B leaders believe these tactical efforts such as content marketing and marketing automation may only be effective about a quarter of the time. It does represent a big gap and it begs for a rephrasing of the challenge – this a big disconnect with B2B buyers. Enough to keep any sane B2B CEO and their senior management team scrambling for answers. We have pointed out in this book that conventional funnel thinking is woefully inadequate in today’s B2B buyer landscape and is limited in the ability to address new and evolving complexities. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 35
  • 36. Buyer Modeling To Understand Buyer Choices and Scenarios Business executives today are using the concepts of buyer modeling to understand as well as visually illuminate buyer choice. Buyer modeling incorporates the elements of attitudes, beliefs, values, goals, perceptions, needs, and motivations. By modeling buyers, buying scenarios, buyer experience, and decision journeys, B2B executives can then map strategy as well as tactical marketing and sales activities that enable them to connect with B2B buyers on a relational level. Buyer modeling is based on qualitative research that addresses choices being made versus inadequate interviewing that is done in the context of the funnel. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 36
  • 37. On The Total Brand and Buyer Experience B2B businesses are learning how to think outside the context of the funnel and how to encompass the total view of the brand and buyer experience. The invisibility of buyers who are in explore and network mode of the buyer choice model makes it an imperative for B2B businesses to better understand how different buyers interact with different channels that create impressionable brand and buyer experience. The emphasis here is on identifying critical Buyer Moment of Truth™ impression points that contribute to the overall brand and buyer experience. For example, does the web channel brand and buyer experience stay true to form when buyers interact with either the social media, sales, resellers, partner, or service channels? Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 37
  • 38. HP, for instance, has a strong ecosystem of reseller and partner channels where the brand and buyer experience has many potential pitfalls and has several challenging Buyer Moment of Truth handoff points that can make or break their involvement. B2B leaders today can conduct buyer experience mapping that identifies critical Buyer Moment of Truth and ensure that the brand and buyer experience stays true to form throughout. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 38
  • 39. Descriptive Buyer Segmentation Based on Buying Behavior and Opportunity By integrating the benefits of predictive analytics with that of predictive buyer modeling, B2B leaders are gaining smarts on taking segmentation to a new level. With the use of visually illuminating B2B Buyergraphics, buyers can be segmented descriptively by explore and buying behavior and also by modeling buying scenarios that identify where the organization can reach a “best fit” level with buyers. This can be especially useful in industries where there is a strong company or account focus as well as complex buying scenarios that involve lengthy buying cycles. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 39
  • 40. Descriptive means of segmentation helps to illuminate the many elements related to choice, needs, goals, attitudes, behaviors, values, and experience. This approach enables both marketing and sales to focus on resonating with buyer segments that have similar goals and buying behaviors where knowledge in doing so is dynamic and enriched with each company or account interaction. In essence, allowing B2B businesses to build strong connections with B2B buyers in buyer segments that have higher winning percentages. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 40
  • 41. When B2B leaders can do these three things, they can be better informed on how to guide the overall trajectory of their organization. Their focus is on identifying the buyers and buyer segments that they can best establish a connection within the context of understanding choices being made. More importantly, they can learn how to connect with B2B buyers today in ways that resonates and invites participation into the buyer driven world of goals, challenges, issues, uncertainties, and growth objectives that orbit them continuously. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 41
  • 42. 4 Ways the Power of Buyer Choice Will Transform Business Marketing Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 42
  • 43. How buyers make choices today, in large part driven by empowering new technologies, will transform how B2B businesses will view buyers as well as redefine what is meant by business marketing. The rigid funnel will no longer serve as a workable means of communicating unique views of buyers and their buying behaviors. This not to say that buyer processes, stages, and steps are no longer relevant but to highlight that buyers today no longer make choices neatly in the paradigm of the funnel. A rigid funnel view, whether it is drawn up horizontal or vertical, cannot provide the orbital view of choices being made continuously. There are four ways that new buyer choice dynamics will transform the practice of business marketing and alter the view of what practices are relevant: Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 43
  • 44. Predictive Buyer Modeling And Intelligence As we covered, many B2B businesses are wrestling with the unknown and the invisible. B2B buyers are remaining invisible in their behaviors associated with exploring as well as establishing new networks of participants in decision-making. There will be a rise in the use of buyer modeling techniques as well as integrating the use of buyer intelligence, predictive analytics, and the illuminating aspects of predictive buyer modeling. The changes underway in buyer behavior will cause B2B business marketing to extend well beyond conventional buyer profiling as well as simplistic buyer persona creating for demand generation. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 44
  • 45. Reorient From Business Marketing Teams to Buyer Driven Marketing Teams Traditional business marketing has been historically put together teams that are seller driven and narrowly funnel focused. The single buyer model view narrowly shared across all channels. Leaders in B2B marketing and sales will soon have to migrate towards buyer segment teams that are focused on activities that are focused on the buyer’s entire brand and buyer experience. We are beginning to see leading organizations, such as GE, move towards aligning their organizations to industry buyer segment teams focused on deeper understanding and alignment with buyers. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 45
  • 46. Create Orbital Match With Buyers B2B is becoming more complex with every passing month. When informed with deep buyer intelligence, business marketing can begin to align to the continuous orbital loop of what confronts buyers and how they make choices. The new role of business marketing is to pull buyers into an orbital loop that mirrors their own. The new business marketing strategy is to create the gravitational pull that buyers are drawn to because it aligns with their own orbital loops. Conversely, how can your organization get close to the buyer’s own gravitational pull and be drawn into their orbital loop? This is a departure from the seller driven and narrow funnel view of push messaging. Another way of positioning this concept in simple terms is this: either your B2B business becomes part of the orbital loop or you can watch it from afar with a telescope – and be out of the loop. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 46
  • 47. Total Brand and Buyer Experience Business marketing today can take a leadership role by transforming itself to orient around the buyer. Historically, in the seller driven view world, business marketing has been positioned as the conveyers of getting information in front of buyers. Producing material that buyers could read, provide messaging to sales, and putting together promotional programs with the aim to get sellers to sell harder. My intuitive guess is that in the world of business marketing, this positioning still exists in a large majority of B2B organizations – perhaps trapped within the label of marketing communications. To influence corporate strategy and decision- making, business marketing must now become the conveyors of buyer intelligence and influencing organizations to orient around the buyer. Conveying that what counts is the total brand and buyer experience. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 47
  • 48. Business marketing today, by making these four ways the cornerstone of transformation, can enhance their leadership role in organizations. Orienting businesses around the understanding of buyer choices being made in a new complex buyer driven world. This is no easy challenge yet one that business marketing must take up. Business marketing must demonstrate that it understands buyers deeply and that a designed focus on the total brand and buyer experience is the new business marketing strategy. It is time for business marketing to come out of the literature closet and lead. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 48
  • 49. About Tony Zambito Tony is the originator of buyer persona research and creation. Today, Tony is breaking new ground in establishing Buyerology℠ as the new qualitative research means of understanding buyer behaviors and choices to make better informed decisions. A seasoned corporate senior executive with Fortune 100 firms and now entrepreneur since founding Goal Centric in 2002, Tony offers the rare combination of both executive experience and unique buyer insight approaches. He is the author of his widely read blog Buyerology Now Contact: and keynote speaker on the topic of how changing buyer behaviors are impacting business today. Tony has helped Fortune 100 companies tzambito@buyerology.com such as FedEx, HP, and Reed Elsevier to make informed decisions using Twitter: @tonyzambito buyer personas, buyer insight, and Business Buyergraphics™. He holds a B.S. in Business and an M.B.A. in Marketing. LinkedIn: Tony Zambito Tony and his wife Cindy with their two daughters returned to the east Blog: Buyerology Now coast after nearly a dozen years living through the boom and bust of Silicon Valley. He is an avid jazz fan as well as jazz percussionist and you Web: www.buyerology.com just may catch Tony playing with his band My Cousin Tone’ somewhere on the east coast. Copyright 2012 Buyerology and Goal Centric Management, Inc. 49