In the realm of B2B sales, comprehending the intricate consumer decision-making process is not just beneficial; it’s essential. Recent data highlights a critical trend: less than 20% of B2B buyers desire contact from a salesperson during the awareness stage. This statistic urges businesses to rethink their approach. Should you delay those cold or warm calls to prospects? Perhaps, and here’s why.
Is there a way to provide prospects with the information they need without driving them away? The answer is simpler than you might think, and it’s transforming the way B2B sales departments operate. It’s called the B2C self-serve model.
But what is the B2C self-serve model, and how can it revolutionize your B2B sales process? In this comprehensive article, we will explore this model, dissect each step of the consumer decision-making process, and unveil how your sales department can adapt, creating more informed, satisfied customers.
What is the Consumer Decision-Making Process?
The consumer decision-making process, a model rooted in cost-benefit analysis, was first introduced by American psychologist and philosopher John Dewey in 1910. This model dissects the process of buying a product or service into five distinct stages:
- Awareness of the Problem: In this initial stage, a B2B decision-maker recognizes the existence of an issue within their organization that’s costing them money, time, or customers.
- Researching Solutions: Customers, at this point, embark on a quest for information, collecting data about various solutions to the problem. This often includes signing up for demos, presentations, or free trials.
- Evaluating Alternative Solutions: In this phase, potential buyers are sizing you up. They’ve compiled a shortlist of companies they are interested in and are engaged in a cost-benefit analysis. A cost-benefit analysis anticipates the potential rewards and losses associated with selecting your product or service. Your chances of progressing the prospect forward significantly increase if you can transparently demonstrate that the benefits outweigh the costs and risks.
- Deciding to Purchase: Once through the rigorous evaluation, the decision-makers, who are often not alone in this journey, give the green light to the purchase of the new product or service.
- Post-Purchase Analysis: After the purchase, decision-makers and users reflect on their choice. They provide feedback and assess whether the product or service met their expectations and successfully resolved the problem.
These five fundamental stages are not confined to B2B transactions; they are applicable to a wide array of consumer choices, from selecting a restaurant for dinner to sealing a multi-million-dollar software contract. To gain a profound understanding, let’s delve into each stage of the consumer decision-making process.
Customer Decision-Making Process vs. Consumer Adoption Process
It’s important to distinguish between the customer decision-making process and the consumer adoption process. Though these processes share similarities, they serve distinct purposes. The customer decision-making process is centered around helping customers make informed purchasing decisions. Conversely, the consumer adoption process is designed to assist individuals in integrating new products or services into their workflow.
Additionally, the customer decision-making process may involve multiple stakeholders making purchase decisions together. In contrast, the consumer adoption process predominantly focuses on an individual consumer’s decision to utilize a product or service.
The Five Stages of the Customer Buying Process
Let’s take a deep dive into each stage of the consumer decision-making process to grasp the underlying factors at play.
Step One: Awareness
The journey begins with the awareness stage. At this point, a B2B decision-maker becomes cognizant of an issue plaguing their organization. However, it’s common for key players to be unsure about the severity of the problem or whether it takes precedence over the numerous other challenges they are grappling with. One of your primary roles is to guide decision-makers in understanding the problem, its nuances, and the potential costs associated with leaving it unaddressed.
Self-service tip: A valuable approach is to provide diagnostic resources that help decision-makers gain clarity regarding their problem. This could take the form of videos, quizzes, or diagnostic guides that outline the signs and symptoms of a specific issue and suggest appropriate actions.
Step Two: Research
The research stage immerses decision-makers in an overwhelming flood of information. They encounter blog posts, case studies, industry reports, and an array of ‘solutions.’ In this cacophony of information, your sales team’s mission is to deliver key information swiftly and demonstrate why your product or service is indispensable.
Self-service tip: Sales representatives should be readily available with introductory content and resources that help customers promptly comprehend how your product or service can resolve their problem. An explainer video often serves as an effective means to achieve this.
Step Three: Evaluation
In this phase of the consumer decision-making process, potential buyers are in the process of evaluating your offering. They’ve compiled a shortlist of companies they are interested in and are engaged in a cost-benefit analysis. A cost-benefit analysis anticipates the potential rewards and losses associated with selecting your product or service. Your chances of progressing the prospect forward significantly increase if you can transparently demonstrate that the benefits outweigh the costs and risks.
Self-service tip: Transparency is key in this phase. You should be forthright about costs. If pricing varies depending on project scope, offer a general estimate of what similar clients typically spend on your product, both upfront and over the long term. Simplify their work by creating comparison charts with your top competitors. This empowers them to analyze direct, indirect, and intangible costs and risks while considering your solution. Make sure to comprehensively cover costs, timelines, benefits, and features.
Step Four: Purchase
The purchase stage is where a decision is finally made. However, this is no simple decision, especially in larger B2B companies. Here, there could be three to six decision-makers, all with a say in whether the new product or service receives the coveted approval. It’s not limited to managers and executives; gatekeepers (assistants) and influencers (lower-level employees) also play a significant role in this stage. Your responsibility is to equip decision-makers with content tailored to different professional levels they might encounter.
Self-service tip: Decision-makers will gather feedback and opinions from multiple individuals. Therefore, ensure that your sales enablement content caters to the various types of decision-makers and individuals they may come across. Conduct customer segmentation analysis to identify the different decision-maker profiles you might encounter.
Step Five: Post-Purchase
Congratulations, you’ve made the sale! Your customers are now giving your product or service some time to integrate into their operations. However, don’t expect immediate acclaim. Depending on the complexity of the business problem, it can take weeks, months, or even up to a year for them to see tangible results. Throughout this period, customers will seek to validate their consumer decision-making process. They’ll be eager to confirm whether you’ve lived up to their expectations and whether the benefits indeed outweigh the costs and risks.
Self-service tip: Offer continuous training and development, if necessary. This allows you to monitor how well your customers are adapting to your product or service. Work closely with your customer support team to detect early signs of dissatisfaction and potential churn.
An Example of the Consumer Decision-Making Process
To illustrate the consumer decision-making process in action, let’s consider an example:
Steve, a sales manager at a San Diego-based pet food company, encounters a challenge in finding quality leads for his business. He discusses this issue with his colleagues, and they collectively decide to explore new B2B lead enrichment tools. Steve initiates a Google search for “B2B lead enrichment tools for small businesses” and stumbles upon a blog post featuring the top 10 tools suitable for his company’s size. He assesses each tool and narrows down his options to five that stand out.
Steve shares his findings with his colleagues and sales representatives, urging them to sign up for free trials and request sales demos. A month later, the company’s leadership provides feedback on each tool and decides on their top pick. After thorough evaluation, the sales leaders opt for a specific B2B lead enrichment tool known for its high accuracy and delivery rates. This choice also results in cost savings, as the new tool doesn’t charge for inaccurate lead sales data, unlike their previous solution.
Three months after implementing the new tool, Steve observes that the sales representatives are prospecting at a significantly faster rate. They have successfully filled their pipelines with high-quality leads. The organization is content with its choice, and they have achieved the results they were initially seeking.
In Conclusion
- The consumer decision-making process consists of five stages: awareness, research, evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase analysis.
- The consumer decision-making process revolves around cost-benefit analysis. Sales representatives should always provide sales enablement content that effectively conveys the benefits while helping customers understand both the upfront and long-term costs.
- In the awareness stage, B2B buyers today are inclined to self-educate and prefer to learn more about your product or service without a sales representative breathing down their neck. The B2C self-serve model aims to provide the right content and resources at every touchpoint to facilitate this self-education. Sales enablement ensures that your sales representatives have the necessary resources readily available to empower potential customers to make informed decisions.