In terms of the Five Factors of Value, Price is ranked as the least influential of the five B2B buying motivators. It’s also the component of Value with the most straightforward definitions: Competitive, Rational and Structured.

So why all the fuss, so often, over Price?

Very often, this exclusive focus occurs when customers see nothing beyond Price and Price alone – when they aren’t seeing any contribution from the other four Factors. This doesn’t necessarily mean that contributions are not being made in terms of Response, Service, Time and Quality. More likely, these contributions aren’t being highlighted and accurately demonstrated.

They won’t pay for what they can’t see.

 B2B products and services are typically a complex mix – many pieces go to make up the jigsaw. Often they are surprisingly complex and each piece of the jigsaw should be making a demonstrable contribution to customers’ continued success.

Even the most seemingly straightforward products and services can turn out to be much more involved than they appear at first glance. But all too often, this is where things stop: at first glance.

Roadblocks and deadlocks

By only allowing customers to see a partial reflection of the entire jigsaw, it’s entirely reasonable that they only expect to pay a partial amount of the asking price.

This creates a roadblock for sales and margins and is what often sours and then deadlocks negotiations – options become limited to losing the sale or cutting the price. Hopeless.

Of course there are other ways to handle this like doing the deal and then under-delivering – the Trap-and-Torture method. And it certainly helps to know that this is what less scrupulous competitors might do.

Breaking the communications barrier

B2B marketers need to position their products and services in such a way that the whole jigsaw can be clearly seen and fully appreciated. An earlier post on brands deals with this in more detail, but in summary, it’s vital that all elements of the market see the relevance – to them – of your products and services.

To achieve this, marketers first need to be confident that they have a detailed understanding of the outcomes that are being produced for the market.

The second task is to ensure that outcomes are being convincingly broadcast to the right people via the communications ‘portfolio’: 1-1, PR, events, advertising, direct, digital and collateral.

If Price still remains the customers’ sole focus, then marketers need to analyse why the outcomes produced by their products and services are not considered Competitive, Rational and Structured.

More on Value and buying motivators:

What is Value? - the five buying motivators in B2B

The role of Value in B2B marketing - the influence of ‘Value’ on B2B buying

Leveraging B2B’s buying motivators - developing marketing communications for bottom line results

Back to The Long Hello: making B2B marketing work for the bottom line

As individuals, we are not necessarily very good at describing ourselves. Because we often take them for granted, we tend to think that our experience, abilities and skills are either somehow self-evident or not particularly significant to those around us.

The same goes for companies. How a B2B company contributes to its customers’ success is often taken for granted – to the extent that the Value produced by its products and services is often ignored.

Drowning in a sea of features

Very often, outcomes are overlooked because too much emphasis is placed on the features of B2B products and services. Take a look at a selection of B2B brochures or adverts and what you will typically see is a collection of feature-lists. 

For products, the main focus will be on listing their physical composition. There may well be some product shots or pack shots that carry the product’s name and even its part number. For services, there will be more lists that describe their nature.

Over time, the lists tend to become longer as increasing layers of features are added or new ones build upon the older ones. And outcomes – what customers are actually paying for – become more and more obscure. 

Rescued by outcomes

For marketers to discover the outcomes being created by products and services they need to spend time listening to customers. If a customer says that a product’s reliability is important, find out why. What are the outcomes that reliability produces?

This presents opportunities to create marketing messages accordingly. Identifying how contributions are being made to customers’ success means that links can be built between features and the outcomes they produce.

Relevance. Relevance. Relevance

Are the outcomes the same for all customers? That depends on the similarities between their businesses. Reliability will mean different things to different people. For example, the ways in which a VAR benefits from reliability will differ from the benefits to an end-user.

In B2B, market reflections alter according to who is looking at the brand. In B2C, USPs can be honed down to a single, sharp slogan: ‘Whiter than white’. B2B can’t do that in such a catch-all way because one size does not fit all.

Many brands claim ‘reliability’ as an attribute, but do they all communicate its relevance to each component of their market?

B2B branding is not the same as B2C branding

For a start, credibility is more important in B2B. ‘More reliable than reliable’ is not a good approach…

Distinct messages concerning ‘reliability’ should highlight its significance to specific people, clearly explaining the contribution that reliability makes to them.

This may mean that there are several marketing messages related to the notion of reliability. Fair enough, because this creates credibility right across the market. The brand is no longer simply claiming ‘reliability’: it is now positioning itself in a united way that addresses all the reflections within its market.

More on brands, branding and positioning:

The Long Hello: building relationships with brands     

Leveraging B2B’s buying motivators - results-driven marcoms

Brands are now more important than ever - branding and brand ownership

Positioning brands in B2B markets - a quick case study

Back to The Long Hello: making B2B marketing work for the bottom line

1. What are customers buying?
2. How does buying contribute to their success?
3. Who is buying?

These are the must-knows that determine tactics in B2B marketing. Cultivating consistent customers and preventing price pressure – CCC & PPP - provide the strategic direction, but What-How-Who drives implementation.

1. WHAT are customers buying?

Customers are buying outcomes. They are buying outcomes that make a positive contribution to the continued success of their business.

All too often, the marketing focus gets shifted from buying to selling. ‘We sell every variety of nuts and bolts.’

Ok. So, presumably it works like this: There is one gigantic pile of all sorts of nuts, and another huge pile of different bolts. Customers come and get all the nuts they need and then find the matching bolts. Right?

Maybe not. 

In terms of customers ensuring a positive contribution to the continued success of their business, it’s fair to say they are also buying:

• Matched and packaged nuts and bolts
• Adequate stockholding
• Structured discounts
• Nationwide deliveries
• Technical advice and customer training
• Accounting services, credit facilities, stock monitoring
• Warranties

Already it’s clear that they’re buying a lot more than more than just nuts and bolts.

2. HOW does buying contribute to their success?

To answer this question, marketers need to know how their products and services are being used by customers:

‘If these bolts fail, the wings fall off…’ ‘If you don’t have any of these nuts and bolts, we can’t put the wings on. This means we can’t sell the planes…’

Pretty important bolts. Pretty important contribution, too, if they never break, are always in stock, if technicians are expertly trained how to fit and test them, if they are guaranteed to consistently conform to certain specifications, if you can supply them worldwide and track their usage and life-cycle.

Discovering how the contribution is made highlights the Value created within the customer’s business.

Listen up

Listening to customers is the fastest, simplest way to discover this. Meet them, ask them questions about how you are creating Value in their business. A sales team can provide a lot of insight here because they should understand each customer’s business. But marketing needs to develop its own perspective.

Marketing needs this perspective to see the customer in the context of the market.

3. WHO is buying?

The market can exert powerful influences on buying decisions. In B2B, although customers might be buying outcomes, market reflections have to be considered.

The market is not just made up of customers. It may include distributors, overall solution-providers, specialist consultants and support providers. In addition, there may be user-groups, analysts, the media, statutory regulators and industry associations.

Who is buying? The answers to this question are so important because they pinpoint the targets for marketing communications – they provide that all-important focus. Gotta be talking to the right people.

Bringing it all together

Understanding the ‘What’ and the ‘How’ provides crystal clear guidelines for the content and format of these communications.

‘Who’ ensures that marketing is addressing the right audiences within the customer and within the market.

And this means that marketing can maximise the impact of its communications in terms of its two objectives: cultivate consistent customers and prevent price pressure.

Cultivate consistent customers, prevent price pressure – CCC & PPP: the two objectives of B2B marketing

Back to The Long Hello: making B2B marketing work for the bottom line