The role of ‘Value’ in B2B marketing
In B2B, Value comprises Five Factors: Response, Service, Time, Quality and Price.
These are the criteria that influence and motivate B2B buying decisions. This extract from an ealier post looks at analysing how products, services and processes create Value in relation to each of the Five Factors.
It is a simple approach, but it produces bottom line results: marketers can deliver fact-based messages that go to the heart of what B2B markets are really buying.
Analysing Value
Begin by choosing a product or service and the way in which it is supplied. Then start a review of your selection in relation to the definitions for each Value Factor – as listed a little way below.
This review should include a performance-ranking of 1 to 5, with 1 being ‘poor’ and 5 being ‘exceptional’. By exceptional, I mean being at least equal to your competitors or better than them.
Here’s an example for the first definition under ‘Response’: if you think you beat the competition in listening to how you affect customer’s success, then you score a 5. But, you need to support your ranking with a credible statement as to why you should score a 5 – as to why you excel…
To help get the process started, here’s the type of questions you should perhaps be asking in terms of ‘Response’:
- How do you identify and then meet your customers’ needs?
- Who manages your communications with customers and what are the results of this communication?
- In terms of customer expectations, how do you rate yourselves at fixing problems and delivering the outcomes the customer wants?
- How does your performance in these areas compare with your competition?
The Five Factors of Value:
1. Response
- Continual communication with customers: listen to how you affect their success
- Identify and meet changing customer needs
- Speed of problem solving and solution delivery
2. Service
- Accessibility: an open and reassuring organisation
- Clear product information and project status
- Pro-active and innovative
3. Time
- Competitive lead times
- Dependable
- Consistent delivery format
4. Quality
- Consistent products, services and processes
- Meets the brief or specifications: fit-for-purpose
- Achieves the customer’s operational goal
5. Price
- Competitive
- Rational
- Structured
My suggestion is to begin by involving your sales team in the analysis. Then, once you have built a series of rankings and supporting statements, begin broadening the evaluation process to include opinions from other core functions such as finance, technical, production and distribution.
It’s an enlightening process and is the first step on building an understanding of how to accurately address B2B’s five buying motivators.
Back to The Long Hello: making B2B marketing work for the bottom line
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