If you manage B2B salespeople, you may be wondering two things:
First, while we understand that consumers buy on emotion, does this really work with business buyers?
And second, in an information era when most buyers asia mobile number list begin their buyer’s journey on the internet, how do you control an emotional sell?
My answer to the first question is yes, emotion works better than you might expect with B2B buyers. What’s distinctive about a B2B sale is that you’re appealing to different emotional heartstrings.
And second, while it’s true that buyers are most likely to begin the sales cycle researching the internet for data about products and services, sooner or later (especially for big purchases), they’ll probably approach your reps for more answers. At this point, your salespeople can apply emotional sales tactics.
Let me explain.
Build Buyer Self-Confidence
Back during the 1960s and 70s, New York City clothier and entrepreneur Sy Syms declared, “An educated consumer is our best customer.”
What Syms couldn’t have envisioned at the time was the internet and how easy and cost-effective it’s become to “educate” the customer. Between marketing and sales, we have managed to inundate buyers with white papers, case studies, blogs, social media posts, podcasts, webinars, videos and more. It’s not surprising that many buyers succumb to information overload. What’s more, they’re not only researching your company’s content but also seeking out your competition’s information, third-party and industry opinions and word-of-mouth testimonials of customers.
With so much content to sift through, top producers understand their job is less about adding to the glut of information and more about demystifying the buzz. Or, as Gartner calls it, “sense-making.” In short, they empower buyers by simplifying information, helping them to understand the basic message and pulling out a few salient facts.
But that’s not all. Savvy reps are appealing to buyers’ desire for success both in their careers and in the eyes of management. Among top producers, it’s less about selling products and services and more about selling success and equipping the buyers to own the buying decision.
Competent reps build the buyers’ self-confidence, empowering them emotionally and logically to make an educated buying decision.
The result: buyers are confident about their choice and know that it’s right for the company and their future. They should harbor no resentment that they were coerced or given the hard sell. As Gartner points out, self-confident buyers tend to go big—meaning they may close the deal faster, make a more significant purchase and return to buy more.
