I’ve just read a thought-provoking – if misguided – article by marketing author Jay Baer. It outlines how how far fewer purchase transactions involve interaction between real human beings these days and draws some interesting marketing implications.
Information is so readily available, the article says, that people now avoid sales staff like the plague if they can find out for themselves what they need to know.
It persuasively argues that this isn’t just about consumer markets – where I’d agree it’s usually easier to read reviews on Amazon and order things with a few clicks than to go to a shop and try to find a sales assistant who knows their stuff. It’s equally true, Baer claims, in B2B markets.
The article reports that a recent survey by international research firm CEB of 1,900 B2B purchasers found they contacted a company only after already completing 60% of their purchase decision process independently.
All fascinating stuff which makes great intuitive sense. Even in business markets, so much information is readily available – on the Internet as well as via traditional media and companies’ own collateral. People trust much of this information more than what they hear from sales reps and can assess it in peace without someone breathing down their necks.
Undoubtedly, Baer is right that this has huge implications for marketing and communications. It reinforces that, to succeed, you need crystal-clear, inspiring information about what you offer – and this must be available for your customers to access with the greatest of ease. You can’t sit back and wait for them to get in touch to ask what you have to offer.
But at this point Baer loses the plot, arguing that it means a company’s ‘job is to nurture relationships no longer.’
This is a gross distortion – particularly for professional services and high-end products where trusted relationships are always vital.
Firstly, good relations – from prior transactions and other human contact – often strongly influence customers at the outset as they draw up short-lists of which suppliers to research.
Secondly, Baer completely overlooks the massively important remaining 40%.
The research shows that, at the 60% mark, customers then contact their preferred suppliers – and from this point on, human relationships play a huge part in purchasing decisions.
This is certainly true of my business. Even when organisations come to us not as repeat clients but from Internet research or third party recommendation, the relationships we build at that point are vital in helping to determine if we’ll work together.
And this is similarly the case for every one of my clients’ businesses.
So Baer is 100% interesting. But only 60% right.
What do you think – are relationships still vital in the sales & marketing process, or is Baer right that they’re no longer important?
Completely agree. People buy from people.
Otherwise business just becomes a best logo / website design / SEO competition
Thanks for the comment, Simon.
That’s not to say web sites, visual identity, customer testimonials and the rest of the information (in its broadest form) available to customers are unimportant. But relationships in most transactions are vital too.
Focusing on only one to the detriment of the other is surely a recipe for failure.
Tariq
It’s an interesting debate, and its true that consumers are well informed from performing their own research and purchases online.
This can also be said of the B2B market, but the fact that existing purchasers have taken the time to review products and services online for prospective purchasers is in itself a human relationship, just one step removed from the salesperson. The reviewers are, in essence, aiding the process for the sales force by giving honest feedback.
There will always be a place for a human relationships even if it is just 40% of the time. How many times do we all get frustrated and just want to talk to a “real person” on the end of a helpline during a sales transaction?
The Internet is an excellent platform to act as a shop window in B2B marketing but I don’t think it will ever replace human contact completely.
In our trade, the print trade, there are people who are solely buying on price and those who realise the importance of a service to back up the product.
It’s the experience and knowledge of a lifetime in print that no client could ever “research” online which goes into producing and handling the high quality of product and service we offer. So in our situation, personal relationships are extremely important.
As Simon Twilley states “people buy from people”.
There’s no doubt that access to information about potential solutions to problems and suppliers has changed the way people buy. We have gone from sales cycles to buying cycles and we can all probably cite examples in our business lives where we have not engaged in face to face contact before making a purchasing decision.
I agree though with the comment about being frustrated with not being able to speak to a real person, however that person be that at the end of a phone or face to face must be able to add value and really understand your problem. When the product or solution is complex, research only gets you so far and I believe that at some stage human expertise to interact with is still vital.
Mike (www.intellegentia.co.uk)