What Influences the B2B Buyer?

B2B buyers are a tough nut to crack, mainly because they need a huge amount of information before purchasing a product or service. They want only the best solutions for their businesses, which is why they adhere to a strict process of searching for and choosing relevant information.

On the sellers’ part, their struggle involves reaching out to their target market. An effective lead generation and appointment setting program is always an important consideration here. Solutions providers can utilize a vast array of multichannel B2B marketing strategies to get their message across. Then again, email blasting and content marketing are practically insufficient in culling buyer interests. No matter how frequent you deliver your messages or how widespread your reach is, to win an engagement with a prospective client always demands the use of influencers.

Influencers are an indispensable component of any lead generation and appointment setting campaign. Their main aim is to fashion your messages with a touch of authority. Most people, even in the B2C world, would rather listen to someone who has a reputation for wielding important industry wisdom than to skim through a tedious ad copy that mentions the word “effective” a couple hundred times. Aside from that, influencers also provide objective facts about a given company, product or service, thereby easing the decision-making process for buyers.

Taking various forms, influencers are known to be effective tools for driving traffic of B2B sales leads. The Buyersphere Report 2015 proves that point with its study detailing the top influencers to which B2B buyers mostly listen to. It says that:

• Nineteen percent of B2B buyers rated external analyst information 10 out of 10 for influence during the buying process;
• the types of content most frequently used in the buying process, interviews with company (i.e. supplier) experts were used in 32% of purchases;
• although traditionally seen as powerful, customer testimonials were in fact seen to be less popular and less influential than content direct from the supplier; and
• the published opinions of peers were seldom sought and had little influence on the buying process.

Other factors such as “How To” guides, technical specs, pricing info and industry comparison are also mentioned. But according to the study, external analysts are the most influential in terms of providing useful information. Especially when the analysts themselves are reputable, they can serve as important additions to your lead generation and appointment setting campaign. Hiring them, however, is strictly your call.

Want to know where to find B2B Leads? Learn how.