This week’s thought: we can’t assume the buyer wants to change and solve their problem; they must.
You know, those books that you get a couple of chapters into, and you think to yourself, you know, this could have been a blog post. Well, I think this might be a blog post that could have been a Tweet.
Yes, a Tweet, one of those nice things we used to do a few years ago.
In B2B people don’t buy from you because they can, it’s because they must.
There.
If I was a better writer, Godinesque in my brevity, I might stop there.
However, I feel the need to expand.
This is about the biggest competitor in B2B sales and marketing – “do nothing” – to put up with the status quo, the acceptable level of pain of doing things the same way.
It’s because what we are offering in B2B sales and marketing is change.
And not the sort of change that B2C offers, in that if I buy a specific pair of sneakers on a whim, I can justify them as I’ll be miraculously changed into a better runner, husband, man, father, and probably all-around human being, but we offer the sort of change that is… uhhhhhhh….. you know that.
You’ve probably seen the meme of the cartoon dog sitting in a room, surrounded by flames, with a speech bubble saying, “This is fine” (by KC Green from his Gunshow comic).
It sometimes feels like that, as far as we, the seller, are concerned, the solution we offer is a fire extinguisher, it makes no sense that the prospect would continue sitting the flames of their acceptable level of pain, but they do.
Your sales and marketing might tick all five Ps: product, place, price, promotion, and people (other marketing models are available), yet the dog in the burning house ignores your emails.
Plus, as I have shared in this Tuesday 2¢ column we are FOFU fighting (Fear of Fucking Up).
It’s not enough that they can buy it, they need to need to.
Or at least have sufficient need to overcome the friction of … uhhhhhhhh….. change.
In the days of sales yore, a quarter of a century ago, when I was in sales (yes, that’s why I need sneakers to reassure myself I look cool), in solution selling, we were taught a lot about pain, finding it, and creating it.
This seems a little strong these days, but if you tone down the pain bit and think about needs and risks, there has to be a tension, a frisson of fear.
Something that is worth the effort of overcoming the change.
We put a lot of effort into developing the business buzzwords that differentiate us from the enemy that we perceive to be our competitors as if the client gives a shit about such things.
It could be far more powerful to make “do nothing” the enemy of our buyer. Figure out how bad “do nothing” could be.
Then help the buyer to be the hero champion of change, with you at their side.
Buying from you because they must.
Fancy more of this?
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I’m a 3xCMO, now a marketing strategy advisor and podcast host at Rockstar CMO. Although, I’m not a rock star, but a marketing leader, strategist, content marketer, columnist, speaker, industry watcher, and creator of ART (Awareness, Revenue, and Trust) for the companies I work with. But most of all, I am an enthusiastic tea drinker.
You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, or now Threads! – or listen to my weekly podcast at Rockstarcmo.com
The half-baked thoughts shared on this blog may not reflect those of my employer or clients, and if the topic of this article is interesting or you just want to say hello please get in touch.