B2B

B2B Buying Processes in technology -II

B2B, differentiation, Marketing, Product Management, segmentation

While I keep talking consistently about segmenting the market and identifying niches, I also talk about identifying niches by use case rather by demographics and psychographics.

Typically in B2B buying especially when you are selling (I am using this term in a very broad way) to mid to large size companies there’s an hierarchy of positions within departments. In typical sales situations you want to identify a decision maker and then message to them. Unlike an individual or family buying a low value item where decisions are taken on the spot, in case of decisions which require substantial investment in technology buying, there are always multiple layers

In B2B buying there’s a someone who can say yes and a lot of people who can say no. However in most cases the decision maker herself does not evaluate the options. She typically would ask someone or some people in her team or make a cross functional team to evaluate the options and bring them to her and then she takes a decision.

Now this is where it gets tricky for the Product Management person. The decision maker does not evaluate options. The people who evaluate the options in today’s day and age are hidden because they do more than 60-70% of the sorting using the internet and reach out to specific companies whom they have shortlisted. So even if you have the most elaborate technical product, if you didn’t come in front of this team and this team does not evaluate you then you don’t stand a chance.

So how does the Product Management person identify the persona to whom the messaging has to be targeted. That’s what makes the B2B buying process complex for the marketing folks.

When you choose a very small segment of the market to target , the advantage is that you can do iterations in your messaging, you can actually interview prospects who didn’t buy from you and other things to identify what is resonating with your market and incorporate the learnings very fast.

This is not an easy task at all. Once you are able to “crack the code” as Dean Jackson puts it, you can scale in that market very fast.

Even now I have to learn so much in each new product we launch. Its never easy to say that because I launched a security product last year successfully I will be successful for a new AI product I am launching this year. While the frameworks can be in place and evolving, the learning is always new. But that’s what makes it interesting.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B buying processes – technology products & services

B2B, Product Management

For the product management person its not only necessary to understand the product that they have, the narrow market niche that they are focusing on , the benefits the client will get and other issues.

In the B2B buying process there are the technical people involved – like the CIO and his team or the CTO and her team or the Manufacturing head and the team. Now all the these teams have their own set of gate-keepers and number crunchers. I have earlier spoken about how the existing “infrastructure” needs to be in place for your your solution to get in place.

In addition to the “infrastructure” the financial people need to figure out the implications to their “cashflow” or “profits” with the new solution and then there are the procurement guys who like to get every vendor on the same level so that they can negotiate and get the lowest possible price.

In addition to all this if the CIO is not “powerful” in the political dynamics of the organization then she won’t be able to push your solution through the management committee. In the buying decision, people today do their research more than 60% of the way before they even interact with a sales person of the selling organisation. Which means as a product management person you should create content which can help the CIO move the technology proposal through the management committee in advance.

Similarly today technology is getting more and more pervasive. So even customer service and marketing are getting things like AI involved. So its no longer about just the CIO/CTO. You now have to prepare content which can be consumed by these folks also.

Unlike a product manager of a consumer goods company, for a B2B company, the role becomes more complex because decision making is more collective in nature and therefore you should be able to cover all the personas involved.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!