Enjoyed this article?
Take part in the discussion
Related blog/content
Caveman style ABM is pissing off everyone’s best prospects
I don’t want to hear about spear-fishing ever again. I’m Charlie, the head of ABM at Velocity. And I have a bone to pick with tired ABM metaphors. Good…
Charlie Langley | 28. 03. 2024
AI and SGE are a long-overdue wakeup call for B2B SEO
Even before AI and Google SGE came gunning for everyone’s search traffic, B2B was struggling with SEO. Despite endless effort, lots of pages languish in…
Joe Strugs | 13. 03. 2024
Why teamwork solves the B2B SEO malaise
What’s the secret of B2B SEO? Some say volume. Others say clusters. We say it’s collaboration. Find out why we’re right.
Stan Woods | 05. 03. 2024
Comments
Francis Moran May 10th, 2011
When the concept of B2B marketing was first defined, it was widely held that it ought to be a far more rational process than trying to sell to those messed-up emotional consumers. Turned out, we were still selling to people, not companies, and so all the old emotional principles — and “old” is exactly the right term here since what we are talking about is hard-wired into our ancient reptilian brains — still applied.
The rising understanding about buyer behaviour that neuroscience is giving is so critical to the B2B marketing process that we recruited a leading neuro-marketer to be a regular contributor on our new blog, which is all about bringing technology to market. You can read his regular contributions here: http://www.francis-moran.com.
Jason Ball May 10th, 2011
Yes, the myth of rationality. We all think we’re perfectly rational creatures but few of us actually are. In reality some 95% of our thinking happens in the unconscious brain (whether we’re deciding on a mate or making a complex B2B purchase).
Of course, we’re brilliant at post-rationalising. As Gerald Zaltman, author of the excellent How Customers Think and source of the above stat, points out:
“Rather than actually guiding or controlling behaviour. Consciousness seems mainly to make sense of behaviour after it is executed.”
Yet all too often in B2B marketing, emotion is parked at the door and value is left on the table.
Stan Woods May 11th, 2011
Jay & Francis
Thanks for commenting.
It is frustrating when good ideas are killed by clients who don’t want to stand out from the crowd and expose what’s special about their company.
Francis, smart move on hiring the brain surgeon. Had a look at your site. Perhaps we should chat sometime?
Andrew Armour May 13th, 2011
Interesting article. Whilst it is natural for sales and marketing personnel to focus on mechanics, delivery and ‘big picture’ it is often simple issues of trust and a willingness to collaborate that build a foundation of a decent relationship. As a related point, I have just written a two part blog on the role of trust in marketing partnerships and alliances, looking at the both the biology thatprevents trust and the tactics relationship managers can use to try to build it. If you’d like to see more see the blogs on http://www.andrewarmour.com and some broader articles on collaborative marketing at http://www.benchstone.uk
Stan Woods May 13th, 2011
Andrew
Thanks a lot for introducing us to your blog. I’ll look forward to getting feedback from Doug after you two have met.
Keith Smiley May 18th, 2011
It’s also important that your marketing pieces focus on the challenges, needs, and interests of the prospects that you’re targeting. It’s not enough to just describe the benefits and features of the product and service.