Go-to-Market Strategy 101 (Free 7 Day eCourse)

Rapidly Changing Buyer Behavior (Day 1 of 7)

Written by Joshua Feinberg | Dec 13, 2022 3:55:12 PM

Buyer behavior is changing fast! These rapidly changing customer behaviors have caught many B2B SaaS, FinTech, and infrastructure companies completely off guard. Is your go-to-market strategy -- your GTM -- keeping up? Or is your team living in the past? 

In this video, you’ll learn why rapid changes in buyer behavior impact nearly all B2B tech startups, scaleups, and small businesses -- and, just as importantly, the change your company needs to make to capitalize on these shifts in customer preferences.

 

The latest research from Gartner found that 83% of a typical B2B purchase decision -- researching, comparing options, and evaluating pricing -- happens before a potential buyer engages with a vendor.

And McKinsey & Company has discovered that 70% to 80% of B2B decision-makers now prefer to make decisions digitally.

In its B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, LinkedIn, working in partnership with Edelman, concluded that “thought leadership remains critical to customer engagement but breaking through the noise is harder than ever.”

Now, what does this mean for a company like yours?

Buyer preferences in business-to-business (B2B) technology are changing quite dramatically to match what’s been happening in business-to-consumer (B2C) technology over the past five years. 

Companies like Airbnb, Amazon Prime, DoorDash, Instacart, Netflix, and Uber have reinvented customer experience (CX) and permanently changed the yardstick against which all tech startups -- B2B and B2C -- are measured. 

Ten years ago, B2B buyers spoke with salespeople early on in their pre-purchase research. Not anymore!

Today that's completely changed. Search engines, social media, streaming videos, podcasts, webinars, and review websites have become mainstream. Your best prospects now are doing tons of self-directed research on their own before they’re open to having a sales conversation with someone from your company.

By the time most B2B buyers are open to having an initial sales meeting, these buyers are often 60%-80% (or more!) of their way through their buyer’s journey. 

Your buyers now are the experts -- and your sales team and company as a whole need to find a way for its go-to-market strategy to stay relevant to the way that B2B buyers want to buy your software, FinTech, or infrastructure.

How is your company addressing rapid changes in buyer behaviors?  Let me know in the comments section down below.

And do you know someone else who could also benefit from this video on Rapidly Changing Buyer Behavior? Be sure to share it with them.