Managing prospects along the b2b sales cycle has often been compared to a courtship – an all too long, frustrating and expensive courtship for many b2b marketers! Can anything be learned from watching human behaviour in the courtship process in our everyday lives that can be applied to the world of b2b marketing? Most people know at least one person who is just a natural ‘hit’ with the opposite sex. If you ever analyse the reason why these people actually succeed, it is because they have an innate understanding of human nature. In the ‘how to pull the opposite sex’ handbook the golden rules are:

1) Always try to get them talking on their terms
2) Show a genuine interest in them
3) Make them feel special and unique
4) Make them an irresistible offer!
5) Don’t be too pushy…don’t invade their personal space

The primary objective of the initial contact stage of the courtship is to enter into a conversation. Long-winded and self-serving monologues don’t work in pubs and clubs, and don’t work in our marketing communications either! The real challenge for b2b marketers is to get prospects interested in and engaged enough in our initial contact to enter into a dialogue with us. How do the pros in the bars and clubs do it?

Easy -

“Can I buy you a drink?”

Here there is a mutual exchange of value taking place – They get an opportunity to talk to their love prospect to see if there is a spark of interest and the love prospect gets a free drink. Fair enough deal!

To give this an academic slant, the idea of a ‘mutual exchange of value’ has been pioneered by the American academic Don Schultz (The same academic credited with inventing Integrated Marketing Communications). His thesis is that in every communication between a seller and a buyer there should be something in it for both parties from the outset.

In the b2b space, the practical application of this can be seen in white papers, issue-based email newsletters, how-to guides, case studies etc. As b2b marketers we recognise that a large chunk of the buying process is taken up by research activity. Prospects arrive at our website because they need information that will help them make a more informed and better decision. The chances of us successfully ‘pulling’ in our first contact and getting lucky with a purchase order are pretty slim...

So we aim to give the prospect something of value that will position our products and services favourably in their buying process. The prospect receives valuable educational information that may make their working lives better, improves their job prospects; makes them look informed in front of their colleagues etc. We as b2b marketers get value from the interaction in that the prospect has engaged with the brand, submitted contact details, and given us permission for an on-going dialogue - everyone’s a winner!

So next time you get to look at a buyer behaviour research project, what better place to start than the pub... Back to bitesize chunks