It is the first thing that a B2B buyer thinks about when he needs a supplier to provide a solution to his problem or when he has a new requirement.
This is the moment when “positioning” is activated in the mind. If a brand occupies the position of that category, it will appear in the mind of the B2B buyer, like a light that turns on.
If nothing appears, the B2B buyer will start looking for options. In this article, we will talk about the B2B buyer discovery process and how to make your company their first choice.
B2B Buyer Circles of Trust
As mentioned above, if a B2B buyer does not already have a supplier in mind that can solve a need, they will begin to look for alternatives.
Where you will do that search is one of the questions of any Demand Generation strategy.
Some B2B buyers search on Google, others on Linkedin, others on Whatsapp or Slack groups.
But there is one thing that everyone does: they ask. And the question is always the same: “Do you know anyone who does/solves such a thing?”
This means that the B2B buyer moves in circles of trust.
The first circle of trust is your own mind, your memory, what you believe.
The second circle is your colleagues, your reference groups.
And the third circle of trust is the channels where they look for information.
In these 3 circles that the B2B buyer travels through, your brand must gain space to position itself.
Circle 1 is the hardest to win, but once you gain access to it, it is very difficult to get out.
Circle 2, formed by the professional network, will depend greatly on the prestige and connections that the company leaders manage to generate.
Circle 3 is the most influential, and will depend on the positioning strategy you develop for your brand and mainly on the quality of the content that is shared.
How to capture the attention of B2B buyers before the competition?
At Pragmática we usually work with B2B companies that have something in common: they are companies malaysian numbers that are experiencing a growth leap, they have a business model that has been validated in the market, with happy customers and a solid structure. And what they are looking for is to grow in a predictable and scalable way.
In most cases, these companies got to where they were thanks to a good value proposition and an important network of contacts, with solid relationships built over years by the founders of the company. In other words, they grew leveraged by circle 2.
But there comes a time when these companies need to continue growing, and the network of contacts of their key figures is no longer enough. This growth stagnates and they must seek new ways of growing to attract new B2B buyers.
What should a company do in this situation?
You need to expand your rings 1 and 3. You need to build a predictable growth system that does not depend on the founders' network of contacts through a positioning and demand generation strategy.