In B2B the term “Buyers Group” is gaining traction, but it needs clarification.
Traditionally, B2B marketers target a “Buying Committee” for example in ”cloud services” this includes the IT Decision Maker (ITDM) at the center surrounded by their team.
However, research by LinkedIn’s The B2B Institute and Bain & Company shows this approach is incomplete.
They identified there are two types of B2B buyers in a buying committee:
- Target Buyers: Product experts (e.g., ITDM, engineers).
- Hidden Buyers: Process experts (e.g., procurement, finance, legal).
Why are they called ‘Hidden Buyers’?
Because they don’t engage with B2B content.
The Head of Ops isn’t attending your Cloud Summit webinar; and Deal Desk aren’t downloading whitepapers on Cloud Infrastructure.
Hidden Buyers aren’t interested in the product solution like the Target Buyers are.
This means they are more-or-less hidden from signals B2B brands use to report campaign effectiveness.
Yet, Hidden Buyers are powerful.
They have almost equal amount of decision-making power in a B2B purchasing decision as the ITDM.
“ Hidden Buyers are 70% more likely to reject vendors that are not well-known to them and their peers.”
With a business case, the Target buyers (ITDM) do the vendor shortlisting for the solution and need the Hidden/Process buyers to agree to the purchase. However, about 50% of B2B deals get killed by these hidden buyers.
Why?
While Target Buyers care most about the products “advanced features”, “transformational potential” and “innovation”; Hidden Buyers care most about “reliable brands”, “peace-of-mind”, and “vendors that are trusted by my peers”.
Hidden buyers don’t kill the deals because the product is not innovative or transformational for the business; they don’t care.
Instead, deals frequently fall through because Hidden Buyers are risk-averse and unpersuaded. They kill deals because they are in charge of mitigating risk in the company and if they don’t know the vendor, they won’t likely take a chance on them.
This is important because about 40% of all B2B deals don’t go ahead because of lack of agreement. Deals collapse because it was too hard to persuade Hidden buyers to agree.
In fact, the study found Hidden Buyers are 70% more likely to reject vendors that are not well-known to them and their peers.
What should B2B Marketers do?
- Understand the B2B buying Committee is larger than first thought. Expand your targeting to include both Target and Hidden Buyers.
- Invest in marketing your Brand, not just your Product. The study found deals are done more often and faster with vendors who were well-known across the whole buying group than those that were only known to the ITDM.
Investing in that reputational air cover with the hidden buyers ensures that when the deal comes across their desk they say “Yes, I know this company, I’m aware of their reputation”.
Check out the study here: https://lnkd.in/gNyKHxZM
[**Full disclosure: The views and opinion expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not reflect the views or opinions of any organisation or entity.]
