BRX Pro Tip: 2 Best Ways People Make B2B Decisions
Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you and I have both maintained, and I think it’s a product of our experience, that B2B sales is different. People make B2B buying decisions differently than B2C, but speak to that a little bit if you would.
Lee Kantor: Sure. There’s a lot of stats around this that, number one, in a B2B decision, referrals are usually the most powerful decision-making influence over a B2B sale. If somebody recommends something, a trusted buyer is recommending this, that’s going to build instant credibility and trust. They’re going to be way far ahead of somebody who just, you know, maybe saw a brand name on a lanyard at a trade show. You know, that type of referral is really critical, so definitely you should be focusing in on things like that.
Lee Kantor: There’s some supporting evidence, I think a recent survey or a study said B2B companies with referrals experience a 70 percent higher conversion rate, 84 percent of B2B sales begins with a referral. So, there’s definitely evidence that supports trying to get referrals in any way you can.
Lee Kantor: Number two is for B2B sales, a lot of sales comes from upsells from the current vendor or whoever selling them something. So, buyers will buy more stuff from you if they’ve had a positive experience with you. So, upselling leverages established relationships and satisfaction and then they’re open to a higher value option. There’s, again, evidence to support that, upselling increases customer lifetime value by 20 to 40 percent.
Lee Kantor: So, these are two areas that you can focus in on. If you’re trying to grow sales, try to get more referrals, try to upsell more to existing customers. These two decision-making factors, referral and upselling, they highlight the importance of building trust, leveraging existing relationships, maintaining visibility. So, by aligning these strategies with these factors, your business can effectively influence more B2B buyers and hopefully drive growth.
