B2B – Not as Rational as You Might Think
Emotion drives B2b Sales, really? You’d be forgiven for thinking that B2C sales were driven by emotion and B2B more by rational thinking and reasoning. It’s a fact, yes, a fact no less, that B2B conversions are stronger on the emotional connection than B2C. Sure, there is reasoning, there is consideration and all that jazz, but there is an emotional connection that many buyers feel and that is what drives them on. They don’t know it themselves, it’s a subconscious thing. It’s completely possible to drive sales without that emotional connection, but there will be times when it takes over, bringing that lead to you with less effort than usual.
You know how some clients are easier to bag than others? While some sales are closed after what seems like an age, others seem to flow to you and you just put it down to that particular client being an easy sale. There was probably an emotional response that fired up a connection in the brain. Once that connection has been made, it’s darned hard to break.
This information is gold because it presents the opportunity for B2B brands to better target and engage different audiences with tailored messaging and marketing. When we learn how to tap into the human psyche, we are able to harness the power of that most magic of things, the subconscious mind, and when we can do that, we can truly fly.
Emotion or Emotional?
But wait, before we get carried away, it’s easy to confuse the concept of emotion. There’s an emotional influence and then there is an emotional feeling. One is quite different from the other. You know the phrase You’re just so emotional. Well it’s not that response that drives sales.
How Positive Emotion Works in Business
When we are moved to respond with laughter or perhaps tears, we have connected with your brand advertising in such a way that you have us, we are all but there. Perhaps something about it brought back a memory or provoked something in us lost to the past. It came back and we got that lovely feeling again. When we as buyers, feel such an emotional connection to a brand, we become interested to the point of no return.
B2B purchasers are almost 50% more likely to buy a product when they see personal value for them
Negative Emotion
Of course, emotion can be any response, it doesn’t have to be positive. We might feel distrust, suspicion, concern. We may not know why. It’s just there, bubbling away under the surface. We may not even realise that we are having such a response. An emotional response is a feeling that is there without us really understanding why. A negative emotional response may not be so evident right away and may not cause any sort of action in the immediate tense. It will simmer away in the subconscious mind until it has made its mark.
Emotion Doesn’t Always Equal Impulse
It’s a mistake to think that a positive emotional response equals an impulse buy. B2B sales are still harder to make than B2C because they are generally more costly and might involve an ongoing client to business relationship. The emotion is what keeps us interested and drives us to consider your brand over another.
The Competition is High
When you consider B2B marketing, you probably think of a particular issue and how you can sell a solution, making the life of our employees easier, because that’s what all companies are looking for isn’t it? Well, yes it is, but the decision of who to use for that solution is made tricky when there are lots of suppliers offering us the same solution. What differentiates you from the rest? If you can understand how to use human emotion to drive sales, then that is your point of difference. Emotion almost always wins over solid consideration. It’s that extra value we get from a brand or service.
Using Emotion in Storytelling
In order to make your story touch us, you have to create something that allows your audience to visualise the concept. This is how we get excited about your offering. The human approach is what gets peoples emotional responses going, so give us a reason to buy your product or buy into your service. Make our emotion work for you. Sure, the technical stuff might be important, but in actual fact it comes second to provoking that emotional response.
A Rational Process?
B2B marketing is generally considered a rational process. We base it around a need and fulfilment of that need. So now we know that if we add instinct and emotion into that mix, we make a stronger potion, one that buyers will eat up without even realising why. We are all people at the end of the day. We are all buyers and we know what makes us tick. We know that when our emotional buttons are pressed, we find it hard to resist.
Harnessing the True Power of Emotion
With decisions often being made with the click of a button these days, it’s easier than ever for clients to move on to the next, then the next, and the next….You can lose a potential client before even meeting them. Business decisions are driven by results and clear data, we get that, but behind every business there are people and people react to emotions and instinct. It’s how we move through life and make decisions that will impact it over and over again.
Don’t forget that companies are made up of human beings with all of their like’s and loves, insecurities, worries and fears. The way you make buyers feel is what makes the difference and provokes loyalty. You can also use emotion to make your clients feel valued and appreciated. New sales and clients are all well and good, but don’t overlook the one’s you already have. Harness the power of human emotion to keep those clients happy long into the future.
