The Driving Forces Behind B2B Purchases

When it comes to business-to-business purchases, few buyers are willing to take chances on new providers, according to a recent survey of 3,600 B2B buyers conducted by Enquiro.

In fact, Enquiro’s study found that 78% of purchases made during one quarter in 2009 were repeat purchases or repeat purchases that were modified. Of that, 50% were repeat purchases, the least-risky type of purchase. Only 22% purchased without any prior experience with the provider (Blank Slate). Not many risk-takers.

What’s driving these buying decisions? Emotion, says Gord Hotchkiss, CEO of Enquiro. He writes in The BuyerSphere Project: How Business Buys from Business, “B2B decisions are usually driven by one emotion—fear. Specifically, B2B buying is all about minimizing fear by eliminating risk.”

In the services world, most professionals focus on the organizational risk, but we agree with Gord: personal risk is just as important as organizational risk. Both come into play during the B2B and services buying process. Organizational risk concerns are often closer to the surface, there for the buyers to uncover easily. Buyers’ feelings about personal risk, however, are rarely shared—some because the buyer doesn’t want to share, but mostly because the seller doesn’t elicit that information in the sales process.

For some time I’ve talked about how emotion plays a role in the buying process, and that service providers must reach prospective clients on an emotional level if they want them to buy services. Unfortunately, sellers of professional services usually ignore this and focus instead on competencies and case studies. They tone down things that stir up emotion, not showing buyers a new reality (the N in our RAIN Selling methodology). In a past article, I explained that sellers all-too-often make this mistake and miss an opportunity,

“Professional firms, with their antiseptic copy and business cases, are missing an opportunity. They’re missing an opportunity to paint a picture for potential buyers of what personal and professional success actually looks and feels like for clients of their firm, how they’ve helped others make it all happen, and how potential clients are risking it all if they choose not to work with them.”

Looking at the data from Enquiro, it’s clear B2B buyers across both products and services don’t want to take risks. When you appeal to buyers’ emotional need to reduce risk, and also satisfy their analytical “ROI focus” side, you’ll sell more.