Connecting with Buyers Emotionally
An article in the April 2006 issue of Selling Power magazine talks about new research that reveals a “buying bias based on emotion.”
In a new book, Questions that Sell by Paul Cherry, who is senior vice president at Performance Based Selling, much selling misses the boat because it doesn’t have a clue as to how buyers really make purchasing decisions. Cherry’s argument, backed by the wave of paradigm-shattering research that has poured out of leading laboratories, is simple. Buyers go by feelings, not logic.
In other words, while all those feature/benefit statements in B2B marketing collateral do indeed play a vital role, it’s not what helps salespeople close the sale. “To sell,” says Cherry, “you have to learn how to connect with buyers emotionally.”
Increasingly, marketing and sales is all about connections and less about whether a techno gizmo has dozens of features (most of which we never use anyway). Companies need to learn what “pain” their clients experience in their day-to-day jobs and how a product or service helps alleviate this pain.
As B2B marketers, it’s our duty to learn what our customers’ jobs entail — and then write copy that addresses these “hidden” yet very real concerns.
What do you think?
About the author: Dianna Huff
A B2B web marketing expert, Dianna helps B2B companies grow through SEO, marketing writing, and social media. A frequent speaker, Dianna has been quoted in numerous blogs, books, and articles; her client list includes large and small B2B companies across the U.S. Follow her on Twitter @diannahuff. To receive her e-course on creating great B2B marketing content, subscribe to her newsletter, The MarCom Strategist.
May 20th, 2006 at 1:57 am
Dianna,
I agree that B2B copy needs to connect emotionally with the prospective customer. However, as most successful B2B sales people will attest, you also have to back up the emotion with logic.
Prospects may want to buy for emotional reasons, but they need logical reasons to use to convince their peers and bosses (and themselves) that it really is a good business decision.
As a marketing consultant focused on generating B2B sales leads, I believe it’s also essential that your copy make compelling offers or calls-to-action, designed to get prospects to raise their hands and move forward in their consideration/buying process.