How to Influence the Economic Buyer (and 3 other Buyer Personas)
Before most of the sales process went virtual, sales professionals would spend most of their time in face-to-face meetings.
It’s during that time that face to face meetings presented an excellent opportunity to understand the buyer more – something that is just not as possible or effective compared with an online sales process.
Today, b2b buyer personas use self-education to learn about the products we sell long before we even get in front of the prospect.
It’s for this reason that by the time we get to a meeting with the prospect, we have no idea what will influence their buying process. We don’t know what makes the buyer tick.
Therefore, there needs to be a shift in how sales and marketing align their GTM and content strategy – content messaging needs to be designed and developed for different personas and buyer types.
Understanding the buying process of your prospects
The sales process for a buyer isn’t necessarily what you thing it is or should be. It’s actually more complex than that.
That’s why marketing and sales must rethink the process that makes a prospect go from a marketing-qualified lead to a sales-qualified lead – what does that mean exactly? Or is the process more nuanced in this day and age compared to more traditional b2b sales methods?
Align messaging to resonate with all buyer personas
Messaging should always align with the buyer’s journey and the buyer personas.
It needs to be designed to meet the customer where they are in their buying process and address any pain points they may have.
Ensure content and messaging is delivered through the appropriate channels
Content should be written to educate and influence the buyer at each stage of their journey, from awareness and understanding to interest, consideration, and decision.
This content not only needs to be crafted through each stage of the sales cycle, it also needs to be targeted across the appropriate channels for the specific buyer types.
If these three considerations weren’t enough, theres more to be aware of.
As you probably know decision-makers are usually numerous when it comes to enterprise sales, where each influencer in the sales process each have their own buyer personas and key things that influence the buying decision.
Throughout the rest of this post, I will outline the key buyer personas to be aware of and provide tips to influence their decision-making process.
4 Different Buyer Types
The Economic Buyer
Key Driver: Cost-Savings
The Economic Buyer is the person responsible for making sure that costs are kept under control. They focus on cost savings and typically look for ROI and bottom-line impact.
They are focused on making sure their organization is getting the most out of a product or service, while keeping costs low.
Tips to Influence the Economic Buyer:
• Demonstrate cost-savings and ROI that is achievable with your product
• Showcase customer success stories that demonstrate cost-savings or ROI gains
• Frame pricing around the solution’s value when dealing with economic buyers.
• Provide clear and concise information to support the cost-benefit analysis.
The Technical Buyer
Key Driver: Usability
The Technical Buyer is more focused on the usability of a product or service. They typically have an engineering or technical background and are looking understand more of the technical aspects of the product. This type of buyer is often present with working with an IT department.
Tips to Influence the Technical Buyer:
• Focus on the product’s technical features, capabilities and benefits
• Provide detailed information about the product’s capabilities and usage
• Showcase customer success stories that demonstrate usability gains
• Offer technical support/training if applicable for the business and solution.
The User Buyer
Key Driver: Employee Satisfaction
The User Buyer is often an end-user and are focused on the usability and satisfaction of their employees. They want to know how easy the product or service is to use, as well as any features that will benefit the specific use cases of the company, before giving final approval.
Tips to Influence the User Buyer:
• Focus on the user experience and usability of a product or service
• Showcase customer success stories that demonstrate usage gains
• Explain how the product or service will improve employee satisfaction.
• Provide detailed information about the product’s capabilities and usage.
The Strategic Buyer
Key Driver: Business Impact
The Strategic Buyer is often a C-level executive or other high-level decision makers. They are looking for a product or service to help their business grow and provide long-term value. They want to know how the product or service will benefit the company in the long run, not just from a cost-saving standpoint, but also in terms of improving the overall bottom line.
Tips to Influence the Strategic Buyer:
• Focus on the long-term business impact and value of a product or service
• Showcase customer success stories that demonstrate growth opportunities
• Explain how the product or service will benefit the organisation in the long run
• Focus on the scalability of a product or service and how it will help the company grow.
Once you know your buyers, you can begin to craft marketing campaigns targeting each buyer persona accordingly. You can customise language, messaging, and other content based on their individual needs. By understanding the motivations and needs of each buyer, you will be better able to influence their decisions in favour of your product or service.
