5 Signs that you don’t know your B2B customer

It's great to be an expert in your market and to be able to identify target businesses. But these are not enough to help you understand your B2B customers. That's where true success lies.

A good strategy for a game like Guess Who is to take a chance and hope to find the right answer by elimination. A guessing game may not be the best strategy for marketers.

It's possible to misunderstand your buyer in many ways. This could include poor campaign performance, an increase in email unsubscribers because of irrelevant messaging, declining conversion rates due to mis-targeted website content, or failing sales numbers due unqualified leads and a lack effective training and sales enablement material.

Don't panic if you are experiencing any of these symptoms. We are here to help. These are five signs you may not be as familiar with your B2B customers as you think.

Quick Takeaways

1. Your B2B customers should feel like the protagonist.
2. Make updates and revise your buyer personas.
3. Don't rely on assumptions.
4. Try to imagine yourself as your customers.
5. Instead of focusing on the process, focus on the people.

1. Your product is the hero of your story.

First, grab your most recent marketing content. Your last email campaign is a good place to start. Count the number of times you have seen the words “we”, “our” or “yours.” Next, count the number of times “you” and “yours” appear. Your copy will likely be biased towards the former. Let's look closer.

Are you focusing the copy on the following?

• Your solution
• Your solution's benefits
• Your solution's features

Who is the main character of the content's story? It doesn't matter if it isn't the intended recipient. According to the New York Times Customer Insight Study researchers, the number one reason people share content online was to provide valuable content to others.

2. Your buyer personas need some updating.

Let's face it, when was the last time that you did fresh research to better understand your customers? Do you rely on customer information that was collected before Instagram (10 years ago) for your team? If yes, then it might be time to reexamine what is happening in the worlds your customers.

Business pressures are always changing and moving fast. Understanding your customers is not a one-and-done task, especially with technology and industry segments changing so rapidly. I promise that even if you think you are an expert, there is always room for improvement.

Your marketing strategy will be more personal if you build buyer personas. This will allow you to target the right people and generate more leads.

3. The room has a donkey.

Okay, no donkey. More specifically an ass. Yes, I am referring to the old saying, “When you assume, you make an a$ out of me and you.”

Relying solely on assumptions can lead to dangerous conclusions or incorrect judgments. Don't rely on assumptions when creating marketing content, product strategies, or sales playbooks.

Be humble and admit you might be wrong. This is a simple concept that can help you to correct any long-held assumptions about your customers.

Find out from where these assumptions originated. It might seem impossible to alter assumptions that are made at the top of an organization. To validate or invalidate ideas, it is important to gather as much data and information as possible.

4. Your empathy is… nonexistent.

Tony Zambito, a marketing strategist and buyer persona expert, strives to make modern marketing more human-centered. He writes about empathy in marketing in a blog post:

“Empathy is a foundation that allows us to overcome the overwhelming flood of information customers and buyers receive in modern marketing, where content has taken over the communication channel. This requires us to be able to comprehend the context and the challenges faced by our customers and buyers. Do you ever try to imagine yourself in their shoes? Have you ever lived a day in someone else's life and considered the difficulties they face and the solutions they are seeking?

If you can't answer these questions, chances are that you don’t really know your buyer.

In B2B marketing, it is crucial to build a relationship with those you are selling to. This video shows how the buyer's journey affects your relationships with potential buyers.

5. Your focus is more on the process and less on the people you are selling to.

What is on your to-do/to-do list for this week? What's on your to-do list for this month? This quarter? As a marketer and avid to-do lister, I would wager that there are approximately a million items on this list.

One of the most important is likely to do with the way you launch campaigns or pass leads to sales or score leads. It is a huge challenge to improve the relationship between sales and marketing. This should be at the top on many lists.

Your focus should shift from your process to your people. Your buyer initiatives should be the driving force behind what you do.

This is worth the effort! SharpSpring data shows that 71% companies who exceed their revenue and lead generation goals have documented buyer personas.

Perhaps you are in need of a reality check ….

Since we're all part of the same team, consistent messaging and storytelling across all channels should be the foundation of every company. Take a moment to reflect on your business and get to know your B2B customers. You can build on that knowledge and make it a fun experience for all.

Are you limiting your bandwidth? It can be difficult to understand your buyer. You can get more help by visiting our SEO Blog Writing Services, or by requesting a consultation.