B2B market research: Securing a formidable
competitive advantage
with your target group

What an insightful market research can do to enhance the demand of your products and services...

Market research is the kingpin of planning B2B marketing actions.

Market research, target group surveys, or marketing research... call it what you like but it all has one thing in common.

The better you know what your target group wants, how they think, what's positive and negative for them, which words they use to describe problems and solutions...

...and which problems are real to them and the ones they most want to solve...

...the more your marketing investment will give dividends as it will hit its intended goa more accurately and produce the expected results more predictably.

Market research: The unutilised potential in B2B marketing

Amazingly, most B2B companies conduct NO market research at all to speak of.

Or, to put it more precisely, they concentrate on various technical statistical data but make no effort to find out the EMOTIONAL responses within their target group toward their industry's products and/or services.

Now, it's not wrong to find out how large your target group is, what age group and gender the decision makers are, what's the size / turnover / purchase quantity of the average client, which technical requirements they have and things like that. These are useful data too.

However, such technical information seldom avails itself to make a difference in the market in terms of CREATING DEMAND for the services and/or products of your particular company.

Here, we come across the considerations of the differences between consumer and B2B markets.

In consumer marketing, market research is predominantly about the emotional responses of the target group. We understand that it's so because the consumer isn't making his decisions rationally but through emotional impulses.

They buy this brand because of its "high quality" or decide to go for that brand as it has "high status" which would bring the buyer the approval and admiration of his fellow men.

Or so the thinking of those who plan these campaigns goes anyhow.

But since the B2B market is based on manufacturing and producing goods / services whose need is FACTUAL, we assume that the decision-making process is equally completely RATIONAL.

Yet it is NOT.

We want to BELIEVE that "we B2B experts are completely logical and never allow any emotional impulses to intervene in our decision-making process..." but that's NOT SO.

It is not so because we are HUMAN.

The anatomy of human nature predetermines our behaviour. Part and parcel of this behaviour is this:

EVERY ACTION IS TRIGGERED BY AN EMOTIONAL IMPULSE.

We do absolutely NOTHING without there first being SOME emotional impulse to trigger it off.

Emotions are the carrier wave of impulses.

No emotions at all equals a dead person. I'm NOT speaking of the conservative habit of HIDING one's emotions here, you understand, but the fact that emotions do exist under that seemingly unemotional exterior we business people sometimes put on.

A lot of emotions are mis-categorized as something else. Joy is an emotion and we all know it is. But so is satisfaction, conservatism, suspicion, apathy, anger, hostility... you name it, they're EMOTIONS.

Even CERTAINTY is an emotion... and an extremely important one for our case here in B2B market research and marketing.

Basically we can divide emotions into two categories in terms of sales. Positive emotions evoked in the prospective client propel his willingness toward a positive decision. Negative emotions toward a negative (or NO) decision.

To you it matters not much whether the prospect decides "NO" or decides not to make a decision... both equal "no sale."

Of course, it's not all that simple. For example, there's a sales closing technique called "fear of losing" in which you get the sale by positioning the prospect in a situation wherein he LOSES the opportunity unless he secures it NOW.

But that just appears to go against this rule of positive / negative emotions. In reality, this closing technique's success depends on having evoked a long chain of positive emotions (realisations) in the mind of the prospect so that he really has a LOT TO LOSE.

(This technique also requires some clever planning with which you can rationalise the "must secure it now" -logic, such as an exclusive territory or non-compete clause — so it's not necessarily workable for every industry and I've used it here merely as an example.)

But it is true that the B2B market is much more rational, its decision-making process far more logical than what's the case with consumers.

True, very true... but that does NOT mean that the B2B market is unmoved by emotion.

Using market research to find the emotional triggers of your B2B target group

All movement is caused by emotion to some degree.

Theoretically it is possible to do something without emotion but in human life experience all animation is involved with some degree of emotional impulse as the propelling force to initiate the action

The smaller the movement, the subtler the emotion both in terms of intensity and longevity.

Routinely activities carry some conviction of emotion, be it boredom or the feeling or responsibility or the emotion of being forced to do it against one's own willingness.

The emotion is not often obvious to the person because it's so interwoven into our thinking.

Being emotional has in a way become a sin for the thinking person, especially so within the B2B sector wherein feelings are the antitheses of scientific rationality.

Logical thinking is the keyword within the B2B industries because it is the ideal which we seek in our profession.

But that just makes emotional impulses more hidden.

And the more we hide them, the more they can INFLUENCE OUR DECISIONS.

So, when your logical engineer makes his decision to buy your services or products, the thing that propels him over the line is "sufficient degree of CERTAINTY acquired about this being the right choice."

Now is it really so that his decision was solely governed by the technical specifications of his need and your product?

If so, why isn't the B2B purchasing (and selling) done by computers? Those work solely on data with absolutely NO ability to emit or sense any form of emotion.

What do you need a living being for in the process on both sides of the negotiating table?

Well, because we have "the nose" for smelling out things. We have the ability to observe our counterpart, to figure out his moves... to find out if he is hiding something, to see if we can't make a better deal by appealing to his needs...

These things are human interaction and the only way we can interact is through emotion as that governs our communication... which basically builds up the understanding we gain on both sides of the table.

It's common knowledge that if two offers are technically the same then we will concentrate on the small benefits of the one with whom cooperation FEELS BETTER...

Feels, as in emotional response. And it works the other way too.

Match a prospective buyer who's enthusiastic about his coming project with a cynical salesman and you've minimised your chances of obtaining the sale.

Combine an optimistic and cheerful salesman with a distrustful and scornful buyer candidate and you're not going to have anything to celebrate about at the end of that (mutually painful) interchange.

You still think emotion plays no part in it?

That's if you needed convincing in the first place... for if you've ever had to contend with an upset client then you KNOW that B2B buyers ARE influenced by emotions, most definitely.

Now, of course your salesmen are experts so they know to MATCH the emotional tone of their individual prospect so as not to create blatant personality clashes.

But what do you know with absolute certainty about the emotional responses of your whole TARGET GROUP?

Clever market research would find out so that your marketing materials, your APPROACH, your service concept, and your prospecting would all align with every wish and viewpoint of your target group.

Some of the issues may well be exactly what you believe, although there will be subtle (or not so subtle) differences because theirs is the opposite point of view to yours... they're clients and you're the service provider.

But how many points are missing from your marketing? How many elicit NEGATIVE or partly negative or indifferent emotional responses within the target group?

Do you really want to CHANCE it, play by ear... rather than know with absolute certainty that each needed step is there and every single one aligns exactly with what they will LIKE?

Only a market research of your target group can provide that certainty.

B2B market research — what does your target group REALLY think, feel, want, and suspect?

Guessing just won't cut mustard here.

To know for certain you need to conduct a survey to research your market.

What do they feel about your industry... truly?

How do they see your salespersons and their actions, behaviour, knowledge, service attitude and so on?

Which problem do the members of your target group consider their biggest, the one they want to solve NOW... but to which they don't believe a solution exists?

What addition to your service concept would be just what they want OR the thing they look for as a sign of reliability, trustworthiness or exceptional level of innovation in a company within your industry?

Which things do they see as proof of the opposite?

Which of the qualities and (possibly unique) benefits of your services / products are they actually AWARE OF... and how well do they truly UNDERSTAND those qualities?

Which areas of their own responsibilities and/or knowhow are they sensitive about, so much so that you should avoid ever mentioning those in your marketing?

What makes them want to find out more about the products / services of another provider within your industry? Which things in your online / printed promotional materials would tell them NOT to bother contacting you at all... and why?

What would YOU like to know about your target group with absolute certainty?

B2B target group marketing research: Why they don't tell YOU...

Part of the experience of human living is that we learn from young not to be too outspoken.

Telling the truth becomes a crime because so many people protest violently being told the truth.

Throughout history, outspoken people have been disliked at the least and persecuted at the worst.

We grasp early that it is bad to upset others.

Every being has SOME problems in facing the truths about his own life and actions and of that which goes on in their environment. Some things are hard to look at. And if you bring such a thing to another person, chances are he will experience emotional hardships.

It could be that the person becomes sad or even apathetic... and it's not nice to know you've caused it.

Or it could be that the person becomes angry or antagonistic... in which case we receive a barrage of verbal abuse which won't be pleasurable.

So we feel it is wrong to tell someone anything negative about him.

Thus, your clients will not feel able to be open with you in the sense that's required for a survey that will give the full picture. Most of them will not tell you anything negative or belittle its importance.

And a small part of them will exaggerate their grievances to such extent that their feedback — lacking all objectivity — is equally useless for any accurate analysis of results.

And that's why it's not necessarily a good idea to do your own surveys.

Professional B2B market research... or then not?

The burning question with market research is whether or not the information thus acquired is an accurate and reliable depiction of the true feelings and needs of your target group.

That's to say that the value of market research is wholly dependent on the value of the information.

If it is accurate and true information then you can build your marketing on this data and be totally certain that your marketing pull is as efficient as it can be in a competitive market situation.

That's why I recommend using a professional to do your surveys.

Market research requires a third party, someone who is REMOVED from the intricacies of your industry and thus can be seen as impartial.

It requires some considerable skill and experience to PLAN a market research — the survey questions — so that the marketing research conducted will produce results.

Unfortunately most of those claiming professionalism in market research go fatally astray in HOW they conduct their surveys... or, to be more precise, in how they plan their survey questions.

Let me explain.

About 99% of marketing research is done with the "multiple choice" -technique, which I'm sure they have a far catchier name for but this one explains the way it's done.

They figure out several alternative answers and then call people to ask which one of those closest represents their view on the issue.

And that's why those surveys have very limited usage in marketing.

Why? Well, because you're only surveying WHICH OF YOUR VIEWS do they agree with most, NOT WHAT THEY THINK at all.

Who's to say that the option THEY would consider best is INCLUDED AT ALL? In fact, what if THEIR TOP TEN CHOICES ARE NOT IN THE SURVEY?

And what if the way YOU (or your marketing research expert) have WORDED the option doesn't match with their wording... or it's so much apart that they don't even UNDERSTAND it and it gets "no points" although it's a hair's breadth away for the jackpot?

To put it bluntly, this technique is bird brain and it corrupts the whole purpose of the survey.

In essence, someone comes up with a selection of answers and then thousands are spent in asking the target group which of these answers are theirs.

How arrogant and inane is that?

Really, all that's being found out here is a general answer to this question: "Which of MY opinions is best?"

It's just silly how totally inept and unprofessional this multiple choice survey model is for the B2B sector. I know that it's the "accepted thing" but that doesn't mean it's clever.

It's not that long ago when "Earth was flat" because it was generally accepted to be.

And it's mistaken to assume that the understanding of everything is at identical high level with our exact sciences.

YOUR science is on a high level because it's an exact science. But market research is NOT an exact science and thus its functionality is equally based on general acceptance rather than scientific proof.

So don't buy into that.

B2B market research surveys — measure the value & usefulness of the data acquired

One can have surveys conducted out of curiosity or for the sake of finding out what the target group thinks about your image, advertising... or whatever.

But when speaking of marketing research surveys, we don't do that kind of thing at all but go only for creating valuable knowledge that will be used in marketing for optimising the pull for your products / services.

Thus, we believe such surveys need to be truly heavyweight in professionalism and depth to achieve that goal.

The only way to conduct a market research survey with accuracy and so that it is guaranteed to FIND the most burning and pertinent issues from your target group is by asking the survey questions so that the target person CAN ANSWER ANYTHING HE WANTS.

In other words, the survey must be such that it does NOT prejudice the interviewed person in choosing his answer. You don't prefix your questions in any way, you don't give any indication as to what is "the right answer" because ANY reply is right.

You leave it totally up to the interviewed expert to formulate his opinion in his own words and without any interference to his preferences and order of importance for problems and things.

Now you see how intrinsically asinine it is to use multiple-choice answers in the survey.

That's why that kind of market research surveys are rather useless.

So a lot of knowhow goes into the METHOD of market research.

In addition to that there's the SKILL to make people talk and ANSWER.

A definite set of behavioural rules is needed to CONDUCT the interviews.

One needs to know how to coax target persons into participating in the interview, one must have the skill to encourage them to ANSWER the questions as not everything people reply actually ANSWERS the question asked.

With this type of surveys, you cannot use the 5-pound-per-hour walk-in crowd that so populate the big telemarketing / market research call centres. You need a trained and skilled individual who can think on his feet, acquire the information AND leave the target person feeling good about having participated in the survey.

All right.

Finally, there's the kingpin of the whole thing, namely the analysing of the results.

This phase requires a lot of expertise as you sort out the types of replies and the various emotions, flows and whatnots.

The results need to be analysed into identical and similar viewpoints, employing the very words that your target group uses when expressing these phenomena.

You don't want a huge list of small things, each of which represents a small percentage and is in such form that you can't use it.

You want sweeping, widespread unanimity of strong views, ready-worded majority opinions which allow you to take a strong stand in your marketing, safe in the knowledge that what you flow back to them is what they will AGREE with and LIKE BEST.

You want takes that cover well over 50% of the target group. You need to obtain those few sentences that can be used in marketing knowing that those are the best messages to convey to create exactly the type of image you want in the eyes of the average target person.

You want something of concrete pragmatic value, something you can USE DIRECTLY, something that guarantees with absolute certainty that you have maximised your pull on the market and created a uniquely positive brand or image in the eyes of your target group.

And then you have it: Accurate information guaranteed to maximise the efficiency of your marketing thus optimising the cost... and all arrived at with the principles of exact sciences.

It works amazingly well.

If the idea of customer-oriented market research based on principles of exact sciences is of interest to you, please read the presentation of our Marketing Analysis introductory service which could offer a lot more insight into our method of market research and help to pinpoint which issues would benefit from such a target group survey.

If f web site presentation is more important to you at this point in time, click here to read about our Internet Marketing & Search Engine Optimization Analysis.

Above all, trust your own instincts in deciding what's the best message and marketing approach for your products and/or services.

Emotional impulses can be optimised and directed to optimise the success ratio of your B2B marketing and create the best circumstances for the rational decision-maker to view you and your services in a positive light!

Best wishes,

Harry Kafka
HDK Consultants Ltd
32 Manning Close
Richmond Square
East Grinstead RH19 2DR
West Sussex, United Kingdom
Tel. 01342-328 116
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