Marketing experts are all masters of psychology

When purchasing enterprise services, sales and procurement are connected by specific people, so B-side and Sass products are ultimately connected by people, not pure business.

When a company wants to purchase a product or service, it is a very complicated process. From clarifying the demand to the final decision, many people are involved and it takes at least a year or two to complete.

From this point on, it becomes much easier for individuals to buy things.

For example, if I want to buy a mobile phone, even if it costs 10,000 yuan, I can make the decision by myself after gritting my teeth. I don’t need to ask my parents or relatives. The only person I need to ask is my own wallet.

They say impulse is the devil. Haven’t you and I bought enough things on a whim?

But in enterprise-level procurement, this kind of thing is almost impossible to happen, unless the boss himself has been bewitched.

Why not be impulsive? Because there are always people who pour cold water on your enthusiasm.

For example, the new CMO saw that customer data was lying around in Excel and it was difficult for the department to acquire customers, so he thought about using digital marketing tools to quickly activate old customers. So he proposed a purchase request. Who should he submit it to? Naturally, the IT department, which is responsible for system procurement.

The IT department said, "Is this urgent? We are still busy with public cloud procurement and are looking for suppliers to quote first" (a bucket of cold water).

After a few months, we found it. After the initial proposal, the two departments worked together and it was common to spend several months on it (the second one).

After finally reaching a consensus, we sent it to the finance department for approval. They rejected it and asked, “How much profit can it bring if we make up the ROI?” (The third pot)

Well, even if you clear this level and reach the CEO, there may be no next step (the fourth pot).

Being a demander is too difficult, not to mention being a supplier. Maybe signing a contract really requires a bit of metaphysics...

But have you noticed that in the entire process of demand-project establishment-approval, suppliers will not communicate with the "IT department", but will only have a meal with Xiao Wang from the IT department and send WeChat messages to Lao Li from the Finance Department.

Having said so much, I can summarize it in one sentence: enterprise-level marketing is also about people, people in many different job roles.

Is this more complicated than consumer product marketing (B2C)?

The fact is, it won’t.

Consumer product marketing is more about customer profiling and understanding the decision-making psychology behind specific groups of people.

I even think that facing various fickle consumers, B2C marketing is more complicated and has more uncontrollable factors...

Rational decision-making naturally has its own advantages, at least there are rules to follow. But what are these rules?

In my opinion, it is to find the answers to three soul-searching questions.

“Why spend the money? What problem does it solve? What does it bring to the company?”

If you are the head of the marketing department, you only need to prepare relevant materials such as "If you buy our products, you can tell your boss, CFO, CEO, board members..."

But if you just say "our product is the cheapest, it is a substitute for a certain product..." the purchasing party will not have the confidence to report to their superiors.

For example, Mr. Wang in the IT department might be most concerned about “Who should I blame if something goes wrong?”

Making decisions more reassuring is the “routine” of marketing experts.

IBM had such a promotion many years ago.

No one was fired for purchasing IBM products, and this sentence has been spread in the circle.

Indeed, no one wants to lose their job because of purchasing a cheap but unreliable system.

The same goes for SAP, the "management guru behind the Fortune 500." This sentence means that CIOs don't need to explain too much when reporting to their superiors.

Using the same advanced system as Fortune 500 companies shows that the company is strong, and bosses like to hear such stories.

Back to the present, business pressure is high and bosses want the marketing department to have access to decision makers, C-level.

Many people are a little timid, and so am I. But now I think these people are also human beings, and what they care about most is reputation, safety, status, fear, belonging, and even emotions...

After understanding the above psychological demands, think again:

1. What value can the product bring to him or her? How can you make it easier for him or her to report upward?
2. How do C-level people get information? The CFO's small circle? CIO's forum? ..
3. They are also influenced by social media and word of mouth. What do they like to watch? Who are their KOLs?

It looks complicated, but it’s actually not as difficult as you might think. After all, they are just like you and me. Although they have roles, they are also human beings with psychological needs.

To business, and ultimately to people.