Selling to the next generation of B2B buyers: millennials

Not so long ago, if I said the word “millennial,” you’d probably think of a bright-eyed recent graduate armed with a laptop and earbuds, fueled by avocado toast, in way over their head with student loan debt, ready to take on the world in their role as an untenured, entry-level office employee.

This may still be true for some. The youngest people in this age group are now either 19 or 23 (depending on who you ask). But millennials are no longer just a consumer demographic. They are now the largest generation in the U.S. labor force.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the average age of a first-time manager is about 30, while the average age of people in leadership training is 42. The oldest millennials are in their mid-to-late 30’s and they’re already involved in buying decisions at their companies.

If you sell products and services to other businesses, you need to pay attention to how this generation shops and buys, as their expectations as consumer shoppers are spilling over into their expectations as B2B buyers and decision-makers.

The Decline of the Traditional B2B Sales Model?

Many B2B marketers and salespeople are still relying on old standbys to engage their buyers. Phone calls, face-to-face meetings, and written proposals are commonplace, even expected.

These models are both familiar and still relatively effective. But given the rapid changes we’ve seen in the way consumers of all age groups buy, it’s safe to assume that the dominance of the traditional B2B sales model won’t last forever.

Imagine you’re a B2B buyer.

At home, if you want to buy a new set of noise-canceling headphones, you can log onto the Amazon app on your smartphone and purchase one with ease. You can do it in under a minute.

But once you go into the office, your buying experience changes. If your vendors are still using a traditional sales model, you’ll have to go through an extensive process just to make a purchase.

You’ll start with research. Then, you must call or email a sales representative and send them a request for proposal (RFP). They’ll set up a meeting or a demonstration to pitch you a list of products that can solve your problem, along with prices. Eventually, you’d sign on the dotted line and your product would be delivered.

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, this isn’t necessarily a bad model. Speaking to a sales rep is a great way to get more information about a product. But if you do know what you’re looking for, or if you can determine what you need by doing your own research, this model adds far too much friction to the sales process.

Considering the fact that millennials are used to buying products and services through online marketplaces, and considering the fact that 73% of 20- to 35-year-olds are involved in product or service purchase decision-making at their companies, B2B sellers have an opportunity to re-engineer the buying experience to reflect the best aspects of the consumer sales paradigm.

The Rise of the B2B “Consumer”

In a recent study of B2B buyers, Forrester made this trend clear. They also revealed that it isn’t just millennials who are driving the consumer B2B trend; it’s their older counterparts as well:

“That Millennial who graduated from college in 2011 is now running a research project to determine the shortlist for a seven-figure RFP. The Boomer CFO at the same company is nearing retirement, but she has also progressed from buying a few books online in 2011 to now designing and ordering her new convertible online — without ever visiting the dealer’s showroom. A wide range of demographic and behavioral changes have given rise to a new type of B2B buyer, whose experience as a consumer has shaped her preferences.”

Most B2B companies are capitalizing on these trends by identifying what it is these new B2B consumers want from a buying experience and where they can adapt their models to meet them. This includes new buying channels (digital) and new sales models (such as marketplace models).

The new B2B consumer is an amalgam of a B2B and a B2C consumer:

(Source: Forrester)

Instead of focusing on capturing new leads, B2B marketers must now focus on starting new types of conversations. This is made possible through contextual and personalized content and by adopting new and untraditional sales and marketing channels. The key here is empowering the new B2B consumer so they can find and access that content easily, conduct their own research, and move through the early stages of the buying journey on their own.

Forrester’s research shows a very clear change in the buying habits of B2B buyers. Between 2015 and 2017, buyers became less interested in interacting with sales representatives and more interested in gathering information on their own:

(Source: Forrester)

So, how do you address these trends? There are two things to focus on.

Re-Engineer the Sales Process

For one, it makes sense to analyze your sales process and identify areas of disconnect. Generating leads is a good thing, but if those leads are forced to engage in a buying process that they find cumbersome, there’s far less chance that they’ll complete the purchase, much less stick with you in the long term.

Forrester recommends taking a three-pronged approach by “helping more and selling less.” Namely, you can:

• Actively listen to what buyers are telling you about themselves and their companies — on every channel they speak to you.

• Be present on every channel your buyers occupy, whether it’s an online industry publication, Q&A forums like Quora, or even Snapchat.

• Gather your buyer’s digital breadcrumbs (data) to enable intelligent, contextualized outreach based on their present stage in the buying journey.

Today’s B2B consumers are mutable, which means they are liable to switch providers if they believe a competitor can offer them a buying experience they prefer. According to 2019 research from Gartner, most B2B buyers are finding their buying experiences more difficult than they need to be:

(Source: Gartner)

Build Contextualized Content

Second, you need to build more contextualized content and “get comfortable with anonymity,” as Forrester puts it. More and more, B2B consumers want to educate themselves by reading content and researching on their own. This noncommittal approach to buying is reflective of other popular consumer trends in internet browsing, whether they relate to buying products online, searching for a home, or even finding love.

Think about it: As of April 2017, about 19% of U.S. internet users were currently using dating websites and apps. And it wasn’t just millennials. Older generations are more likely than ever to use a dating app if they are single.

Part of the allure of these apps is the ability to learn about potential partners before committing to a date. In theory, both parties can decide for themselves whether meeting up is worth their time based on the similarities and differences listed in their profiles. If one party doesn’t think the other would be a match, neither must suffer through an awkward and ultimately unsuccessful date.

Regardless of how you feel about this new dating paradigm, the same type of process is increasingly preferred in B2B sales cycles. The content you publish represents your company’s “dating profile,” and if potential buyers don’t like what they see – or if they don’t see anything at all – they aren’t going to want to meet you.

Forrester recommends you do the following to build up that profile:

• Deliver the content your customers are expecting.

• Personalize your content based on industry and company (account).

• Give your potential buyers a reason to return, usually by adding value for free.

Consider adjusting your sales processes, but you should also consider how you’re using content. Most millennial buyers will expect to see high-value and industry-specific content hosted on your website and posted through your marketing channels.