Facilitating B2B Buying - Collaboration, Outcomes, Transformation

Introduction

Traditional sales tactics are quickly becoming outdated in our AI-driven B2B SaaS and services buyer-seller environment. Buyers now demand B2C-style, personalised, value-driven experiences that align with their unique goals and challenges. Many companies struggle to adapt to this transformed environment, evidenced by flat pipelines, low win rates, high customer acquisition cost (CAC) and unacceptable churn.

CEOs and sales and marketing leaders must shift their focus from traditional selling, which involves saying, "I want to sell you my product and outlining the steps I need you to take," to buyer facilitation. Recent research by Gartner indicates that 95% of B2B buyers' activities occur outside of direct interactions with sellers, emphasising the need for a customer-centric approach rather than a funnel-centric one driven by sales tactics.

The essence of this transformation is grasping the "Job to Be Done" (JTBD) concept - the specific progress a customer aims to achieve in a particular context. By aligning your value delivery chain with your buyers' jobs to be done and incorporating a buyer facilitation process, you can create meaningful, long-lasting value while guiding buyers through a collaborative decision-making process for complex B2B acquisitions.

This article outlines a framework for implementing a buyer facilitation strategy, leveraging the powerful JTBD model and the Buyer Enablement Sales Process, as defined by the Aligned team. By adopting these approaches, you can position your organisation as a trusted co-creator, enabling your customers to achieve their desired outcomes.

Defining the JTBD Framework

At the heart of buyer facilitation lies the Job to Be Done (JTBD) framework, which emphasises understanding the core progress a customer seeks to make as the source of new business opportunities. Rather than focusing on demographic profiles or product features, JTBD encourages you to uncover the specific problems your buyers want to solve, the goals they hope to achieve, and the obstacles preventing them from making progress.

For example, consider a mid-market CFO struggling with managing global payroll compliance. Their JTBD might be to "streamline payroll operations across multiple jurisdictions while ensuring regulatory compliance and minimising risk." By framing your value proposition around this outcome-focused JTBD, you can better align your solution with the customer's true needs and pain points.

As shown in the JTBD Four Forces Model, the customer's decision to adopt a new approach is influenced by four key factors: the push of their current situation, the pull of the new solution, the tug of their existing habits, and the anxiety surrounding the change. Understanding these forces can help you better facilitate the buyer's journey and guide them towards a successful outcome.

Implementing the Buyer Enablement Process

To put these principles into practice, consider adopting the Buyer Enablement Sales Process, as outlined by the Aligned team:

Alignment

Objective: Build shared understanding and collaboration with internal stakeholders.

Activities: Create a shared collaboration space and enable multithreading to ensure alignment across the buyer’s team. This fosters communication and clarifies priorities among decision-makers.

Problem Identification

Objective: Understand the buyer’s specific challenges and define their “Job to Be Done” (JTBD).

Activities: Engage deeply to uncover the buyer’s pain points and goals. Use frameworks like JTBD to articulate the progress they aim to achieve and their obstacles.

Solution Exploration

Objective: Help buyers evaluate potential solutions in a guided, collaborative manner. Frameworks like April Dunford’s Positioning Canvas and Conversational Storyboard are particularly valuable.

Activities: Provide tailored resources, answer questions, and address initial concerns to position your solution as a clear fit for their needs.

Proposal Development

Objective: Collaborate on mutual action plans and proposal development to demonstrate unique value and alleviate buyer concerns.

Activities: Craft customised comparisons and value demonstrations. Address anxieties about risks by inviting prospects to co-create action plans and decision-making milestones, which will make your proposal stand out.

Facilitate Consensus

Objective: Help buyers build internal consensus among diverse stakeholders.

Activities: Provide resources that enable the buyer’s champion to advocate for your solution within their organisation, such as ROI calculators or case studies that resonate with financial stakeholders.

Decision Support

Objective: Guide buyers through their final decision-making stage with clarity and confidence.

Activities: Offer clear implementation plans, on-boarding assistance, and post-purchase support to reduce the perceived risks of change.

Outcome Achievement

Objective: Ensure the buyer achieves their desired outcomes post-purchase.

Activities: Provide continuous support, track success metrics, and refine your solutions to align with evolving needs, solidifying a long-term relationship.

This buyer enablement process shifts from traditional selling to emphasise collaboration, empathy, and value-driven interactions. By leveraging frameworks like JTBD, a positioning canvas and conversation storyboard and tools such as shared collaboration spaces, sellers can build trust and guide buyers to achieve their desired outcomes.

Conclusion: Embracing Buyer Facilitation

As technological advancements and economic uncertainties reshape the B2B environment, companies that succeed will be those that prioritize buyer facilitation over traditional selling methods. Envision the "champion buyer" in a complex, high-value and high-risk purchase, struggling to build consensus and communicate the business case to the "financial buyer.” Consider the differences in the buying experience and perception when dealing with Vendors A, B, and C, who communicate through email and PDFs to influence the buying team, compared to Vendor D, utilising a collaborative buyer facilitation and enablement process aligned with the buyer’s Job To Be Done (JTBD).

By starting with the customer’s Job to Be Done and aligning your value delivery process with the Buyer Enablement framework, you can position your organisation as a trusted co-creator, guiding your customers towards their desired outcomes.

The future of B2B sales lies in creating personalised, value-driven experiences that anticipate and address your buyers' evolving needs. Are you ready to transform your customer engagement approach and become a true facilitator of your customers' success?

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