International SEO
Become THE Resource (Before the Sales Pitch)
The B2B buying cycle is complicated, really complicated. Not only do you have multiple people and departments involved in the purchasing decision, but the people involved make decisions based on more than just getting the best price or quality. One might think that business purchase decisions are made rationally, but as Gord Hotchkiss points out in The BuyerSphere Project, B2B purchases are often more irrational than B2C purchases.
Online research is a big part of the B2B buying cycle. Industrial and B2B websites need to provide information that will help all the players in the buying cycle feel comfortable with their final purchasing decision. Potential customers need to know the risk of buying from you is much lower than buying from your competitors.
Here are a few ways you can help to mitigate the fears of your industrial website’s visitors:
Provide free tools and whitepapers that help make your audience’s lives easier. This can be especially effective for industrial companies when complex, technical issues impact their day to day lives. Become a resource for them without forcing them to turn over their contact information or hear your sales pitch. If you can earn their trust before they are a customer, it will help them to feel more comfortable when it is time to choose a new vendor.
Make sure to clearly show your pricing information and any shipping or delivery fees. Don’t leave purchasers guessing about price – make it easy for them to compare your prices with other companies’ prices. Even if your price is higher, you may still win the sale because you’ve made the buying decision easier.
Give accurate and up to date about your company. Emphasize to website visitors what your company’s strengths are and how doing business with you will help to make their jobs easier. And don’t forget to give them your phone number and an email address so they can quickly contact someone when they have questions.
Let current and past customers brag you up. Use case studies and testimonials from current and former clients to showcase what you did for them. Not only will you be able to expand on your capabilities this way, but you also build trust.
All of these tips will help you to show your potential customers that you are a trusted resource and that they are safe buying from you, which helps increase website conversions. Additionally, they help you to generate additional content for your website and create link-bait, which will help your search engine optimization efforts and drive traffic. How great is that?
March 6th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
This is so true. When customers view sales people as a trusted and knowledgeable resource, there is more perceived value. Customer loyalty is increased.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I totally agree Ann. And industrial companies rely heavily on their current vendors for information – once you’re in, you can really have a big impact on your customers.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Good points. A key to doing business is making it easy for people to do business with you. As long as there has been competition, that has been true. And the internet has definitely opened up competition.
Adding pricing on a website is important. That makes it easy for people to do business with you.