B2B: Business People Are People Too 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… 
 
I was working on my first client, the B2B side of Orkin Pest Control. 
 
“Man, that’s so rad! You help sell pest control to restaurants and hospitals?!” said none of my friends ever.  
 
But here’s the thing – it was pretty rad. And after a few quick months and a couple of sales rep ride-alongs meeting customers and prospects, I came to a clear conclusion: 
 
** 🤖🤖🤖 B2B buyers are people 🙋🏾‍♂️🙆🏼‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️ too. ** 
 
As I took my first steps into this larger world back in 2013 (oy), I started trying to find proof of this “people too” hunch. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon this little golden nugget about “business value vs. personal value” and the impact on commercial outcomes (charts below).  
 
Here’s a takeaway: B2B purchasers are 50% more likely to buy a product or service when they see personal value.  
 
Another one: B2B buyers are eight times more likely to pay a higher price 📈💰 for comparable products and services when they see personal value. 
 
Personal value = professional, social, emotional, and self-image benefits. 
 
Now today, this may not seem so groundbreaking (more on that below) – but this was 2013. This was during the Dark Times. Before the LinkedIn B2B Institute (I think?). Before “The Flippening,” as coined by Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg. Before folks like Tyrona (Ty) Heath were spreading the good word of B2B marketing effectiveness with friends like Mark Pollard, Strategy Friend. Before Jenni Romaniuk graced us with a chapter dedicated to B2B in How Brands Grow pt. 2. 
 
Spoiler alert: Many of the laws, principles, and rules we know and love still apply in B2B – be easy to mind 🤔 and easy to find 👀, and growth should happen just fine 📈 ✅. 
 
But even with all this great evidence at our disposal, the numbers still tend to show otherwise: 
 
*** Re: The 95/5 rule – lead gen efforts focused on capturing the ~5% of people who are in market at any point in time still get ~80% of B2B marketing budgets 🤯.  
 
*** Re: Emotion’s place in B2B – despite emotion’s role in driving very large business effects in B2B, 78% of B2B ads are dull, according to System1. As we know, dull 😐 = waste 🗑️.  
 
So if you’re in B2B marketing or you help B2B brands (and if you’re not or don’t), I’ve dropped a few good things in the comments that you should check out. Gotta work the ol’ algorithm. 
 
The world of B2B marketing is bright with a lot of headroom. If you’re hoping to take your first steps into this larger B2B marketing world and make the case to go to the light side, May the (sales)Force be with you (see the first article and YouTube link in the comments). 
 
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