We’ve likely all heard “first impressions are important,” an axiom that holds true whether you’re meeting your new boss, future spouse, or soon-to-be-in-laws. This isn’t just because first impressions are hard to change after the fact. It’s also because a good or bad first impression can determine if you’ll even get a chance to make a second, a concern as relevant to B2B sales as it is to personal relationships. Maybe even more so.
In a personal context, on first meeting people, we quickly, if often unconsciously, size up individuals to determine whether interacting with them is likely to be pleasant or unpleasant, to our benefit or detriment, useful or of no consequence. Invariably, our judgement is influenced by how we’ve met a person to begin with–as a result of a friend’s introduction, our membership in an organization, or, at random, such as on the street or in the supermarket. The stronger the connection, the more likely our judgement will be positive. The more remote the tie, the more likely we are to proceed with caution. Other factors that quickly come into play as we get to know someone include how much we believe we have in common with them, how trustworthy they seem, and if we think we might want or need to know them better.
The same dynamics come into play in the supplier-buyer relationship: a prospect (i.e., potential customer) initially judges a possible supplier on its reputation, how he or she first became aware of the supplier (e.g., by chance, through a referral, or via marketing), and how familiar the supplier seems to be with the customer’s industry or application. All this affects the likelihood of the supplier making a positive first impression. All of it also speaks to the criticality of creating Awareness and of developing Consideration–the first two stages of the sales and marketing funnel and prerequisites to progressing to its third stage, Preference, and its fourth stage and ultimate objective, Purchase.
This is why it’s crucial that suppliers not focus exclusively on creating product-centric materials such as product web pages, data sheets, brochures, and catalogs, which prospects usually consult toward the end of the purchasing process. Rather, suppliers should also produce general, credibility-creating materials like industry white papers and technology guides or handbooks that will get their companies’ expertise noticed and their solutions considered during the Awareness and Consideration stages of the marketing and sales process.
Please look for my next post, which will discuss the sort of marketing content that most encourages the development of Preference among prospects and helps convert them into customers by leading them to Purchase–or, in other words, the kind of content that is best suited to enabling the ultimate goal of the marketing process, a closed sale.
Please see parts 1, 2, 3, and 5 of this article series on content marketing at GF&Z’s blog “Perspectives in Global B2B Marketing,” on www.globalmarcomm.com.
Ronald-Stéphane Gilbért, Global and Content Marketing Practice Director— Gilbért, Flossmann & Zhang Worldwide, Cleveland
Contact GF&Z at solutions@globalmarcomm.com