Creating a B2B buyer journey map in 8 steps

Most businesses put their buyers and purchasing managers at the front of buying situations — but they’re not actually qualified to make any buying decisions. At an organizational level, businesses should invest in effective, reliable support and customer success infrastructures. As an individual rep, you can start capitalizing on this trend by making the buying process as seamless and simple as possible for your prospects — you want their experience with your product to start off on the right note. All of those products represent software solutions businesses can leverage for broader business interests. These solutions might include CRMs, project management software, or conversational intelligence programs.

Giving your prospects a special, individualistic experience empowers their decision making and assists the buying group as a whole in reaching consensus without impeding buyers’ preference for self-discovery. Guiding your prospects throughout the buying process with prospect nurturing helps to both educate them on topics and products of interest, as well as establish your organization’s value and earn their trust. Once you have created buyer personas, each department, from marketing to sales to client success (CS), will have a clear starting point to work from.

That same study found that returning customers, on the whole, generally have shorter sales cycles than new prospects — making winning repeat business particularly cost- and time-efficient. According to our 2024 Sales Trends Report, 63% of sales leaders say AI makes it easier for them to compete with other businesses in their industry. Resellers sell the goods and services that other businesses produce. Obviously, this list of differences isn't exhaustive, there are several other differences between the two brands of sales — and if you want some additional context, check out our post on B2C sales. So from as high a level as possible, the difference between B2B and B2C is that the former is used for business needs and the former is used for individual consumption. In many cases, B2B sales involve high deal values and long sales cycles — after all, they're conducted at an organizational level.

Complex Sales Funnels

In B2B marketing, distinguishing between a Buyer Persona and an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is crucial as each serves a b2b buyer persona different purpose in the marketing and sales process. B2B Buyer personas provide a detailed representation of your ideal customers based on a blend of actual data about existing customers and insightful market research. The key to effective and relevant messaging across the buying group is orchestration—every touchpoint should feel relevant, timely, and part of a connected story. Buyers also conduct independent research across channels, making it harder for marketers to influence and engage the full group. Contact us to explore the ML Platform and how we approach buying group identification and engagement in ABM.

B2B Buyer Persona: Individual Focus

End users influence early solution exploration and validate usability mid-journey. Purchase influencers are often the first to engage—researching solutions, comparing vendors, and shaping early internal conversations. Without addressing these shifting personas and their unique goals, your messaging will miss the mark and stall deals. If marketers don’t meet each persona with relevant content throughout that journey, deals stall or quietly disappear. As B2B solutions grow more complex—and the risks of getting them wrong grow more visible—stakeholders from across the business now take part in purchase decisions. But enterprise deals aren’t won by convincing one person—they’re won by aligning many.

By understanding these characteristics, businesses can develop products and messages that better fit what their customers need and want. Join our community of lifelong-learners (10,000+ marketers and counting!) Create pages sales can send to answer objections, prove fit, and move opportunities forward. Experiment with hero messaging, proof placement, section order, and CTA structure on solution and comparison pages. Use blogs and guides for early-stage learning, solution pages for evaluation, and comparison pages for decision-stage shortlisting. Owen has a few favorite brands, but he’s always open to new ideas as long as they’re recommended by a trusted source.

• These prospects are typically other companies or organizations rather than individual consumers.
• Combined, demographic and psychographic information can help you fine-tune your audience targeting goals, determine target audience potential and prioritize profitable audience segments.
• Or, if your brand sells women’s activewear, this persona may be up your alley.
• Any insights should be made available and descriptions of the segment/groups should be present and widely understood.
• With that information, businesses can better choose the best channels.

Why should you advertise on Reddit?

Discover how enterprise brands can create content that builds authentic audience connections. She’d also like employees to be able to easily provide anonymous feedback, from their phones, in under two minutes. The company’s strategy, CEO, and the day-to-day grind all come under fire affecting brand reputation.