B2B Marketing

I was reading an article recently about a B2B supplier who had been supplying parts for industrial engineers. They had been supplying their catalogue on CD-ROMs for years yet many engineers reported that they weren't using it, even though it was more up to date than the paper catalogue. When the B2B supplier asked why, they were unable to articulate the reasons. It was only after a research team had a design engineer go to his desk and walk through how he found a suitable product, did it strike them that the engineer not only has the current catalogue but the last two years as well. They were filled with Post-Notes and handwritten comments about specific parts. Based on this new insight the manufacturer redesigned the CD-ROM solution to allow users to save their own personal comments against products.

I intentionally chose this example because it highlighted started me thinking about some valuable things to consider when looking at how you can create incremental value for your customers in your own organisations:

• Research and data mining and asking customers about their experiences are all fundamental principles of market research. But don't underestimate the deep insight you gain by direct observation and immersing yourself in the life of a customer - to get at those ‘unarticulated needs'.
• Don't just observe your customers but also your non customers. If you have the opportunity observe those that are not doing anything yet with either your offering or your competitor offerings (i.e. maintaining the status quo) and also those that are using competitor offerings or even substitute alternatives to solve the same problem. An example here would be someone using a rolodex as their contact management solution versus software based contact management solutions.
• Don't just look at how your customers/prospects undertake a specific process (like placing an order as the example above). Look before and after that process to see whether there is any untapped meet you can align towards.

Sometimes it really just takes just small changes to the ‘value' you create to make marked improvements in the perception of your offering and differentiate yourself from convergent competition. So, what are you waiting for? Why aren't you walking in your customer and prospects footsteps today?