Your B2B customers could be facing a growing number of challenges when it comes to purchasing a new service or product. According to research published by Gartner in 2021, more than three quarters (77%) of B2B buyers said their last purchase was very difficult or complex.¹

That means understanding the challenges your customers face – and then easing the purchasing process accordingly – could make your business more attractive. Improving the sales experience can boost customer satisfaction, increase retention, and ultimately grow revenue.²

Here, we’ll take a look at some of those challenges and consider how businesses can help their customers to navigate them.

While B2C businesses sell to individual customers, a single B2B sale can involve several individuals at the purchasing company. According to research by Gartner, the number of individual stakeholders involved in a complex B2B purchase has increased, on average, from five a decade ago to 11 today.³ That means more people, with different and sometimes conflicting priorities, trying to agree.

What that means for you

Those decision makers may all have different ideas around what they want from the deal, so thinking about their various priorities and tailoring your approach accordingly could be a good strategy.²

Start by listing all the stakeholders involved in the decision and their job functions. Try to put yourself in their shoes, and consider the challenges they might face and the KPIs they’re measured against in their roles. Being aware of all the decision makers’ pain points and priorities could help you to better understand what they want from their purchase and how to help them.

Along with the growing number of decision makers, there can also be many options of product or service for your B2B customers to choose from. This can make purchasing decisions even more challenging to reach – with research also showing that buyers question their decisions on 40% of completed B2B purchases.⁴

What that means for you

With so many factors complicating the buying journey, sellers that can simplify the job of purchasing for their customers are likely to do well.⁴ Consider shifting your focus from selling to customers to enabling them to make the purchase, by helping them to complete the different steps involved.⁵ For instance, a good starting point could be helping customers to identify the problems that they are hoping to solve.

B2B customers spend around two thirds of their buying journey consuming information about potential suppliers and their products – far more than they spend speaking to sales staff.¹ One estimate suggests only 17% of buyers’ total purchase time is spent meeting with potential suppliers, with each of them getting around 5% of the customer’s time.³

However, providing too much information can end up confusing your customers rather than empowering them to make a decision. Research shows that that when B2B sellers offered too much information, purchase ease decreased by 18%.⁴

What that means for you

A simple place to start is your company website. Research shows that B2B customers spend the largest chunk of their purchase journey researching independently online, so making sure that your website is well designed, is easy to navigate, and features clear, up-to-date information could help you stand out from the competition.³

You should also understand the impact that providing a good experience can have on your sales performance.

Research from McKinsey shows that suppliers that provide outstanding digital experiences for their buyers are more than twice as likely to be chosen as a primary supplier than ones that provide poor experiences. And further research showed that top frustrations with suppliers’ websites include the length of the ordering process, difficulties in finding products and technical glitches during the ordering process.⁶

In terms of the knowledge you provide, consider concentrating on “prescriptive” information that’s designed to help customers complete stages of the purchasing journey. For example, try to include content that helps buyers to identify the capabilities they require from the product or service they are looking to buy, which is a crucial step in the buying journey.⁵