What Will B2B Buyers Do in a Recovery?

One of the big surprises of the Great Recession is that most IT buyers have not cut their budgets by much. In ITSMA’s 2009 How Customers Choose Survey, the largest segment of buyers, 25%, said their budgets changed by only +/–2%.

Yet the small changes in budgets seem less surprising when you consider that IT has been in more or less a permanent mode of cost cutting since the last recession. Our partners on the survey, Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), a global market research and strategic consulting firm for the software and IT services industry, have been tracking lean budgets for years now. “We entered this recession with lean IT spending, so there was little room to cut compared to the previous recession,” says Olivier Nguyen Van Tan, managing director of PAC’s New York branch.

The static budget numbers do not mean that CIOs and other IT buyers are standing still, however. Even though the highest percentage of buyers, 54%, are focused on cutting costs and increasing productivity, 42% are trying to innovate and deploy new technology, and 39% say that they are looking to expand globally. “While cost cutting obviously remains a priority, we’re seeing signals that companies are trying to position themselves to be more competitive when they exit the recession,” says Nguyen Van Tan.

What It Means for Marketers

For marketers, the emphasis on innovation means that they have an opportunity to get in front of buyers early in the buying process, during the Epiphany Stage, before buyers have fully hatched their business needs. Marketers can create demand by developing idea- and trend-based thought leadership that helps clients discover and respond to the most important business issues they face. Marketers should create events that take clients out of the day to day so that they can collaborate and spark new ideas.

There’s plenty of opportunity for differentiation in the early stages of the buying process. Just 16% of buyers say that their providers are very helpful in showing them the possibilities to solve their business challenges. And just slightly more than 50% of buyers say that providers’ thought leadership marketing is helpful in this regard. Most buyers are going out and doing their own research rather than waiting for providers to approach them. Companies that invest in understanding buyers’ business issues and creating good thought leadership around those issues have a tremendous opportunity to stand apart from competitors.

Judging from our survey data, no single marketing tactic stands out as being significantly more effective than others to buyers today. Yet thought leadership-based tactics such as e-newsletters, Webinars, and in-person seminars all cluster near the top, while more traditional marketing tactics such as brochures, telemarketing, and hospitality events all occupy the bottom of the list. Marketers who focus on understanding customers’ business issues and deliver that understanding through a combination of online and offline channels will have an advantage as we exit the recession.

Download your free abbreviated summary of the 2009 ITSMA How Customers Choose Survey here.

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.