B2B Sellers Risk Losing 84% of Job Opportunities

According to new research by SavvySME, an overwhelming majority of B2B jobs outsourced are initiated during the discovery phases of the buying journey. 

The SavvySME B2B Jobs Report 2023 analyses when small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) start their supplier selection.

While sales organisations predominantly focus on the tail end of the B2B buying journey, the report shows that supplier selection starts much sooner; during browsing and discovery. That's why platforms such as SavvySME are designed to capture buyers' interest much earlier before they are ready to make a decision.   

Only 15.63% of buyers start the supplier selection process after the initial research and requirements building phases.

Yee Trinh, SavvySME Cofounder and Top Influencer in E-commerce elaborates onhow critical it is for businesses to attract customers during the early phases of the B2B buying journey:

“Sellers who aren’t present when businesses are researching problems and solutions are constantly losing business opportunities to their competitors.” 

Gartner’s B2B Sales Report discusses the nature of B2B sales in an increasingly digital world:

”The way in which customers progress from the starting point to a purchase is unpredictable, inconsistent and sometimes repetitive. A better depiction of a B2B buying journey is likely to look like a disordered web rather than linear chevrons.” 

The B2B Jobs Report found 57.28% of outsourcing jobs were raised when buyers were browsing discussions and reading articles or case studies; activities associated with the early phases of the buying journey (problem identification, solution exploration and requirement building).

Paige Arnof-Fenn, SavvySME Top Influencer in Marketing explains howbusinesses can attract clients early in the B2B buying journey:

“Content marketing and thought leadership are great ways to build your brand, increase your visibility and more broadly, raise your profile and attract more clients. Activities like speaking at a conference, writing articles, building your following on social media all contribute to increasing your awareness with potential customers and building your credibility with a larger community.”

The discovery process is shown to play a heavy hand in buying decisions with 22.02% of jobs raised while buyers were browsing their social feed, notably higher than the 15.63% of jobs raised on sales pages.

Wendy Huang, SavvySME Top Influencer in Social Media Marketing elaborates onhow she leverages social engagement to drive sales:

“I find a really good way to encourage sales is to trigger them to enter the purchase process… Even if someone is not on the market to buy your product there are ways to start them thinking about it as long as you do it properly.”

At which stage of the B2B buying process, do businesses start sourcing service providers on SavvySME? 

Source: SavvySME B2B Jobs Report 2023