That’s not a half-hearted excuse from an unmotivated salesperson – it’s an important principle that B2B marketers need to understand and embrace. When we consider the typically long purchase cycles for many B2B goods and services, this makes a lot of sense.
In a paper published by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science (home to Byron Sharp of How Brands Grow fame), Professor John Dawes defines the 95-5 rule to demonstrate that most B2B buyers are not in the market at any point in time.
This has serious consequences for B2B marketers and how they plan and implement their campaigns.
Put simply, the rule states that 95% of B2B buyers are NOT in the market for your product or service at any point in time, meaning that only 5% are considered to be actively looking to purchase right now. The statistics aren’t meant to be precise, but to help B2B marketers understand the mindset of prospects.
Consider any number of B2B products or services such as banking, legal services, accounting and finance systems, office space, capital equipment, vehicles and the list goes on. Once purchased, it can be a number of years before an organisation will again enter a category with buying intent.
How often does your business change suppliers or service providers? If it’s once every five years, it means that only 20% of category buyers are in the market in any given year, or 5% in any given quarter. And of course, this means that 95% are NOT in the market in any given quarter.
The consequences for B2B marketers are significant. Marketing activities won’t be able to stimulate people to buy (as most prospects aren’t thinking of buying), but they can help you build familiarity over time. Professor Dawes describes this as “building a memory link for the brand in buyers’ minds”.
Strong memory links that accumulate and compound over time will be activated when buyers enter the market, ready to buy. Stated another way, think of one of the most important concepts from Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow – creating “mental availability”, which is the likelihood that a brand will be noticed, recognised or thought of in a buying situation.
Being in market all the time, with consistent messaging, will help prospects associate your brand with the problem they need to solve when they eventually enter the market ready to buy.
The short answer is no. Professor Dawes points out that familiar brands are more likely to be considered by active buyers. If you advertise or promote your business infrequently with a view to getting their attention in the moment, those buyers will already have a short-list in mind based on the memory links your competitors have created.
Put another way, when your prospective buyer turns their attention to your category, such as when a contract is coming up for renewal, you need to be in their mind already to be considered.
The 95-5 rule should sharpen the focus of B2B marketers to be “always-on” with consistent marketing and messaging, and in it for the long haul. It’s not an easy path to growth, but it is an effective one.
It will take time, but the effort will be worth it as prospects familiar with your brand inevitably become active buyers in your category. The pay-off will be an enduring competitive advantage that will drive growth in sales and market share.
If you need help creating consistent marketing content that builds mental links and familiarity for business decision-makers in your category, talk to us.