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15 Tips to Move B2B Buyers Through the Buyer Journey
Updated January 2, 2025
The B2B buyer journey has five phases: awareness, research, shortlisting, decision-making, and post-decision. Follow these tips to learn how you can nurture leads and guide them through the buyer journey.
Compared to B2C, the B2B buyer journey is complex and long. B2B buyers often spend months at a time analyzing a problem, researching solutions, and evaluating potential service providers before selecting a partner for their project.
In fact, Clutch recently surveyed over 300 US-based professionals who have hired service providers and found that it takes an average of 3–4 months for B2B buyers to find and hire a service provider.
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Sales and marketing teams, however, can help their clients move through the sales funnel by addressing the unique needs and challenges their clients face at each stage of the B2B buyer journey.
This article dives into how your team can support potential clients at each stage of the buyer journey. These tips will help your team win more clients and foster long-term partnerships.
Buyer Journey Stages
Phase 1: Awareness
In the earliest phase of the buying process, potential customers are aware of a problem but are unclear about potential solutions. At a high level, they are likely gathering information to understand their challenges better and how to solve them.
The most common reason why companies begin searching for a B2B service provider is to increase efficiency (47%), followed by the need for additional support for a new system or product launch (43%), or to scale their business (39%).
By addressing these issues, companies can help potential customers come to the conclusion that they need to hire a service provider. Just as importantly, companies can increase brand awareness and capture the interest of potential buyers by providing educational content.
3 Tips to Appeal to Buyers in the Awareness Stage
- Understand your ICP (Ideal Customer Persona). An ICP represents those who you serve best; those in specific industries, verticals, company sizes, and phases of growth, as well as the specific buyers within the organization who drive decision making. With a solid understanding of what motivates your clients, you can appeal more to them more effectively.
- Develop high-quality content that answers your potential customers biggest questions. Top-of-funnel content such as blogs, videos, and social media posts, can answer your ICP’s biggest questions and provide them with enough information for them to determine the type of support they need. By getting your brand name in front of a larger audience, you can set the foundation for further interactions and conversions.
- Once you connect with a potential client, spend time in discovery. Before launching into a pitch on capabilities, back up and ask questions to understand what triggered the outreach. This allows your sales team to speak to the solutions your company provides and how you can support each client’s specific needs.
Phase 2: Research & Evaluation
Once a potential buyer has identified that they need to hire a service provider, they will begin to research what services they actually need and who can provide them.
As they continue the research process, they will begin to evaluate potential partners even though they’re not ready to reach out to service providers just yet. In fact, a recent study showed that B2B buyers are 57% to 70% through their buying journey by the time they reach out to sales.
Because of this, it’s important for service providers to reach potential customers and begin educating them on their services early on in the research process.
One of the best ways companies can reach more customers and prepare them for conversations with their sales team is by building their online presence.
3 Tips to Appeal to Buyers in the Research & Evaluation Stage
- Build your online presence with online reviews. Online reviews play a crucial role in building trust and credibility with potential customers. Positive reviews act as social proof, showing that others have had a positive experience with the company's products or services.
- Differentiate your business by leaning into your unique specialty areas compared to other providers in the category. For example, highlight your most popular services or industries you work with. In doing so, you’ll get more qualified leads.
- Continue to update your online profile: Buyers want to see a consistent pattern of work. Consistently update your online profiles to demonstrate that your team is consistently providing high-quality services and using modern best practices.
Phase 3: Shortlisting
In this stage, B2B buyers start to narrow down their list of potential partners and start reaching out to preferred vendors. While they’ve conducted their initial research, they have more questions about specific services, prices, and more.
B2B companies can appeal to buyers in this stage by answering specific questions, highlighting their value proposition, and building relationships with potential clients.
3 Tips to Appeal to Buyers in the Shortlisting Stage
- Highlight relevant industry examples. Leverage reviews and case studies from clients you’ve worked with in the past that are similar to your prospective client. Demonstrate impact by pointing to the outcomes your team generated and how you were able to resolve specific pain points that may apply to them as well.
- Follow up quickly. In this day and age, buyers expect a response within one business day. If they schedule a future call, be sure to email or text to confirm that you received their request. Then, ask some introductory questions to better prepare for that first sales call.
- Justify your price. Rather than looking to hire the cheapest option, potential buyers are hoping to find a partner who can provide the best services within their budget. To convert prospective clients, highlight why you’re worth a premium and risks of going with the cheapest option.
Phase 4: Decision Making
As buyers continue to narrow down their list even further and choose a sole provider to work with, they will be assessing more than each service provider’s expertise.
While a provider’s understanding of specific business needs and ability to deliver are important factors, buyers will also consider the ease of doing business and communicating with each partner.
It’s essential to demonstrate the value and benefits of your product or service, address any concerns or objections, and provide a seamless and trustworthy experience throughout the entire sales process.
3 Tips to Appeal to Buyers in the Decision Making Stage
- Drive urgency. Reminding prospects that they have a pain point that needs to be resolved can motivate them to make a purchase. You can nudge them along by discussing the opportunity cost of delaying the start of the project, then highlight your proposed timeline for seeing an impact.
- Understand context during negotiation. B2B buyers will often negotiate by objecting to certain aspects of the contract. Take the time to understand why they’re objecting so you can address it and reassure them. That will ensure both parties are aligned and bring you closer to winning the project.
- Empower clients and make them feel confident about their decision. The B2B buyer journey can be a stressful process. By addressing their concerns and answering their questions throughout the process, you can help them feel more confident in their decision while demonstrating your value.
Phase 5: Post-Decision
The buyer journey isn’t over when a service provider has won the contract. Once a provider begins to deliver services, the buyer will evaluate how the provider is performing and monitor their performance.
To retain these clients, service providers need to ensure a smooth handoff to account managers, maintain communication, and ensure that they’re delivering on everything they’ve promised.
3 Tips to Appeal to Buyers in the Post-Decision Stage
- Ask for feedback. As discussed above, online reviews are a great way to educate potential customers about your services and build credibility. After working with a client for a while, ask them to leave a review to help attract new clients as well.
- Stay connected. Sharing updates on how the project is progressing or any notable results can help your clients stay informed. This helps build trust and confidence that your team is providing value.
- Upsell. As your partnership continues, periodically remind them of additional services. Especially when a client is happy with your work, they may be open to ways they can improve performance and grow their business. Consequently, your business can increase the value of the project.
Understanding The Buyer’s Journey Can Help You Win New Clients
While B2B buyers begin their research process well before contacting potential service providers, companies can reach them early on in the process to help answer their most pressing questions and nurture them through the buyer journey.
As a result, they can help clients feel more confident about their decisions when hiring a service provider.
Clutch is a B2B ratings and reviews platform that helps companies reach prospects throughout their buyer journey. Through various offerings, Clutch can help you target buyers looking at services like yours both around the world and in your area. You can target specific buyers on an individual page within a specialty service, country, or city.
Learn more about how service providers can reach B2B buyers more effectively in Clutch’s webinar, “Understanding the B2B Buyer Journey.”
Hannah Hicklen is a content marketing manager who focuses on creating newsworthy content around tech services, such as software and web development, AI, and cybersecurity. With a background in SEO and editorial content, she now specializes in creating multi-channel marketing strategies that drive engagement, build brand authority, and generate high-quality leads. Hannah leverages data-driven insights and industry trends to craft compelling narratives that resonate with technical and non-technical audiences alike.
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