The Modern Customer – the PHANTOM: Customers on the Run: How Sales must Respond to Radically New Buying Behavior 3658391952, 9783658391959

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Livia Rainsberger

The Modern Customer – the PHANTOM Customers on the Run: How Sales must Respond to Radically New Buying Behavior

The Modern Customer – the PHANTOM

Livia Rainsberger

The Modern Customer – the PHANTOM Customers on the Run: How Sales must Respond to Radically New Buying Behavior

Livia Rainsberger Wissence Eichgraben, Austria

ISBN 978-3-658-39195-9 ISBN 978-3-658-39196-6  (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6 This book is a translation of the original German „Der moderne Kunde – das PHANTOM“ by Rainsberger, Livia, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH in 2022. The translation was done with the help of an artificial intelligence machine translation tool. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Responsible Editor: Manuela Eckstein This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

Warning Notice

Conscientiously and right from the start, I would like to point out the possible effects this book might have on you, dear reader: • This book could make you think. • The content of this book could trigger deep phases of reflection. • After reading this book, everything you knew about sales might not seem important anymore. • The suggestions in this book could mean a lot of work. • Implementing the recommendations from this book could change your sales approach and your business forever. • Internalizing the principles of this book could result in more sales. • If you correctly implement the approaches described in this book, lots of customers could come knocking at your door. This effect is quite intentional, and everything that is written in this book is deliberately meant to trigger it. Additionally, a few unwanted side effects might occur during the reading process, such as confusion, feeling overwhelmed, and even fear. For this reason, you should not read the book before going to bed. Who shouldn’t read this book This book is not for people who think that sales can and should operate by the same principles as before and that no change is needed. Consequently, those who are afraid of change or of recognizing the need for change should not take the risk. Those who think they know their customers well and know exactly how they make decisions, and are only looking for methods to sell more, can safely do without this reading. Last but not least, I would like to warn those who under no circumstances want to be shaken in their existing beliefs about sales.

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Who will benefit from this book For all others who recognize the need for change in sales but do not know how to act on it, this book will create clarity. Those who want to understand how modern customers make buying decisions and how their needs and expectations have changed will find the necessary knowledge in this book. Those who want to understand contemporary sales and intend to adapt their methods to the digital conditions will find the right approaches here. Everyone who wants to understand what changes are currently taking place in sales, especially those related to the customer behaviour, will learn a lot of new things. Last but not least, all those who are interested in state-of-the-art sales methods will find relevant approaches too. Nothing is as it used to be The idea for this book emerged after a lecture at a conference. I had dared to speak out a quite provocative thesis: “Your customer wants you to ignore him and be treated like a silly child.” The claim shook the attendies up and sparked disussions, and you will find its explanation in this book. For now, just so much: We live in a new world where nothing seems to be in its “old” place anymore. In just a few decades, technological progress has not only turned companies and entire industries upside down, but has also had a significant impact on all of our lives. It took electricity around 100 years to reach households in most parts of the world and become a mass-market product. However, electrification is not yet complete and around 1.4 billion people still do not have access to electricity. The railway and the car each took around 80 years to become broadly available to consumers. The computer took around 30 years to reach our homes and the smartphone less than ten. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, mobile phones are now more widespread than access to electricity. In 2016, a UN report made a connection between the importance of open access to the internet with human rights. This was partly misinterpreted as a declaration of the right to internet access as a new human right. The question is, how long will it take until it actually becomes reality: when will the right to internet become a human right? Technology has entered our lives at an astonishing speed in the few last decades and has become a fixed part of our everyday lives. It not only influences our daily routine, but also our behavior, our expectations and even our cognitive abilities, as we will see later in the book. Chapter 1 of this book is dedicated to the detailed description of these changes. It describes the core of this new world influenced by technology, which has undeniably changed many aspects of human existence. The result is the emergence of a new species of human being, which differs from its predecessors from the analog world by its new characteristics and behaviors. Chapter 2 will explore in detail these new properties and behaviors. But first, we need to understand the current changes and their correlations in order to be able to understand the new behavior of customers and the resulting need for change in sales.

Warning Notice

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Creating awareness Some companies are fully aware of this and are actively working to adapt their sales processes to the requirements of the digital world. Many others have recognized the need for change, but are still undecided about what exactly needs to be done. And some have made sporadic adjustments and believe that this is enough. And last but not least, there are still some—and unfortunately still far too many—who are still relying on obsolete and outdated sales methods and approaches. It is high time to create a broad awareness of the current changes in sales, especially on the customer side. Because the modern customer is no longer the customer you think you know. He has evolved into a new unknown for sales in many ways. The new needs and expectations of modern customers are the subject of Chapter 3. I intentionally describe these new behaviors meticulously, so as not to leave the slightest doubt about the existence of this new species of customer. How to address this new type of customer, you will find out in Chapter 4. It describes new and innovative approaches and methods to address modern customers by their expectations and how to create the necessary conditions so that the customers find their way to you on their own. Because old sales and marketing methods are obsolete and customers are reacting less and less to them. Facts, not imagination To substantiate my claims, I rely on many studies and statistics—perhaps too much for some readers. But this is a conscious decision because I want to provide you with clear evidence of the unstoppable change in sales. “The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself,” says the famous quote and wants to make us aware that statistical data carry a certain bias. But they highlight a trend that largely reflects reality— even if they are of course not accurate to the percentage point and will vary in different areas. But the general trend is usually correct. The aim of this book is to demonstrate that the current developments are relevant for all business areas, therefore results from several qualified studies are used and placed in different contexts. This is intended for those who see and recognize the general developments in the markets, but who do not yet realize or simply overlook their relevance for the own business or industry. Rethinking is hard work The necessity for rethinking of sales should be undisputed since the COVID 19 crisis. The pandemic has accelerated and intensified many already begun developments in customer behavior. But it's by all means not an easy task. If you want to encourage people to rethink their approaches and believes, you have to shake up, provoke and brutally point out the reality that is sometimes unconsciously suppressed. Therefore, please do not be surprised by some provocative statements, questions and also the choice of language that differs from the typical professional book language.

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In this way, too, known patterns can be broken. Because we all have to leave our old ways of thinking and deal with this new species of customers. We not only have to deal with their  new expectations and needs, but also with their decision-making process: What steps do they follow in their decision making? Chapter 5 is dedicated to this clarification, which guides along the decision-making process of the modern customers and gives insights into their underlying and invisible activities. This understanding is necessary to create the basis for a contemporary sales process, which is described in Chapter 6 and which is based on the customer’s decision-making process and ideally reflects its every single step. In addition, state-of-the-art sales and marketing activities and approaches are described here. On the one hand, my goal is to create awareness for the need for sustainable changes in sales and, on the other hand, to describe the basic attitude that is necessary in sales in order to reach the modern customer in the digital world. Not least, I also want to give you a tool so that you can align your sales processes with the needs and expectations of the modern customer. Because there is no way back to our familiar sales approaches. Unless we pull the power plug to turn down the internet. But: How likely is that? For anyone who wants to understand the modern customer better With this book, I primarily address sales managers and executives, because they are the ones who have the greatest power to initiate changes in sales and also need to assume responsibility in this matter. However, the contents of the book are not only aimed at this target group: Anyone who is interested in contemporary sales and understanding of modern customers will find valuable information in it. With consideration for the readers who have already read my previous publications, I try to avoid repetitions. Therefore, I only give specific references, in particular to my book “Digital Transformation in Sales”, because both books complement together content-wise.

References Statista (2021a) Global digital population as of January 2021. https://www.statista.com/ statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/. Accessed on 22.08.2021 Statista (2021b) Education worldwide – statistics & facts. https://www.statista.com/topics/7785/education-worldwide/. Accessed on 22.08.2021

Acknowledgement

This book would not have come into existence, just as its two predecessors, without the great support of people to whom I would like to express my special thanks. First and foremost, to my husband, who always believes in me and is my greatest support in many respects: intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Of course also to my beloved editor Manuela Eckstein, who has greatly supported me in all my book projects: not only in terms of form and content, but also with an enhancing and motivating support throughout the entire process of creating a book. Many Thanks to all my customers and partners: Only through joint work was I able to gain so many inspirations and experiences to share with the readers. Last but not least, I would like to thank each and every one of the people who have crossed my path in life. Because the sum of all encounters and interactions have made me the person I am today, which made it possible for me to create this work. And of course, thank you, dear reader. For the trust you expressed by buying the book.

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Contents

1 The EEE-World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Eagerness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.1 Even the Earth is Spinning Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.2 Technology as a Problem and Solution in One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.1.3 The Culture of Hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.2 Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.2.1 Ease and Convenience as Drivers of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.2.2 Convenience Fighting Against the Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.2.3 Efficiency and Time Saving in Everything We Do . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.3 Enthusiasm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3.1 Enthusiasm as a Driving Force of Progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3.2 Enthusiasm Continuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.3.3 Hunting the Next New Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2 The III-Human . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.1 Informed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.1.1 Information Society—How did We Get Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.1.2 The Ease of Information Consumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.1.3 Searching Skills Replace Memory Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.1.4 Who Really Needs It All? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.2 Independent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.2.1 Authority Under Pressure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.2.2 Independent and Self-Determined Thanks to the Internet. . . . . . . 27 2.2.3 Personalities with Decision-Making Skills are in Demand. . . . . . 27 2.2.4 Self-Determination and Flexibility — Important Trends in the Work Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.3 Individualistic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.3.1 The Globalization of the Individualism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.3.2 Individualism as a Core Driver of the Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 XI

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2.3.3 Individualism - A Source of Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.3.4 The Individualization of the Entertainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3 The Modern Customer—The PHANTOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.1 Pseudo-informed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.1.1 More Information with More Choice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.1.2 Research Phase Becomes the most Important Part of the Buying Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.1.3 Highly Informed Customers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3.2 Hyper- convenient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3.2.1 Online or Offline: Convenience Wins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3.2.2 Personal Data in Exchange for a Better Buying Experience. . . . . 44 3.2.3 Traditional Sales Processes Under Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 3.2.4 Sales Between Technology and Human. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3.2.5 Fast, Urgent, Instantly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 3.3 Autonomous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 3.3.1 The Own Opinion Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 3.3.2 Loss of Customer Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.3.3 Self-Directed and Autonomous Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 3.3.4 The Dark Side of Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.3.5 New Buying Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 3.4 Needs-oriented. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.4.1 Brutal, But True: They Don’t Care About “Us”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.4.2 Tailor-Made From the Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 3.4.3 Needs and Benefit Filter in First Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.5 Tech-savvy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3.5.1 Technology in the Retail World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3.5.2 Technology Affinity Has Gone Mainstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3.5.3 Always On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 3.5.4 Loss of the Science Fiction Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 3.6 Opportunistic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 3.6.1 Low Tolerance Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3.6.2 Brand Loyalty—An Outdated Concept?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3.6.3 The New Loyalty to Convenience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 3.6.4 Traditional Purchasing Processes Now Obsolete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 3.6.5 Is Loyalty Still Affordable?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 3.7 Mutating-Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 3.7.1 Needs and Expectations Constantly in Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 3.7.2 Buying Decisions On-The-Go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 3.7.3 Connected and Networked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

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3.8 The PHANTOM—Fantasy or Reality?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 3.8.1 The PHANTOM File—Taking of Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 3.8.2 Changing Perspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 4 KISS the PHANTOM—Grasping the Ungraspable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 4.1 Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 4.1.1 The Inconvenient Truth About the Relevance of Salespeople. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 4.1.2 The Ecosystem of A Customer Decision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 4.1.3 Generational Mix: A Blend of Contradictions in Customer Expectations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 4.1.4 Rigid Target Group Profiles: Relics From the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 4.2 Ignore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 4.2.1 Intelligently (not) Getting Out of the Way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 4.2.2 Trust: An Increasingly Rare Asset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 4.2.3 The Ariadne’s Thread in the Digital Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 4.2.4 Ignoring, But Addressing Individual Needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 4.3 Stimulate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 4.3.1 Innovation Everywhere, Except in Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 4.3.2 Who Wants To Be A Prey?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 4.3.3 Shitstorms Lurking Around Every Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 4.3.4 Customer Loyalty Values Instead of Customer Loyalty Measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4.4 Sensibilize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4.4.1 Questioning Instead of Answering Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4.4.2 Provocation With Good Intentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.4.3 Differentiation Through Customer-Oriented Content. . . . . . . . . . 106 4.4.4 It Doesn’t Always Have To Be a Salesperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 5 The DECIDE Buying Decision Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 5.1 Discover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 5.1.1 Demand Levels: From Clueless to Acute Need for Action . . . . . . 118 5.1.2 The Existence of a Problem Does Not Yet Imply a Need for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 5.2 Explore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 5.2.1 Passive and Active Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 5.2.2 Different Research Behavior at Different Demand Levels . . . . . . 120 5.2.3 Generation-Specific Research Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 5.2.4 Digital Natives Transform The Basis for Decision-Making . . . . . 123

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5.3 Consider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 5.3.1 The Variety of Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 5.3.2 Overwhelmed and Paralyzed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 5.3.3 In Search for Proofs of Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 5.3.4 Self-Service Preferred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 5.4 Interact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 5.4.1 Customers are Far Ahead of the Providers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 5.4.2 Anywhere, Anytime and in Any Way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 5.4.3 Interaction at PHANTOM’s Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 5.4.4 The Quality of the Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 5.4.5 Back and Forth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 5.5 Determine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 5.5.1 High Level of Activity in the Decision-Making Group. . . . . . . . . 131 5.5.2 Decision or Validation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 5.5.3 Decided is Not Yet Decided. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 5.6 Execute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 5.6.1 Nothing Is Won Yet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 5.6.2 Never Put Trust at Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 5.7 The Zigzag Path to a Decision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 5.7.1 The Sales Funnel—an Outdated Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 5.7.2 B2C and B2B—Where is the Difference?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 6 The ENABLE Sales Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 6.1 Educate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 6.1.1 Goal: Recognize the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 6.1.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Not Product Education. . . . . . . . . . . 157 6.1.3 Necessary Understanding: Customer-Specific Situation. . . . . . . . 157 6.1.4 Touchpoints: Digital, Indirect, Passive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 6.1.5 Key Content: Needs and Problem-Oriented. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 6.1.6 Buying Center: Recognizing Initiators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 6.1.7 Content Forms: Provocative and Awakening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 6.1.8 Activities: Content Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 6.1.9 Engagement: Open Access to Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 6.1.10 Technology Aspects: Fast, Responsive, Barrier-Free. . . . . . . . . . . 162 6.2 Nurture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 6.2.1 Goal: Deepen the Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 6.2.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Do Not Overwhelm With Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 6.2.3 Necessary Understanding: Relevance From the Customer’s Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 6.2.4 Touchpoints: Visible, Barrier-Free, Website-Related. . . . . . . . . . . 164

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6.2.5 Key Content: Neutral, Product- and Vendor-Independent. . . . . . . 166 6.2.6 Buying Center: Addressing Problem Owners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 6.2.7 Content Forms: Knowledge-Based . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 6.2.8 Activities: Provide Content Passively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 6.2.9 Engagement: Digital, Anytime, From Anywhere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 6.2.10 Technology Aspects: Data-Based Personalization. . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 6.3 Affirm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 6.3.1 Goal: Affirm Need for Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 6.3.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Benefit Instead of Self-Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 6.3.3 Necessary Understanding: Connecting Customer Problems With Own Offerings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 6.3.4 Touchpoints: Research-Related. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 6.3.5 Key Content: All Solution Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 6.3.6 Buying Center: Identify All Stakeholders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 6.3.7 Content Forms: Distribution Before Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 6.3.8 Activities: Pull Before Push. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 6.3.9 Engagement: Unenforced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 6.3.10 Technology Aspects: Analytics and Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 6.4 Brainwash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 6.4.1 Goal: Create the Right Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 6.4.2 Misunderstanding Potential: The Product is Not the Goal . . . . . . 190 6.4.3 Necessary Understanding: Irrational Decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 6.4.4 Touchpoints: Easy, Direct Contact Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 6.4.5 Key Content: Shake Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 6.4.6 Buying Center: Keeping the Goal in Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 6.4.7 Content Forms: Attention!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 6.4.8 Activities: Questioning Assumptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 6.4.9 Engagement: Hybrid Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 6.4.10 Technology Aspects: Artificial Intelligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 6.5 Leverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 6.5.1 Goal: Minimize Decision Load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 6.5.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Do Not Manipulate, But Enable . . . 205 6.5.3 Necessary Understanding: More Is Not More. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 6.5.4 Touchpoints: Personalized and Interactive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 6.5.5 Key Content: Contextual Recommendations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 6.5.6 Buying Center: Create Urgency Among Decision Makers . . . . . . 210 6.5.7 Content Forms: Options with Recommendation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 6.5.8 Activities: Customer Key Content Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 6.5.9 Engagement: Personalized and Contextual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 6.5.10 Technology Aspects: Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

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6.6 Easy-Buy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 6.6.1 Goal: Easy To Do Business With. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 6.6.2 Potential for Misunderstanding: Technology Without Business Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 6.6.3 Necessary Understanding: Digital-Virtual-Human. . . . . . . . . . . . 222 6.6.4 Touchpoints: Mobile, Voice, Social, Multi-Channel Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 6.6.5 Key Content: Focus on the Value Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 6.6.6 Buying Center: Access to the Project Implementation Team. . . . . 227 6.6.7 Content Forms: Fast, Easy Buying Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 6.6.8 Activities: Building Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 6.6.9 Engagement: Customer Experience in Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 6.6.10 Technology Aspects: Individual Buying Experiences. . . . . . . . . . 234 6.7 The Big Picture—Bird’s Eye View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 6.7.1 New Sales and Marketing Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 6.7.2 Focus On Buying Process Instead of Sales Process. . . . . . . . . . . . 240 6.7.3 Understanding Outstanding Customer Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 6.7.4 Focus On Value Instead of Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 6.7.5 The Technology Intelligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 6.7.6 Customer First, Not Technology First. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 6.7.7 Leading Sales Instead of Controlling Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 6.7.8 Rethinking Customer Loyalty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 How Does This Knowledge Help Me?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Abbreviations

ABM ACSI AR B2B B2C B2P CFO CRM CTO DL GDPR EDI ERP FAQ GAFAM IT AI KPI M-Commerce ML NAP NFC RFP RMA ROI SEA SEO

Account Based Marketing American Customer Satisfaction Index Augmented Reality Business to business Business to consumer Business to person Chief Financial Officer Customer Relationships Management Chief Technology Officer Deep Learning General Data Protection Regulation Electronic Data Interface Enterprise Ressources Planning Frequently Asked Questions Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft Information Technology Artificial Intelligence Key Performance Indicator Mobile Commerce Machine Learning Name, Address, Phone Number Near Field Communication Request for Proposal Return Material Authorization Return on Investment Search Engine Advertising Search Engine Optimization

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TSP USP UX VR WIPO

Abbreviations

Technology & Service Provider Unique Selling Proposition User Experience Virtual Reality World Intellectual Property Organization

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.3 Fig. 4.4 Fig. 4.5 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3 Fig. 5.4 Fig. 5.5 Fig. 5.6 Fig. 5.7 Fig. 5.8 Fig. 6.1 Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3 Fig. 6.4 Fig. 6.5 Fig. 6.6 Fig. 6.7 Fig. 6.8 Fig. 6.9 Fig. 6.10 Fig. 6.11 Fig. 6.12 Fig. 6.13

The III-Human in the EEE-World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The modern customer—The PHANTOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The PHANTOM-Characteristics Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Sales in the customer buying process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 B2B customers get along withoutsales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Technology and humans in the sales process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Buying center roles in the decision-making process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Content in the customer’s decision-making process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 The pain of choice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 DECIDE- Customer decision-making process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 5A-Demand-Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Customer research behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Millennials’ sources of information in B2B-research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Complexity of the procurement process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Customer Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Customer decision-making process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 The ENABLE sales process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 DECIDE-ENABLE process mirrorring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 The 5E- Insights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Customer targeting strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Website at the center of all activities in the digital space . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Data sources in marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Content forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 New SEO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Analytics Tools in Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Marketing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Channel-Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Information sources: discrepancy between providers and customers. . . 213 Customer Key Content Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

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Fig. 6.14 Fig. 6.15 Fig. 6.16 Fig. 6.17 Fig. 6.18 Fig. 6.19 Fig. 1

List of Figures

Data sources in sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 E-Commerce Systems: Different requirements in B2C and B2B. . . . . . 223 Digitalization degree of the sales process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 E-Commerce Value Chain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Levels of the ENABLE Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Difference between the ENABLE process and Solution Selling. . . . . . . 240 The essence of this book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

List of Tables

Table 6.1 Traditional information versus relevant content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Table 1 Difference between traditional sales and ENABLE sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

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About the author

Livia Rainsberger  Mag. Lic., is the founder of the consulting company WISSENCE, which specializes in the digital transformation of sales. The expert supports companies in the conception and implementation of state-of-the-art strategies, approaches and processes in sales. In addition, she teaches at universities of applied sciences in Austria and Germany. With keynotes, lectures and professional publications, she shares valuable knowledge on these complex and important sales topics and creates awareness for the necessary changes in the sales environment. Her books “Digital Transformation in Sales” (2021) and “AI – The new intelligence in sales” (2021) have also been published by Springer Gabler. Contact: Mag. Lic. Livia Rainsberger WISSENCE Enabling Sales Performance [email protected]

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 Summary  Enthusiasm, eagerness and ease are defining the characteristics of our present-day world. The modern human is in a hurry. Being in a rush and busy has become the “norm” in business and, increasingly in society as a whole. Everything has to run efficiently and smoothly. Productivity is what counts. Boring and time-consuming activities are to be taken over by technology, which should spare us any tedious experience. Every millisecond that we save through the use of technology we gladly spend on activities that are fun and inspiring. Thus technology increasingly gains broad acceptance and fosters a new expectation of itself: While it should be highly complex and fulfil our needs in an intelligent way and making our lives easier and more comfortable, it must not be too complicated to use. This describes the core of the EEE-World we live in today, characterized by three main features Eagerness, Ease and Enthusiasm.

The foundation of our society is changing at a rapid pace. In many areas of life the future looks very different than we could have imagined just a few years ago. The main reason for this is the technology and its increasingly widespread use in our lives. The early 2000s were characterised by countless technological breakthroughs that seem to have become a necessity for our human existence. There is not a single aspect of our lives that technology does not touch or influence. Technology has not only changed the way we communicate, but also our behaviour, our ability to learn and even our cognitive abilities. More and more studies show that children who grow up with technology develop new cognitive skills and at the same time lose other seemingly unnecessary abilities.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_1

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Easier, more convenient and faster The technology always and persistently pursues the overarching goal of making our lives easier, more convenient and more pleasant. But not only the technological progress develops exponentially, but also the speed with which new technologies are adapted. In the modern digital world, new ideas and products can spread at a speed never before known through increased connectivity, immediate communication and established infrastructure systems. Computers are getting faster, more portable and more powerful and have become the constant companion of the modern human being: from smartphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, wearables, smart textiles and to chip implants. The modern human being is networked, reacts quickly and is not afraid to accept new technologies because they quickly change his life for the better. 

Technology has reached its next step in its development and is taking on a new, important role in our lives: from Nice-to-have to Need-to-have.

It becomes a prerequisite for our modern life, because in today’s dynamic world a life without technology seems pointless for many. It not only makes our lives easier, faster, better and more entertaining, but has also opened up a whole new parallel world for us, named Internet. With many new and exciting possibilities for entertainment, interaction and fulfilment of wishes. This way it eliminates boundaries and distances and allows more or less immediate access to everything we believe we need. How far will technology go? Life with technology is just more fun and its influence on us is much stronger than expected. It arouses needs in us that we didn’t even know we had. And even more, it creates new needs and also dependencies, such as computer game addiction or smartphone addiction, also known as “nomophobia”, the fear of living without a smartphone. If you believe the transhumanists, we are approaching the next stage of human evolution, which is to be achieved through the fusion with technology: technologies that we today carry on our bodies, we will carry in us in the future. A new symbiosis between humans and machines is to emerge, and technology is to become a permanent part of the human body. Whether you believe these predictions and whether you consider these developments to be good or bad, technology is and remains part of our lives: regardless of its form, it is increasingly integrated into our existence. Because it perfectly meets our expectations and has created a whole new world in which the majority of people feel very comfortable:

1.1 Eagerness

3

 The EEE-World, the world of Eagerness, Ease and Enthusiasm, determines our

everyday life.

1.1 Eagerness The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), which investigates global change, describes our age as “The Great Acceleration”, which refers to a dramatic, continuous and almost simultaneous acceleration along a wide range of measures of human activity, the so-called “Human Enterprise” (IGBP 2015). Things really picked up in the 1950s, and since then the acceleration has not slowed down, but always increased. Everything is getting faster: overcoming distances, processing information, research and science—and of course the economy, which aims rapid growth at its core.

1.1.1 Even the Earth is Spinning Faster Everything seems to be in a race, even the planet itself: Scientists have found that the earth is now spinning faster around its axis. Since the 1970s, scientists have added a leap second because the earth’s rotation tended to slow down, and now the world’s official timekeepers are considering subtracting a leap second because the earth’s rotation is accelerating. In 2020, our planet broke the record for the shortest astronomical day. And not just once, but 28 times (Brackett 2021). Scientists predict that the trend towards shorter days will continue. An average day in 2021 will be 0.05 ms shorter, and by the end of the year, atomic clocks could be 19 ms slower than astronomical time. The causes of this acceleration are a combination of different factors such as atmospheric pressure, ocean currents, wind and the movement of the planet’s molten core, the interplay of which is difficult to understand. In contrast, the main cause of the acceleration of our human life can be easily and clearly identified: It is the rapid technological progress that is growing continuously and exponentially. 

Technology has not only developed rapidly by itself, it has massively accelerated our whole life.

Thanks to technological development, things that used to take hours, days or even weeks and months now take a few minutes or even seconds. In the past, you had to go to the library, borrow several books and take time to read to get a certain piece of information. Today you simply ask Google or Siri. In the past we had to walk long distances to buy

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things, today we order them from the couch, even without moving a finger: a command to Alexa is enough and tomorrow the package is at the door. Thanks to technology, we have today constant access to almost everything we want. Mobile phones, apps, artificial intelligence, automation and many other technological developments allow us to get what we want or think we want almost exactly in the moment we want it. 

We live in a world of immediate gratification, and this habit is turning into an expectation: the need for immediate fulfillment of a desire without delay or waiting.

The modern human has long since gotten used to the fact that things happen more or less immediately, and is simply no longer willing to wait. Especially in terms of technological experiences, as these studies show in a striking way: • 47% of people expect a website to load in less than two seconds, otherwise they will leave it (Curatti 2017). • BBC loses 10% of its users for each additional second it takes to load its page (Clark 2018). Where has the patience gone? The patience threshold of internet users has become extremely low. A ten-year-old boy I know destroyed his iPad by angrily hitting the device because the internet was too slow. How many mobile phones, laptops and tablets have met a similar fate? Even tiny differences in buffering times can have massive impacts on our behavior. A professor at the University of Massachusetts conducted a study to determine the point at which people begin to leave a YouTube video that is loading slowly. He concluded that viewers begin to leave after a delay of two seconds, and that each additional second of waiting time results in a loss of another 5.8% of viewers (Boston Globe 2012). It gets even more interesting: A study commissioned by Forter has found that the likelihood of an online purchase is greatly affected by how long the purchase process takes. Half of the respondents said they were “less likely to buy something if the entire online payment process takes more than half a minute.” The average customer is willing to wait only ten seconds for his credit card to be verified, and one in three has already abandoned a purchase when needed to re-enter credit card data (Forter 2019). 

The duration of the purchase process directly affects purchase needs: if it takes too long, we don’t need the product anymore.

According to a British study, technology is mainly to blame for the general erosion of our patience. The study found that it takes an average of 22 s for British to express their frustration when their TV or computer doesn’t start streaming a movie properly.

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(Study Finds 2019). I get impatient when Netflix takes more than ten seconds to load an episode. Do you know that feeling? And do you also know the trick to skipping the annoying Netflix ads? Our patience has become extremely sensitive. Even a cup of tea, an undeniable symbol of British calm, aroused the anger of the respondents in the study when the kettle took more than 28 s to boil the water. And after only 18 s of searching for a pen, the British respondents already lose their nerves. Some more interesting evidence of our increasing impatience provides a study done by the market research company Wakefield (Wakefield 2015): • 72% press an already lit elevator button in the hope that it will come faster. • 71% often exceed the speed limit to get to their destination faster. • More than 50% will hang up  within a minute of being placed on hold on a call. It feels like an eternity to me—whether I’m in a hurry or not—until the garage door closes, even if it only takes eleven seconds. I’ve already driven away a few times without waiting for the door to close completely. What about your patience threshold? Fast is not fast enough Technology seems to condition us to expect that everything happens without delay. And not just in terms of information. Today, people also expect the delivery of products faster than just a few years ago. Wating for a delivery for longer than until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow seems like an eternity in today's society. Retail chains are in a speed competition: Who can deliver faster? Rapid delivery services emerge and deliver your orders in the shortest time possible. At the beginning of 2021, there were around seven fast track food services in the UK that delivered orders within 10 to 20 min. These new “Quick Commerce” providers have their sights set on the corner shop. They want to make ordering milk, wine and chips via smartphone as natural as switching between Spotify and Netflix. The trend is international: In Moscow, Quick Commerce already covers 30% of the online food market. In Vienna, there were already seven express delivery services in mid-2021 that bring the supermarket shoppings to your home. And in Germany, Gorillas and Flink are expanding nationwide at a rapid pace. The pressure is rising We have become accustomed to the immediate gratification provided by technology, and the demand for quick, ideally immediate results seeps into every corner of our lives. This creates increased inner pressure for immediate gratification. We receive emails or other electronic messages and feel compelled to respond immediately. And if someone, for whatever reason, does not respond immediately to our message, we begin to twitch. How long does it take you to check whether a WhatsApp message has really been delivered and read?

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1.1.2 Technology as a Problem and Solution in One Even if technology has become the cause of this acceleration, it also willingly provides us with the solutions to this “problem”. Countless providers react with matching creative products and services to quench our growing impatience. To avoid queues at the checkout, there are now self-service checkouts, you can pay cashless and contactless with near field communication (NFC), and instead of waiting week after week for the next episode of your favorite series, you can stream the whole season or all seasons at once. Products are being developed that meet our demand for speed, such as Blinkist, which creates 15-minute summaries of books. So we don’t have to read the whole book to get to the core message. Google completes search queries after the first two or three letters typed, so we don’t have to type laboriously. Smartphones read e-mails while driving, and Google Maps doesn’t even need the exact address to navigate to the desired destination. The list is long and gets longer by the hour … Time is a rare and valuable commodity today. As a result, time-saving is developing into its own product. Studies show that 61% of consumers will recommend a product if it saves them time (Marketing Week 2017). 

In the world of haste, we are increasingly looking for solutions that help us save valuable time—which is limited and cannot be bought.

Whether Siri, Alexa or Cortana, the AI ladies help us to make our activities more efficient: sending messages, planning meetings, making calls and even ordering while we do other things. By helping us save time, they create new opportunities for us to focus on other seemingly important things.

1.1.3 The Culture of Hurry Our constant hurry seems to trigger a cultural change towards acceleration, where progress is equated with productivity. Whoever is not in a hurry or very busy almost has to explain themselves. Having no time and being very busy becomes culture, it's the modern lifestyle. The feeling that every unused moment is a wasted opportunity is increasingly strengthening. Time is under attack. It has to be saved. The famous cliché “time is money” has never been as true as it is today. Time seems to be running away from humanity, and technology seems to be solving this problem: It constantly offers new ways to make the world more efficient and rationalizes routine processes: Fast food, speed dating, powernapping, lifelogging, selftracking, time-tracking … There are numerous ways and applications to measure how much time one spends on daily tasks. The goal is to provide a clear picture of how effi-

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cient a person is and thus pave the way for the so-called “quantified self”. The promise of the applications is to filter out unproductive practices and to separate them from the more productive ones. For this purpose, we have countless products and apps for better time management. They also reflect this idea in their names, such as Rescue Time, which records productivity in computer work, Self Control, which blocks distracting websites, or Time Doctor, which monitors all online activities. 

Whatever the “problem”, technology seems to have the right solution ready.

With every activity that technology accelerates, we gain the feeling that we are not wasting valuable time. The result is even more speed. Less time leads to more speed Technology has accelerated our perception of time, for which science provides evidence. Dr. Aoife McLoughlin, lecturer in psychology at James Cook University in Singapore, has found evidence that the constant use of technology speeds up our perception of time. The researcher compared two groups of people: one group that is constantly connected to technology thanks to smartphones, and a second group that uses technology only rarely. She compared how both groups perceive the passing of time and found that those who are always online or on their computers or smartphones overestimated the amount of time that had passed, compared to those who rarely used technology. Technology users thought that an hour had passed while they were sitting in a room, even though it was only 50 min. This represents a 17% faster perception of time. Technology users felt more stressed because they felt they had less time available. “While it might help us to work faster, technology also makes us feel more pressured by time,” says McLoughlin. She found that this is not only true for people who use technology, but also for people who “only” think about technology: people who read an ad for the latest iPad perceived time as passing more quickly than those who read an excerpt from a non-technological novel (Macdonald 2015). 

The irony of all this is that while technology allows us to do things faster and process information more quickly, it also puts us in the stress of being even faster.

Our perception of time is disturbed and we feel that we have no time. We are in a hurry. Consequently, the dwindling patience and the growing intolerance towards things and activities that take too long or are too cumbersome and too complicated are perfectly understandable and only logical. From this perception arises the claim for Ease, the second E of our EEE-World.

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1.2 Ease In order to fulfill the expectations for speed, there is of course the need of a simple and uncomplicated experience. The impatience with everything that takes too long inevitably leads to impatience with everything that is too cumbersome and too complicated. Technology tries to meet these requirements and make our lives as comfortable and uncomplicated as possible. Starting with the handling and operaton of the technology and up to the things around us: Everything has to be easy to use. Apple showed us how to do it by bringing a mobile phone to the market that had a single control button. Although it was not Apple, but IBM that invented the smartphone, Apple managed to perfectly adapt the device to the needs of the modern human being, which is the actual revolution. The success of the iPhone at the time of its market launch is to be attributed to its perfect response to the quest for convenience and simplicity of our world. 

In a fast-paced world where no one has time, we expect easy and convenient solutions in all areas of our lives.

1.2.1 Ease and Convenience as Drivers of Innovation The quest for convenience—consciously or unconsciously—has become a driving force of our world. From the industrial revolution to today’s innovative digital solutions, the relief of our everyday lives is at the center of the most successful inventions. The claim of most innovations is to make our everyday lives more comfortable. Washing machines wash the laundry, microwaves heat the lunch, navigation devices take over the interpretation of maps, the stove cooks the breakfast egg and the robot takes over the lawn mowing. “Alexa, set the timer to 15 min!” Why look at the clock or set the timer on the stove when Alexa can do it on command? We live in an ultra-comfortable world: Our living spaces, means of transport and workplaces, everything is designed for our convenience, with the intention to make our existence extremely comfortable. This does not mean that we live uncomfortably, on the contrary. But: 

More comfort is always welcome.

The rapid technological development of recent decades has brought the comfort to a new level: From the distance, we control the temperature of our apartment, lower the blinds or check the contents of the fridge. With the fingerprint we open the door to our apartment, make payments and unlock the mobile phone or the car. A face scan takes care of the passport control and the toilet paper or the cat food orders itself at regular intervals.

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Smart is in trend Technology is today an integral part of our lives and people rely on it because it brings countless advantages. Technology is smart: Smart-Phone, Smart-Home, Smart-Fridge, Smart-Car, Smart-Pen, Smart-Watch, Smart-Health-Check, Smart-TV, Smart-Clothes, Smart-City … Everything in our environment becomes “smart”, the opposite of complicated and time-consuming. We leave everything that seems to be tedious to technology and reach to the device that is providing the best covenience or benefit in the moment. 

Smart is the new credo and does not mean more intelligent, as one would instinctively assume, but simpler and more comfortable to use.

Countless smart things handle (imaginably) complicated tasks of our everyday life. There is even a SmartThings app that allows us to control all these smart things in our environment via our smartphone. These developments inevitably lead to an explicit expectation of the technology: Not only should it simplify our lives, but it should also be simple and uncomplicated in its use. This expectation even has its own technical term: frictionless tech. Smart alone is not enough, it must be frictionless Frictionless tech refers to technology-based experiences that eliminate time-consuming or uncomfortable processes. “Friction” is another term for effort. Frictionless—effortless—is therefore the goal and implies the elimination of any “friction”, that is, all properties that make using a product more difficult or time-consuming. With this claim, Amazon, PayPal, Airbnb, Uber and many other start-ups have made billions because they have reduced the effort for orders, payments, renting rooms, calling taxis and other annoying tasks in our lives. Innovative and highly technological products are created almost hourly and aim to simplify our lives, while being very easy to use. Users rarely fully understand the functionality of the modern technology. Complicated displays, too many buttons and flashing lights can thrill, but also quickly overwhelm people. 

The goal of many high-tech innovations is to reduce complexity.

High-tech, but please not too complicated This is how “high-tech” becomes “shy tech”. The highly sophisticated technology with its buttons, levers, switches and cables should take a back seat and make room for simple handling: Intuitive interaction and user interfaces, operation with voice commands, gestures and even thought control should take precedence.

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Today, technology adapts to people and not vice versa. The best example of this is the modern car, which increasingly meets our desire for simplicity and comfort and takes over every “complicated” task: automatic light dimming with cornering light, automatic windshield wiper control, automatic interior temperature control, remote opening of the trunk, self-locking when approaching etc. Today, we don’t even need a key to start a car. It autonomously finds its way to the destination, keeps the lane, regulates the speed, interprets road signs, detects a parking space, parks there on its own, initiates an emergency brake if necessary and has numerous control systems such as ABS and ESP. Now the modern car, a complex technological development and a reflection of the technological progress, should increasingly move into the background. Under the hood, everything is tidy and hidden, and in the interior, the trend is towards smooth surfaces, as few buttons as possible and intuitive operation. The vision of the future: to make all switches completely invisible and to replace them with gesture and voice control. The goal is minimalism not only in the handling, but also in design.

1.2.2 Convenience Fighting Against the Price The quest for convenience and simplicity has a proven impact on our buying decisions. Not only in terms of the products we choose, but also in terms of the shopping experience itself. According to the US National Retail Federation’s Consumer View Report 83% of US consumers say that convenience while shopping is more important to them now compared with   five years ago. And a shocking 97% of respondents have backed out of a purchase because it was inconvenient for them. The report shows that 72% of consumers would “much more likely” or “significantly more likely” choose a retailer based on convenience. And they are also willing to pay for this comfort, especially when it comes to groceries: 66% of consumers say they would pay more for a more convenient shopping experience (IFT 2020). Convenience rules the modern world according to the motto: Everything, everywhere, and at any time should be  instantly available and of course easy-to-use. This is not a short-term phenomenon, but a strong future trend. Monitor Deloitte has identified four key drivers that are expected to drive the convenience trend even more (Deloitte 2020): • Busy lifestyle and higher incomes • Smaller household sizes • Urbanisation • Aging population It is expected that these key factors will remain relevant for the coming years and that our society will move towards hyper-convenience, which is a logical consequence of our hyper-connected, ultra-fast world.

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The complexity of our lives is increasing The increasingly faster pace of life and work is making the lives of many people more and more complex. This “new” world demands more of us than ever before. So it is only logical that we increasingly seek practical solutions that help us simplify our stressed lives. People need and seek convenience, ease and simplicity in all forms: products, activities, spaces and environments. 

User-friendly, automated, intelligent and digital options are in high demand and expected to overcome the everyday “obstacles” to a hassle-free life.

Considering this, it is no wonder that our tolerance for things which seem taking too long and being too complicated has become extremely low. The average American says they’ll start to doubt their purchase if they have to click just four different buttons when checking out (Forter 2019). And no, we Europeans are not much different. The rapid technological progress of recent years has led to the fact that modern customers expect an extremely comfortable, seamless, simple and exciting customer experience. Amazon has shown us how it’s done: Buying with one click. Even with a voice command. Amazon is the best proof that customers are willing to pay more for a comfortable experience. The days when Amazon was the cheapest provider are long gone. On the contrary. And yet customers buy there. Why? Because high convenience wins against a lower price or a cumbersome experience. Why still search, compare, struggle with complicated online shops and fill out long forms, if it’s just one click away? Apart from that, you can be sure that the order will be delivered reliably the next day and the package contains what you really ordered. The Amazon Prime service is basically nothing else than the outstanding—simple and comfortable—customer experience for which Amazon charges money and for which customers are happy to pay. It is neither the products nor the prices nor the discounts, but the simple and comfortable customer experience with which many market giants now make their money. The best example of this is PayPal, whose market share is constantly increasing for one simple reason: the simplicity of their payment process. No input of credit card data, no validation, no browser registration, no SMS, no apps etc. Comfortable one-click PayPal transactions have a 70% higher conversion rate in the check-out process than non-PayPal transactions (Nielsen Buyer Insights 2013, PayPal o. J.). Comfortable, and please everywhere 96% of Americans shop online, and • 43% do this in bed, • 20% in the car and • 20% in the bathroom.

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(Big Commerce 2016) This statistic is probably already outdated and the reality supposedly looks even more entertaining now, especially after the Pandemic. What is your favorite shopping place? Every activity—especially repetitive routine tasks that are not very fulfilling—competes now with the activities that are more fun and relieve us from the burden of our stressful lives. In a world that is measured in milliseconds, where people are in a hurry all the time and under constant pressure, the need for time saving and the demand for efficiency is increasing. I don’t know about you, but I keep catching myself efficiently planning even the simplest activities, like shortest routes—measured in a few steps, for example from the kitchen to the garage—and adding some additional task on the way. Such paths planned on the go during the preparation of a simple meal could easily compete with the best-planned projects in the world.

1.2.3 Efficiency and Time Saving in Everything We Do Even in the smallest and mundane activities we consciously or unconsciously look for efficiency. Everyday activities like cooking, shopping, information search, payment, driving and even reading and writing “steal” valuable time and keep us from things that are much more fun and fulfilling. As a result, innovative tools and creative multitasking applications that help in coping with the overwhelming number of everyday tasks are gaining in popularity. 

Ease and convenience are becoming the new competitive advantage: User Experience.

The seamless combination of comfort and innovation is the ultimate answer to the increasing demands of the stressed modern human being. Companies that understand this and put simplicity and usability at the heart of their products and customer experience gain a clear advantage. According to Siegel+Gale, a portfolio of shares consisting of the top 10 publicly traded “simplest” brands in the world has outperformed major indices such as DOW, DAX, S&P by 679% since 2009. Proof enough, isn't it? Customers expect convenience and are willing to pay more for it. 64% are happy to recommend a brand because it offers simpler experiences and communication, and 55% are willing to pay more for simpler experiences (Siegel+Gale 2018). And yet simple is not simple. Complex and simple

The modern individual who lives in a digital environment responds best to • a complex and • a multifunctional experience

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in combination with • simple operation, • simple understanding and • simple purchase. Simplicity lies in the use, not in the experience itself. We want to experience complex, innovative experiences, but in the simplest possible way. This is thrilling and inspiring and leads us to the third E of our EEE-World: Enthusiasm.

1.3 Enthusiasm In addition to eagerness and ease, enthusiasm also has a fixed and irreplaceable place in our existence. Enthusiasm is not a new phenomenon, it has always been the real driver of the world progress and gained more momentum in recent decades. Enthusiasm has made our world what it is today: it was shaped by people who were enthusiastic about an idea and had a vision of the future, by individuals who were passionate about something. People who could set fire with their enthusiasm and who were able to realize their ideas despite all the difficulties on their way.

1.3.1 Enthusiasm as a Driving Force of Progress From antiquity to today’s digital world, enthusiasm has always been the fuel of progress. We are born with this ability, as it can be observed well in children. They are able to be enthusiastic about everything that crosses their path. Children feel an almost uncontrollable enthusiasm for life and everything they experience. And even if many of us lose this ability on the way to adulthood, still many people retain their enthusiasm and their passion is captivating for their environment. Enthusiasm is contagious and mobilizes masses of people in many ways. Every leader must possess a certain amount of enthusiasm in order to win people for his idea. Every leader must be able to enthuse his team members. And every business idea must be enthusiastic in order to really make it. 

Enthusiasm, coupled with a purpose-led business operation, results in higher market shares and business growth.

Purpose-driven companies witness higher market share gains and grow three times faster on average than their competitors, all while achieving higher workforce and customer satisfaction (Deloitte 2019). Enthusiasm has become a synonym for success: whether it

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is a matter of strengthening the enthusiasm in one’s own life or of being enthusiastic about one’s profession. Enthusiasm is in high demand Companies want enthusiastic employees and people are looking for employers who ignite enthusiasm. Enthusiasm has never been in higher demand. In the modern world, in which the basic needs—think of the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs—are fulfilled, the needs for personal growth, self-realization, idealism and enthusiasm come to the fore. The idealistic youth of today believes firmly that life and work should be valuable and meaningful. And here too, the technological development is responsible for the increasing wellbeing of our society. Day by day it strengthens our ability to be enthusiastic, because • it contributed to the high wealth standards we live in and helped to fulfill the basic human needs, thus it creates more space for enthusiasm, • with its innovations it offers us much more stuff to be enthusiastic about, • with the creation of the digital world it provides a much better and faster access to everything that enthuses us: ideas, people, places, products, experiences, etc. The constant access to practically unlimited possibilities nourishes our natural enthusiasm and provides countless ways to satisfy it, such as social networks, virtual interactions and technical gimmicks.

1.3.2 Enthusiasm Continuum We highly welcomed the technological progress that makes our lives so much more pleasant, and now we expect technology to keep inspiring and enthuse us further. Technology is fascinating, and we love to be fascinated. Remember Walkman, Playstation, iPod, iPhone? Do you still remember how much hype these innovations caused at the time? And over time we see how quickly they have become a matter of course, and in no time we are already looking for the “next new thing”. 

The cycles of innovation adoption are getting shorter, putting companies under constant innovation pressure.

Innovation has become one of the most important business priorities worldwide. Because modern customers demand and expect innovation. It has become an important criterion in buying decisions, as a study by Lab24 shows (Customer Think 2015):

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• 84% of respondents say it is somewhat important or very important that the company they buy from is innovative. • 51% of respondents say they have bought a product without fully understanding what it can do or how it works, just because they felt or heard it was “cool”. • 34% agree that they like owning products that make them look innovative to others. • Over 83% would pay more for innovation in electronics, with 15% of them willing to pay over 40% more. • 75% would be willing to pay an innovation premium in the automotive industry. • 67% are willing to pay a premium for grocery store itmes which they consider to be innovative. • And even for “dull” categories such as insurance and gas, people are willing to pay an innovation premium with 54% and 52%, respectively. At the mercy of the innovation In a digital world, the speed with which we learn about new releases and gain access to them has increased rapidly. The excitement about something new has become an addiction: “What’s new?”—in the sense of “cool”—has become the motto of society and is a particularly interesting conversation topic. How often have you given your children or grandchildren something that wasn’t cool enough? And I don’t mean snowflake sweaters or wool socks for Christmas, but some kind of toy or technical gimmick that you thought would make you the coolest grandpa in the world, but gained a spoiled face with a blurred “thank you”? “New”, “cool”, “great”, “in” … all synonyms for meaning and importance in the life of the modern human being. For some, they are products, for others they are ideas. It can be anything, but in no case boring. Boredom is the enemy of the modern life. We crave for entertainment and constant occasions to be thrilled. Or something to wow others and to maintain our coolness status. Entertainment—whether passive or active—is at the core of our modern existence. We live in the age of Internet, social media, multichannel television, 24-hour shopping, onthe-go consumption, streaming, gaming, virtual experiences, and countless other ways to entertain us constantly. 

The digital world seems to be calling "Let me entertain you" and luring us into its depths. And we scream back: “Entertain me! More! Now!” and dive deeper and more often into it.

The more we are entertained, the more entertainment we need, to still feel good. The more we fill our world with fast-paced, high-intensity, constantly changing stimuli, the more accustomed we become to it and the less tolerant we are of anything that is not as exciting and that we perceive as boring.

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1.3.3 Hunting the Next New Thing The digital world conditioned us to constantly seek out new experiences. A new experience causes a dopamine release in our brain and makes us feel good. However, once a new stimulus is perceived, it is no longer new and bores us after a while. The excitement flattens out, and we look for a new source of excitement to get a new dopamine hit to feel good again. Sounds familiar? When we engage with technology, we experience constant dopamine release. Because of the endless repetition and predictability, we need more and more stimulation to get the same dopamine hit, or we quickly get bored. Every flash of the smartphone, every notification, every sound, a like or a WhatsApp message is a dopamine release, leading to addiction. How long can you resist the urge to check a flashing phone? Excitement and novelty—in every respect—have never been in such demand as they are today. Consequently, experimentation and innovation are being enthusiastically pursued. Silicon Valley and the start-up scene show how it’s done, and new companies and products are ceaselessly springing up literally like mushrooms, trying to satisfy our human craving for enthusiasm. With their innovative ideas, they want to conquer the world. And they do this with the best of intentions. Innovation is on the agenda A record of 265,800 patents were registered worldwide in 2019, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year. Furthermore, shifts are taking place in the innovation landscape: In 2019, China became the world’s number one in patent applications for the first time, displacing the United States, which had been in first place uninterruptedly since 1978 (ZEIT ONLINE 2020). Innovation has always been and remains a key driver of economic progress, from which consumers, companies and the economy as a whole benefit. Under digital conditions and with the easier access to information, technologies and resources, the power of innovation is continously increasing, but with a different claim. In the past, the main focus of innovation initiatives was on increasing productivity and efficiency in our workflows. Today, a new—not to be underestimated—factor has been added: to satisfy and fuel our longing for enthusiasm and our excitement.

Conclusion: The EEE-World: blessing and curse In a highly technological world—which is spinning faster than ever before, with a clear expectation everything to be easier and simpler—ongoing innovation is no luxury, but a necessity. This is the only way to keep up with the rapid pace of a technology-driven world and, of course, to meet the high demands of enthusiasm.

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Eagerness, Ease and Enthusiasm. Each factor raises its own claim and at the same time sets a new expectation for the other two. Each is dependent on the others and at the same time conditioned by them. And all three reinforce each other in an endless power game. The curse and the blessing of the EEE-World.

References Asad Ali, Curati (2017) 10 essential web design usability statistics [Infographic]. https://curatti. com/web-design-usability/. Accessed 9 June 2021 Brackett, The Weather Channel (2021) Earth’s faster rotation in 2020 meant the planet experienced 28 of its shortest days in decades. https://weather.com/news/news/2021-01-07-earth-rotationspeeding-up-record-setting-short-days. Accessed 10 June 2021 Clark CB (2018) How the BBC builds websites that scale. https://www.creativebloq.com/features/ how-the-bbc-builds-websites-that-scale. Accessed 9 June 2021 Customer Think (2015) New study reveals importance of innovation to consumers. https://customerthink.com/new-study-reveals-importance-of-innovation-to-consumers/. Accessed 14. June 2021 Deloitte (2019) Purpose is everything. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/marketingand-sales-operations/global-marketing-trends/2020/purpose-driven-companies.html. Accessed 14 June 2021 Farrell, Boston Globe (2012) MIT grad led team that built faster YouTube player. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/23/building-faster-youtube/JqbVsEFUJfa5tpQmgbujkL/story. html. Accessed 10 June 2021 Forter (2019) Friction-filled online checkouts cause shopping cart. https://www.forter.com/blog/ infographic-customers-wont-tolerate-friction-filled-checkout/. Accessed 10 June 2021 IFT (2020) Consumers demand shopping convenience. https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/ news/2020/january/20/consumers-demand-shopping-convenience. Accessed 11 June 2021 International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (2015) Great acceleration. http://www.igbp.net/ globalchange/greatacceleration.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680001630.html. Accessed 9 June 2021 John Anderer, Study Finds (2019) Hurry up! Modern patience thresholds lower than ever before, technology to blame. https://www.studyfinds.org/hurry-up-modern-patience-thresholds-lowerthan-ever-before-survey-finds/. Accessed 9 June 2021 Macdonald F, Science Alert (2015) Science says that technology is speeding up our brains’ perception of time. https://www.sciencealert.com/research-suggests-that-technology-is-speeding-upour-perception-of-time. Accessed 9 June 2021 Monitor Deloitte (2020) Convenience – anything, anytime, anywhere. https://www2.deloitte.com/ de/de/pages/consumer-business/articles/convenience-food-study.html. Accessed 11 June 2020 Nielsen Buyer Insights in Q3 (2013) PayPal o.J. Six best practices to improve your online checkout. https://www.paypalobjects.com/webstatic/mktg/pdf/PayPal_Checkout_Best_Practices.pdf. Accessed 4 June 2021 Rogers C, MarketingWeek (2017) Consumers will spend more on simple brand experiences. https://www.marketingweek.com/consumers-spend-more-simple-brand-experiences/. Accessed 21 July 2021 Siegel+Gale (2018) The world’s simplest brands. https://simplicityindex.com/simplicity2018-wpcontent/uploads/2018/11/SG_WSB_NOV12_interactive.pdf. Accessed 14 June 2021

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Tracey Wallace, Big Commerce (2016) [Infographic] Modern consumer behavior in the new Omni-Channel World. https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/consumer-behaviorinfographic/#is-it-that-shoppers-arent-shopping. Accessed 4 July 2021 Wakefield (2015) Fifth third bank study finds chicagoans pretty impatient. https://www.wakefieldresearch.com/blog/2015/03/04/fifth-third-bank-study-finds-chicagoans-pretty-impatient. Accessed 10 June 2021 ZEIT ONLINE (2020) China überholt USA bei Patentanmeldungen. https://www.zeit.de/wissen/2020-04/china-patente-wipo-anmeldungen-antraege-usa-deutschland?utm_referrer=https %3A %2F %2Fwww.google.com %2F. Accessed 14 June 2021

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The III-Human

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Summary The EEE-World has given birth to a new human being who has an immediate and uninterrupted access to practically all the information he needs. This makes him develop into a highly independent individual who is freed from any compulsion of collectivism and strives for self-realization and self-determination. This new species of human being is an individual who is Informed, Independent and Individualistic: the so-called III-Human being who has new needs, new behaviors and new expectations of his environment.

The EEE-World, with its mutually reinforcing enthusiasm and the claim for ease and eagerness, has given rise to a new phenomenon: the III-Human. See Fig. 2.1. This new species of human being mainly spends his time in the digital space, has access to all kind of information there and is therefore very informed.Consequently, this individual behaves apparently independent, because he believes to be able to make the right decision himself and without help. He is convinced that he can find what he believes he needs on his own - independently. By becoming more independent and autonomous, he also becomes more individualistic. Because he is no longer dependent on others and does not need a group to feel safe. On the contrary, he tries to differentiate himself from others as much as possible and to distinguish himself, because he feels special. This new species, the informed, independent and individualistic III-Human is the logical product of the digital EEE-World. He has different behaviours, expectations and demands on his environment, compared to his predecessors, who mostly lived in the analog world.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_2

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Fig. 2.1   The III-Human in the EEE-World

2.1 Informed We live in the information age, also called the computer age, the digital age or the new media age. These terms refer to a historical period that began in the middle of the 20th century and is caracterized by a rapid shift from traditional industrial manufacturing towards an economy mainly based on information thechnology. 

Access to information and its governance is the defining feature of our age. Information has become the most important resource that individuals, organizations and societies rely on and that in turn enables growth and progress. In every respect, information has come to the fore in our social, economic, political and cultural lives.

Access to information as a fundamental right of an information society The free access to public information, known as freedom of information, is one of the most important fundamental rights in the knowledge society. Germany introduced the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at the federal level on 1 January 2006, effectively abolishing the “official secrets” act. Not only Germany, but also the European Union has a Freedom of Information Act. Last but not least, the right of access to information is guaranteed in 119 countries (as of 2021) by Freedom of Information Acts and Regulations. In their core, Freedom of Information Acts serve the democratic opinion and will formation.

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2.1.1 Information Society—How did We Get Here? The world’s technological capacity to store and telecommunicate information has grown at an average annual growth rate of 25 to 30% between 1986 and 2007 (about five times faster than economic growth during the same period). The technological capacity to process information has grown even faster: by 60 to 85% per year, ten times our economic performance. The global information storage has doubled approximately every three years in recent decades, from less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to about 300 in 2007. If we would have intended to store this on double printed book paper, we could have covered every square centimeter of the world’s landmasses with one sheet of paper in 1986, with one layer of books by 2007, and by 2010 with two layers of books. (Hilbert 2012). In 2021 we have already reached a data volume of 64.9 zettabytes, with a forecast of over 180 zettabytes for 2025 (Statista 2021a).  Definition  Zettabyte: 1 Zettabyte = 1000 Exabytes Exabyte: 1 Exabyte = 1.000.000 Terabytes But not only the amount of information has increased significantly, also its form and the way it is spread have changed: • Advanced storage media and technologies for information recording and processing have enabled us not only to generate and store more information, but analyze and interpret information faster and better. • The different forms of information such as text, audio, image and video have contributed to the fact that information is easier to understand and to consume. • The new media for the distribution of information—telecommunications, the Internet and social media—have contributed to the fact that the reach and speed of information spread have increased massively. • The different ways—in addition to print, TV, radio now also PC, mobile phones and wearables—offer an easier, better and continous access to information to the general public. 

Technological progress has made it possible to have an easier, better and unobstructed access to more and better processed information and thus easier to consume.

These massive changes are mainly due to the combination of these three technological developments: 1. E-mail communication: Invented in the early 1970s, electronic mail (e-mail) has enabled almost instantaneous exchange of information and has developed into a primary platform for communication at work and in private life. Although messenger services

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and video communication have taken over a significant part of electronic communication, with a strong increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, e-mail remains the main medium for communication and exchange of information in the business world. The e-mail medium has in fact a 100% acceptance rate in companies worldwide, regardless of their size or field of activity. In effect, e-mails enable more efficient exchange of information and thus make a significant contribution to faster distribution of information. 2. Internet: Officially on January 1, 1983, the World Wide Web came and was initially used by companies as an electronic board for promoting products and services. Within a few years, however, it developed into an indispensable source of information of all kinds. This also gave rise to social media, which gave another boost to the information spread. Initially used as a pure communication and exchange medium among friends and family, social media have developed into a powerful information platform in a very short time: from entertainment to news and professional knowledge source. 3. Smartphone: In 1994, IBM launched the smartphone, which was not connected to a real 3G network until 2000. With the introduction of iPhone in 2007, which provided access to the Internet, the smartphone experienced a tremendous evolution. It has found its acceptance in the general public: as the device that offers unlimited, convenient and non-stop access to the Internet, without great restrictions — much more convenient compared to surfing on the desktop PC or laptop. The combination of e-mail, the Internet and the smartphone has put the world under our fingertips and provided the modern human with better access to more information than ever before in human history. Consequently, the existing analog knowledge was digitized at breakneck speed and also made available in the digital space via digital media. According to Hilbert, the year 2002 marks the beginning of the digital age, because in this year humanity began to store more information on digital than on analog media (Hilbert 2012).

2.1.2 The Ease of Information Consumption Access to digital information has become easier and more convenient. In their efforts to improve information consumption, modern information platforms try to optimize the way they provide information to users. Social media customize feeds to our needs and search engines make information retrieval as convenient as possible. A few years ago we had to know to correctly combine search terms to get the right search result, today we can simply ask the search engine a question, and it will instantly provide the best possible result. In addition, Google will offer—unsolicited— a selection of similar questions or similar search queries and will complete the search terms, aiming to support us in the research process.

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

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The Internet, including all the devices that provide access to it, has become essential to help the modern human being understand the world around him and get answers to almost any question he might have.

Technology has not only made information consumption cheaper, faster and more efficient, but also more comfortable, interesting and pleasant. As a result, people are much better informed and they use to research more comprehensively than in the recent past, with increasing tendency. Information consumption grew by 5.4% per year from 1980 to 2008. In 2008, the average American consumed about 1.3 billion hours of information outside of work, which is equivalent to an average of almost 12 h per person per day. The media consumption amounts to a total of 3.6 zettabytes and 1080 billion words. This corresponds to 100,500 words and 34 gigabytes for an average person on an average day (Bohn and Short 2012). Yes, we could debate whether better access to information has improved the level of our education or the quality of the information, but one thing is certain: The ability to find or check an information—instantly—has enabled people being much better informed. The human in the internet—a fish in water People have learned in a very short time to use the direct and the easy access to information via the internet to expand their own knowledge base, to instantly close knowledge gaps and inform themselves virtually about everything. Additionally, the modern human being is no longer just a consumer of information, but generates content and is more than happy to share it with the public. As a result, the sovereignty over the creation of information is no longer left to authorities—such as journalists, science and education. A large part of the information generated and available today is “user-generated”—created by the users themselves. 

The audience is not only a consumer. It becomes the producer, manager, distributor and judge of information: A new dimension of information creation and dissemination has established itself.

Nowadays, the internet and the associated access to information have become as self-evident as tap water or electricity. It is always there. Consequently, all sorts of information is available at any time and from anywhere. As a result, our brain does not consider it necessary anymore, to store information which may be easily retrieved anytime. Can you still remember phone numbers easily? Or recall the routes on which you used a navigation device? What for, if Google Maps can always call up the route again … Most of the things we used to remember, we now carry in our pockets. The Internet has become a primary source of information—a sort of external, always available hard drive (second brain)—on which information is easier to store and retrieve than in one’s own memory. This is not a conjecture, but a fact that was vividly illustrated

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by a study published in Science Magazine: College students remembered less information when they assumed they could easily retrieve it later on the computer (Sparrow et al. 2011). This is referred to as the Google effect, also known as digital amnesia, which describes the tendency to forget information that can be easily accessed using an Internet search engine (WTOP-FM 2015).

2.1.3 Searching Skills Replace Memory Skills While we can’t remember specific information or unconsciously no longer recognize the need to memorize everything, we’re getting better and better at finding the information we need in this new extended memory storage medium. In addition, we have developed a new ability to “browse” information rather than read it in full, in order to quickly assess its relevance. Digital content hits us like an avalanche, faster than we can digest it, and so we learn to scan information to immediately see if it’s worth spending time on it. 

The memory capacity that was once necessary to store information is giving way to the ability to search for information. Today we need to know to find our way in the wealth of available information and to recognize what is important and what is not.

Researchers from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Illinois believe that access to information on the Internet is changing our ability to learn, remember and solve problems. The more we rely on technological information access, the more likely we will use technology in the future to collect new information (Storm et al. 2016). The individual may not be wiser, but he definitely has the feeling that he can learn better and is better informed, especially about things that interest him. This was nicely demonstrated a study in US (Purcel et al. 2014): • 87% say that the Internet and the mobile phone have improved their ability to learn new things. • 72% believe that digital technologies have improved their ability to share their ideas and creations with others. • 76% say that access to the internet has made the average American better informed. In the past, it took days for a breaking news story to be printed, published, and noticed by the public. Today, news and events spread at an incredible speed. It’s called “viral” and means exponential. Have you ever watched live as the number of likes and shares of a viral post increases? This is how children are taught exponential growth today, not with graphics and stories about rice grains on a chessboard. Never before has it been possible to recieve information so quickly, no matter what the topic, to form an opinion on it within a very short time and to express it loudly and broadly.

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2.1.4 Who Really Needs It All? Today we not only have better access to the information already available, but we produce much more information than ever before. Whether necessary or not, is not the question here. Imagine if you got one cent for each smartphone photo that is taken, stored and never used again. How rich would you be then? Enormous amounts of information are generated every second worldwide, and much of it to be never used. Why? Simply, because it’s possible, technology makes it possible. But there is more: The technology not only allows us to produce more data, but also to learn from it. Today you know—if you want to—how many steps you have taken, how many stairs you have climbed, how high your heart rate is, how long and whether you have slept well and that you have not drunk enough water. And you know—even if you don’t want to—what the school friend you haven’t seen for 20 years is eating for lunch, what the boss’s dog’s preferences are and that the neighbor’s plane has just landed in Mallorca. You just know it. And even if you may argue about whether certain information really has its justification, it is undisputed that we know much more about our own behavior, about other people, our interactions with them or about our environment. Today we are able to capture, analyze and draw conclusions from much more data than ever before. The technology captures, stores and makes information of any kind available to us in a convenient way. Not only general or specific knowledge is available to us, but any type of useful information for everyday life: opening times of the baker around the corner, flight status, account balance and how many bags of cement are in stock at the next hardware store. Access to information provides us with a benefit by saving us the unnecessary trip to the hardware store or the pointless sitting around at the airport waiting for the delayed flight. In addition, we can retrieve any type of tutorials and at any time: how to plant a tomato, how to lay out a right angle or how to change a broken light bulb. 

It is undisputed that the accumulated knowledge of mankind has increased greatly due to technology, making the modern individual more informed than ever before: as a citizen, as a consumer, as a member of society and as an employee. Even as a patient. Ever googled your own diagnosis?

While the amount of opportunities to obtain information increases, people are gaining more and more autonomy. As a result, authorities and experts are incrementally losing relevance. The information that we once needed experts for, we now can easily find on the Internet. Today, people no longer have to simply believe or trust the information they are given. Now, they have a variety of ways to verify it. The modern human being is becoming increasingly independent. Which leads us to the second “I” of the III-Human: He is Independent.

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2.2 Independent Independence and freedom of opinion, autonomy and self-determination: all values that are deeply rooted in our society. The striving for independence in every respect—financially and personally—is characteristic of our age, even though the idea of independence is not new at all. The ability of an individual to think and judge independently has always been highly valued in our society. But through access to information and knowledge, it has developed into the lifestyle of the modern human being. As autonomous individuals, we are free and encouraged to develop our own views, opinions and lifestyles. Children are brought up to be independent. Above all, it is expected of them that they think and act independently, develop their own opinions and express them loudly. And today we have all the means and ways to do that. Never before have the opportunities to develop an independent personality been as diverse as they are today. The modern individual does not need anymore to rely on his close environment (family), in order to be successful in live. To the extent that the access to development and growth opportunities increases, fixed social patterns disappear and tradition loses its legitimacy. We don’t have to believe Mom, Dad or Grandma anymore, but can check what has been said on the Internet. The same goes for politics, government and other types of authority that we used to depend on. Nowadays, the modern human being can break free from this—and he does it gladly.

2.2.1 Authority Under Pressure Authority is not only being questioned nowadays, it is being vehemently challenged: attacks on police, governments and the press are increasing on a daily basis. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the massive urge for independence: physically and mentally. The internet and social media, as well as the individual opinions expressed therein, have gained weight vis-à-vis authorities. We could not say that people in the Western world are limited in their personal freedom, but the pandemic managed to put the last thin thread of authority under great pressure. The events during the 2020 US presidential election, such as the storming of the Capitol and the questioning of the election results, are a good demonstration of the authority getting under high pressure. 

The modern human being is highly autonomous and is not willing to let anyone tell him what to do. He is not dependent on anyone and reacts flexibly and quickly to changing circumstances.

And he has all the options at his disposal—at least that is his assumption—to inform himself independently. With a few clicks we become “experts in everything”. With YouTube instructions we can do everything just as well—if not better—ourselves. Why pay

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an electrician or installer when you can easily assimilate their know-how on the Internet? The person who is used to find its way in the digital environment is more willing to reject the opinion of experts in favor of its own judgment. He is not to be stopped, even not by the fact that houses have burned down because of wrong electrical connections or that great damage has been caused by unprofessional water installations. Those are the “others” who make the mistakes — he just knows better. The modern human primarily relies on his own skills and opinions. This too, demonstrated the COVID-19 pandemic: Never before have people been so well informed about vaccinations and never before has the general tendency been higher to rely on one’s own opinion, instead of—as in the past—simply believing experts and science.

2.2.2 Independent and Self-Determined Thanks to the Internet Our independence and the confirmation therein we draw from the Internet. And despite clear indications • • • •

that in reality the opposite occurs, that bottom line the ability to form an independent opinion diminishes, that one instead represents a questionable crock of what is said on the Internet, that the supposedly independent opinion is actually based on what the algorithms consider to be right, to show us,

the human being still won’t question his own abilities to form a—supposedly—correct judjment. The modern world continuously reassures us in the assumption that we are able to form an objective own opinion. As a result, we reject any eventuality, no matter how small, to be influenced by whatsoever. Even people who very well know how AI algorithms work on Google, Amazon and Facebook, believe that they are not as “stupid” as the others and subject to the algorithms, ultimately form their opinion on the basis of the information that these services provide to them. And who doesn’t use them? We all do, because they are comfortable, they make it easy and convenient, as described in Sect.1.2. And to seek for other - better - ways is less comfortable and can sometimes even be really strenuous. Who is really willing to do that? Often, we simply take the path of least resistance, even though we know that this is not the optimal way.

2.2.3 Personalities with Decision-Making Skills are in Demand Independence is also gaining importance in the business world. Employees are increasingly expected to act independently and responsibly, rather than carry out orders. More and more repetitive and mundane processes are automated and taken over by machines, resulting in human beings having to perform those activities that require decision-mak-

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ing ability and independence. Employees are increasingly expected to solve problems independently and react sovereign to unforeseen events. As a result, the business environment requires more human resources that act autonomously and independently. In return, independent employees demand more freedom and autonomy from their employers. Home office, flexible working hours and freedom to design one’s own work have never been in such demand as they are today. Here too, the pandemic has made its unsolicited contribution and has shown new ways to design work processes independently of the place of work. The majority of employers and employees have found that home office worked well during the pandemic and want to continue this way, at least to a certain extent in the future. A development, which was previously unthinkable in some industries and business areas. 

New models of work and business operations are emerging, further strengthening our independence as individuals in the work environment.

Crowd-sourcing, remote work and the trend towards self-employment are good examples of the fact that more and more people are striving for self-employment in order to live out autonomy in their profession. In Germany, the number of self-employed people has increased by 282% from 1992 to 2020: from 514,000 to around 1.45 million (Statista 2021a).

2.2.4 Self-Determination and Flexibility — Important Trends in the Work Environment Even temporary work, which used to be considered the most unattractive form of employment, is taking on new forms today. Not only blue-collar (worker) positions are provided on a temporary employment basis, but also high-paid and decision-making executive positions. Interim management is the new form of temporary work that offers a better income in combination with freedom, flexibility and work-life balance. Highly qualified and well-paid experts are increasingly occupying key positions in companies, while taking responsibility for a specific project or task for a limited period of time. Even in traditional fixed-term employment relationships, the independence of the individual is becoming increasingly important. Custom-made employment agreements, so-called I-deals (idiosyncratic deals), are being increasingly practised. The agreements and conditions between the individual employee and his or her employer are negotiated individually and the specific needs and preferences of the employees are taken into account. Independence, self-determination and freedom in every respect: this is what the modern individual strives for and resists the pressure to conform to the community in any form, if against his or her will. As a result, he or she is becoming more and more willful and isolated. Which brings us to the third I: the modern human being is Individualistic.

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2.3 Individualistic As proud, autonomous and independent beings, people are becoming increasingly individualistic—one is not like all the others, but an independent individual, a personality with unique characteristics and needs. We experience it every day, on the street, at work, in our environment, among our friends and on social media: The differentiation from others has become key in the modern life. 

Individualism has become part of the DNA of the modern indiviudal.

Being different is in fashion. To be different, to be unmistakable and to stand out from the crowd is a must. Worldwide, the urge for individualism is changing our society, it was even declared by the German Future Institute to be the megatrend of our time, which crystallizes as the central cultural principle of our time: self-realization within a uniquely designed individuality (Zukunftsinstitut o. J).

2.3.1 The Globalization of the Individualism The results of a study conducted by the University of Waterloo and Arizona State University indicate that the increasing individualism is actually a global phenomenon. The study authors examined data on individualistic practices and values ​​from 51 years in 78 countries. The findings show that individualism is increasing in most of the societies studied (Santos et al. 2017). In order to measure the individualistic practices in different cultures, the researchers specifically examined data on household size, divorce rates and the proportion of single people, as well as the question of how important it is for people to educate children to be independent. Overall, the results showed a clear pattern: both individualistic practices and individualistic values ​​increased over time worldwide: precisely, since 1960 individualism has increased by about 12% globally. The culture of individualism has always been attributed to Western countries, especially the American society. Now, it becomes clear that other cultures are also developing in the direction of greater individualism, even the East Asian cultures, known for their collectivism. Prosperity promotes individualism Socioeconomic development is a particularly strong indicator of the increase in individualistic practices and values in a country. For example, Japan, through its rapid economic growth and advancing urbanization, has introduced more social systems in different contexts (e.g. at work and in school) that are based on individualistic concepts. Recent stud-

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ies suggest that with these socio-economic changes, Japanese culture has become more individualistic over time (Yuji Ogihara 2017). 

There is a clear link between innovation, growth and individualism.

This is the finding of a study from 2010. Individualism rewards personal performance more and not only provides monetary incentives for innovation, but also rewards for social status. The correlation between the degree of individualism and the degree of innovation and growth is evident, even after checking for institutions and other potentially confounding factors (Gorodnichenko and Roland 2010). In this context, it becomes clear that individualism is on the one hand a consequence of our modern, innovation- and growth-driven world and on the other hand, that it is the individualistic person that drives innovation. Because growth—whether economic or personal—requires an individualistic personality type, which can live without the security of the group and has a strong autonomous life orientation.

2.3.2 Individualism as a Core Driver of the Economy The economy and its growth ideology promotes high performance from individuals. Even though teamwork is almost always found in the values of modern companies, in reality it’s the individual performance which is promoted: whether through compensation models, competitions or positions and roles. Even the company as a whole, which is in constant competition in the economic context and strives for growth, is highly individualistic at its core. Corporate development is closely linked to the development of individual personalities within the company. It is the personal and professional development of the individual which is actually in the foreground, not the whole team. This logically leads to the change of professional identities. Personnel development programs, personal coaching, individual careers: everything demonstrates the fact that it is no longer about a collective—a team—but about a group of individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. Departments and hierarchies are “old-fashioned” and have outlived their usefulness. Workforce is organized into project groups in which employees exchange their individual skills to achieve a common goal. 

Today, employees are no longer part of a structural team in a company, but individuals within a network organization.

“Network Individualism” is a term coined by Barry Wellman in 2000. It describes a phenomenon in which individuals interact with network resources and information on their own terms. People are increasingly connected as individuals, rather than embedded in groups. Instead of the family, the working environment, the neighborhood and the social

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group, the inter-connected individual is at the center of the world of network individualism, using the means provided by the possibilities of information and communication technology (Wellman et al. 2000). The individual at the center of the whole The further development of personality, the high claim to self-realization and the achievement of extraordinary personal achievements in life is the supreme premise of modern human. In close connection with the structural differentiation within the economic world, this results in the aim of the individual to detach himself from his social environment. The role of the individual in modern society and in the social environment has changed radically. The traditional roles in families disappear, and the modern family offers every member the opportunity to build his or her own personal identity. People no longer simply reproduce what they have inherited from the previous generation or what the family expects from them, but create something new and unique. And the modern digital world, with its almost unlimited possibilities, offers everyone the chance to create something of their own and to differentiate themselves from everyone else. With this awareness, today’s children grow up: “I can do anything!”, “All doors are open to me!” 

Self-realization takes precedence over earning money and accumulating possessions.

The mere possession of goods—car, house, property—as a differentiation criterion loses importance and one differentiates oneself by being different, by his uniqueness and individuality. As a result of economic growth and the increasing prosperity of our society— where the basic needs are met—the ego, one’s own personality, gains in value through the general striving for self-determination, and not the amount of accumulated possessions. Different is better As a result, new individualistic priorities and new factors of differentiation gain importance: appearance, clothing, unusual hobbies, eating habits, religious beliefs and principles. The desire to be “different” and thus “better” has never been greater than in today’s digital age. Ask a waiter how often he is ordered a deviation from the regular menu? Deviating from a standard dish or adding something else has almost become a culture. It is fashionalbe to demonstrate the one’s uniqueness in different situations and forms. Who wants to be like everyone else? And here too, the technology has its contribution. The potential visibility (photos, videos, posts in social media) and the immediate feedback (likes, comments, sharing) have given the trend towards individualism a tremendous boost. Selfies are the embodiment of the self-expression trend: food selfies, fitness selfies, tour selfies, shower selfies and now relfie, belfie, ussie, suglie, bilfie, shelfie and bedstagram. Never heard of it? Let your

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children or grandchildren explain it to you. All these forms have one common claim: the representation of the I in all kind of situations. Individualism as a way to assert oneself The trend towards individualism is of course supported by the providers. Personalization and individualization is offered in any form: From the well-known car configuration and printed T-shirts or mobile phone covers, today’s individuality can be demonstrated over a wide variety of products. The range extends from clothing to muesli mixtures. We are in an ongoing competition for uniqueness, even with the names of our children. How often have you wondered where the name you’ve never heard of comes from? It is a documented fact that between 2004 and 2006, 66% of boys and 76% of girls were named after names that were not among the 50 most common names of this period. And the trend continues: In the years 2011 to 2015, already 72% of the boys and 79% of the girls had names that were not among the top 50 of the most popular names (Twenge et al. 2016). The parents assume that a unique name could help the child to stand out better in a competitive environment. 

In the world of individualism, only individualism wins.

Never before has it been so easy to become famous, and that very fast. A video or a post can make a person famous in no time. With distinctive opinions or unmistakable behavior that are different, one gains followers. “Who has more followers?” Is the key question in social media. Never before has it been so easy to make so much money at such a young age. Recently, I heard a six-year-old say, “When I grow up, I want to be an influlencer!” And no, there’s no typo: “Influlencer” is the dream job of our children. 86% of Americans aged 18 to 38 want to be influencers. 58% consider authenticity to be the most important characteristic of influencers (Morning Consult o. J). 

Authentic individualism is necessary in order to become famous quickly and, as a result, also rich.

The increasingly individualistic human being shows a strong interest in everything that is different, original, new or still undiscovered, as well as in everything that is considered authentic, creative and special.

2.3.3 Individualism—A Source of Money These fundamental changes in human behavior, needs and values transform ​​ entire industries. Providers hurry to meet these new demands. Starbucks gives us a perfect example of how to respond to the individualism trend: The company has managed to create an individualism experience for customers, rather than just selling coffee. According to

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its own statements, the company offers over 80,000 drink combinations, which makes it possible for everyone to create a unique drink for themselves. Not enough, you even get a cup with your own name on it! More satisfaction for the modern craving for individualism, empowerment and creativity is hardly possible. Mass products become masses of products that are tailored to the needs of individuals. We are talking about mass customization, which combines the flexibility and personalization of custom-made products with the low unit costs of mass production, also known as made-to-order or built-to-order. The digitalization and automation of ordering and manufacturing processes, as well as access to customer data in combination with increasing speed and also the quality of their processing, bring personalization into every corner of our lives: from couch configuration to personal finance portfolio and of course media consumption.

2.3.4 The Individualization of the Entertainment According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019–2023, consumers are increasingly using media tailored to their individual needs. As a result, companies are developing offerings and business models that take into account these personal preferences. The result is a new media world that is more personal than ever: a world in which independent consumers can specifically control their individual media consumption through a growing selection of devices and channels (PwC 2019). We see its proof every day on the street, in public transport, in restaurants or at social gatherings, where everyone stares at their mobile phone and more or less ignores the rest of the environment. And at home too, everyone can be entertained individually: whether with the TV in their own room, streaming on the PC or laptop, tablet and of course smartphone. But that’s not all, the COVID-19 crisis has further strengthened the individualism. During the pandemic, people were encouraged and even forced to stay in their personal space as much as possible and to avoid any form of social interaction. Remote technologies such as online meetings, online shopping, online payments, online media and streaming services experienced a boom, and the changes in modern human’s behavior that had already begun before the crisis were accelerated and amplified. Do you think there is a way back?

Conclusion: The III-Human: One extreme strengthens the other The high degree of information—regardless of its quality—and the constant and immediate access to almost everything you might wish for, reinforce the independence of the modern human. The increasing independence is highly promoted. Both, in the business world and in the society, where outstanding individual achievements are highly appreciated. This makes individualism an integral part of our lives and the striving for independence, freedom, self-determination and self-realization is further reinforced.

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Ultimately, the III-Human is a logical product of the EEE-World and represents the embodiment of the modern individual, with the main characteristics Informed, Independent and Individualistic.

References Bohn R, Short J (2012) Measuring consumer information. Int J Commun 6:980–1000 Gorodnichenko Y, Roland G (2010) Culture, institutions, and the wealth of nations. No 16368, NBER Working Papers, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA Hilbert M (2012) How much information is there in the „information society”? Significance 9(4):8–12 Morning Consult (o. J.) The influencer report. https://morningconsult.com/influencer-report-engaging-gen-z-and-millennials/. Accessed 18 June 2021 Ogihara Y (2017) Temporal changes in individualism and their ramification in Japan: rising individualism and conflicts with persisting collectivism. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fpsyg.2017.00695 Purcel K, Rainie L, Pew Research Center (2014) Americans feel better informed thanks to the internet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/12/08/better-informed/. Accessed 16 June 2021 PwC (2019) Global entertainment & media outlook 2019–2023. https://www.pwc.com/outlook. Accessed 16 June 2021 Santos HC, Varnum MEW, Grossmann I (2017) Global increases in individualism. Psychol Sci 28:1228–1239 Sparrow B, Liu J, Wegner DM (2011) Google effects on memory: cognitive consequences of having information at our fingertips. Science 333:776 Statista (2021a) Zahl der Selbstständigen in freien Berufen in Deutschland von 1992 bis 2020. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/158665/umfrage/freie-berufe%2D%2D-selbststaendige-seit-1992/. Accessed 17 June 2021 Statista (2021b) Volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/. Accessed 11 Aug 2021 Storm BC, Stone SM, Benjamin AS (2016) Using the Internet to access information inflates future use of the Internet to access other information. Memory 25:717–723 Twenge JM, Dawson L, Campbell WK (2016) Still standing out: children’s names in the United States during the Great Recession and correlations with economic indicators. J Appl Soc Psychol 46(11):663–670 Wellman B, Quan-Haase A, Boase J, Chen W, Hampton K, Diaz I, Miyata K (2000) Living wired in a networked world: the rise of networked individualism. Founding conference, Association of Internet Researchers, Lawrence, KS, Sept 2000. https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/8/3/ JCMC834/4584288. Accessed 17 Aug 2021 WTOP-FM (2015) Most Americans suffer from ‚Digital Amnesia‘. https://wtop.com/health-fitness/2015/07/study-most-americans-suffer-from-digital-amnesia/. Accessed 16 June 2021 Zukunftsinstitut (o. J.) Megatrend Individualisierung. https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/dossier/megatrend-individualisierung/. Accessed 15 June 2021

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The Modern Customer—The PHANTOM



Summary The modern customer, who is spending his time primarily in the digital space, consumes informations and also makes buying decisions there, resembles a labile, elusive and hard to grasp PHANTOM, which combines certain characteristics in his personality: Due to the sheer amount of information he consumes on the Internet, he is pseudo-informed. On his customer journey he behaves hyper-convenient and is autonomous in his buying decisions. He is not interested in your product or you as a provider, but only looks for his own benefit. he is needs-oriented. He loves using modern technology that makes his life easier and expects a technological customer experience: he is techsavvy. Conditioned by the digital world, his loyalty is continuously declining:; he is opportunistic. And, he is constantly in motion, physically and in his expectations: he is mutating-mobile. All these properties the modern customer combines in his identity and in his name: the PHANTOM, on the run from sales.

The EEE-World with its eagerness, ease and enthusiasm, together with the informed, independent and individualistic III-Human are directly reflected in the behavior of the modern customer: • He is primarily in the digital space, is highly informed and has constant access to all the information he may need for his decisions. In order to make the best possible buying decision, he is willing to extensively research and thinks to be able to find all the necessary information himself and identify all the relevant decision criteria without help. And even if the results of his research are not always correct and unbiased, he is not deterred from the assumption that he has researched well. While being convinced to be particularly well informed, in reality he is often pseudo-informed.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_3

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• He prefers the easy way and satisfies his needs in the most comfortable way possible: rather with a single click or even better, with a simple voice command, literally without moving a finger. Thus his decisions are not always the most reasonable, but increasingly the most comfortable and pleasant ones. He is hyper-convenient. • He believes to know what he needs and thus acts very independently. He is of the opinion no longer to be dependent on any provider and prefers to research on his own, and preferably anonymously about products, possible alternatives and potential providers. He is autonomous. • At the same time, he only cares about his own benefit. In reality, it doesn’t matter to him where and from whom he buys, first and foremost he is interested in what he gets out of it. He is needs-oriented. • In using technology, he is very versed and knows how to profit from its advantages along the buying decision process. He is tech-savvy. • And if he doesn’t like something, he turns around without hesitation and is gone in a flash. Because he is convinced to have enough alternatives and other options and not to be dependent on the complicated and tedious customer experience of a single provider. He is opportunistic. • And not least, he is constantly in motion and evolving. With each new piece of information, interaction or experience, he can change his mind and a single impuls may alter his original choice. All that in constant motion. He often makes important decisions on the go, mainly via smartphone. He is mutating-mobile. All of these characteristics are combined in the identity of the modern customer— pseudo-informed, hyper-convenient, autonomous, needs-oriented, tech-savvy, opportunistic and mutating-mobile—making him a PHANTOM on the run from traditional sales, see Fig.3.1. Modern customers always possess these PHANTOM-characteristics, regardless of B2C or B2B, regardless of products or services, simple or complex procurement, or if it is a cheap or expensive purchase. Everywhere we encounter this new species of customer. In the consumer sector, there is already a vague idea of the existence of the PHANTOM. In the B2B sector, however, the PHANTOM seems to be largely unknown. However, we experience the same revolution and changing of customers’ behaviour, as we saw in the consumer sector in recent decades, both thanks to the rapid technological development. While we all have experienced the changes in consumer behavior more or less on our own and followed the famous disruptions of some markets, along with the disappearance of once big brand names, these changes are taking place in the B2B sector mostly hidden and in the background. Not all B2B companies have recognized the ongoing change, or its consequences. While the technological changes, along with the new products and offerings arising, are clearly visible, the changes in behavior and customer expectations are usually invisible. On the one hand, customers do not necessarily share loudly that their preferences are changing and also not to what extent. And on the other hand, the customers themselves are not always aware of these changes, but change their decision-making criteria uncon-

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Fig. 3.1   The modern customer—The PHANTOM

sciously. But the changes are going on. There are unstoppable and so dramatic that entire industries have to rethink their business models from the ground, in order to secure their existence. The missing connection Even if the awareness of the ongoing changes has finally spread into all corners of the business world, their correlations are still missing. As a result, the magnitude of all these developments taking place simultaneously and on countless levels is not fully recognized. However, it is a matter of fact that there are major changes taking place in B2B buying behaviour in particular. Across all industires and all business areas we have to deal with a new customer, whose new attitudes, needs and buying behavior differ significantly from those of his most recent predecessors. The roles in the classic buyer-seller relationship have changed. New criteria and activities are emerging along the customer decision-making and buying processes, which are rarely recognized and considered by sales. 

We all buy differently than we used to, but we’re still selling the same way.

Sales are remarkably resistant to change, and for a variety of seemingly important reasons. But change and adaptation to new digital conditions are no longer a nice-tohave exercise. It’s a a matter of existence. In the consumer sector, we have already seen how quickly traditional companies and business models can come under pressure. Similar changes are now taking place in the B2B sector, and if companies are still operating

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in the same way as they did ten or even five years ago, they are definitely doing something wrong. Differentiation between B2C and B2B is no longer possible The buying behaviour and decision paths in the business sector can no longer be clearly and easily distinguished from those in the consumer sector, as it was the case not so long ago. Due to the digital lifestyle of the modern human being, the areas of private and business life are merging— a fact, which was also intensified by the pandemic. It has practically forced the merging of the private and professional environment. Thus, it’s no wonder that people are increasingly transferring their convenient technological experiences as consumers to their roles in the business world. 

Whether B2C or B2B, at the end of the day it is people who make the buying decision and who sign a contract.

A purchase decision is never done by an abstract company, there are always people who take decisions: individuals or groups of people. And people often follow similar paths and consider similar factors when taking purchase decisions—whether privately or at work. The increasingly consumer-like behavior in B2B decision-making processes is an important factor that must not be underestimated by B2B sales organizations. Even though the B2B purchasing process has become more complex in certain respects, as we will discuss in Chap. 5, B2B buyers particularly, have higher expectations of their buying experiences and explicitly expect a smooth and personalized B2C-like buying experience. Why should B2B accept the worse? B2B buyers are no longer willing to accept a “worse” purchasing experience in their B2B job than they are used to from their personal experience as consumers. In 2019, providers offering their customers outstanding digital experiences had twice the likelihood of becoming the main supplier, compared to those offering poor digital experiences (McKinsey 2020). And how will it look after the pandemic? The image of the formal B2B buyer, gray-haired and whearing a well-fitting suit, who likes to organize beauty contests among providers, goes to lunch with suppliers, plays golf and closes deals over a martini, is increasingly becoming a rare appearance. 

The modern B2B buyer exhibits different behaviors than a few years ago and makes decisions on a different basiss than the stereotype we are familiar with.

In addition to the technological progress of the recent years, this development is reinforced by the inevitable entry of younger generations into the workforce. Meanwhile, 73% of millennials are involved in B2B purchase decisions, and a third of them say they have the sole decision-making authority in their field (Merit 2016).

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The youth is on the march and the digital natives are imposing their consumption habits on the B2B common practices, thereby changing the conditions in the business world fundamentally. At the same time, studies show that older buyers are also adopting such habits. In reality, the differences between business and consumer decisions are far from as drastic as they used to be. Of course, procurement teams continue to rigorously evaluate providers and perform detailed ROI calculations, even more carefully and often than in the past, see Sect. 5.3. But in times of globalization and digitalization, the complying with the rational and quantifiable criteria, like price and quality has become a prerequisite in order to be considered as a potential business partner. But the decision itself is increasingly influenced by other—new—factors. In addition to the emotional factors that have always been important, it’s the quality of the buying and decision experience which becomes a decisive buying criterion in B2B. The PHANTOM is everywhere It does not matter in which business you are in, everywhere we have to deal with the same PHANTOM that poses new problems for the sales world, as we will see in the detailed description of its properties. 

The PHANTOM customer is independent and elusive. He appears and disappears from the view field, again and again, depending on which phase of his decisionmaking process he is in. He will get in touch with sales only when he sees a clear added value for an interaction. And this is no longer just collecting information.

Although some sales organizations are already aware of the existence of some new preferences of this new customer species, in its entirety it is still largely unknown. Within a few years, customers have mutated from loyal, reliable and predictable acquaintances to independent, disloyal and elusive strangers, challenging many companies in their approaches, stuctures and even existence. Here too, it’s the technology to blame, but as with anything else, it can also provide the solution. It’s the thechnology, who can help us meet the expectations and needs of PHANTOM customers, as we will see later. But first we need to really understand our PHANTOM customer and analyze his characteristics in detail.

3.1 Pseudo-informed Sales has quietly and involuntarily but doubtlessly and definitely handed over its information desk role to Mister Google. And we have to admit that Google performs this role much better: The search engine processes over 40,000 search queries per second (internet live stats 2021), which is probably enough evidence of its superiority. Several algo-

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rithms are at work to deliver the best possible result on the search query in milliseconds. How could a sales representative keep up with it? Not only as individuals, but particularly as customers, we have today the possibility to research and inform ourselves extensively and at the quite pace. Consequently, the III-Human becomes an informed customer. We use the internet, which is always on hand, for all kinds of buying decisions. In a very short time it has developed into the fastest and most convenient source of information along the buying process. Almost 90% of consumers begin their search for new products online (Salesforce 2019), trend increasing.

3.1.1 More Information with More Choice Besides relevant information on products and services, the Internet also offers much more buying alternatives. Today, a customer does not have to limit himself to a smallselection of buying alternatives or invest money and effort to expand it. Nowadays, customers have almost unlimited access to information, ideas and insights, decisionmaking and buying options, to satisfy their needs in the purchase process. This, comfortably and anytime, and independent of whether it is a B2C or B2B decision. Because in B2B too, buyers, especially the younger ones, do not want to renounce of this convenient source of information. The majority of millennials consider digital channels such as search engines, websites and social media to be the most important channels during their research process for new products and services. They also rate traditional B2B sources such as trade publications and trade fairs as far less important (Merit 2016). 

In the wealth of content available on the Internet, customers can find the necessary information on virtually all products and services—and they do. Whether as a consumer or business customer.

This trend is naturally reinforced, while more and more providers and industry experts are offering relevant, qualitative and free of charge information and decision-making assistance in the digital space. Think content marketing.

3.1.2 Research Phase Becomes the most Important Part of the Buying Process There is no need to dispute anymore whatever customers actively and extensively research during their buying journeys. The research phase is becoming the most important phase in the procurement process, and the more complex the product, the longer, and more important it becomes. In this context customers consume a variety of content, like webinars, blogs, articles, e-books, videos, reviews, online events, etc. In order to get

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answers to their specific questions, they also broadly share and discuss knowledge and insights with like-minded people, industry experts and various involved stakeholders. 

On their buying decision path, the PHANTOM customers are no longer dependent on the information provided by salespeople or providers.

More than that, the modern customers are not only no longer dependent on sales to get access to relevant information, sometimes they are even better informed than salespeople. When researching on the Internet, customers collect countless pieces of information—irrespective of their quality—and the more important the purchase, the longer and more thoroughly they will research. Consequently, it is not uncommon for a customer to have a better understanding of the product than a salesperson who often has a large portfolio of products to sell, and simply does not have the time to gather as much information about one single product as a customer who may have been scanning the Internet on this topic for months. During their research, customers consume information from different providers, consult test sites, compare offers and read reviews and testimonials. They often seek information in forums and social media, and rely on sources which give them the feeling to be objective and neutral, such as journalits, professional reviews and analyst or market research companies. What do you do when you want to buy a new product or book a holiday? Do you read product reviews on Amazon or TripAdvisor? I admit that I do. Everyone does. Why do so many companies still believe that their customers don’t?

3.1.3 Highly Informed Customers The balance of power has shifted. At the time of the first contact with sales, customers already possess plenty of information about the product and the differences between suppliers. At this point they know much more about the provider than the provider knows about them. With the constantly better access to an ever-increasing volume and quality of information, the customers’ information supremacy is strengthening. But this also increases the complexity of their decision-making process. More information and more options are not always supportive. On the contrary, they can cause more uncertainty and stress: a paradox that is explained in Chap. 5. 

The sheer amount of information does indeed make the customer more informed, but not necessarily more knowledgeable. Although the PHANTOM customer believes to be “better informed”, he is actually pseudo-informed. A misbelief, which he is not aware of.

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The pseudo-informedness of the modern customer is primary based on the combination of these three factors: 1. Biased information: A considerable part of the information sources a customer consults during his decision process is influenced by the opinions and interests of those who provide this information on the Internet. Often there is no way to validate the provided information, but the more credible it is presented, the more likely it is to be considered correct. Fake news provide a prime example of how easily false information can be mistaken for truth. It takes a lot of effort and time to create a truly sound knowledge base, as we will see later in the book when analyzing the customer’s decision-making process. Often this is—for time reasons, convenience or also ignorance—dispensed with. The tendency is great—also in complex B2B procurement processes—to consult the easier accessible sources and the better and more interesting prepared information, and to consider them reliable. This isn’t a conscious decision, but a behavior triggered by the EEE- World, in which everything should (must) be fast, easy, comfortable and interesting. 2. Confirmation bias: People tend to rely on information that confirms their existing assumptions, rather than look for contradictory content that requires critical thinking. This tendency is referred to as “confirmation bias”, which describes the tendency of people to search for, favor and interpret information in such a way that it confirms or supports one’s prior bliefs or expectations. And information that could contradict their existing beliefs is unconsciously ignored. This effect is also known as selective perception. This peculiarity of human psyche is unintentionally reinforced by technology. In their efforts to provide the most relevant information for each specific user, search engine algorithms filter all the available information and show only that, what they believe we want to see. This is the so called “filter bubble”, describing the intention of the search engines to algorithmically predict which information the user wants to find. They do that based on the available information about the user and his behavior such as location, search history and click behavior. As a result, there is an isolation from information that does not correspond to the user’s point of view, and one only recieves information that reinforces his existing assumptions. The user is stuck in a “bubble” of what he already believes in, and is just more confirmed in it. 3. Information overload: In addition, the large amount of information—both, active and passive—is overwhelming, which leads us to rely on sources that appear to be trustworthy, like influencers, reviews, comparison plattforms and user experiences. But these are nothing more than a collection of opinions that do not always reflect the reality.



The combination of these three factors makes our highly informed customer—as he believes himself to be—in reality a pseudo-informed customer who is not aware of this misbelieve.

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3.2 Hyper- convenient In his buying decisions, the modern customer follows the most convenient, fastest and easiest paths of the EEE- World. He may not always be aware of the role that convenience plays in his decisions—until it is no longer there. When asked, the most of us would indeed say, it’s the quality and the price which primarily influence our buying decisions, but almost everyone has already abandoned a purchase because it was inconvenient and tedious. You too? Particularly in routine purchases, convenience becomes a critical factor, regardless of whether it is in B2C or B2B. Automated reordering, traditionally of consumables, perfectly meets this claim and is enjoying increasing popularity with customers. With the Home Connect App from Siemens, the dishwasher orders dishwasher tabs from Amazon Dash on its own, and the Smart Ordering Service from Conrad Electronic automatically delivers batteries as soon as the sensor detects a low battery level. Besides the providers, which are increasingly offering automated reordering options, it is becoming a business model. There are providers offering software solutions which, allow products to be ordered automatically according to defined rules, form specified suppliers and considering minimum order quantities and order intervals.

3.2.1 Online or Offline: Convenience Wins Above all, online shopping must be comfortable In online shopping particularly there is an increasing demand for highly comfortable, fast and easy shopping experiences. Modern consumers want to simply shop, without having to fill out too many forms or fields. And of course, they want to switch between different devices—smartphone, tablet or PC—and still experience a trouble-free shopping experience. They demand convenience, which means a smooth and seamless online experience, as a Linnworks research shows: 81% of customers expect a smooth, crossdevice online shopping experience, trend rising. Three in four value convenience more than they did a year ago (Linnworks 2021). Increasingly, the price and the products are becoming secondary to the convenience of the shopping experience, and the expectations on the quality of the customer experience increased significantly. 49% of consumers believe that retailers are not able to provide an excellent digital customer experience and fulfill their expectations (Talkdesk Research 2020). If we would ask the IT experts in retail, they will probably have a different opinion.

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Customers increasingly demanding of technology Customers are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of their technological experience with the providers. If we consider the speed requirements of the EEE- World, where’s the surprise? It is legitimate that customers expect more convenience when shopping, especially for daily purchases. We want to be relieved of this tedious task or at least not suffer from it. More than seven out of ten people feel a sense of dread caused by the stress of their dayto-day lives in recent years (Bailey 2018). Between commuting, work, school and family, shopping has to be done when time allows—often on the go. So it is logical that customers are looking for convenient shopping opportunities which help them save their valuable time. 83% of consumers say convenience while shopping is more important now compared to five years ago and 52% say that half or more of their purchases are influenced by convenience (NRF 2020). 

Although shopping has become much more convenient in the last ten years, consumers still expect even more convenience and additional opportunities to save time and effort, across all phases of the buying process: research, evaluation of alternatives, availability check, purchase, return and after-sales.

Of course, all this regardless of whether they buy online or offline. Although there are slight differences in the expectations: when shopping online, consumers are particularly interested in higher convenience around the research phase, while when shopping in stores, it is more about the rationalization of transactions (NRF 2020). Customers expect their needs to be met quickly and exactly, regardless of whether it is a digital or physical experience. Consumers believe that providers should offer a variety of options to ensure that shopping is as uncomplicated as possible. The boundaries between online and offline are becoming increasingly blurred. 58% of consumers say that their expectations of the customer experience are higher than they were a year ago. Simplicity, speed and the ability to switch between channels during an interaction are their top priorities (Talkdesk Research 2020). Here too, the pandemic has shuffled the cards and led to people being even more demanding in terms of their customer experience. Although three in four shoppers buy more online than before the pandemic, nearly a third (30%) reveal they now have less time to search online for goods. The result? Almost two out of three are looking for a faster and more convenient way to what they need (Linnworks 2021).

3.2.2 Personal Data in Exchange for a Better Buying Experience Convenience is clearly getting on high priority among the buying decision criteria. And customers are even willing to share their personal data to get it. Although they are suspicious. 79% of consumers believe that companies know too much about them, at the

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same time they are willing to share their data if they receive a better and more convenient experience in return. 90% of consumers would share their behavioral data for a cheaper and easier shopping experience (SmarterHQ 2020). With a figure of 90%, we could almost say that everyone is willing to do so. 

A convenient customer experience is the easiest and fastest GDPR-compliant way to get access to relevant customer data.

It’s not different in B2B, as it is the same people whose lives—private and professional—have become much more complex and speedy. Professionals too, are actively searching for convenience and speed when executing the duties on their jobs. The majority of buyers prefer digital channels because of the higher flexibility and personalization as well as the overall facilitation of the entire buying life cycle. 73% of B2B buyers prefer using digital channels, especially for pre- and post-orders (72%), followed by personalized product recommendations (65%) and planning (63%) (WBR Insights o. J.).

3.2.3 Traditional Sales Processes Under Pressure In B2B too, there have been massive changes in buying behavior due to the pandemic. Initially forced and now, when the convenience of digital and virtual experiences has been broadly discovered, there is no turning back. Particularly in the first year of the pandemic, many companies have eagerly waited for their salespeople to get back on the road, only to find out that their existing and potential customers are not as keen to receive them as in the past. At the beginning of the pandemic, according to McKinsey, a full 90% of B2B organizations switched to a virtual sales model (Gavin et al. 2020) and most intend to keep it. Certainly some traditional habits will return in the coming years, but it is unlikely that everything will go back to the way it was. 

The good old days are gone forever.

While 58% of consumers expect to shop more online after the pandemic than they used before, it is a full 80% of business customers who plan to do more business online in the future (Salesforce 2020). There is no point in preparing for a return to the old B2B buyer behavior. It is more reasonable to think about how to meet the new customer expectations technologically. 

In the EEE- World, convenience, simplicity, and speed will eventually win the game. This means that there is no way around technology.

User-friendly e-commerce solutions are changing the B2B market just as they have revolutionized the consumer retail. B2B customers have neither the time nor the desire for

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tedious traditional sales interactions where they have to call or write emails to find out prices, check stock levels, or clarify specifications. They demand simple and immediate access to relevant, up-to-date information, and of course tailored to their specific needs. They have no tolerance for suppliers which are not able to display accurate and relevant prices online. They want to see their individual, accurate and up-to-date prices, including all the relevant discounts and custom terms and conditions, in real time and on digital channels, such as a website. B2B customers are increasingly refusing to follow traditional sales processes. That’s because B2B buyers, just like consumers, want to act quickly and often have to. One of my customers, a CEO of a big company simply books the virtual workshops via my website and pays with PayPal—despite the fact that the company could order on its account with better payment terms. It’s simply more convenient and faster, so he willingly gives up on his longer payment terms. Why do you withdraw money from an ATM when you could get it from a bank teller? Don’t you miss the personal interaction? Do you also miss the gas station attendant who used to fill up your car? It is high time for traditionally oriented sales organizations to realize that human interactions in B2B sales will eventually be replaced, at least to some degree. Customers are not interested in human interaction per se, this is not what they necessarily need. The human being - the sales rep - is often a means to an end, and if there are better and faster ways to get to that end, the customers will prefer those. In the long run the human sales in B2B will too, lose the battle against the speed and the convenience that technology offers, same as it did in the consumer business. According to Gartner, by 2025 80% of B2B sales interactions between sellers and buyers would take place via digital channels (Gartner 2020). Today already, 68% of customers admit to be more often online than offline (Salesforce 2020).

3.2.4 Sales Between Technology and Human When designing sales processes, we need to keep the focus on the fastest and most convenient way for customers to reach their goals. We have to understand what enables this fastest and most convenient way: sometimes it would be the technology and sometimes it would be the human contact. It all depends on the goal. Sales organizations must have the intelligence to figure out what takes priority and when. Technology is superior to us in many ways. Of course, it cannot interact with customers in the same way as humans do, but it can provide a relevant detail from a jumble of information faster and perform an ROI calculation accurately. However, in sales technology is often perceived as an enemy rather than a friend and its potential is vastly underestimated. But time and again, it proves us wrong. Many things that seemed unthinkable a short time ago are now reality, thanks to technology. Here too, COVID-19 has helped us to appreciate the value of technology: things, which previously seemed impossible, suddenly become possible and even proved to be more efficient. But do we really need a pandemic to recognize the benefit of technology for sales?

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The GAFAM companies did not need a pandemic. These giants have learned faster than anyone else how to generate business using technology, and owe their rapid growth, among other things, to the use of technology in their sales approaches and processes. Above all, they have recognized how they can use technology to create a simple, convenient and exciting customer experience. What they really did: they enabled the III-Human to better navigate the EEE-World.

3.2.5 Fast, Urgent, Instantly Especially in terms of interactions with providers, customers require convenience, but above all speed. They expect quick response and qualified answers. 82% of consumers expect an “immediate” response when they have a question for sales or marketing. And “immediate” means to them within 10 min (Hubspot 2018). And here too, expectations increase the more technological the experience: for questions asked on social media, 32% of consumers expect an answer within 30 min and another 42% within an hour. And this around the clock: 57% expect the same response speed on weekends and at night as during regular working hours (Convince & Convert o. J.). It’s no wonder, that with the fast-paced nature of social media people also expect a faster response. This impatience and the expectation for things to happen immediately is increasingly making its way into all areas of our lives: not only the private, but also the professional ones. According to InsideSales, 50% of B2B buyers choose the provider who reacts first (Hubspot 2014). 

Not the best product. Not the best value for money. Not the best price. Not the best provider. The fastest answer wins.

This says it all. Although this will certainly not be the case in all industries and not for every product. But especially for standard products and where the choice of providers is large, the convenience and speed of the customer experience become important purchase criteria. B2B customers switch suppliers due to a better digital experience COVID-19 has led to a massive switch of suppliers in the B2B sector. A fact that is well demonstrated by several studies of renowned market research companies. In addition to the classic factors such as price and availability, new decision criteria come into play, especially digital ones: price and stock transparency, self-service and the quality of the digital experience. This does not only refer to an online shop, as one might assume. The digital experience affects all steps in the decision-making and buying process. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, companies, being under existential pressure, could not afford to rely on existing providers and consider long-standing part-

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nerships. They simply switched to other providers, especially to those who offered a better—digital—experience. Their positive experiences reinforced the overall trend and are radically changing the expectations of B2B customers. Today, customers expect: • • • •

on-demand access to relevant information, on-demand service, on-demand contact options, device and platform agnostic, and of course on-demand buying options.

All that in B2C and B2B likewise. Everything the modern customer wants must be available on demand, when he wants it, where he wants it, on the channel he prefers, and without any unnecessary complications and effort. 

The PHANTOM is not just convenient, he is hyper-convenient.

3.3 Autonomous Hyper-Convenience goes hand in hand with the next characteristic of our PHANTOM: Autonomy. The III-Human’s increasing independence in the EEE- World is also reflected in the behavior of the PHANTOM customer. Through constant access to more information, the customer also gains independence and willingly breaks away from the imposed dependence of sales. The high transparency of the EEE- World offers the modern customer every opportunity to inform himself in every respect and to form an—apparently uninfluenced—opinion. The individualistic III-Human, who puts his own judgement above all else, also feels encouraged as a customer to form his own opinion and make his own decisions.

3.3.1 The Own Opinion Counts Customers do their own research and are more skeptical than ever about traditional marketing claims and sales tactics. Today, the informed customer does not believe advertising claims, but forms his own opinion. According to the GE Shopper Research Study, 81% of consumers go online before heading to a store, an increase of 20% from the previous year, and spend an average of 79 days gathering information before making a major purchase (Transaction 2019). The III-Human’s yearning for freedom and his inner refusal to submit to any foreign influence ultimately leads not only to the rejection of “official” authorities, but also to the rejection of recognized brands and their claims. In Canada, for example, 44% of

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consumers are skeptical of the information presented on nutrition labels (Blandon et al. 2007). Studies in Germany and the Netherlands have shown that over 80% of consumers distrust the information on food labels (Food Navigator 2018). Although it’s the food industry itself, who is to blame for this mistrust, because of its - now exposed - attempts to manipulate consumers, this mistrust is a general trend. Some have set out to expose the industry’s tricks, and many even make a living doing so. 

Instead of believing advertising claims and sales promises, the modern customer takes matters into his own hands and forms his own opinion independently. And he has all the means to do that today. Thanks to the Internet.

And in B2B it’s not any different. Perhaps even more drastic, because some B2B purchases entail high responsibility, and wrong decisions can be existential. Consequently, B2B customers willingly accept all the opportunities they get to form an opinion independently of the providers. It wasn’t that long ago that B2B sales was more or less in control of the buying process. This resulted primarily from its information predominance. For the B2B buyer, this meant that he had to contact the salesperson early on in his decision-making process and also involve sales at every stage of the B2B buying process. In essence, a B2B purchase could not or only slowly progress without involvement of a sales representative. And some sales reps used to take advantage of this supremacy, for which we are now presented with the bill. Today, B2B customers do not trust salespeople any more than consumers trust nutrition labels, perhaps even less.

3.3.2 Loss of Customer Trust In 2020, 48% of customers stated, that they would trust companies in general. Conversely, more than half of customers would not trust companies. In particular, 42% say they do not trust companies telling the truth. Among them, baby boomers are particularly skeptical with 44%, and Gen Z with 50% (Salesforce 2020). 

It is becoming increasingly difficult for providers to gain the trust of their customers.

Only 8% of B2B buyers trust the salespeople they deal with (Ganzer 2019). Does it sound too harsh to be true? B2B buyers would only classify 18% of salespeople as trusted advisors whom they respect (Martin SW 2017). I could quote more studies, but deep down we all know that these numbers reflect the reality. A devastating verdict for sales. But is it any wonder? In the past, sales has all too often and all too willingly abused its supremacy position. To his misfortune, the information imbalance is tipping in favor of the customer. Today, the modern B2B customer can find the needed product

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or service on his own, learn about it without help, evaluate it thoroughly, easily find out what others think about it, and in many cases even try it out for free and end up buying it—all without ever having to contact a salesperson.

3.3.3 Self-Directed and Autonomous Procurement B2B purchasing organizations are now able to achieve full autonomy in the truest sense of the word, on both of the two levels important to their decision-making: • Obtaining information: They are no longer reliant on sales for information, and instead obtain the necessary information through their own research: 94% of B2B buyers—eventually all of them—conduct an online research during a purchase process (Accenture 2014). • Definition of requirements: Companies no longer involve suppliers to the same extent in their decision-making processes as they used to: More than 70% of B2B buyers fully define their needs before contacting a sales representative, and almost half define the solution specs before contacting sales (Miller Heiman Group 2018). Throughout the entire procurement process, the modern B2B customer becomes more autonomous The PHANTOM is autonomous in its decision-making and gets in touch with sales only when there is a clear value to be gained for him, and not just to obtain information. Exception: if he cannot find the necessary information himself. However, online access to information is increasing day by day and its quality is improving. 

The PHANTOM customer prefers to remain hidden. Even if he becomes briefly visible, when asking for some missing information, he disappears again and may not return until the decision has been made. If at all.

He is not alone The fact that a B2B customer is usually represented not just by a single person, but a group of people, makes it even more complicated. Where once the sales rep could gather all the stakeholders and decision-makers in one meeting and manage a linear sales cycle from beginning to the end, today’s B2B purchase process is organic, diffuse and involves many more different stakeholders whose activities overlap in their diversity. Everyone involved in the buying process goes their own way, and at different pace. The involved parties would visit your website ad hoc, request some documents, check your service quality, call your salespeople spontaneously to ask a short question, and then disappear from the field, to later reappear and request a test access, evaluate your product and your

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company in social forums and communicate internal decisions by e-mail, everything without the need for a meeting in person. 

The PHANTOM lives up to its name. To make matters worse, it is an entire PHANTOM conglomerate we have to deal with in B2B.

3.3.4 The Dark Side of Autonomy Empowered by technological development, customers increasingly determine when, where and how they contact providers, if at all. They are completely autonomous in their decision-making processes, which leads to drastic changes in B2B procurement, which we will address in the next chapters. Purchasing is increasingly becoming a strategic activity within companies, and buying processes are becoming more complex, getting longer and increasingly involve more people. 

The gained customer autonomy does not make the buying process any easier, on the contrary.

The high transparency of the markets—in terms of information and sourcing options— leads to a complex procurement process, where different stakeholders in the buying center (the group of all people involved in a purchase decision) keep bringing in new information and criteria that require validation, what keeps throwing the entire process back in the timeline. The autonomy gained also hands the responsibility for a wrong decision over to the autonomy holder. In the past, the “blame” for a bad buying decision could be assigned to the lack of alternatives or the supplier’s misinformation, not so today. Due to the vast amount of information and alternatives, the responsibility to find the right solution remains with the buying company itself. This alone adds a new dimension of complexity to the procurement process. The results of the 2017 B2B Buyer’s Survey by Demandbase (2017) demonstrate the different levels of this new complexity very well: • 58% of respondents said that the length of their purchase process has increased compared to the previous year. • 52% of respondents say that the number of members in buying groups has increased significantly. • 77% agreed that they conduct a more detailed ROI analysis before making a purchase decision. • 78% agreed that they spend more time researching on purchases. • 75% agreed that they use more sources for research and evaluation of purchases.

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It’s a fact, that B2B customers are increasingly trusting in their ability to make decisions independently. But this newly gained autonomy comes at a price: 

The procurement process is becoming much more difficult, and so buyers are looking for relief and support along their decision processes.

3.3.5 New Buying Tasks In the past, the main task in purchasing was to get the best price and negotiate the most favorable terms from the available suppliers. Lengthy negotiations with multiple rounds were the order of the day. Buyers were trained to be tough negotiators whose negotiating tactics could make even the most experienced salesperson break out in a sweat. Such practices are increasingly a thing of the past. Today, purchasing is primarily about making the best decision, for which one would even be willing to pay a higher price. However, this does not mean that price negotiations are losing all their relevance, but they are giving way to new tasks in the procurement process. They are no longer at the top of the list. 70% of B2B buyers place less value on negotiations compared to improved purchasing processes (WBR Insights o. J.) The Battle Between Sales and Self-service Due to their growing autonomy, customers increasingly expect more options for selfservice. On a five-point scale, B2B buyers rate the importance of self-service tools with 4.41 higher than the importance of competent sales staff with 4.35. In third place is the 24/7 service, which achieves a value of 4.21 (Digital Commerce 360 2019). Autonomy requires self-service. As a result, B2B customers expect various self-service options throughout their decision-making process, not only for the buying act itself, but also at the beginning of the decision process, especially during the solution creation. B2B decision-makers bring the habits they have developed as consumers to their workplace and expect to receive the same transparency and convenience in their job as they do in their private life. Modern customers feel empowered to define their own decision-making process and prefer to search for solutions on their own, whether as a consumer or as a business decision-maker. As III-Humans, they always want to have the free choice and not to be imposed a decision by a lack of options. 

The PHANTOM demands a personalized and on-demand self-service experience, so that it can make the best decision: It is autonomous.

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3.4 Needs-oriented Just as the high degree of independence of the III-Human results in a pronounced degree of individualism, the autonomy of PHANTOM customers leads to a pronounced focus on their own needs and benefits. First and foremost, they are not interested in who you are and what you do, but purely in their benefit. And the less complex the purchase and the lower the associated risk, the lower their interest in knowing who is behind the provided product and service. 

Essentially, the PHANTOM does not care about who you are, what you have to offer, or why you are doing it.

The PHANTOM customer is particularly uninterested in your philosophy and your corporate values. He is interested in himself and his own benefit. Actually, he just wants to know what he can get from you or your offerings—what’s in for me?

3.4.1 Brutal, But True: They Don’t Care About “Us” Customers are not interested in you. This is the inconvenient truth that not all companies are willing to accept. Many—if not the most of us—are in self-promotion mode: corporate presentations, marketing materials, websites and public communication serve primarily to self-presentation and promotion of own offerings: “About us”, “Our story”, “Our products”, “Our offer”, “Our values”, “Our competence”, “Our culture”, “Our philosophy”, “Our team” … And of course “Our customers”, “Our projects”, “Our awards”, “Our references” … “We” and “Our”, this is how a corporate presentation or website usually begins. In reality, egotistical and self-promoting. And typical of conventional marketing and sales communication. But the customer is primarily interested in his own needs and benefits. He has to find them out himself, under all the— uninteresting—mountains of information. And, as we already know: Anything that takes too long and is too tedious puts our modern customer from the EEE- World on the run. This too, applies to both business areas: B2C and B2B. Eventually, it is always a human being looking for its benefit. As a consumer, it is important to him how he looks, how he is perceived, how he feels, how he can make his life easier and more comfortable, and how he can achieve his goals faster and better. The modern consumer is looking for benefits, and benefits are no longer “the cheapest price.” As we have seen, he is willing to pay more for greater convenience. It’s never about the features of your products, it’s only about what customers can achieve with them. The same applies in business: No one really cares what you do and why you do it, but only what they might get from you, in their own interest.

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

The key question is: What results can a B2B customer achieve with your products and to what extent can this help him better achieve his business goals?

Why really? The known “Why” Principle should not refer to why you are doing something, but rather answer the question: Why should customers buy from you? Nobody buys just because you have noble intentions. Nor because you’ve been around for 100 years or because you have such great corporate values or because your employees are so friendly. These are factors that underpin a decision already been made, but they are by no means the sole decision-making criteria. Unfortunately, in their sales and marketing activites companies place too much emphasis on the presentation of own abilities—I call it the self-promotion urge—rather than focusing on potential customer benefits. Often, companies are not even aware of why customers buy from them, let alone are they able to formulate and communicate this benefit. And so, the customer has to look for his benefits, ways to fulfill his needs and eventual added value himself. Today, he has lots of possibilities to do that, and he does not necessarily need your sales staff. The digital world and the associated globalization have created better access to more providers and buying options, which our PHANTOM is also happy to take advantage of. As a result, the modern customer is generally becoming more demanding.

3.4.2 Tailor-Made From the Start Consumers and businesses not only expect tailor-made products, services and solutions, as illustrated in Sect. 2.3, but also tailor-made experiences. Modern customers have been “spoiled” by the digital world and technology and now expect a tailor-made experience that specifically meets their personal interests and needs. 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that offer them relevant offers and recommendations (Accenture 2018). It’s not about the provider and the brand itself, but about the individual benefit the customer thinks to get from that provider. And the more personal and benefit-oriented the customer experience, the higher the likelihood that the customer will buy from that provider. 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from companies that offer personalized experiences and 80% of frequent shoppers only buy from brands that personalize their shopping experience (SmarterHQ 2020). And this too, extends to B2B: the majority of B2B buyers expect an experience tailored to their needs. Even during their first visit on a provider’s website, B2B buyers expect that • the website presents relevant content that is directly related to their company (75%), • the website directly addresses the needs of their industry (66%),

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• and 93% particularly value those providers who demonstrate experience and knowledge in their specific business area. And even though a high percentage of these web visits are anonymous—71% confirm to research anonymously in the first three months—B2B decision-makers still expect an experience tailored to their interests and needs (Demandbase 2017). The busy B2B buyer simply has no time for the self-promotion of providers. Why should he have the time, when the whole world is short of it? Understandably, he expects providers to get to the point as quickly as possible: namely, to his individual benefit. And that of course on all channels and any content form: whether in a corporate video, in a product presentation, on the website or in conversation with the sales employee. The benefit is not about the product, its unique selling points or the price, but about the problem solving, adaptation to the individual needs of the customer, relevant advice, valuable insights and the ability to meet the customer’s specific requirements. 

The customer benefit can never be reduced to product features, price or even service quality.

3.4.3 Needs and Benefit Filter in First Place The price is often placed in the foreground, but it is never the sole and decisive purchase criterion. The fulfilment of customers needs always comes first. Only when the benefit is recognized and is strong enough, does the price come into play. And only if the price or the total investment does not exceed the overall value of the customers benefits, a purchase decision will be made. Consequently, rathen than advertising themselves or their own products, companies need to focus on communicating the benefit of their offerring in first place, in the context of a convenient and easy customer experience—because that’s also where a lot of value lies today. In a digital world—full of information and with lack of time—the customer must be able to orient himself quickly and to recognize the relevance of the content at a glance. He simply lacks the time to find his way among vast amounts of confusing content. As a result, he is even more focusing on his own needs and actively looking for the specific benefits, while ignoring all the irrelevant and non-useful information and sources for him. These include, in particular, traditional marketing and mass advertising. He consciously or unconsciously looks for added value. Today, an average consumer is exposed to around 4000 to 10,000 marketing messages every day. This amount of information which is crashing down on him from all sides has to be processed somehow. Instinctively, his way out is to look out for added value and ingnore the rest more or less. It is only logical that we now read content crosswise and in

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“scanning mode”, while trying to quickly find out if the content offers value and is worth spending an extra second with it. If not, we quickly move on, in search of value. 

The PHANTOM customer is forced by the circumstances of the digital world to actively and selectively search for his benefit: He is benefit-oriented.

3.5 Tech-savvy Modern customers have different requirements compared to their previous generations. They are technologically savvy and expect an appealing technological customer experience from providers, both online and in retail. The majority of them have grown up with technology, which is now part of their lives. Even those who had to learn to use technology have quickly gained acceptance of it, due to its numerous advantages. According to Statista, in 2021 there have been 6.378 billion smartphones—not simply cell phones—in use worldwide, the number of which is expected to exceed the world’s population by 2026 (Statista 2021b). In Europe, we have a mobile “social media penetration” of just under 100%, with the highest value of 98.8% in Albania, 96% in Germany and 96.4% in Austria (Statista 2021a).

3.5.1 Technology in the Retail World Technology has become part of us and we use it not only for communication, but to satisfy several needs, not least as a customer. The significance of online shopping probably does not need any further explanation, it has become obvious. But technology is increasingly making its way into several areas of the customer experience and is enjoying high popularity. Not only online, but also on the retail floor. Brands around the world are realizing that stores equipped with interactive, technological experiences are more popular and also more profitable. For example, in a test case Adidas was able to increase sales by 40% simply by using an interactive virtual 3-D shoe wall (Retail IT 2013). Not only in the online world can customers be thrilled by a technological experience, this trend is increasingly shifting into the analog stationary world.

3.5.2 Technology Affinity Has Gone Mainstream The modern consumer is technologically savvy in many ways. In addition to the almost blind-intuitive use of IT technology, many people have more than just a superficial understanding of digital technologies and also have a functional knowledge of technology-based products. In the past, “technology savvy” referred to technology freaks

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or people from the IT industry. Today, it is not a trait of geeks and IT experts anymore, technology savvy is increasingly becoming a mainstream ability. The daily use of technology and the easier access to new technological developments have greatly reduced the gap between the “early adopters” and the “mass”. Those who are under 35 today have grown up with technology in their everyday lives, and they have also developed a different approach to it. Have you ever had a child explain to you how a certain technology application works? Personally, I’ve had this experience more often than not, most recently my six-year-old niece got a pool robot she’d never seen before to run on her own and just on the third try. 

Today, basically everyone is tech-savvy who daily performs digital and online activities and is familiar with modern technologies.

We all shop online and research thoroughly before making an important purchase decision. The modern customer is anything but ignorant. He knows exactly how to use technology to satisfy his needs: • He communicates primarily through digital media and constantly switches between various digital channels. • He knows how to research online to make a well-informed buying decision. • He is comfortable in the digital space and finds his way through the many and diverse alternatives there. • He prefers a convenient and easy user experience. • He knows to use apps and various web and software applications. • He quickly switches between different options, depending on the comfort and their service quality. • He is constantly “connected” to the network. • He is in a continuous multitasking mode, using multiple devices and applications in parallel. Do you recognize the PHANTOM in yourself? Isn’t it dormant in each of us? This behavior is no longer an exception, but a daily reality. Technology savvy has become a general characteristic of the modern customer, whether consumer or business person. Admittedly, it is pronounced to varying degrees, but it is developing at an increasing pace to become a matter of course in all areas of life. According to a study by UNC, millennials switch their attention between different media platforms such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and television 27 times per hour—much more often than older generations, who do it “only” 17 times per hour (Brandon Gaille 2017).

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3.5.3 Always On Basically, the modern consumer uses technology all throughout their search for information, whether on social media, messenger applications, navigation systems and, of course search engines. Certainly, it is no different in the business world. When was the last time you were in a business meeting where no one, not even once, reached for their smartphone or laptop? We are in constant interaction with technology and if we are away from it for a longer period of time, we already feel withdrawal symptoms. How often have you felt a sense of disappointment when your smartphone hasn’t “spit out” any new messages for a long time? Here too, the COVID-19 pandemic has made its unsolicited contribution. It forced us all to use technology, to a greater or lesser extent. As a result, the level of technology affinity has also risen significantly across all areas. And there is probably no need to mention that there is no way back in this context either. Even in industries where conventional field sales models dominate, such as in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, only about 20% of B2B buyers say they expect to return to personal sales after the pandemic (McKinsey 2020). On the contrary, this trend is rather gaining momentum and the new habit is developing into an expectation. As we have already seen in Section 3.3, the B2B sector has also experienced major changes in this context. B2B customers intend to do more of their sourcing through technological means after the pandemic. They simply don’t see the need anymore, and of course don’t have time for tedious traditional interactions with sales. Especially not when it comes to important information they usually need istantly, such as stock levels and prices. 67% of companies are willing to switch to a supplier who offers dynamic personalized prices (PROS 2020). Increasingly are companies switching suppliers due to a better “technological” experience, such as digital self-service, online shopping and multi-channel. It’s obvious: B2B buyers prefer the new digital reality to the old world. Self-service and remote interactions have made it easier for buyers to get information, place orders, and schedule service. And they enjoy this speed and convenience. Why would they want to do without it?

3.5.4 Loss of the Science Fiction Status Technology has lost its science fiction status and has become the most natural thing in the world, also in a buying process: whether private or business. Our PHANTOM no longer has the patience and the understanding for lengthy interactions with sales departments. Conditioned by Amazon and convenient online shopping, it expects fast, easy, frictionless and seamless experiences. The modern customer is open to anything that makes his life easier and more comfortable—be it voice assistants, augmented reality, chatbots or other technology.

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Providers need to rethink and adjust to these expectations. The aim is not simply to impress customers with technology, but to offer them real added value in their decisionmaking and buying process. 

Modern customers are open to new experiences and like to try new things, but they are not necessarily interested in technology itself. Instead, they want technologically supported experiences that make their lives and jobs easier and simpler.

The best proof for this are the countless online shops that were introduced in haste at the beginning of the crisis and that hardly anyone uses: whether B2C or B2B. Customers either did not try them at all or have given up after a failed attempt or a bad experience. What many companies still do not understand: It is not the technology itself—in this case the online shop—that is necessary, but a better customer experience, which is enabled by technology. And a cumbersome and complicated online shop is anything but what a customer needs and wants. Technology is a means to an end: to more simplicity, speed and convenience. It is not the customer’s goal or wish, but a necessary tool to “survive” in the EEE- World. There is a big difference between a technology freak who is enthusiastic about technology and a customer who has technological understanding and wants to use technology to his advantage. 

The PHANTOM customer expects a personalized and smooth technology-supported customer experience: He is tech -savvy.

3.6 Opportunistic The people we sell to are changing. They’re becoming convenient, independent, and value-oriented PHANTOMs who want everything on demand and want it anytime— whether information or products. While they prefer to remain anonymous, they still expect a personalized experience that’s tailored to their needs. And when they suddenly appear on the edge of your field of vision, you need to be prepared to meet—and better exceed—their expectations, which may have changed since your last interaction. If they don’t get what they expect, or if they experience even the slightest inconvenience, they quickly disappear again. This is because they are firmly convinced that they can satisfy their needs “elsewhere”. They’re not just needs-oriented, but extremely selective and opportunistic. They can spend a long time on your website, look in detail at the valuable content you have painstakingly compiled, consume the resources you provide and then, in search of possibly even better information or a more optimal product, simply move on without feeling the slightest pang of conscience.

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3.6.1 Low Tolerance Levels The slightest delay, a page that loads a millisecond longer or a form that requires too many fields will drive the PHANTOM away. If it does not find what it needs immediately and in the expected quality, it usually means saying goodbye. Our customers have quickly adapted to the new digital environment. It was logical that sooner or later all the instant gratification they experience in the digital space would turn into habits and expectations and be transferred to the analog world. The modern customer—whether B2C or B2B—must be quite committed to take the effort to pick up the phone or send an email. After all, he believes to have all the options in the world at his disposal. Is he wrong about that? The autonomous PHANTOM will actively get in touch with you only if he’s convinced of your offer, or if he cannot find another way to obtain what it needs: for example, relevant information. 

The PHANTOM is skeptical, disloyal and “yours” until it is seduced by another better opportunity. In the digital world, it often takes only a few seconds.

To “lose” it forever, it does not even have to be a better product or offer, even information is enough. 51% of smartphone users have purchased from a company or brand other than the one they intended to because the information provided was more useful (Google o. J.). More than nine out of ten customers start their product search on a marketplace and 76% have made impulsive purchases in social networks, because of the convenience of the buying process (Linnworks 2021).

3.6.2 Brand Loyalty—An Outdated Concept? For years, consumer brand loyalty has been declining. In the past, when making buying decisions, one had to rely on recommendations from one’s social circle, one’s own instincts, or the brand’s reputation. Today, our customers have much more options at their disposal to make a well-informed purchase decision, and the brand name as the sole decision criterion is becoming far less important. The already dwindling brand loyalty really came under pressure during the pandemic. Of the three quarters of Americans who have changed their buying behavior since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, around 40% switched brands. The extent of brand switching has doubled in 2020 compared to 2019, with this switching behavior more pronounced among younger generations. 44% of Gen Z and Millennials have tried a new brand, compared to 35% of Baby Boomers (McKinsey 2021). And there is no way back. After all, the main drivers for changing buying behaviors are the higher convenience and the better customer experience along the buying process. 84% of those who have tried a new brand do not intend to return to their old preferences

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(Marketing Week Reporters 2021). Why should they, when they now have it more convenient? The—digital—world of unlimited possibilities Every new positive experience with a new product, a new brand or a new provider reduces the loyalty of our customers. And today there are more than enough opportunities to try something new, and with less risk as in the past. Our autonomous, informed, tech-savvy and needs-oriented PHANTOM has today almost too many products and providers to choose from. It may have a particular preference for a certain product or brand, but he is no longer willing to tolerate a bad experience or less convenience in the buying process “just” because of the brand name. 

Any obstacle, such as a confusing website or app, an unorganized shop, or a complicated check-out process, reduces the brand loyalty.

Instead of continuing to rely on their big names, traditional companies could quietly throw the concept of brand loyalty onto the pile of “old” methods that aren’t as effective anymore in today’s digital world, and better focus on how they can win and retain customers with an outstanding and unique customer experience. Ask your customers, not your IT department Even if most companies believe that they already provide a good buying experience, customers often clearly disagree. A COVID-19 study conducted over several months by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has found a sharp drop in overall consumer satisfaction with their experience in retail. In four out of five retail categories, customer satisfaction has declined: internet retail, specialty retail stores, department stores, and supermarkets. The satisfaction with drugstores is not declining, but it is not increasing either. Consumers report that the shopping experience in retail is getting worse and worse. Above all, the satisfaction with the mobile apps of the retailers, both their quality and their reliability, has suffered in the pandemic year. And that, even though many retailers have introduced new or improved their existing apps aiming to provide a better online shopping experience. Even Amazon has taken its share of the demanding consumer’s criticism. Supermarket apps for home delivery have seen the biggest drop in customer satisfaction (ACSI 2020). And I dare to say that the situation in Europe is not much better. How many online shops were promptly launched with the outbreak of the pandemic, but are not really used by customers? How many of the government’s subventions have really made a difference? How many people have tried, with good intentions, to buy from online-shops of domestic providers, but in the end have stayed with the convenience and simplicity of the market giants?

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3.6.3 The New Loyalty to Convenience In the long run, convenience triumphs over loyalty, even to an established brand, a known provider, or the domestic providers. A new loyalty to convenience and simplicity arises—not to the provider who makes it possible at this moment, but to convenience itself. As soon as a better opportunity arises, the opportunistic PHANTOM will follow it willingly. Today’s customer is not only disloyal, he is also intolerant and unforgiving of mistakes. At the first mistake, no matter how small, he is probably gone. 68% of customers admit that a single negative experience with the customer service reduces their loyalty to that brand (Talkdesk 2020). 

Critical, intolerant and disloyal—that’s the explosive mix of traits of our PHANTOM, which will push even the most eager provider to his limits.

In this context, you may assume that this really affects the consumer sector only, and is not relevant for the business sector. But here too, I have to destroy this hope. In B2B too, customers are no longer willing to tolerate arduous experiences. Why should they? They also have many options at their disposal, which are increasing every day. And some of them with great disruptive potential. The pandemic not only put the loyalty of consumers under pressure. Many B2B companies got under self-preservation pressure and faced with existential concerns, they went new ways in their buying decisions instead of remaining loyal to their long-standing partnerships. Is opportunism unethical? Opportunism is often, especially in business, associated with unethical behavior. Which was surely justified in the past, but today opportunism is a natural development needed in order to survive under the tightened business conditions, and does not harbor any malicious intent in itself. In the past, opportunism was more to be found on the side of the providers (sellers). Much too willingly, and unfortunately far too often, sellers took advantage of the customers’ dependence in the business relationship. Excessive prices and unfair purchase terms are not uncommon in business constellations where the supplier feels superior. But today, sales gets its bill presented for that past behavior. The roles have changed here too, the modern B2B customer finally has—thanks to digitalization and globalization—the opportunity to break away from many dependencies, which he is happy to do. Closed calls for temders, open competitive bidding, centralized procurement, critical supplier evaluation and strategic procurement processes are some of the examples from purchasing processes that are good proofs for these developments across the globe.

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3.6.4 Traditional Purchasing Processes Now Obsolete The entire procurement process in B2B is undergoing massiv changes: decision-making processes, evaluation criteria, timeframes and process steps are changing. Traditional buying activities, such as the annual supplier evaluation and the awarding of contracts, no longer fit into the requirements of purchasing processes today. Especially in volatile industries. where markets are constantly changing due to rapid technological development, we can no longer rely on the familiar, predictable “traditional” processes on the customer side. According to a study by SAP and Futurum Research, for almost 80% of companies software purchases are no longer subject to calendar-driven purchase cycles, as it used to be a couple of years ago. More than half of companies are willing to buy a solution when it is strategically needed, rather than waiting for new budget approvals, or contracts to expire, or new upgrades to come. The study also clearly demonstrates the increasing customers’ opportunism: less than one in five companies still takes “old” business relationships into consideration when choosing software solutions (Futurum 2019). Until recently, B2B buyers were forced to follow a rigid, deterministic B2B purchase process whose primary goal was to ensure a high ROI at the best purchase terms. Purchase decisions were made in advance, budgets were set before the purchase process began, requirements were gathered and communicated, vendors were evaluated in the RFP process, and a meticulous vendor selection was made. 

Due to the rapid technological developments, market volatility and the pressure for ongoing innovation, companies can no longer afford these lengthy buying processes.

Consequently, the B2B buying process is increasingly losing its predictable and manageable character and is gaining dynamic, depending on the business area and market situation. Today, the need for a purchase is mainly triggered by short-term organizational priorities or by the need to urgently solve a business problem, rather than by scheduled buying cycles. The buying decision must be fast, but it is anything but that Agility and flexibility in procurement are becoming one of the key success factors. As a result, the new generation of B2B buyers, instead of managing a predictable and well-structured buying process leading to a certain predefined result, have to start, stop, restart, reverse, slow down, speed up the process… make decisions, question, validate, overturn, re-validate, postpone, re-launch, check, refute, enforce… The complexity of the buying decision increases and slows down the entire procurement process, instead of accelerating it, as the conditions of the digital world would actually require. Moreover, with their own lengthy processes, providers increase the complexity on their customers’ side, without even being aware of it. Consequently, they often unintentionally force even their most loyal customers to choose other alternatives.

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3.6.5 Is Loyalty Still Affordable? Let’s face it, if anyone thinks that this new buyer job still allows for tedious, slow and ineffective interactions with sales, they probably haven’t understood anything. The modern buyer simply doesn’t have time and can’t afford to be loyal to personal preferences or long-standing relationships anymore. Even if they like you as a person. If you don’t meet their new requirements, they can’t help it. They are forced to be opportunistic, and sales shouldn’t be angry about that, but rather found out how to provide the experience their customers need to successfully complete their challenging buyer jobs. The modern buyer has to be faster, more flexible and more agile than his predecessors. And he rarely gets this from traditional sales models, which by their very nature are sluggish and not very flexible. Do you still hear sales saying: What all “doesn’t work with us ...”? 

Sales must rethink their approaches, because the opportunism of the modern customer is not a nasty meanness, but a necessity in order to survive under the new market conditions.

In particular—but not only—in the technological area, the convenient digital experience is moving into focus. In the EEE- World, easier and faster digital options are becoming increasingly relevant— in the procurement of complex B2B solutions too. The experiences that are the easiest, most efficient and most personalized are those that inspire existing customers and motivate them to come back, and also attract new customers. But, if they don’t get their expectations met, they’ll be gone sooner than you may think. Often, a company does not even notice that it missed an opportunity. Your long-standing customers may have long since started shopping elsewhere, while they put your sales off with excuses about missing or postponed projects, and occasionally have an old-fashioned chat with your sales rep over a cup of coffee. 

Whether we realize it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact is that the fast and easy digital access to information allows more flexibility and freedom of choice in the buying process—B2C and B2B—and encourages the opportunistic behavior of the PHANTOM customer.

3.7 Mutating-Mobile Last but not least, our PHANTOM proves itself more than worthy of its name by always being in motion. And this not only in the truest sense of the word, namely physically, but also in the evolution of his needs and expectations.

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3.7.1 Needs and Expectations Constantly in Motion Our customers have never been static, but the technology-driven EEE- World inevitably leads to ongoing alteration of the customers’ needs and expectations. The PHANTOM customers’ demands are continuously evolving because they are basically experiencing something new, all the time. A new product, a new technology, a new provider, a new service, a new channel, a new app … 

The modern customer moves from one experience to the next at breakneck speed. He always takes the better path for him at that moment, and with each new improvement he experiences, his expectations rise to a new level.

Constantly in motion and in search for the best opportunity, the largest choice, the latest trend, the most current hype, the PHANTOM’s choices for a provider or brand seem to be random. He often sacrifices the known and the proven for the newest and chooses the most attractive instead of the most obvious. Volatile and in constant motion, the PHANTOM presents sales organizations around the world with the enormous challenge of identifying his true needs and keeping up with them. With each new experience, the supposedly known target group mutates into a new unknown: The PHANTOM appears, disappears, maybe reappears a few days later, asks a question, leaves no contact details, disappears again, only to maybe reappear weeks later just to take a look at a data sheet, has different needs in the meantime, and vanishes again to reappear months later to unexpectedly buy or place an order. And all this in different places: on your website, in your call center, in the retail store, by e-mail, in the app or by chatbot and on social networks. It’s the technology, who offers him all these possibilities.

3.7.2 Buying Decisions On-The-Go The smartphone has drastically changed our behavior as customers and is developing into an indispensable tool in the decision-making and purchase process. It is no longer just a communication tool. When we turn to our loyal companion, we do more than just make phone calls, check e-mails or chat. We take it in our hands to inform ourselves, look something up, search for something specific or just browse, entertain ourselves or save ourselves from boredom, do something, do banking, and last but not least, buy something. In 2020, the average user spent 3.7 h a day with the smartphone, two years earlier it was three hours (FAZ 2020). How much time do you spend with your smartphone? We use the smartphone extensively not only in our private lives, but also to pursue our jobs. And not just for communication or interaction with suppliers. In 2017, 50% of B2B searches were conducted via smartphones, with a forecast of 70% for 2020 (Archacki et al. 2017). How will it look now, after the pandemic that forced purely digital communication?

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3.7.3 Connected and Networked With constant connectivity—physical, functional and social—modern B2B decisionmakers develop new critical behaviors in their jobs. Not only are they turning to the digital world as individuals, but also in their professional roles. Depending on the type of the purchase, the digital space will certainly not be the only source of information for the savvy B2B buyer, but the Internet is undeniably having a strong and ongoing influence on the entire B2B decision-making process. And this with increasing intensity, while younger generations, who have grown up with the Internet and with smartphones, inevitably take their places in decision-making roles. In business environment, mobility is no longer a luxury, but a necessity in order to be able to pursue one’s own job under the new digital conditions. Relentlessly, customers’ expectations of “mobile” experiences with providers are rising across the entire decisionmaking and purchasing process. For 82% of millennials, mobile devices are important for researching new products and services (Merit 2016). 

Constantly in motion, connected, technology savvy, impulsive in its need for instant gratification and intolerant when satisfying its ever-changing needs, the PHANTOM is continously mutating, while expecting a smooth and seamless experience across those mobile channels it chooses to use. The PHANTOM customer is mutating-mobile.

3.8 The PHANTOM—Fantasy or Reality? Now you have got to know the PHANTOM well: This pseudo-informed, hyper-convenient, autonomous, needs-oriented, tech-savvy, opportunistic and mutating-mobile being perfectly reflects the behavior of the modern customer. While his characteristics may vary in their intensity depending on the industry, business area, product type and buying complexity, there is not a single business area left today that is not confronted with this new being, which is difficult to understand. Some companies and individuals in sales may not be aware of its existence yet, but that in no way calls its existence into question. Because, the PHANTOM • • • • •

exists, whether we want to admit it, goes its own way and cannot be forced into customer journeys we have determined; thinks it knows what it needs and believes it can do without sales, has no time and no desire for tedious and unqualified interactions with salespeople, takes the easiest, quickest, most comfortable and direct route to its benefit.

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With all its behavior, it literally screams into the world that it does not depend on you, your product, your offer and especially your sales. The PHANTOM is on the run • • • • • • •

from “old” sales approaches, from salespeople who offer no value, from sales staff who do not understand its needs, from providers who address it with common standard solutions and approaches, from aggressive sales methods, tricks and conventional prospecting, from traditional marketing and mass advertising, from companies that want to bind it, force it into its own processes and trap it in its inflexible structures.

Well, how can this volatile, fleeting and elusive being be understood and grasped? A thing of impossibility? Certainly not. But certainly not by “old” means, like traditional marketing and conventional sales methods, whose time is over. 

The paradox: The more you chase the PHANTOM, the faster and farther it will flee. And every attempt to manipulate it, no matter how small, will be detected and will only make it run away even more.

It’s useless to keep actively hunting this shy and elusive creature. Instead, we should think what we may offer it, so that it voluntarily chooses us and is happy to stay with us. Instead of driving it away with traditional methods such as push advertising and mass mailings, we better create the conditions for it to choose us, on its own, independently and uninfluenced. How to do that, you will learn in the next chapters, but first let’s make the PHANTOM even more tangible. Especially for the last skeptics among us who may still think that the PHANTOM principle is indeed interesting, but not — or at least not yet — relevant for their industry, which is much more complex and cannot be compared with less complex business areas, like the consumer sector.

3.8.1 The PHANTOM File—Taking of Evidence Let us prove the existence of the PHANTOM in your particular case. To do this, let’s do a little exercise: Please go through each of the PHANTOM’s characteristics and rate on a scale of 1 to 10, to what extent you believe they are pronounced in your customers, see Fig. 3.2. As first, give a rating instinctively and without thinking too long about it. Then, in a second step, give another rating while evaluating the PHANTOM’s traits more closely

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Fig. 3.2   The PHANTOM-Characteristics Test

and reflecting about them more deeply. Here are a few examples of questions that can help you in your thinking—depending on the business you’re in: • Pseudo-informed: – What percentage of your customers do you estimate are researching about your products, alternative options or providers? – How often are you confronted with information from the competition? – How often are information downloaded from your website? – How often are your products and services rated on the Internet? – How often people discuss about your products and your company on the Internet? – Have you ever been confronted by customers with information new and unknown to you? • Hyper-convenient: – If you have a webshop, how often do customers disappear during the check-out process? How often are shopping carts abandoned? – How many complaints have you already received about the quality your technological processes—shop, website, chat, contact forms? – How many requests do you recieve via chat, website forms, social media, WhatsApp and other communication channels, besides the traditional channels such as telephone and email? – How much convenience do you think your customers really want? – Do you think you’ve already lost customers due to the inconvenient customer experience? • Autonomous – How often do you have to deal with customers who are convinced to know exactly what they need?

3.8  The PHANTOM—Imagination or Reality?

•

•

•

•

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– How often have your customers already defined their requirements—completely or partially—before getting in touch with you? – How often do customers just ask for a quote without any prior consultation or any kind of interaction, like requesting for information or the like? – How often have you been invited to call for bids by surprise? – How often have you been unexpectedly confronted with an already made customer decision? – How much influence do you think you actually have on your customers’ decisionmaking process? Needs-oriented – How long is the average time spend of your website? – How often have you been asked for an analysis of the value added, or ROI calculation, or a business case? – How often have customers expressed the wish for specific adaptations of products or services? – How often have you received suggestions from customers for product improvements? – What percentage of your products are customized? Tech-savvy – How often have customers brought up the topic of innovation? – Have customers ever switched to a competitor because of more innovative products? – Have you ever lost customers because of new and technologically supported sales processes or approaches? – Has a customer ever referred to your company, or their own, or the industry as “old school”? – Have you ever learned about a new technology or product from an interaction with a customer? – How many of your customers pursue innovation initiatives? – Have you ever been confronted with technological requirements from customers? Opportunistic – How often in the sales process did you recognize that multiple vendors are involved? – How often have you lost customers to the competition? – How often have customers confronted you with new—unknown—requirements? – How many of your customers do you suspect are buying elsewhere and have not told “the truth” to you? – How many of your customers really buy 100% of their purchase volume from you—as they claim? – Have you ever lost an “old” contract unexpectedly and felt out of the blue? Mutating-mobile

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– How many of your website visitors are smartphone users? What does your Google Analytics account say? – If you have an app, how many of your customers have found you through the app store? – How often have you received “mobile sent” e-mail requests from customers? Or on evenings, on Sundays or on public holidays? – Have you or your company ever been told that the mobile version of your website does not work optimally? – What is the proportion of the communication taking place via messenger applications, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, LinkedIn Messenger, etc.? – How often have the needs of your long-standing customers changed over time? – How often have customers said that they no longer need the solution you’ve been offering? – How often have customer priorities changed—perhaps even during an ongoing project? Do any other questions occur to you that could help you discover the PHANTOM in your customers? To what extent have the explored facts confirmed or refuted your first instinctive assumption? Now, that you’ve thought more carefully about your customers’ behavior: • How has the initial assessment changed? • Is it stronger or weaker? • What does this mean to you? If it is appropriate for your business, you can also conduct a customer survey to validate some specfic characteristics of our PHANTOM, while using appropriate questions. In case you still have some uncertainty and, depending on the situation, this really may make sense.

3.8.2 Changing Perspectives And now let’s change perspective and evaluate ourselves as customers: our own behavior as a customer. Not everyone in this world may be a salesperson, but everyone is definitely a customer, at least a consumer. • • • •

How do you behave as a customer? To what extent has your own behavior as a consumer changed over the past years? Which traits of our PHANTOM do you possess? To what extent do you recognize the PHANTOM in yourself?

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This view from the own perspective is important to realize that we often deny our own behavior in the behavior of our customers. It is an interesting paradox that I experience again and again: Someone who has pronounced PHANTOM characteristics when making own buying decisions may come to quite different conclusions when considering their customers. Like this: “Everything you say is right, Livia. But you know, it’s different with us. Our industry is not that far yet. Our customers are still old-fashioned. We have many existing customers and long-term relationships where everything still happens the old way.” I hear that again and again, and unfortunately far too often. But does this correspond to reality or is it simply self-deception? It is no different for you either The radical changes in customer behavior are happening everywhere—and no one is spared. Some simply don’t want to admit it, and some do not realize or overlook it. The danger is that you gradually—or suddenly, think Disruption—lose relevance to your customers. Hopefully it’s not too late. Allow me to remind you of the consumer sector and the well-known brands that we sometimes still wistfully mourn. Like me, for example, the Blackberry devices. The same fate “threatens” equally all the holdouts refuseniks or the ignorants in the B2B sector. 

Nobody is immune to change.

Repeatedly, I observe how the initial attitude “But in our business it is different”, which is gladly accompanied by a reclined position with folded arms, turns into an “Aha” experience in the end, often combined with the statement: “That’s right, we haven’t thought about it that way yet …” How does your company buy? Now that you’ve looked at the PHANTOM within yourself, I have one last tip for sales: Ask your own purchasing department how they make buying decisions today. What has changed in the buying processes of your own company? Go through all the PHANTOM properties with your buyers too, and you will get the PNATNOM’s own proof of existence. Because your purchasing certainly doesn’t behave much differently today. Well, why should your customers do? In sales workshops, when I bring their own colleagues from the buying department into play and they confirm everything I say, the reactions are often very enlightening. A change of perspective in sales is called for. Saying goodbye to one’s own convictions. Letting go of “what has always been right”, and facing the new reality and dedication to the own PHANTOM. 

If you research thoroughly, you will find the PHANTOM in every single customer. Not a single one of its characteristics is missing in the nature of the modern consumer or B2B decision-maker.

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Usually, after the first intuitive assessment from the evaluation described above and after more careful consideration, one will realize that one has underestimated the extent of the PHANTOM properties. However, the PHANTOM must not be underestimated, rather overestimated. Instead of lulling oneself into supposed security, one should get to know the new customer well, learn and master his digital language. This will immensely increase the probability that a fleeting and elusive appearance becomes a clear picture.

Conclusion: The PHANTOM customer: not an illusion, but reality The PHANTOM is real: it is a logical product of our EEE- World and a worthy reflection of the III-Human. Sales and marketing organizations must deeply engage with the new needs and expectations of their customers in order to provide them with the experiences they nowadays expect. Today, companies simply have no other choice. Denial, ignorance, as well as the hope for the return of old times or clinging to old approaches will not take them any further. But it will make the fleeting PHANTOM flee even more. Because modern customers are firmly convinced that they no longer need to rely on anything that no longer meets their needs and expectations. Today, customers have an “easy” choice. It is high time to face this—no longer new—reality.

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Martin SW (2017) Salespeople don’t close the deal. https://hbr.org/2017/08/7-reasons-salespeopledont-close-the-deal. Accessed 8 Aug 2021 McKinsey (2020) These eight charts show how COVID-19 has changed B2B sales forever. https:// www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/these-eight-chartsshow-how-covid-19-has-changed-b2b-sales-forever. Accessed 22 July 2021 McKinsey (2021) Survey: US consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/survey-us-consumer-sentimentduring-the-coronavirus-crisis#. Accessed 23 July 2021 Meghan Ganzer M (2019) Why 60% of buyers don’t rely on B2B sales reps. https://www.mediafly. com/blog/why-60-of-buyers-dont-rely-on-b2b-sales-reps/. Accessed 11 July 2021 Merit (2016) B2B report millennials. https://madewithmerit.com/reports/Millennial_B2B-ReportMerit.pdf. Accessed 5 July 2021 Miller Heiman Group (2018) Study: half of B2B buyers make up their minds before talking to sales reps. https://www.millerheimangroup.com/resources/news/study-half-of-b2b-buyersmake-up-their-minds-before-talking-to-sales-reps/. Accessed 11 July 2021 National Retail Federation (2020) Consumer view winter 2020. https://nrf.com/research/consumerview-winter-2020. Accessed 22 July 2021 PROS (2020) COVID-19 B2B buyer trends report. https://resources.pros.com/ebooks/how-covid19-change-b2b-buying. Accessed 22 July 2021 Retail It (2013) Adidas’ digital signage boosts sales by 40%. https://www.retailitinsights.com/doc/ adidas-boosts-sales-with-digital-signage-0001?sectionCode=Spotlight&templateCode=Enhan cedStandard&user=1863032&source=nl:36447. Accessed 22 July 2021 Salesforce Research (2020) State of the connected customer. https://www.salesforce.com/ resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/. Accessed 11 Aug 2021 SmarterHQ (2020) Privacy & personalization. https://smarterhq.com/privacy-report. Accessed 21 July 2021 Statista (2021a) Active mobile social media penetration in Europe 2021. https://www.statista.com/ statistics/299492/active-mobile-social-media-penetration-in-european-countries/. Accessed 21 July 2021 Statista (2021b) Number of smartphone subscriptions worldwide from 2016 to 2026. https://www. statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/. Accessed 21 July 2021 Talkdesk Research (2020) The customer experience (CX) revolution in retail. https://www.talkdesk.com/resources/reports/the-customer-experience-cx-revolution-in-retail/. Accessed 8 July 2021 Transaction (2019) 81% of shoppers research their product online before purchasing. https://transaction.agency/ecommerce-statistics/81-of-shoppers-research-their-product-online-before-purchasing/. Accessed 12 Aug 2021 WBR Insights (o. J.) The next generation of B2B purchasing. https://info.mirakl.com/the-next-generation-of-b2b-buying. Accessed 8 July 2021 Young H (2019) Nine stats about the retail customer journey in 2019. https://www.salesforce.com/ blog/customer-retail-statistics/. Accessed 6 July 2021

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

Summary In a digital world,  the conventional prospecting  methodsare increasingly losing relevance and have hardly any meaning for the PHANTOM customer. On his independent and often anonymous path to a buying decision, the only way to reach him is to leave him alone while he is researching— ignoring him. However, it is important to stimulate his innermost needs and to inspire him like a child. Not least, he wants to be sensibilized to the things important for his decision-making. But to be able do this, we have to know him very well. KISS—Know, Ignore, Stimulate, Sensibilize—is the contemporary approach to winning over the modern PHANTOM customer.

The modern customer not only possesses the PHANTOM characteristics, he also develops phantom-like behaviors. Due to his independence and the conviction that he knows what he needs, he also believes to be able to make a well-founded decision on his own. Meanwhile, he decides himself if, when, how and on which channels to interact with sales. The situation has reversed: Whereas in the past sales used to be present throughout the entire customer’s buying process, today it is only involved at the end of the process, see Fig. 4.1. Today, the PHANTOM moves through its decision-making process mainly alone and will not involve sales until the phase of the provider selection—if at all. Depending on the industry, this process can even take place 100% independently of sales. Although there are certainly industry and customer specific differences, there will no longer exist a single industry where sales is consistently and 100% involved throughout the entire customer’s decision-making process. In B2C, this development has long since ceased to be a big surprise, and is now an accepted fact. In contrast, some providers in B2B are not yet fully aware of these developments. Again and again, I hear that this is not the case yet. But this development is © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_4

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Fig. 4.1   Sales in the customer buying process

neither a trend nor a future expectation, it has long since been confirmed as reality by several studies. Customers get along on their own Nowadays, most customers see no need to involve sales at the beginning of their decision process, in the “awareness-creation” phase. According to a Hubspot study, only 19% of customers are still willing to interact with sales during the discovery of their problem or the need for a solution. 60% want to interact with sales only when they are done with their research and have already made a preliminary selection (Hubspot 2021). According to a study by Miller Heiman, 70.2% of B2B buyers prefer to wait until they have fully defined their requirements criteria before contacting sales. And around half (44.2%) of customers completely define the solution before they first contact sales (Miller Heiman 2018), see Fig. 4.2. Today, B2B buyers usually have completed a certain proportion of their decision-making process, before any contact with sales occurs. As early as 2012, according to a study by CEB in cooperation with Google, more than half, 57% of the purchase process is completed before the first contact with sales (CEB 2012). And in 2018, according to the above-mentioned study by Miller Heiman, it was a full 70%. The same figure is documented by the one study, cited as often as it is debated on the Internet, the source of which is no longer traceable: 70% of B2B buying decisions are said to be completed before a buyer first contacts sales. Other statistics show similar figures and are gladly discussed on the net in a often polarizing manner, and are confirmed or refuted, depending on which interests prevail. Rather deny than admit? Of course we don’t want to believe or take a single source of information literally. But there is clear evidence of these developments. It is always difficult to apply percentages across the board, but denying them altogether may not be the best way either. The purpose of outlining the hidden parts of the B2B decision-making process is not to project a horror scenario for sales, but to help them face the inevitable reality. Time and again, in workshops with my customers, we find together that the 70% threshold, which was ini-

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Fig. 4.2   B2B customers get along withoutsales

tially crititcally viewed and considered far too high, moves further towards 100% after a detailed analysis of their customer’s decision-making process, especially in B2B business. Although the threshold will always be different depending on the industry and customer situation, it is a reality of the EEE -World that cannot be denied. In today’s digital age, the vehement denial of the fact that a certain proportion of the customers' decision-making process takes place independently of sales is frankly difficult to understand—especially in the domain of complex B2B solutions. Where, if not in complex procurements, are the requirements often defined in advance, suppliers invited to RFP and automated tendering is common practice? And this of course regardless of the size of the investment. Recently, I had a discussion on this topic with a consultant who claimed that human relationships in sales are essential for investments of 500,000 euros or more. This is a dangerous fallacy, because it is not the size of the investment that is decisive, otherwise no call for bids worth millions would be completely automated today, and in some cases deliberately without any sales interaction. 

Not the size of the investment or its complexity, but the degree of customer's independence in his decision-making process will define the need for interaction with sales.

If the customer already knows everything he needs to know, he doesn’t need sales at all. Although this will certainly not be the case in any B2B sales, we cannot simply explain the need of human interaction by simply declaring that customers prefer human contact. A customer turns to the sales department not because he necessarily needs inpersonal contact, but because he usually can't get along without it. Would he perhaps go for easier, faster and more comfortable ways if he had a choice? Yes, he would. He even demands it, as studies repeatedly show: B2B customers demand self-service options, access to transparent prices, product configurators, etc. If you want to get a clear view of that reality, you will find enough “evidence” for it. In addition to the studies quoted in this book, think of the technological progress, which provides us with further proofs and drivers for this development on a daily basis: innovative solutions are continuously being

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developed, which increasingly enable the procurement decisions to be made independently. Not to forget the increasing influence of younger generations who, by their very attitude, aspire to even more independence. There is much more behind it This development is reinforced by far more interrelated factors than is apparent at first glance. It is the hard-to-ignore mixture of the EEE-World, the III-Humans, and of course the PHANTOM customer, which inevitably leads to the fact that sales is less and less needed in its traditional functions, also and especially in complex decision-making processes. Companies should begin to question their own views and convictions—at least for a brief moment—and take a deep look at their customers' procurement process. Then they themselves will realize that they are actually losing control of the customer relationship, no need to believeor question various studies. Today's customers are certain to go their own way—independent of sales.. Even when sales is actively prospecting and the customer has to first discover his needs. Have you ever experienced customers googling and researching in parallel, even during the first prospecting call? Or perhaps you yourself have started researching during a call with a seller? Even if the need for a solution or product may be triggered by sales reps in first place, we need to let go of the naive idea that a customer will 100% rly on the first provider met. 

The PHANTOM will—even if initiated by a salesperson—always do its own research to first validate what the salesperson has said and then go its own way to make the best possible decision for itself.

Apart from that, in today's times,, the need for a solution is no longer triggered by sales as often as it used to be. In the information age, customers learn about products and solutions in other ways than through the sales prospecting activities of the providers. Today, they no longer need salespeople to make them aware of products and innovations. To a large extent, they develop their needs independently, and actively inform themselves about new possibilities to improve their situation and solve problems. Nowadays, we find out much more quickly what's available on the market and what we might need. We no longer have to wait for the annual CEBIT or other trade shows to get up to date. Speaking of trade fairs, how many of former top trade fairs in your industry are still really relevant? How many are still existing at all? The trade fair concept is getting under pressure abd is one of the best proofs that customers are going other ways to get informed. No one waits until next year trade show to get up to date in their own industry. Better said, no one can longer afford to wait. And just like the trade show, sales is losing not only its information advantage, but even its role in generating demand. Not to mention the definition of requirements and the specification of solutions, see Fig. 4.2.

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Reaching modern customers—an impossible task? So, the question of all questions arises now: How can we still reach customers, or how can sales gain access to their buying process and influence their decision if the decision has basically already been made? How can we still reach the elusive PHANTOM in the digital world? Quite simply: by understanding its very essence and offering it what it really wants. 

The PHANTOM wants to be ignored, treated like a child and considered silly.

Yes, you can read the sentence again and let it sink in slowly. Because this is the essence of what the modern customer needs and desires deep inside. If you ask him, he certainly won't tell you. Not because he wants to keep it a secret, but because he doesn’t really know it himself. Rarely are we aware of our true needs, let alone able to articulate them. As we have found in the analysis of our PHANTOM, the modern customer wants to: • • • •

research and inform himself in peace and not be disturbed by sales during his research and know and evaluate all possible alternatives and interact with sales only when he feels “ready”.

In short: He wants to be ignored. During his decision-making and purchase process, he would like to • go the easiest, most comfortable and fastest way and • receive everything in the moment he feels the desire and the need for it— which means instantly and • always receive the latest, best and most innovative “thing” and • try everything out, test it and “play around” with it and • as soon as he is at a loss or has a question,receive qualitative support and advice and • have the providers at his disposal: on the way, at the time and in the place of his choice and • of course, be immidiately understood with his individual needs and • experience an easy-going, exciting buying experience. Basically, the customer behaves like a child who wants the latest toy. Of course, he wants to try it out on his own, because he knows how it works and doesn’t need any explanations. But if he gets stuck, you have to help him immediately and explain, guide him, correct and point out important things. Just like any child, the customer wants to be delighted, but to receive attention only when it wants and in the way it wants it. Please, no hugs in front of the school kids, okay? In short: He wants to be treated like a child.

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In relation to his problem, he wants • • • • •

to make the best possible decision and to avoid any potential pitfalls and bad investments and to be made aware of what he might not have considered or overlooked and to gain important insights for his business and individual situation and not to regret his buying decision.

Even though our PHANTOM thinks he can make the right decision without help, he actually wants—deep down inside, and he probably won’t admit it—to be questioned on his assumptions. He needs relevant insights and pointing to potential pitfalls. After all, he certainly doesn’t want to make a wrong decision. Although he is not even aware of it due to his high degree of autonomy, in reality he wants us to support him on his decision path and ensure that he has considered and taken everything relevant into account. In essence, he wants us to challenge the very quality of his decision. In short: He wants us to consider him silly. To this end, it must be said that the PHANTOM customer carries many of these expectations unconsciously and will not express them to you explicitly. • He will not tell you “Ignore me,” but with his whole behavior signal that he needs more time for his research. In this context, he will ask you to “send additional information by e-mail”. Or disappear for weeks and not respond to your calls. Or put you off with explanations, that the decision-making process in his company just takes so long. Or explain that his boss had no time to deal with it yet. • He will also not tell you “Treat me like a child,” but at the first dissonance on your website, or while trying to understand your complicated webshop, or t o finish your tedious check-out, or to complete the long-lasting payment process, he will live up to his name and simply evaporate. • And he certainly won't tell you “Consider me silly,” but will be very grateful if you point out a serious blunder in his thinking, or if you politely but firmly change his perspective, make him see things differently and help him re-validate his assumptions. We may like it or not, but this is the reality facing sales today. Perhaps expressed differently, but with the same meaning in its core:  The modern customer wants us to leave him alone as much as possible during his decision-making process, but to stand by him immediately in case he needs support—in whatever form. He wants to be delighted—at all levels of his buying decision. And, he wants us to ensure that he makes the right decision - for himself—without us trying to sell him something.

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Fig. 4.3   Technology and humans in the sales process

Now, how could sales m eet this challenge and fulfill this expectation? In essence, it's quite simply: By aligning with the customer’s decision-making process. Along the decision path Let’s assume that a part of the buying decision process takes place independently of sales. For the sake of simplicity, I may take as base here the figure of 70% found by Miller Heineman in their study cited above, during which the typical B2B customer does not want any interaction with sales. While in each individual case, this figure will be different, my intentions is not to fix on the number itself, but to better illustrate the process. For the 70% of his decision-making process, the customer wants to be left alone. Consequently, we should ignore him. At the same time, however, he wants - like a child—to be stimulated and have his needs met. This is only possible if we know him well. In this context, I would like to remind you of the compelling findings of the DemandBase study (see Sect. 3.4.1), which found that customers expect a personalized experience tailored to their needs even on their first—unrecognized—visit of a website. And last but not least, he wants us to sensibilize him, means make him aware of all the relevant factors that are important to his decision-making. To meet this demandt, we need technology for the first 70% of the process, where customer wants to remain anonymous to us, and for the remaining 30% we still need human beings, see Fig. 4.3. We need technology, • to make ourselves visible to the customer on his hidden and autonomous decisionmaking journey. While we ignore him, we strategically position ourselves along this way and ensure that we are visible to him, so that he finds us by himself. • to differentiate ourselves from all other providers chasing the same customer. In such a way that he becomes so enthusiastic about the experience offered that he voluntarily stays with us and feels “positively compelled” to satisfy his needs here. • to provide customers the access they want; when they want it; the way they want it and on the terms they want.

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The humans we need, • to enable customers to make good decisions. Not to sell them something. 

Today's sales is not about selling, but about supporting customers in their decisionmaking processes.

To be able to provide this kind of support, a combination of technology and human will be required to a large extent, but their proportions will always vary. To design the right mix, companies need to identify • • • • •

what kind of support, in what form, on which channel, at what time, for which decision maker in the Buying Center

needs to be provided, in order to provide customers with the best possible support in their decision-making. The key question that every company has to answer in this process is: What can technology do better and what can humans do better? When answering this question, it is not uncommon and increasingly more likely to find out that technology even covers 100% of the process.Whether we like it or not: The case where people cover 100% of the process is increasingly losing relevance.  KISS the PHANTOM is the modern sales approach that allows us to reach, win and retain modern customers. Know, ignore, stimulate and sensibilize the pseudo-informed, hyper-convenient, autonomous, needs-oriented, tech-savvy, opportunistic and mutatingmobile customer. Who is faster? Who knows it better? Customers use to change faster than sales, they are open to new ways of doing things, and they quickly get excited about better products, solutions and experiences. They learn new things every day, make their own decisions, and enjoy their new independence from sales thanks to digitalization. Sales, on the other hand, seems to be resistant to change and advice. It almost appears as if especially those who “know it better” work in sales: smart, extroverted and outgoing individuals with a strong sense of self-confidence. Personalities who develop customer needs, present product advantages, persuade customers and negotiate hard. Thus it is hardly surprising that this type of personality will mostly “know it better”. The problem we face today is that we now have to deal with customers who themselves know it better. Two forces collide. With explosive potential. Isn't it?

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• Modern customers don’t need anyone to explain to them what they need. They believe they know that quite well themselves. Cue: pseudo-informed. • Modern customers don’t need anyone to sell them something. They believethey can make right decisions and buy without help. Cue: autonomous. • Modern customers don’t have time or patience for tedious interactions and lengthy price haggling. They want transparency in every respect. Cue: hyper-convenient. • Modern customers also don’t want presentations of product advantages and also don't care about the providers' self-promotion. They want to immediately see their own benefit—they don't care about anything else. Cue: needs-oriented. • Modern customers no longer want to be “at the mercy” of sales. They demand selfservice options, anytime and anywhere. Cue: tech-savvy. • Modern customers believe they have enough options. They no longer allow themselves to be misled, not even by a especially clever and creative salesperson. Cue: opportunistic. • Modern customers are constantly in motion, they permanently have to adapt their needs to changing circumstances in their industry. They are under time pressure and—at the latest since the COVID-19 crisis— hard to get for conventional buyerseller face-to-face talks. Cue: mutating-mobile. As we can easily see, most of the salesperson characteristics that were necessary and valued in the past are no longer needed. But, sales continues to follow well-known paths and use traditional sales methods, such as phone calls and personal meetings—and this with amazing persistence. Wasn’t persistence always an important sales trait? “But customers want to meet me in person!” Yes, quite possible, as long as they haven’t found better ways to solve their problems yet. Customers want to receive what they need, and in first place conveniently—the channel doesn’t matter at first. As we know, customer loyalty loses out to convenience, especially when it comes to obtaining information. 

What customers really want is the information they need, when they need it, in the fastest and the most convenient way.

And let's face it, this isn't necessarily the sales staff, which is mostly available during office hours or stops by once a week on its tour. Technology is increasingly taking over sales duties, such as providing information, product explanation, product configuration, price calculation, order entry, and even communication, which was traditionally reserved for sales reps. Chatbots are a good example. Only a few years ago they were scorned and laughed at for redundant or irrelevant answers. And today—thanks to AI technology—they provide information, answer questions, select products, make recommendations and take orders. Thanks to their convenience, speed and continuous availability, they offer customers an excellent alternative to

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traditional sales processes. Consequently, they are enjoying increasing popularity with customers who, in principle, do not care whether they are advised by a human or a robot, as long as the service quality is right. More and more studies are showing that chatbots are accepted by customers: • In 2018, Facebook announced that 300,000 chatbots were active on its platform (Venture Beat 2018). • Between 2019 and 2020, the use of chatbot solutions to schedule an appointment, buy an item, or subscribe to a mailing list has more than doubled (Drift 2020). If we consider the demands of the EEE- World, the increasing relevance of chatbot technology is a logical development. It perfectly meets the expectations of customers in terms of the required simplicity, convenience and speed. At the same time, AI is constantly evolving, with algorithms learning with every task, and just as online stores have replaced phone order-taking, chatbots will sooner or later take over the information role in sales. After all, today already they can provide information more quickly and conveniently. Better fast and bad, than perfect but slow When time is short, the reaction time becomes a decisive factor. It even wins against response quality. According to a survey by NM-Incite (Nielsen- McKinsey joint venture), 33% of respondents would recommend the provider who gave a poor, but a quickanswer. That is almost twice as much compared to those who would recommend the provider who was slow, but provided a good answer. Even the preference for those providers who offer no answer at all is higher (19%) compared to those who are accurate but slow (17%) (Benmark and Singer 2012). Let's be honest: Sales were never really fast, were they? Sales organizations must—finally—acknowledge that the skills and competencies they have painstakingly built up over many years may no longer be needed by their customers today. And instead of organizing sales training programs to train traditional cold calling or negotiation skills, they should be thinking about how to build a sales structure that substantially supports the customer's decision-making process. Therefore, the key question should be: 

What mix of technology and human competence is necessary to satisfy the needs of the PHANTOM customer?

This is the main question that needs to be answered and continously validated. All areas of the KISS approach should be evaluated in detail in order to align the sales organization’s capabilities with the expectations of modern customers. Companies need to provide their customers with fast, flexible and convenient experiences in order to stand out, delight and retain them. For this we first have to get to know our PHANTOM.

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4.1 Know The KISS approach begins with the most obvious: knowing your target group. The most obvious thing in a sales organization often seems to be the most difficult. The dilemma begins with the fact that often there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what knowing customers means. It is not about the conventional demographic characteristics which are usually to be found in customer profiles, such as age, profession and hobbies for consumers, or company size, industry, revenue and number of employees for B2B target groups. 

A target customer profile should above all define the needs of the customers—in relation to your product. Which customers' problems and challenges does your product solve and why would they need it at all?

Clear answers to these questions are rarely to be found among sales staff. As a result, it is not surprising that many companies lack the necessary depth of knowledge about their own customers. Of course, sales and marketing employees think of it differently and would disagree with me: Of course we know our customers and understand their needs! And probably you think that now too. But what if I asked your customers? Are you sure they would agree with you? A Capgemini study provides the proof: In the UK, for example, 92% of companies believe they are customer-centric, but only 26% of consumers say that companies actually understand their needs (Capgemini 2017). A huge gap between the perceptions of companies and their customers.

4.1.1 The Inconvenient Truth About the Relevance of Salespeople The B2B sector is not really doing any better. Here too, studies show a clear discrepancy between the perceptions of salespeople and those of buyers. As part of the 2018 Buyer Preferences Study by CSO Insights, B2B buyers were asked which resources they prefer when it comes to solving business-related problems. The top resources include (Miller Heiman Group 2018): • • • • • • •

Industry or third-party experts: 43% Experiences from the past: 35.8% Supplier websites: 35.4% Industry events, trade fairs, conferences: 33.6% Colleagues, peers: 30.4% Industry and professional circles and communities, networks: 29.8% Corporate or industry publications, trade press: 29.2%

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• Web search: 27.2% • Sales representatives of suppliers: 23% • Local and national professional associations: 12.2% Amazing results, aren’t they? The answers give a good impression of the customers’ true opinions about sales competence: Salespeople landed in last place—ninth—behind websites, colleagues, analysts, online communities and other sources. Only trade associations follow behind sales. This is just one of the clear indications that sales are increasingly losing relevance to their customers and that customers are finding “better” ways to solve their problems. And the main reason is undoubtedly the fact that sales is primarly intersted in selling their products, than really understanding customers' problems and needs, altough they genuinely think they do. Research from Gartner indicates that B2B customers see little value in interacting with salespeople compared to own research. Among younger generations, this perception is even more pronounced: Millennials, the first digital natives, are in general much more skeptical of salespeople than their predecessors, and 44% of them would rather not have any interaction at all with salespeople during a B2B buying decision (Gartner 2020). By its very nature, sales are primarily interested in selling and not in fulfilling customer needs. And of course, customers don’t miss that. But in today's world, meeting customer needs is at the core of a successful sales approach, which will ultimately lead to sales. However, there is a fundamental and crucial difference between the two approaches themselves—selling and meeting customer needs.  Salesshould be viewed as the outcome resulting from meeting the customer's needs, not the ultimate goal. If we consider the act of selling itself to be the goal, we are actually acting past the customer’s real needs. Buying in itself is never a customer need, it's just a mean to an end. If we take a critical look at the common structures of sales organizations, why are we surprised about the customers' tendency to avoid sales people? In order to meet customer needs, they must first be identified and understood. This requires a thorough analysis of the target group, which is part of the 7W-Sales-Transformation-Model described in the book “Digital Transformation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a).

4.1.2 The Ecosystem of A Customer Decision It is important to recognize who the “customer” actually is. Because the term “customer” adds up to a whole group of people involved in a decision, rather than a single person or company. Especially in the B2B environment, it is becoming increasingly rare for sole

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individuals to make decisions. According to Forrester, 63% of purchasing decisions now involve more than four people. The trend is clearly upward, compared to the 47% in 2017 (Forrester 2021). According to Gartner, the number of people involved in B2B buying decisions increased from an average of 5.4 in 2015 to 6.8 in 2017 (Gartner 2018). And one year later there were even more:  Six to ten people are typically involved in a complex B2B decision (Gartner 2019). Depending on the nature of the buying decision, the number of people will vary, but situations in which only one or two people make a decision will become increasingly rare. This increase in the number of people involved is driven by several factors, such as the flood of information, the large selection of offerings, the variety of product features and the resulting increase in the complexity of a buying decision (more on this in Chap. 5). Often, not all decision-makers are part of the company either. It may well happen that external parties decide about the purchase, like consultants, service providers and even the competition, like in cases when your solution interacts with theirs. And in B2C too, consumers seek advice, get recommendations and rely on the opinion of others, especially on people who are important to them. Sales must know which people, roles and departments are inherently involved in the purchase decision and also in which step of the decision-making process. Sometimes, the finance manager will be involved at the beginning of the process to set the budget, sometimes in the middle to evaluate the commercial feasibility and to calculate the ROI and business cases, and sometimes only—or again—at the end of the process to validate and approve the purchase. It is extremely important to know which roles are involved in the decistion making proces, when and for what purpose, and to understand the individual needs and interests of each involved departmental function. In addition, for imporant key accounts, the personalities involved must also be evaluated, with their individual interests and personal motives. Only if all needs are met and also brought into harmony within the group of decisionmakers will a purchase take place. Furtermore, conflicts may arise between the needs of the individual stakeholders, which also have to be resolved. In addition, sales needs to indentify the two most important roles in the Buying Center: The Initiator and the Decision-Maker. Of course we have to address everyone, but without the involvement ofthese two roles no sale will take place. The initiator is the one, who initiates the buying process. Consequently, we must know him very well and primarely address him with marketing measures, because he is the one who opens the door for us. Thus, he plays an important role at the beginning of the decision-making process for sales. Therefore, sales must recognize who has the greatest interest in implementing their product or solution, which is often not quite obvious. Repeatedly, I experience in workshops with sales that companies mainly adress the wrong target persons with their sales and marketing activities—sometimes even those who may actively block the buying process. Create a map of all the roles and departments involved in a company’s decision-making process—don't forget the external parties - and try to reflect the situation from each individual perspective. This will help you

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Fig. 4.4   Buying center roles in the decision-making process

better understand who might have what interests and intentions in relation to your solutions. Who decides really Among the decision-makers, we need to indetify those who actually decide, and not just sign. There can be multiple decision-makers and they all are not obvious at first glance. Often, the managing director or the head of the department is identified as the decisionmaker, which may well turn out to be a false assumption. While in the past managing roles were indeed involved throughout the entire process, howadays they are increasingly slipping into the approver role. With the increasing number of people involved and influencing the decision, the decision-making processes are also changing. While sales and marketing traditionally still address the obvious management positions, the decision may be made elsewhere. Today, executive position does not equal decision maker in a buying process, and the ecosystem of a B2B buying decision is changing dramatically, as this study found: While 64% of senior executives give final approval to the purchase, nearly a quarter (24%) of nonexecutive employees still make the decisions without their superiors. Moreover, the latter have the greatest influence on buying decisions: 81% of non-management staff have a say (Think with Google 2015). In order to reach and win the PHANTOM, all those involved—with their needs and individual interests—must be identified and addressed in every step of the decision-making process, see Fig. 4.4. Think about the last time you went out to eat in a larger group, such as with the whole family. How did the whole group behave? Everyone probably chose their own dish, may have been inspired by others' selections, but in the end made their own decision. Everyone went their own individual preferences and needs, such as allergies, intolerances or diets. Some ordered the dish on the menu unchanged and some changed something about it and adapted it to their own preferences. Moreover, perhaps one or the other also pursued other interests, such as the desire to differentiate themselves with special nutrition preferences or to show off by ordering the most expensive dish on the menu. All of this, of course, with each course: starter, main course and dessert. Some were “present” for every course and had explicit requirements, some didn’t really care what they ate

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and joined the group, and some were only partially “present”, for example, skipping the starter or dessert. Some came later, some left earlier and some may have disappeared for a short time in between. Meanwhile, they may have fought one or the other conflict or convinced someone to try something new. Gladly they have been influenced by different factors in their individual decisions: convictions, instructions from nutritionists, a view of the neighbor's dish, the beautiful food photos, the weekly special or the price. Yet the whole group had a single common goal: eating. This is how complex a seemingly simple process of taking a meal together can be, and now imagine how it can go in a complex B2B decision. A deep understanding of these processes and the needs of the individual stakeholders has always been crucial to success in sales, but today and even more so in the future, this understanding is becoming a prerequisite to gain access to the customer’s decision-making process. Otherwise, the decision will be made in the background and independently of sales, and as a result often bypass you and your offerings.

4.1.3 Generational Mix: A Blend of Contradictions in Customer Expectations Not enough, there is another factor that further intensifies the challenges in sales: the generational mix, starting with the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X and up to the Millennials and Generation Z. All these five generations are currently active in the work environment while showing great differences in their individual needs and expectations. The differences in behavior, expectations and needs between the members of the individual generations have never been as great as they are today. As a result of the technological progress, people have grown up in very different circumstances. This not only results in a high potential for conflicts within organizations, which are meanwhile on the agenda of HR departments, but all these generations have different expectations as customers. For example, Baby Boomers value personal contact in a customer relationship, while Millennials prefer digital communication tools. The characteristics of the individual generations and the differences in their expectations as customers could hardly be more different, presenting sales with a major challenge of satisfying them altogether. 1 Companies must learn to personalize their customer experience in such a way that all the individual expectations are specifically addressed, of the Baby Boomers, the Generation X, the Millennials, the Generation Z and also of the Silent Generation, which still may occasionally be involvedin decision-making positions.

1 For

the differences in customer expectations of the individual generations, see “Digital Transformation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a).

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Taking all these factors into account, today’s target group analysis and the resulting communication strategy will look very different from a few years ago.

4.1.4 Rigid Target Group Profiles: Relics From the Past Take your good old target customer profile—usually mainly based on demographics and firmographics and not reflecting customers' true needs—and put it in the bottom drawer of your desk.Pack it right in among the other outdated sales methods, and lock the drawer with a peace of mind. Because you won't need the stuff anymore, of course, just in case you want to dedicate yourself to state-of-the-art sales approaches. You could even throw away the key or, for nostalgia's sake, keep it. But you won’t need it anymore. Because your known, predictable and loyal customer has now mutated into an opportunistic, elusive, unpredictable PHANTOM. To be able to reach the PHANTOM, we need to understand it deeply and not just evaluate it by its only appearance such as age, place of residence and gender, but above all by its inner drivers. According to Gallup, those companies that use customer behavior insights in their strategies outperform their competitors by 85% in terms of revenue growth and more than 25% in terms of gross margin (Gallup 2021). A clear evidence of the importance of this understanding, which is still not broadly existing, as we have seen. Sales and marketing must - finally - make a real effort and understand the true needs of their customers, instead of letting conventional target group profiles gather dust in the shelves, the analogue and the virtual ones. We must understand what drives and motivates the PHANTOM and which paths it takes in its purchase decisions. And since it is constantly mutating, sales organisations must learn to respond to its constantly changing needs. AI-supported, dynamic customer profiles and analytics-supported account-based marketing approaches can provide valuable support here (see Rainsberger 2021a). It often turns out that companies address several target groups at the same time, which differ fundamentally in their needs. Then it makes sense to address the audiences individually and with tailored approaches, rather than trying to chase them all with the same apporach, which experience has shown doesn't work. Targeting multiple smaller audiences will get you there much faster than trying to target a large, hard-to-definetarget group with an one-fits-all apporach. And yes, this means a lot more work in the background than at the sales front. In this context I would like to remind you of the statement attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend seven hours sharpening my axe.” And those who think not have time to sharpen their axe because they have a lot of trees to fell, could—thanks to digitalisation—have much more time than they might like.

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The pandemic has massively influenced the customer behavior—more than we realize And here too, we must not neglect the impact of the pandemic, because it has massively changed customer behavior. In the B2C segment, the awareness of the ongoing changes in customer behavior is higher because they are obvious. In the B2B segment, these changes take place in hidden, and therefore they are much more dangerous than some sales organizations might think. Numerous studies provide evidence of these changes, such as the 2020 B2B Buyer Behavior Study (DemandGen 2020), which addressed this key question and whose results are startling: How have the following aspects of your purchase process changed in the last year? • Purchase decisions are now made on the basis of changed business needs/priorities: 82% • We spend more time researching during the purchase process: 77% • We now expect more personalized experiences from solution providers based on our specific needs: 76% • We now use more sources for research and evaluation during the decision-making process: 73% • We now conduct a detailed ROI analysis before making a final decision: 70% Within one year, the decision-making criteria and processes have changed in the majority of B2B companies. These drastic changes are confirmed by further studies from renowned research institutes such as McKinsey, Capgemini and Gartner. Customer understanding is needed on several levels This makes it all the more crucial for B2B sales organizations to analyze and understand the changing behavior, expectations and needs of their customers, at all fundamental levels:: • in terms of the solution/product/service • in terms of the purchasing experience • in terms of the interaction with your company Only the combination of these elements will allow you to win the PHANTOM with its increasing demands. Because the bar has been raised quite a bit and sales activity has become an Olympic discipline. Except that the Sales Olympics does not take place every four years, but every day. And, that you only have one single chance to reach the modern customer. Or do we prefer this attitude: It's not about the winning, but taking part?

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4.2 Ignore The second step in our KISS-the-PHANTOM approach is Ignoring. This is about respecting the customer’s wish to be left alone during his research. But that doesn’t mean neglecting him. 

Ignoring does not mean disregarding the customer, but rather not chasing after him and “harassing” him with aggressive sales techniques or traditional advertising. The idea is to accompany the customer during his buying process, to provide him with relevant information, to make necessary tools available to him and, as soon as he desires an interaction, to respond quickly and professionally.

The fact that customers have gained control over their purchasing process means that they are reluctant to be forced into vendor-defined processes. The independent PHANTOM wants to control the degree of interaction with your company itself. In doing so, it places its independence and efficiency in the foreground. Consequently, it may be deterred by the mere fact of relying on sales staff as its primary source of information. As a reaction, the PHANTOM will take other decision paths, if there are any available.

4.2.1 Intelligently (not) Getting Out of the Way Ignoring the PHANTOM means to satisfy its urge for independence and making the information it needs for its decision-process conveniently available for self-service. To be able to do this, we first have to know it well, as described in Sect.4.1, and make the relevant information readily available to it on its decision path. For this we have to • • • •

be findable on its decision path, use and serve its preferred channels, answer its questions qualitatively, and give it a reason for interaction,

so that it voluntarily develops the desire to interact with us. By “reason” is not meant withholding information or giving it only in exchange for contact data or similar attempts to catch this free spirit. The mere sense of being manipulated or deceived with the aim of “catching” it will make it disappear forever. The numerous catching attempts, in the sense of traditional marketing and sales tricks, the PHANTOM will detect will mercilessly punish by tricking the providers themselves or simply going other ways. Have you ever generated online leads only to find out that some of the names and phone numbers registered were not correct? Of course you have. It happens all the time. Do you yourself have a second “unimportant” email address, that you use online to protect yourself from unwanted “assaults” by marketing and sales? You

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are not alone, this is common practice by now. And while sometimes a typo will creep into the databases, the majority of erroneous data is based on a clear intent on the part of those unwilling to give up their data just like that. According to a study by the market research company Verve among more than 2,400 British consumers, people deliberately give false information about themselves to brands in order to protect their privacy. They ignore and bypass the efforts of companies to gain control of their data. The study shows that 60% of consumers deliberately give false information when submitting their personal data online. Even though privacy is cited as the primary reason by 81% of the respondents when giving false data, a full 77% perceive these marketing tactics as intrusive and 76% consider them unnecessary (MarketingWeek 2015). 

Customers want to remain anonymous until they have finished their research and have also built up a basic trust in the provider.

Apart from feeling harassed by intrusive methods, people today are put off by the largescale data misuse. So they hesitate to reveal their data, because you can never know what it will be used for. And as long as the PHANTOM doesn’t know you well enough, it will avoid being caught in your nets in every respect. Consequently, a basis of trust must be established first.

4.2.2 Trust: An Increasingly Rare Asset Trust has always been important in sales, but in the digital age it is becoming a decisive factor in the decision-making process. Because customers only buy from the providers they trust. Millennials and Generation Z trust Amazon 2.1 times more than their banks when it comes to responsible handling of their data (SmarterHQ 2020). Yes, they trust Amazon of all providers! Would you have guessed? And to what extent? On the other hand, they no longer trust your traditional advertising campaigns. 84% of millennials have no trust in traditional advertising (McCarthy 2015). The thousands upon thousands of marketing activities that companies invest in have no effect—at least not for this target group. Instead of burning money on advertising that customers perceive as aggressive, companies would do better to think about how to build trust with their target group in the digital space—because that's where modern customers spend their time. As long as the PHANTOM customer is not finished with his research and has not yet formed an opinion, he prefers to remain unrecognized. Moreover, he will not reveal himself until he has built up a certain level of trust in you. This trust can be established through: • The expertise that you share in the digital space, • Ther support that you provide on the customer's decision journey, • The quality of the customer experience.

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But above all, by the fact that you keep your promises. Trust under massive pressure For years now, the Edelman’s Trust Barometer has been showing that trust is declining, but with the pandemic it has come under real pressure. In particular, when it comes to information, trust has reached an all-time low. The values for 2021 compared to 2020 are presented in a point system, according to which trust has changed as follows (Edelman 2021): • • • •

Search engines: minus 6 points Traditional media: minus 8 points Own media: minus 5 points Social media: minus 5 points

And the downward trend is expected to continue. Consequently, instead of trying to elicit an e-mail address and then spam customers with irrelevant mass mailings, we should consider what we can offer them so that they will trust us and voluntarily share their data. As already illustrated, customers are quite willing to share their data with us, provided they see a benefit in it and trust us. If we manage to offer them added value in their decision-making process, this will inevitably lead to trust-building. This includes a wellthought-out strategy and the placement of trustworthy evidence, such as high-quality information and disclosure of important—unbiased—decision criteria, selfless support in their decision-making, sharing of experiences from other projects and of course providing insights with use cases, industry trends, analyses and reports.

4.2.3 The Ariadne’s Thread in the Digital Space As studies repeatedly demonstrate, Internet search is the main source of information in the course of purchase decisions, whether in B2C or B2B. The impatient customer expects the instant availability of information: in search engines, in social networks, in discussion forums, on video platforms, on your website, in your blog, in your knowledge database, etc. All of these are po tential places to strategically position yourself in the digital space, in order to be found by customers on their buying journey. Consequently, relevant content and supporting tools must be thoughtfully placed in places where they can be easily found by customers. The Ariadne’s thread in the digital space The strategic positioning along the customer’s decision-making process is similar to the Ariadne’s thread in the Greek myth, which Ariadne gave to Theseus so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur labyrinth without getting lost and perishing miserably. Similarly, we want to use content, which is relevant to the target audience, as illustrated in the example in Fig. 4.5.

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Of course, everything should ideally be made available for self-service, and that throughout the entire buying-decision process: from early education and awarenessbuilding, detailed problem and benefits presentation, case studies and solution comparisons, implementation and technical support, to  information about necessary complementary products or components. Unless it's confidential and sensitive information, the content that your customer is looking for should not be hidden behind long forms and cumbersome processes. This does not mean that at a certain step in the process you should not require registration and login or a certain level of qualification and commitment on the part of the prospect. But these should be in reasonable relation to the value offered and also not too demanding and tedious, so as not to deter potential customers.

4.2.4 Ignoring, But Addressing Individual Needs We must not forget that the PHANTOM customer—although he navigates mainly anonymous in the digital space—still wants to be addressed by his needs. Which implies that the content we offer should also be relevant to him specifically, and of course easy and quickly digestible. Because our needs-oriented PHANTOM is only interested in itsself and its own benefit. None of your potential customers are browsing the Internet for you, they are searching for only what they need, and only thinking of themselves. About 71% of Internet searches begin with a generic search query, meaning people search for solutions or products first, and not providers (Think with Google 2015). But what do most websites do? They advertise themselves and their products, mainly using the “self-promotion” format. In order to attract the attention of the PHANTOM, we have to look at things from its viewpoint and present them from its perspective. 

The PHANTOM is trying to solve a problem. It looks for solutions and information necessary for its decision. The PHANTOM is not looking for you.

We will not capture the interest of our PHANTOM by putting ourselves in the spotlight particularly well, but only if we convey the core of the customer's benefit as precisely as possible. Of course, we can leave it to the customer to find his way through all the confusing and irrelevant information on the website and let him figure out his benefit himself. Most websites do that. But why shouldn’t we make it easy for him? By highlighting the benefits to the customer, we become a partner who helps him solve his problem instead of egocentrically putting ourselves and our products in the foreground. Because this is not very effective, it is even counterproductive. 74% of customers are frustrated when the website content does not match their interests (Forbes 2020). In the world of rush and impatience, no one has time to wade through mountains of irrelevant information. Just think for a moment:

Fig. 4.5   Content in the customer’s decision-making process

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• • • • • • • •

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How quickly do you scan and scroll through Google search results yourself? What do you search for in a buying process yourself? How quickly do you jump off if you don’t find what’s relevant to you? How long does it take you to move to the second search results page? How many unsuccessful clicks you need to change the search term? How often are you gone in a second after a single brief look at the page you landed on? How many “scrolls” do you usually tolerate on a website to you detect valuable content? How often have you thought to yourself as a prospect during a sales presentation: This is a waste of time?

Companies that provide relevant and personalized content and quickly offer value are a boon to any customer. 82% of customers have a more positive opinion of a company that addresses them with personalized content (Demand Metric)o. J.). The 2020 Buyer Survey Study also confirms that content has a decisive influence on buying decisions: 76% of B2B decision-makers say that the content of the provider who ultimately received the contract had a significant influence on their purchase decision (Demand Gen 2020).  Effective positioning in the digital space means ensuring findability for customers through content that is relevant to them and is value-oriented from their perspective. It’s not about you, but about them. Not you are the hero of the story, but they, your customers. Customers don’t wake up and think about you, but only about themselves. They go their own way, not your customer journey. By simply positioning yourself as a guide in the customer's path, you will gain their trust much more easily and prove to be a preferred partner compared to the thousands and thousands of other providers. Ignoring, but intelligently Proven, our PHANTOM is on the run, but not from sales itself, rather from what sales and marketing have to offer: • • • •

generic, general, and meaningless information self-promotion, focus on own products mass advertising, email annoyance, irrelevant newsletters traditional cold calling, aggressive sales tactics, misdirection

Customers simply don’t want that. Do you? Nobody wants and never has, but in the past we as customers were largely dependent on it. Not anymore today. 

The Internet has opened up the possibility for customers to do extensive independent research to make better decisions. Which they do. Ignoring them, but proving to be significantly relevant to their decision-making is the true art of ignoring. Which ultimately leads to being anything but ignored.

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4.3 Stimulate Do you remember what excited you as a child? Discovering new things? Trying out the new thing immediately? Exploring it in peace and quiet by yourself? Maybe even taking the new toy apart? When you were stuck, asking for quick support, and then continuing on your own? If you were really excited about it, tell a friend about it? Didn’t we want to get it immidiately? And didn’t we bother our parents until we got it? But if we thought it was stupid, we mindlessly threw it away and forgot about it in the same moment, didn't we? And some of us would even swear at or destroy the odd toy if it didn’t do what we wanted it to. Or was it different with you? As adults, we are not much different: We love to discover something new, try it out in depth, preferably undisturbed, and share our enthusiasm with like-minded people. And if we think it's really great, we want it at all costs, preferably instantly, and we will find the necessary money too. But if it doesn’t convince us, we forget it just as quickly as we were excited by it at first. The child lives on in us. In each of us. Of course to varying degrees, but we all have certain similar inclinations. Such as the capacity for enthusiasm or the desire for an uncomplicated and smooth experience. The EEE-World is the best proof of this. Today, no one has any desire to wait for a website to load, for a W-Lan connection to be rebuilt or to be stuck in telephone queues. No one has any desire to fill out forms to get to the valuable content. That's why, to truly delight customers, we need to remove all obstacles from their path so that they are excited about what we could make possible for them and convinced, that we'll do everything in our power to support them in achieving their goals. Today, this can only be done with support of technology.

4.3.1 Innovation Everywhere, Except in Sales Personally, what is deeply incomprehensible to me: Why does technology still come last in the sales context? Companies invest massively in technological innovations in the areas of product development, production, digitalization of internal processes and even accounting. And in sales? Some companies feel they are on the cutting edge of technological development if they have a CRM system. But technology can do so much more for sales than just be a contact database. Artificial intelligence alone can support the entire sales process from A to Z. And it's not about increasing efficiency, even though technology undoubtedly holds a lot of potential for productivity enhancement. But the real added value for sales is on the growth side, because thechnology opens up innovative ways to improve the customer experience and delight customers. The market giants have long since recognized this and learned to use technology to

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their advantage and thus drive growth. Hopefully, medium-sized companies will soon realize this too. 2 Irrespective of its many growth potentials that technology brings, it is becoming a prerequisite to reach modern customers. After all, thoughtful use of technology enables us to address the expectations of our tech-savvy PHANTOM: In addition to designing a fast, easy and seamless customer experience, we need technology to give the PHANTOM what it wants, when it wants it, and how it wants it.

4.3.2 Who Wants To Be A Prey? The big advantage that AI technology in particular offers is that it helps to understand modern customers and give them what they need—even before they know they need it. • Only when companies begin to realize that behind every website click, every chat message, every contact request or every completed and downloaded form is a real human being—an individual who wants to be recognized in his needs, taken seriously and considered important, and who has no desire to be seen as potential prey … • Only when companies begin to show respect for this human being—by valuing his time, understanding his personal needs and responding to his individual expectations … • Only when companies begin to try to help this person honestly on the search for what it needs—instead of trying to sell something … • … Only then will this person truly be enthusiastic about these companies, and nothing will stop it from buying from them and promoting them, unselfishly and without being asked to do so. Let me share a secret with you: What really excites us is to be seen, recognized, respected and taken seriously. Just as it is the most important thing for a child. Toys and technical gimmicks are great, but we are truly enthusiastic about those who are really important to us. Those who do not lie to us, who are always there for us and who are really interested in our true needs. We trust them and we include them in our hearts. And now let’s be honest, how many providers really do that? Frankly, I'd much rather have a conversation with a well-programmed chatbot that suddenly gets all sad-eyed because I am dissatisfied with his answer than with a salesperson who does not listen to me and only thinks about his commission. How about you?

2 You

will find a detailed description of the technological possibilities for sales in “Digital Transformation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a). And more about the possibilities of AI technology for sales in “AI—the new intelligence in sales” (Rainsberger 2021b).

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It is not about who—robots or humans—or how—personally or digitally—supports customers, but about the motives behind it. Because the “wrong” motives, even if they are not always obvious, may eventually backfire. Actually, not may, but certainly will. • Is the granny on the jam jar really the recipe's originator, or does she just serve to manipulate consumers' perceptions? • With a loyalty program, do you really want to offer your customers a personalized experience or just try to sell them more? • Who really benefits from discount cards: customers or the providers themselves? • If a website chat asks the visitor “How can I help?” is it because the provider really wants to help him or because they are trying to get his email address? Please understand me correctly: I am absolutely aware that every company exists for economic reasons. But the better it knows, perceives and honestly supports its customers, the more likely it is to win not only loyal customers, but advocates who speak up for the company. What do you think the economic viability will be then?

4.3.3 Shitstorms Lurking Around Every Corner Especially in times of increasing transparency, the “wrong” intentions become visible and are mercilessly punished by customers. Think shitstorm. Today, a brand is not something that is cleverly shaped by the company’s committee behind closed doors and then transported outward, but a complex, networked agglomeration of different factors that determine the company’s perception in the market. External factors such as customer opinions, ratings, statements and discussions have much more influence on the brand than what the company is trying to convey. Above all, values and customer appreciation are high on the evaluation scale of critical PHANTOM customers. Not just in the consumer sector, as one might assume: 75% of business buyers say that the ethical values of providers are increasingly playing a role in their buying decisions (Salesforce 2020). Anything that primarily serves the company’s own purposes and not the customer’s needs will turn out to be counterproductive in the long run. In the transparent digital world you can hardly hide your intentions. Apart from that, strategies that reveal that the customer is important as long as he hasn't bought yet, are not good retention strategies either, such as automated telephone lines leading into nowhere, lack of after-sales support or unqualified—but cheap—call centers. Open call lines for new customers— because we want them—but no telephone support for existing customers—because they may bother us—leaves a bad aftertaste with customers. With every little disappointment that the customer experiences, he realizes that it's not him but his wallet that's important, and will take revenge at the next best opportunity: Some by simply switching to other

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providers, and some by loudly reporting their bad experiences everywhere. And today they have countless options to speak out.

4.3.4 Customer Loyalty Values Instead of Customer Loyalty Measures If we want to win customers over—forever—then we should look for every opportunity, no matter how small, to enthuse them and above all to stimulate their basic needs: • Sincerity instead of bribery: Instead of devising sophisticated tactics and offering discounts and special promotions to customers just to motivate them to spend more money, we want to understand them and solve their problems and help them achieve their goals better. • Support instead of manipulation: Instead of withholding information from them and promoting our own offerings, we want to disclose everything: show potential buyers the problems they may face, point out potential mistakes and pitfalls and highlight sound decision-making criteria. When noticing that he is about to make a mistake, intervene and make him aware of it. Even if, and even especially if, it would mean less or no sales at all. • New and relevant instead of action-driven: If we keep them up to date on a regular basis—and we’re not just talking about price promotions and product news—our customers have more reasons to trust us. Regular, relevant content that is important for their decision builds trust on the side of—existing and potential—customers. This makes them recognize the provider as a qualitative and relevant source of information, thus they willrely on it. The goal is to create continuity combined with relevance for the respective individual. Of course, this also includes innovations at the product and market level. • Notice instead of blanket treatment: We want to notice customers at all levels, react immediately when they need something (reaction speed), offer them the most convenient way to interact (omnichannel service), make their experience as seamless and uncomplicated as possible (customer experience) and offer them only that, what provides them specific added value (personalization). • Acting in their interest instead of the own: Perhaps giving up a deal or two if it doesn't benefit the customer. In return, we will gain much more in the long run.



We all want to be appreciated not as customers, but as human beings, and to be stimulated not only outwardly, but above all by our inner drivers.

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Especially under the conditions of the digital world, providers should focus on these value-based factors. Imagine for a moment if your sales organization would manage to address your customers in this—child-friendly—way, every single stakeholder in the decision-making process. Where would your company be then?

4.4 Sensibilize The last S in our KISS approach stands for sensibilize. As we know, our independent PHANTOM would usually get in touch with sales when it has already made a decision or is in the process of validating it. At this point, the solution is usually drafted, the requirements are defined and the customers are evaluating the different alternatives. For this purpose, more accurate and missing information and of course also quotes are requested. Basically, the customer asks you the question: What does this solution (product) at this specification cost and what are your pruchase terms? Obviously, we will find here all types of products, configurations and purchasing scenarios, depending on the industry and type of business. Sometimes there will be no interaction with sales at all (for example, when they buy directly via the supplier’s online shop), sometimes there will be digital and online interactions (whether in social networks, via the website chat or contact forms or a direct e-mail), sometimes there will be a personal interaction with sales and sometimes you will be officially invited to participate in a tender. But no matter in what form it happens, it always boils down to the main question: Show me exactly what you can do for me and how much it costs me?

4.4.1 Questioning Instead of Answering Questions In most cases, the sales department readily complies with the customer's request and is happy to present its offerings. They might even embellish it a bit, and last but not least, they will name a price or make an quote. This is only logical, right? Logical, yes, but wrong! Because: When simply complying with the customer’s request without questioning it, we not only commit one, but several fundamental mistakes: • We assume that the customer really knows what he wants and that he has done everything right on his decision-making path. But, if he didn't, if he makes a mistake, who will have to pay for it? Whether with a complaint, a replacement, or even a full return or project cancellation? • We remain on the level of product functionality and price. How far do you think you will have to go down in price in order to win the deal, and whose profit will suffer as a result? • We leave it to the customer to figure out his added value for the solution. Aren't we missing out on business? Aren't we missing an opportunity to understand the customer and his real needs and perhaps sell even more as a result?

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• We miss the chance to stand out from the crowd of all the other providers. We are simply the number x provider that the customer will choose between. What's the probability to be “chosen” then? All of this is actually independent of the form of interaction, technology to human or human to human. 

The last thing a good sales rep should do in such a situation is name a price.

As we already know, our PHANTOM customer, although convinced of himself, actually wants to be questioned in his assumptions: He wants to be considered silly. And he will even be grateful to you for that. Because you point out potential mistakes and help him make a better decision. Deep down inside and probably not even aware of it, the PHANTOM really wants to be made aware of a possible bad decision—in whatever respect. He wants to be made aware of everything that could lead to a wrong or suboptimal decision. And to do this, we have lots of options at our disposal, like a well-thought-out check-out process or an interaction with an AI bot and of course an intervention of sales reps in a B2B case.

4.4.2 Provocation With Good Intentions Without doubt, we do not want to offend anyone. Nevertheless, challenging the self-confident and independent PHANTOM customer is certainly not an easy task. The best way is to demonstrate that you really care and want to help and then politely question his existing assumptions. 

Customers want and appreciate having their thinking challenged, as long as the intention is to give them the opportunity to make better decisions and avoid bad ones. Remember, it's about meeting your customers' needs, not about selling yourself or your stuff.

You are guaranteed success if you represent the interests of the customer and not your own. No one will blame you for this attitude. Call it questioning, provoking, considering silly, challenging, validating assumptions, changing perspectives, and the like—all synonyms of the intention to act in customer's interest and help him to realize that he may be making a mistake, or to confirm that he is on the right track. In the KISS approach, it is called “sensibilize”. The aim is to bring relevant insights, to open up new perspectives and to help the customer to realize “Oh, I really hadn't thought of that …”. If you manage to achieve that, the customer will recognize on his own a valid reason to involve you in his decision-process. He will voluntarily disclose everything to you, hoping that you will bring him further important insights and help him make the best possible decision.

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You are not convinced? Then please show me the person who wants to regret his decisions! Nobody wants that. And if the customer realizes that you can help him make a better decision, then you—as a potential provider—will gain the best access to his decision-making process and consequently will most likely end up winning the deal. The 2020 B2B study by DemandGen provides us with some convincing evidence for this: In response to the question “Please select the top 5 reasons for choosing the winning vendor over other vendors you considered”, the study participants gave the following answers (DemandGen 2020): • • • • • •

Demonstrated a strong knowledge of the solution and business landscape: 69% Demonstrated a strong knowledge of our company and needs: 65% Provided content that made it easier to build a business case for purchase: 62% Provided high-quality content: 55% The timeliness of a vendor’s response to inquiries: 54% Provided a better mix of content to help us through each stage of our decision-making process: 52% • Reviews and referrals from industry peers: 47% Where are the, if you listen to salespeople, expected answers like “value for money”, “lower price”, “better product”, “higher quality”…? Even the refferals end up at the end of the list, below the provided value in the decision-making process. 

If we manage to offer customers real added value and support in their buying decisions, we will usually win their business too.

If not this time, then certainly another time or as a result of a referral. Because no one forgets someone who wants to help him sincerely and wil try to revenge. And yes, I know that sales is not a non-profit organization. But trust me: In the long run, this is the safer way to sales success. In case you are still not convinced, I may present another interesting study. Rain Group studied more than 700 business-to-business purchases made across industries by buyers who represented a total of $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power. The question they posed: What are the winners of actual sales opportunities doing differently than the sellers who come in second place? Rain Group wanted to explore the decisive reasons for the provider’s choice. They looked specifically for the differences between the two providers in the “final round”. Of the 42 factors analyzed, these are the ten most important that ultimately distinguish the winners from the second-placed. In other words, the customers reported that these factors represented the greatest differences between the winners and the second-place finishers (Rain Group o. J.): 1. Educated me with new ideas or perspectives 2. Collaborated with me

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Persuaded me we would achieve results Listened to me Understood my needs Helped me avoid potential pitfalls Crafted a compelling solution Depicted purchasing process accurately Connected with me personally Overall value from the company is superior to other options

The result speaks for itself. The very first place is taken by the insights provided. This is really the most important criterion in a purchasing decision, both in complex B2B procurement and in consumer buying decisions. As customers, we may believe that we can find the best solution on our own, but we can often be wrong and not even realize it. And if someone points out a possible bad choice, we remain grateful to that person. Probably forever. To illustrate this, I would like to use my favorite example from my private experience as a customer, which may seem to be a bit trivial, but it gets to the core of what good sales is really all about. The Ferrari among office chairs

I have always suffered from back pain, especially when sitting at a desk for a long time. Since I work even more in a sitting position as a writer, I decided to afford the best office chair there is. I decided to finally make this gift to my back. So I went looking—of course on the Internet, where else?—for the perfect chair. After long research and evaluation, I had decided to treat myself to the best the market had to offer. I found the “Ferrari among the office chairs” and decided to buy it. I was pretty convinced that I had found the best there could be. Once I knew which chair I wanted now, I started looking for the best source of supply. Because, as with the Ferrari, you too have to reach deep into your pocket for this special piece. In my search I came across a provider who offered the same chairs next to new ones much cheaper as refurbished models. Since I also consider sustainability, it seemed an interesting option, so I wanted to find out more about these refurbished chairs. Not finding enough information on the website, I called the provider and asked the specific question: “Can you please tell me more about these refurbished chairs, where do they come from, how are they reconditioned?” Instead of answering my question directly, the salesperson asked back: “What do you actually want with the chair?” Wow, I thought, I’ve come across a really good salesperson! After I explained what it was about and what my requirements were, we found out together that the chair I had decided for and of which I was convinced to be the perfect choice, was actually the wrong one. Due to my thigh length in relation to the seat depth, the blood flow would be pinched off behind the knees, and I would have even more pain as a result.

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The salesperson advised me to choose another chair: a newer model that was much cheaper and perfectly suited to my needs. I ordered it and I am still very satisfied and pain-free today. And of course I recommend this provider at every opportunity I get. This example is a striking illustration of what sensibilizing customers is all about: • The salesperson helped me to revise an already made—wrong—decision. • He acted in my best interest and thus generated less revenue, because the bought armchair was cheaper. • While he didn't simply answer my question, he raised my interest. • Had he simply complied with my request and just given me some information about refurbished chairs, I would have moved on and looked for other sources of supply. • Had I purchased the refurbished chair from him, I probably would have returned it and been disappointed. • With his approach he won a loyal customer who will voluntarily act as an outsourced and unpaid “seller” for many years to come. In today’s world, sales must create real value for their prospects and customers, otherwise they are simply one of the countless vendors “out there” in the huge digital world. The multitude of options available to us today causes providers and sellers to look the same in the eyes of customers. This is vividly illustrated by a study by Miller Heiman: 57.7% of B2B buyers see hardly any difference between vendors and 10.4% see no difference at all (Miller Heiman 2018). This means that more than two thirds of decision makers (68%) do not see any real difference between the providers. Would you have guessed? This finding leads to another recognition: the PHANTOM is merely reinforced in its believe of having plenty of choice. Ater all, if they all look similar, it's a logical conclusion. Consequently, it is crucial for providers to find a way to stand out from the crowd in order to be perceived as relevant. ◄

4.4.3 Differentiation Through Customer-Oriented Content In order to gain the attention of potential customers, we need to differentiate ourselves from all the others, and the best way to do that is by providing them with information that is even more compelling than what has initially drawn their attentionto you—valuable insights that outline potential risks and pitfalls, important decision criteria, and above all, what they wouldn't think of. Therefore, vendor websites should not only contain a wealth of information about their own products, but above all, content which helps customers making a good decision. Therefore providers should build their online content less “we”- and “product”-centric, but from the customer’s perspective: his areas of application, his problems, his decision

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criteria, his possible outcomes, etc. Most of the B2B vendors have much to catch up in this regard and should re-think their approcaches. They continue to invest in familiar methods and human sales resources, rather than building a strategic online presence. Which is not to say, of course, that you shouldn't invest in sales staff. But today the customer is doing most of his decision-making process on his own, and if he does not— by chance—decide to contact your the sales department, you will miss the opportunity to connect with the customer. Accordingly, we need to do the sensibilization work on both levels: human and technology.

4.4.4 It Doesn’t Always Have To Be a Salesperson Customers are too busy and their world is too complex to take the time to deal with providers in traditional ways. Not everyone has the time and desire to make a call. The PHANTOM prefers anonymous digital ways because it believes that it can get ahead faster and better that way. For companies, the big challenge is to figure out how to sensibilize these PHANTOM customers and attract their attention. For this, technology offers many opportunities. Let’s stick with our office chair example: The sales rep did a great job, no doubts. But he could do this only because I got in touch. But I called only because I couldn’t find the desired information on their website. And no, withholding information is not the strategy I mean. Because I could have just moved on, if I had no interest in refurbished chairs. Or I could have ordered a new—but still wrong—chair in their shop and probably returned it at the end. To avoid this, the provider could have helped me digitally - for example with a configurator - to realize that I was about to make a bad decision. This way too, the provider could have pointed me to the right chair - without an interaction with a salesperson. Moreover, such a configurator would be a great marketing mean to attract the attention of prospects online, like on social media for example. 

If you fail to capture the customer’s attention with the right message, the buying process will never get off the ground.

Sensibilizing customers and being a good support on their way to the right decision has always been the better way to win customers and establish long-term customer loyalty. But under digital conditions, this is the only effective way in the long run. The digital world has thrown open all doors to the PHANTOM and provided countless opportunities to take control of its buying process and break free from the dependence on sales. Which it is more than happy to do. The only way to win over the PHANTOM customer is to gain his attention. And this can only be done if we sincerely want to help him make the right decision for him. How to do that? The rest of the book is dedicated to answer this question.

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Conclusion: KISS the PHANTOM—the modern approach to winning customers In conclusion, we can say that conventional customer acquisition approaches have had their day. No one—whether consumer or B2B decision-maker—is keen on being hunted down like a prey or harassed with mass advertising. Even less are we keen to be manipulated, misled or made dependent. The modern customer, the PHANTOM, will cleverly escape all the insincere attempts to catch him. This is exactly what he is actively fleeing from. Only if we manage to touch the PHANTOM without touching it, will it take shape and voluntarily stay with us and keep coming back. For this we have to • • • •

know it: its needs, expectations and behavior; ignore it: respectfully leave it alone; stimulate it: satisfy its inner child; sensibilize it: prevent it from making bad decisions and really intend to help.

KISS the PHANTOM, and it will not just take shape for you—and only for you—but will be happy to be grasped—by you only.

References Benmark G, Singer D (2012) Turn customer care into “social care” to break away from the competition. https://hbr.org/2012/12/turn-customer-care-into-social. Accessed 18 Sept 2021 Capgemini (2017) The disconnected customer. https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/ uploads/2017/07/the_disconnected_customer-what_digital_customer_experience_leaders_ teach_us_about_reconnecting_with_customers.pdf. Accessed 19 Aug 2021 CEB (2012) The digital evolution in B2B marketing. https://www.cebglobal.com/content/ dam/cebglobal/us/EN/best-practices-decision-support/marketing-communications/pdfs/ CEB-Mktg-B2B-Digital-Evolution.pdf. Accessed 29 July 2021 Demand Gen (2020) B2B buyer behavior study. http://e61c88871f1fbaa6388d-c1e3bb10b0333d7ff7aa972d61f8c669.r29.cf1.rackcdn.com/DGR_DG129_SURV_B2BBuyers_Jun_2020_Final. pdf. Accessed 1 Aug 2021 Demand Metric (o. J.) Content marketing infographic. https://www.demandmetric.com/content/ content-marketing-infographic. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 Drift (2020) 2020 state of conversational marketing. https://www.drift.com/insider/learn/booksreports/conversational-marketing-trends/#state-of-convo-marketing. Accessed 30 July 2021 Edelman (2021) 2021 Edelman trust barometer. https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer. Accessed 9 Aug 2021 Forbes (2020) 50 stats showing the power of personalization. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ blakemorgan/2020/02/18/50-stats-showing-the-power-of-personalization/?sh=5e4c3b2c2a94. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 Forrester (2021) Three seismic shifts in buying behavior from forrester’s 2021 B2B buying study. https://go.forrester.com/blogs/three-seismic-shifts-in-buying-behavior-from-forresters-2021-b2b-buying-survey/. Accessed 30 July 2021

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Gallup (2021) Behavioral economics. https://www.gallup.com/services/170954/behavioral-economics.aspx. Accessed 1 Aug 2021 Gartner (2018) Improve B2B lead generation with enterprise personas. https://www.gartner.com/ en/marketing/insights/articles/improve-b2b-lead-generation-with-enterprise-personas. Accessed 31 July 2021 Gartner (2019) New B2B buying journey & its implication for sales. https://www.gartner.com/en/ sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey. Accessed 30 July 2021 Gartner (2020) Sales transformation: the future of sales. https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/trends/ future-of-sales. Accessed 1 Aug 2021 Hubspot (2021) Buyers speak out: how sales needs to evolve. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/ buyers-speak-out-how-sales-needs-to-evolve?_ga=2.77207057.581378203.1558342392810827471.1540541254. Accessed 28 July 2021 Marketing Week (2015) Consumers are ‚dirtying‘ databases with false details. https://www.marketingweek.com/consumers-are-dirtying-databases-with-false-details/. Accessed 1 Aug 2021 McCarthy (2015) Millennials Survey. https://www.themccarthygroup.com/millennials-survey. Accessed 1 Aug 2021 Miller Heiman Group (2018) The growing buyer-seller gap: results of the 2018 buyer preferences study. https://www.millerheimangroup.com/resources/resource/2018-buyer-preference-studyresults/. Accessed 8 Aug 2021 Rain Group (o. J.) What sales winners do differently. https://www.rainsalestraining.com/resources/ sales-white-papers/what-sales-winners-do-differently. Accessed 8 Aug 2021 Rainsberger L (2021a) Digitale Transformation im Vertrieb. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden Rainsberger L (2021b) KI – Die neue Intelligenz im Vertrieb. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden Salesforce Research (2020) State of the connected customer. https://www.salesforce.com/ resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/. Accessed 11 Aug 2021 SmarterHQ (2020) Privacy & personalization. https://smarterhq.com/privacy-report. Accessed 21 July 2021 Think with google (2015) The changing face of B2B marketing. https://www.thinkwithgoogle. com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/the-changing-face-b2b-marketing/. Accessed 31 July 2021 Venture Beat (2018) Facebook messenger passes 300,000 bots. https://venturebeat. com/2018/05/01/facebook-messenger-passes-300000-bots/. Accessed 30 July 2021

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Summary The decision-making process of the modern customer—whether B2C or B2B—is much more complex than in the days before the digital world. It is not linear and difficult to predict, because it changes every time. However, there are certain similar activities, tasks and queries that every customer experiences on his decision-way, which reflect the six levels of the DECIDE decision-making process: Discover, Explore, Consider, Interact, Determine, Execute. The buying-decision process is different from the buying process itself. It is becoming increasingly complex, requires more and diverse tasks and activities and involves more people, which leads to massive changes in the buying processes in the B2B sector. The focus is not on the act of selling, but on the customer's decision. Consequently, to be able to reach customers in their new buying processes, sales must understand the undergoing changes and analyze the specific decision-making process of their customers.

Having reached this point in the book, you are probably wondering how much more difficult is it becoming to sell. You are certainly right. But how difficult do you think it has become to buy? Today, we have many more opportunities available to us than our predecessor generations. The Internet and social media have made it easier for us to discover all the options available. We no longer have to travel long distances or to take the ride to the shopping center, in order satisfy our needs. We can do it anywhere and at any time. But even though the digital world offers more buying options, more ways to learn about new products, and more provider choices, this does not necessarily mean that the buying decisions have become easier. On the contrary. 

While easier access to more choices and faster buying paths have made the effective buying process easier, they have also made the purchase decision much more complex.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_5

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The greater choice and the diverse options obviously increase the likelihood of finding the option that best meets one’s individual specific preferences and needs. Therefore, we might logically assume that our overall level of satisfaction will increase solely by the ability to make better choices. Misconception. In reality, we get more discouraged and ultimately less satisfied. Behavioral economics explains why this is the case. The Paradox of Choice also known as “choice overload”, describes a paradox in buying behavior, which says: 

Too many options impede decision-making. The consequence is that people would rather abstain from a purchase than expose themselves to the risk of making a wrong decision.

In a 2000 study, the scientists Sheena S. Iyengar (Columbia University) and Mark R. Lepper (Stanford University) found that a larger choice actually reduces the willingness to buy. The researchers were interested to find out how the extent of choice affects consumer behavior. To do this, they offered passers-by in a supermarket different types of jam to try. The number of offered varieties ranged from six to 24 choices. When a large selection of 24 varieties was offered, 60% of customers tried at least one flavor, but only 3% did actually buy a jam jar. With a smaller selection of six varieties, only 40% of customers tried the jam, but a full 30% were willing to buy a jar of jam (Iyengar and Lepper 2000). As the study clearly shows, too many options result in no choice at all, while trying to avoid a bad decision With too much choice, the differences between the various offers are no longer clearly visible. Consequently, the risk of making a wrong decision is too great, see Fig. 5.1. In his famous book “The Paradox of Choice—Why More Is Less”, psychologist Barry Schwartz analyzes this phenomenon in detail. He explains that a certain amount of choice is good, but more choice is not necessarily better. An overload of choice has its price. In our society, we are enthusiastic about freedom, self-determination and the variety of offerings and would only reluctantly give up the multitude of choice options, but this does not really make us feel better. If we stubbornly cling to all the options available to us, we would facilitate bad decisions, which increases stress, anxiety and dissatisfaction. Consequently, Schwartz argues, eliminating choice options can significantly reduce buyer anxiety (Schwartz 2009). Thanks to digitization, constantly spoilt for choice The digital world exposes us directly to the famous proverbial “spoilt of choice”, day in, day out. over and over again. In a world of unlimited possibilities, decision-making is actually more painful than in a world where the choice is limited. It is easier to decide between two options, when we only have to choose between A and B. Maybe even from

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Fig. 5.1   The pain of choice

C or D. But if we have the choice from A to Z, it becomes much more difficult to make an informed assessment of the value and the benefits of each option. As a result, we are overwhelmed with the choice and dissatisfied with the decision we finally make. Because in the back of our minds the possibility to have overlooked an even better option still remains. Under given conditions, the probability of making the right decision is much higher when there are only few alternatives than when there are many. The greater the choice, the greater the responsibility In the past, we could have blamed the limited choice for a bad decision. Today, with the abundance of choice, this responsibility lies with us alone. It's not the incompetent provider, the inaccessible market or the lack of product selection that are responsible for a bad decision, but the decision-maker himself. With such a great choice out there, the ideal option is certainly available. You just have to find it. And if you haven’t, there is no one to blame, except yourself. With the increasing number of options, the responsibility becomes greater, and the fear of making a wrong decision along with it. Instead of enjoying the freedom of available choice, we actually are overwhelmed by the many options and paralyzed in fact. To which the science increasingly provides us with evidence. More choice results in less sales In 2007, Avni M. Shah (University of Toronto, Canada) and George Wolford (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA) published their research results, which demonstrate the following:

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

With the increasing number of choices, the willingness to buy increases first and then decreases again.

As a test product, the researchers chose different rollerball pens with black ink, which they sold to college students. The pens differed in appearance, haptics and mechanics and varied slightly in price. They offered a varying number of purchase options, from two to 20. The results showed that the number of pens sold reached its peak at a choice of ten pens. After that, when the choice increased to twelve and up to 20 pens, it decreased significantly. After reaching an “optimum” of choice options, more choice is counterproductive, it reduces sales (Shah and Wolford 2007). The customer overwhelmed by the choice The greater choice overwhelms customers in many ways. But companies are not aware of this and try to offer even more choice, create even more advertising, run even more promotions, generate even more content and approach customers even more actively. At the same time, customers want nothing more than to be left alone and to escape the tsunami of things crashing down on them.. Many factors of the digital world have the potential to overwhelm, especially in combination with • • • • • •

the increasing number of different products, the many possibilities to satisfy our needs, the flood of information reaching us every day, the endless advertising to which we are exposed, the instant communication that puts us in a state of constant alert, the lack of time and the high stress level.

How often do you feel overwhelmed yourself? In front of the supermarket shelf with 47 yogurt flavors? Looking at the number of unread e-mails in your inbox? Or when your cell phone incessantly sends notifications and flashes all the time ? Nowadays, the chance of being overwhelmed is wating around every corner. And the higher level of information and the easier access to more choice by no means makes the buying decision process any easier. On the contrary, it is becoming increasingly complex and difficult. 

While people are offered more and more possibilities today, at the same time they have less and less time and shorter attention span to evaluate and process the corresponding data and really take advantage of all the available possibilities.

While this might be easy to understand in the private sector, many B2B companies are surprised to learn that their customers are struggling when it comes to making buying decisions.

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The feat of a B2B purchase decision If modern man already struggles with seemingly simple decisions, why should it be any different in a business context? Here, the complexity is even greater because: • On average, B2B procurements are of higher value than B2C purchases. • B2B products can be more specific or complex than B2C products. • The possibilities of changing providers in case of a wrong decision are often very limited. • The consequences of a wrong decision can even threaten the existence of the company. Considering this, it is only logical that in a digital environment B2B buying decisions are a challenge in themselves. CEB asked thousands of senior executives at companies around the world to describe the complex solutions purchase process in one word. Among their responses are “hard”, “awful”, “painful”, “frustrating” and “minefield” (Harvard Business Review 2017). In Gartner’s 2019 B2B study, 77% of respondents admit that their last purchase was “very complex” or “difficult” (Gartner 2019). And in Demand Gen’s 2020 B2B Purchasing Behavior study, B2B buyers said that decisions take longer, involve more people, and are validated multiple times (DemandGen 2020): • 68% of B2B buyers say that the length of their B2B purchasing cycle has increased compared to last year. • 61% say that more people are involved in their purchasing process than in previous years. • 71% say that a formal committee has been set up to review all purchase decisions. The PHANTOM's high degree of information, independence, and opportunism have only amplified the difficulty of his decisions. The responsibility for a potentially wrong decision shifts onto the shoulders of the customers, and their “spoilt of choice” is not to be underestimated. Consequently, they are adapting their purchasing processes in order to systematically minimize the risk of bad decisions. As a result, it is only logical that decision-making processes are becoming more complex, spread over more shoulders, and take longer. Significant changes in B2B procurement According to CEB, the typical purchase of a solution takes twice as long as customers themselves would have expected. 65% of customers report spending as much time just preparing for a meeting with a provider as they would have expected to spend on the entire purchase (Harvard Business Review 2017). Companies strive to make good purchase decisions. However, the increasing number of choices, along with the flood of

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information from suppliers, is not making it any easier for them. Thus, in order to simplify the processes on their side, they are looking for innovative sourcing options and methods for supplier evaluation. Obviously, a large part of the difficulties encountered in a purchase process have nothing to do with the suppliers, but with the customers themselves and their decisionmaking processes. Customers are busy with themselves. How are they still supposed to find the time to interact with sales in traditional ways? 

Purchasing is changing, and it's fundamentally transforming the way business is done: The relationship dimension between buyers and sellers is changing at its core.

These changes are taking place regardless of industry, product type, company size, corporate structure, financial situation and investment size. They can no longer be ignored, but must become the focus of all sales organizations' activities. Sales should—finally— begin to focus on the decision-making processes on the customer side, instead of trying—as they are used to—to force customers to follow their own processes. The path of a purchase decision Customers do not want companies to determine their customer journey. What they want: brands to offer them experiences that support them on their own way. Conversely, most companies are focused on designing every aspect of the customer journey, defining it and purposefully funneling customers into their processes. In doing this, they mainly follow their sales and marketing goals. But this approach is doomed to ultimately fail because the modern customers have now the freedom to go their own ways and do not like to be pigeonholed. In our sales and marketing approaches, we have to - finally - leave our own perspective and adopt that of the customer. 

Contemporary sales is not about what sales and marketing people should do, but about understanding what customers do and aligning all activities with their behavior.

The basis of effective sales is the customer’s decision process. Notice: not the buying process, but the decision process. We need to make a precise distinction here, because the processes of decision and the actual buying differ fundamentally. We need an understanding of both processes in order to really engage with the customer. The decision path always comes first. The idea is simple. On its way to a buying decision, the customer follows certain steps—DECIDE: • Discover: Discovering the need or the problem • Explore: Research on possible solutions

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• • • •

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Consider: Considering specific solutions Interact: Interaction with and evaluation of providers Determine: Deciding on the particular provider Execute: The actual act of buying

As we see, the buying is the last step in the decision-making process, see Fig.5.2. Companies often overlook what happens before the effective buying and focus solely on the purchase process itself. In each step of the decision-making process, different events take place and the customer performs different tasks and activities, which we need to evaluate. Moreover, we need to understand, that the process is not linear, as illustrated in a simplified form in Fig. 5.2. Customers may go through certain phases of their decision multiple times, often even simultaneously and not necessarily in the specified order. Furthermore, the decision is rarely made in a single pass. The PHANTOM would spin several rounds, turn around, discover something new, return, validate and perhaps decide differently at the last moment, or worst case not to buy at all. Of course, the decision-making process will always be different, depending on the industry in which we operate. But bottom line, every customer follows the same path. Some steps may take longer, some would seem more important and some might be hardly noticeable. But they all are always there. The more complex the decision, the more criteria and factors come into play and the more activities are to be performed, often of a different nature. However, there is a set of tasks that are largely similar and occur in most buying decisions. In order to better understand what usually happens in these individual steps, we will look at them in detail in the next sections.

5.1 Discover Every path to a potential purchase decision begins with the discovery of a need or a problem to be solved. In this “discover” phase, customers realize that they have a problem that deserves their attention - demand is created.

Fig. 5.2   DECIDE- Customer decision-making process

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5.1.1 Demand Levels: From Clueless to Acute Need for Action There are different levels of awareness of an existing problem: • Awareness missing —being unaware of the problem or a potential situation improvement • Aha—becoming aware of a potential improvement • Attenttion—recognizing a potential problem or threat • Acute— aggravation of a problem that was known but didn’t require special attention until now • Alarm—urgent need for action due to the sudden aggravation of the situation Depending on how much attention the problem receives in this step, the rest of the DECIDE process will develop accordingly. It stands to reason that the more acute the problem, the more urgent the need for a solution, see Fig.5.3. In this context, it is important to understand that there is a difference between the problem itself and the desire to solve it. An existing problem that doesn't want to be solved won't lead to a purchase. Consequently, sales must be able to distinguish between the different A-levels in order to be able to address the customer correctly. More about this in Chap. 6. First we want to take a closer look at what happens on the customer side on the different demand levels. • Awareness missing: The customer is absolutely unaware. He does not know that he has a problem. Who knew 20 years ago that he would need a smartphone for daily “survival”? If the customer is not aware of the existence of the problem, he will not look for a solution. He doesn’t think about it.

Fig. 5.3   5A-Demand-Levels

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• Aha: Here, the customer’s interest and attention are raised, he learns of a possible improvement in his situation. Do you remember when the first iPhone was introduced and the hype it caused? Everyone wanted to try it out. The customer has an “aha” moment, his attention is caught. He wants to learn more about it. • Attention: Now the problem takes shape and becomes a potential threat. The smartphone becomes an important tool in today’s world. “If I don’t get one, I’m out. I’m missing out on too much. I might lose relevance.” The customer realizes that he might have too much to lose if he doesn’t solve the problem. He wants to assess the risks. • Acute: Now the problem takes center stage and must be solved. “I need a smartphone. I can’t perform my daily tasks without a smartphone. I can’t work and I’m losing touch with society.” The customer realizes that solving the problem is inevitable. There is no way around it. He wants to solve the problem. • Alarm: The problem overrides everything. “My iPhone is broken. I can’t live without an iPhone. Oh my God, what am I going to do?!” Yes, some parents have heard that before. An acute need for action arises. The customer actively searches for a solution. He must and wants to solve the problem. Although the smartphone example may seem trivial, it very well illustrates the five levels of the evolution of the customer's demand, that anyone can relate to. In the process of procuring a complex B2B solution, the stages themselves will not be any different.

5.1.2 The Existence of a Problem Does Not Yet Imply a Need for Action Being aware of the existence of a problem and wanting to solve it are two fundamentally different starting points that greatly influence the course of a decision-making process. For example, at the “Aha” stage, we would casually consume information about new developments and technological innovations, but not yet think about making a purchase. At the “Attention” stage, we are aware of the possibilities for improvement, but these are not yet a priority and are slumbering somewhere in the background. At the “Acute” level, the problem slips on the agenda, and at the “Alarm” stage, people are most willing to make a purchase decision. Depending on the demand level the customer is at, the next phase of the decisionmaking process will be more active or passive.

5.2 Explore In the next step of his decision-making journey, the customer begins to search. He researches about his problem and/or possible solutions. The research can be active or passive, depending on which of the 5A stages he is in.

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5.2.1 Passive and Active Search Being on passive search, a customer may subscribe to a newsletter, request more information, have a conversation at a trade show, listen to a presentation at a conference, or participate in a webinar. He slowly and, so to speak, “in passing” informs himself and continuously improves his knowledge on this topic. There is no immediate need for action, so no specific resources are invested. The topic remains in the background. The customer informs himself casually and is not in a hurry. He can discuss the topic with colleagues and friends, get their opinions or also raise it in the context of other, related topics. Passive research can take many years if the demand is not acute. One deals with it when there is time for it, when the topic comes up by chance and nothing else is more important. When the problem takes shape, the customer begins with the active search. He actively researches this topic, but mostly in secret. As a rule, he is not yet ready to interact with salespeople. As long as he is not done with his research and has not formed a preliminary opinion, he will mainly act in the background: He is searching online, he visits vendor websites, forums, social media, consults and exchanges ideas with colleagues and like-minded people. In this phase, most B2B buyers navigate independently and primarily use those information sources, wich are available for self-service. According to the B2B Buyers Survey Report, the majority of buyers start their search on the Internet: 61% say they start with a broad web search, and 56% say they start on specific vendor websites. When asked about the timeline for key steps during the buying process, the research found that  B2B buyers are still largely operating under the radar, gathering knowledge on their options and forming opinions long before they are filling any forms or talking with a salesperson (Demandbase 2017). It is important to understand that active search does not automatically imply that the customer actively approaches providers. Even if the customer is actively researching, he will not necessarily interact with sales. Unless this is the only way to access relevant information.

5.2.2 Different Research Behavior at Different Demand Levels Passive research is usually performed on the lower A-levels, see Fig. 5.4. Here, the problem is not acute and there is no need for active research yet. Starting with the “Attention” level and up to the “Alarm” stage, the customer is on a highly active search for a solution for his problem. Now, several people from the forming Buying Center may already be on the search. Everyone goes their own research paths, and there is sporadic exchange of information between them. However, each stakeholder usually goes their own way with individualresearch patterns and have different preferences in their research process. Nevertheless, they all share one thing in common:

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Fig. 5.4   Customer research behavior



Customers search for information digitally and everywhere.

With the spread of the internet and the abundance of content provided by providers, third parties, experts or influencers, customers can find information about products and services almost anywhere—and they do. Besides vendor websites, people are increasingly consulting forums and social media, and attending webinars and online events.. Although online content was among the prime research sources even before the pandemic, the lack of face-to-face contact has made them even more relevant. As a result, the positive experiences with it lead to it continuing to be the primary source for purchasing research in the future too—especially in the “Explore” phase. A good insight into which sources B2B customers consult today provides a study by DemandGen (2020), which examined this question: • What were the first three resources that informed you about the solution in question? – 53% Web search – 41% Vendor websites – 30% Review sites – 28% Previous experience with the vendor – 27% Colleagues and peers You will search in vain for the sellers here, they are not to be found. At least not among the top sources.

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Customers prefer independent sources.

Customers increasingly consult neutral,  unbiased and from providers  independent sources. According to Gartner (2020a), potential B2B customers spend 50% of their time searching for information from independent third-party sources: • • • •

12% review information from independent product review sites. 13% interact with independent third parties. 14% consult information from analysts, associations and other third-parties. 15% consult the research of Gartner TSP (Technology & Service Provider) or partners. • 16% interact with TSP or partners. • 19% interact within their own organization. • 11% interact with peers outside their own organization. Modern customers want neutral, independent sources, which are “uncolored” with the providers’ own interests, so that they can form an as unbiased opinion as possible. In the consumer sector, customers consult sources like review sites and evaluation portals as well as independent market research institutions and consumer protection associations. And of course also influencers, even if we all know by now that their opinions are not really reasonable and impartial, as well as forums and social media. In the B2B sector, customers consult sources like independent organizations, associations, research institutes, consulting firms, analysts, market research companies, specialist literature and publications, as well as consultants, partners and social media, interest groups and thirdparties information portals. Actually an understandable behavior, because in this exploration phase customers conduct a general research to the problem and a potential solution approach, not yet about providers and suppliers. They come into play later. At this stage the customer wants to form an objective opinion about the problem and the possible solutions first.

5.2.3 Generation-Specific Research Preferences The vast majority of B2B searches on the Internet begin with general search terms. On average, searchers conduct around twelve online searches before clicking on a particular provider’s website (Think with Google 2015). Customers first search for product- and service-related terms to obtain general information about their topic—especially in the Explore phase. Only when they have reached a sufficient level of knowledge and only if they are considering solving their problem, do they begin to narrow their search and specify the solution. 

Each generation has different research behavior.

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It is hardly surprising that research behavior differs between generations. While Baby Boomers may prefer face-to-face contact and discuss ideas with different stakeholders at the next trade fair, Generation X will share ideas with like-minded people on LinkedIn and Millennials will probably watch a video on YouTube. As different as the generations are, so different are their research behavior and the preferences for the forms and sources of information. Baby Boomers will prefer detailed professional content in form of books and reports, Generation X will read business cases featuring executive summaries and concise ROI presentations, and digital natives will react best to short and visual information snippets. Older generations such as Baby Boomers and Gen X are interested in market developments, trends, industry news and thought leadership. In contrast, younger generations prefer practical, in-depth and specific information over more generic topics.

5.2.4 Digital Natives Transform The Basis for Decision-Making As the number of Digital Natives in executive positions increases year by year, the “common” research behavior in purchasing decisions is also changing. 85% of millennials use social media to inform themselves about products and services for their businesses. Facebook is their first choice and makes up 40% of their preferences for social channels. And the youngest in this generation have the greatest preference for digital channels, see Fig. 5.5:

Fig. 5.5   Millennials’ sources of information in B2B-research

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• 20-24 years: 62% • 25-29 years: 52% • 30-35 years: 57% (Merit 2016) However, the Internet does not seem to be the preferred research source for young generations only. Because of the convenience offered and the increasing amount and quality of information available on the Internet, it is only logical that customers increasingly first access these research sources. They thus turn to their laptops and smartphones first, instead of calling salespeople as they used to.

5.3 Consider In this phase of his decision-making process, the customer begins to consider the use of the solution or the product in question. Confirmed by his previous research, and depending on how acute his problem is, he begins to analyze all the available solutions. At this point, however, he does not evaluate buying sources—providers—but the different solution approaches. Although the choice of solution would often determine the choice of the supplier, at this stage the customer is not concerned about who is offering the solution, but with the solution (the product) itself and its added value.

5.3.1 The Variety of Solutions In the Consider-Phase, customers evaluate different approaches to solving their most pressing problems, which can include the following: • • • • •

buying a ready-made solution building a solution themselves having someone else build the solution customizing it doing nothing

An important difference that is often overlooked: We are not always competing with other providers—which sales would usually assume—but also with the customer’s own resources or with the worst case scenario of “doing nothing”. If the overall investment (and we are not speaking just about money) in a new solution seems too great and the process appears to be too difficult, compared to the potential gains, the option of doing nothing may well turn out to be the best decision. Companies also consider an inbetween solution like a repair, which may not the best option in the long run, but often proves to be an acceptable compromise.

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5.3.2 Overwhelmed and Paralyzed Here, customers are often overwhelmed: Although they may have realized in the Explore phase that a solution would make sense, they might have underestimated the effort and expense involved. The more information is acquired, the more details become relevant and the more people are getting involved and the greater the complexity becomes and ultimately even the desire to have never started it all. Typically, the process slows down here or even comes to a standstill, only to revive when something sets it in motion again: like the deteriorating of the current situation, an external factor or even the boss asking about the project status. As we already know: The large number of choices does not make it any better—whether in terms of solutions or information. The more information, the more questions arise. The more questions, the more answers are needed. As a result, in order to take a decision, customers need much more internal coordination, which usually takes much longer than originally assumed. A larger number of stakeholders can slow down the process and massively increase the complexity of purchase decisions—and become a real challenge, depending on the constellation in the Buying Center. Do you recall projects never implemented because the complexity—not of the solution, but of the decision—became too great? As we have seen, even the simple decision for a jam flavor can overwhelm, let alone imagine a complex procurement process. After all, buying complex B2B solutions was never easy, but with a wealth of information, highly different solution approaches, a bunch of people involved and an ever-growing number of options, more and more deals are getting stuck or even coming to a complete standstill. 

In B2B decision-making processes, customers increasingly feel overwhelmed and often more paralyzed than empowered.

Even worse, to navigate this situation and gain clarity, customers dive depper and deeper into research: They try to find other (more) sources, which is not necessarily beneficial to improving the situation, but often has the opposite effect. In 2020, the average IT buyer consulted 6.9 information sources. That’s an increase of 35% over the previous year, when 5.1 information sources were consulted, according to the B2B Buying Disconnnect Study by TrustRadius (2020). For the fifth year in a row, B2B buyers rely on the same three most important resources: • Product demos: 58% • Vendor websites: 51% • User reviews: 45% When reading user reviews, customers try to identify the potential value-add for theirown company. Very likely, this will be no different in other industries.

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5.3.3 In Search for Proofs of Value During their research, customers want primary to understand what experiences others have had using the specific solution. They mainly try to derive their potential benefits as well as eventual risks. In essence, they are looking for evidence that this solution has worked for others, which predicts a higher probability that it will work for them too. For this, they consult all possible sources, from social media to industry-specific content, and also inform themselves about what others do, even competitors. They talk to like-minded people and industry experts, read case studies and reviews, and share this information with co-decision makers. Interesting is, that the resources with the least influence on decision-making and at the same time rated as the least trustworthy are sales people and provider websites. They rate as the most trustworthy and at the same time most influential resources the opportunity to try out the product, product demos and user reviews. 92% of B2B buyers who read reviews share them with at least one other person in the buying center. Two out of five buyers share reviews with four or more members of the buying center (TrustRadius 2020).

5.3.4 Self-Service Preferred And even if they would directly contact a provider at this stage, it is usually only because they cannot find any other way to obtain the desired information. At this point, they neither have the time nor the desire for interactions with sales representatives, who may only have one thing in mind: to seize the opportunity to sell something. At this step they are not that far along in their decision-making process, hence they want to avoid unnecessary discussions. The result: If they see no reason—which is often the case nowadays—to involve the provider in their decision-making process, they prefer self-service options. Nothing more than a worthy behavior of the autonomous PHANTOM. 87% of buyers prefer to partially or completely self-service during their decisionmaking process. 57% of buyers make purchase decisions without ever speaking to a salesperson (TrustRadius 2020) and according to McKinsey, 70 to 80% of B2B decisionmakers prefer remote interactions or digital self-service solutions (McKinsey 2020). Customers take their own paths, which can often be very long: The research phase will not end until the value of the solution outweighs the negative effects of “doing nothing”. Only when they are convinced of this, will the concrete search for potential supppliers and the evaluation of different procurement options begin.

5.4 Interact In the Interact phase, after all parties involved are clear about the underlying value of an investment and have agreed on a suitable solution approach, the customer enters the next stage of his decision-process and begins the evaluation of potential providers. Here he

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starts contacting potential suppliers and gets for the first time in touch with a sales representative. An open interaction with the provider begins.

5.4.1 Customers are Far Ahead of the Providers As we know, at this point in his decision-process the customer already has a wealth of information about the solution and its benefits. Often there is a strong intention to buy and a clear idea of the solution is existing. Ususally, the customer will also possess detailed information about the product and its specifications, and will have already consulted reviews and references. 

At this point in their decision-making process, your potential customers know more about you than you do about them.

Although the PHANTOM is now ready for interaction and finally reveals itself, it has a head start over the provider at the initial contact. Consequently, he has no desire to be told again by a salesperson all that he already knows. If he listens, it is usually out of politeness and only until his patience limit is reached. And as we know, the patience limit of the III-Human is not very high. Moreover, the complexity of the decision has probably already exhausted his patience. How often, during a sales call have you wished the salesperson would finally say something you didn’t already know? At this point the outreach is very targeted and the customer's expectations are concrete. If the customer may not have already sent an official—perhaps even automated— request for proposal, he certainly has a list of pre-assumptions that need to be validated. Or open questions that have not yet been clarified, on which our impatient PHANTOM will expect prompt and concise answers. The need for interaction with suppliers usually stems from the fact that the customer cannot get any further on his own. Either he lacks something to complete his research, or he is about to take the next step, where he needs to involve the providers. As we have already seen, the customer expects a quick reaction to his inquiries, especially when approaching sales. And of course at the time and place of his choice.

5.4.2 Anywhere, Anytime and in Any Way Nowadays, the customer doesn’t care that your office opens at 9:00 a.m. and that your sales staff is in a sales meeting at 9:30 a.m. He also doesn’t care that there is a lunch break at 12:00 noon and after 5:00 p.m. everybody goes home. That is the last thing he cares about. He expects a reaction to his inquiry immediately and directly. If he is willing to invest and proactively approaches the provider, he sees himself offering a business opportunity and expects his intention to be appreciated accordingly. Thus, he is not

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willing to tolerate tedious and lengthy processes. Nobody likes to hang in queues or wait for several hours, if not days, for a reaction to an email inquiry. Especially not if they have the intention to buy. In 2020, 83% of customers expected an immediate reaction when contacting a company—an increase from 78% in 2019 (Salesforce Research 2020). It may be surprising that business customers are even more demanding in this respect than consumers: a response to an email inquiry is expected within an hour, and the number of those who even expect an instant reaction is steadily increasing. 

In the fast-paced digital EEE-World, customers not only expect real-time interactions, they increasingly take them for granted.

The patience of our PHANTOM customers is eroding and their resentment is rising. According to Drift (2020), in 2020 the frustration over the inability to get answers to simple questions increased by 9%. There was also a massive increase in frustration in other areas, such as companies not responding via social media or to emails, or not providing service outside of regular working hours. It's certainly no different in the B2B segment. Here too, a 24/7 availability on all channels, many of them digital, is expected. Meaning you should avoid hanging out the “closed” sign whenever possible.

5.4.3 Interaction at PHANTOM’s Terms Neither should we neglect the digital preferences of the increasing number of digital natives in decision-making roles. Not only do they prefer digital channels, they even say that phone calls are annoying and disruptive. They might rather chat with a chatbot at eleven at night than take a call from a salesperson at ten in the morning. Still, many B2B salespeople insist on the idea that customers want face-to-face contact. But, the need for interaction with sales does not imply that the customer explicitly wants face-to-face contact. A sales rep is just one of the many channels available to customers, which they choose from when they decide to interact with that company. They do not want to have to limit themselves to the traditional sales rep interaction. After all, the hyper-convenient PHANTOM, who is in a hurry, has to follow the most efficient and fastest path. And digital is just convenient and usually faster than a face-to-face interaction. Apart from that, we by now know that the independent PHANTOM believes to know itself what it needs. It doesn’t think to need salespeople to make a found decision, it is consulting them to get missing information for his decision-making. From this perspective, it is only understandable that a digital channel is the obvious option for him. According to Gartner, by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between sellers and buyers will take place via digital channels. 33% of B2B buyers want even an absolutely sales-free buying experience—a preference shared by 44% of millennials (Gartner

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2020b). Of course, it is difficult to generalize for all industries, but the trend is clear. Especially for simple queries and requests for information of any kind, this behaviour is absolutely comprehensible.

5.4.4 The Quality of the Experience The quality of the interaction experience with a provider is just as important as its products and services. Surprisingly, this is of higher importance to business customers than to consumers. For 79% of consumers and 85% of B2B customers this is the case (Salesforce Research 2020). Above all, the quality of the experience will mainly depend on how well the provider meets the expectations and addresses the needs of its customers. Our PHANTOM, which is already quite well informed at this point, does not feel like listening to sales pitches and sales reps promoting their products and services, but expect sales to develop specific solutions for them, as 85% of B2B buyers claim to do (Salesforce 2020). Hardly surprising if we objectively evaluate the reality in sales organisations: Most sales employees focus on promoting their products instead of solving customer problems and on selling instead of supporting customers in their decision-making process. And this is where wheat begins to separate from the chaff: The provider who manages to offer the customer valuable insights for his decision-making and to provide him with critical insights will be the only provider to gain free access to the customer's decisionmaking process and the complete buying center. Whereby he gets actively involved in the decision-making process. In this phase, the buying center is aware of the added value of the solution in question, but has not yet decided on the details of the solution and the supplier. There is hardly a case that a single provider is evaluated. In most cases there are at least two to three, sometimes even more options that are considered in-depth. Now, that the solution requirements and the supplier evaluation criteria are clear, the buying center has to decide with whom to take the next step. For this, more specific information is requested from the providers in question and there is a lot of interaction with the potential suppliers, mostly simultaneously. The number of interactions in a buying decision is constantly increasing, as a result of the previously explained increased decision complexity. According to Forrester, the number of interactions in a purchase decision has increased from 16 in 2017 to 17 in 2019, with a dramatic jump to 27 in the first pandemic year 2020 (Forrester 2021).

5.4.5 Back and Forth Each interaction in the purchase process has the potential to set the entire group back in its progress. Each new insight, something that may have been overlooked, or a newly identified risk can undo all the work done so far in an instant. Thus, the group may have

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to start from scratch and revise the initial solution or to postpone the decision indefinitely. Especially in the case of very complex decisions, such as the procurement of a production line for example, the complexity of the decision may overshadow the need for investment. The more stakeholders are involved in a decision, the less likely it is that consensus will be easy reached, and the likelihood that they will ultimately go for “doing nothing” increases. However, the opposite can also happen: The realization of how massive the consequences of a late or no change of the situation might be, may cause the decision-making process to speed up. And due to the recognized urgency, even the allocated budgets and ressources may be revised. The complexity and duration of the procurement process results from a combination of several factors, such as the strategic importance of the investment and its size as well as the extent of its impact on the business and its risk potential. Besides the hard facts, other factors also play a significant role, such as the loss aversion (see Sect. 6.4), which tempts people to avoid losses rather than reaching for potential gains. If the change of the situation is perceived to be too risky and there is no compelling reason to act, the end result may be that nothing happens. The decision burden is distributed among several shoulders The more risky and larger the investment, the more massive its potential impact on the business and the more strategic the investment, the more people will be involved in the decision and the longer the decision process will take and have a more formal character, see Fig. 5.6. The purchase of printing paper will be found at the very bottom left, and the purchase of an ERP system may be found somewhere in the middle, but also very much to the right and at the top, if it is for a worldwide corporation with hundreds of branches. Additionally, other factors come into play, such as whether it is a repeated purchase or an entirely new procurement, how many solution approaches there are and how many providers and products to choose from, or if there is a need for customization. Ultimately, whatever happens in this phase will set the direction in the decision-making process: • back to the beginning, • emergency brake and eventually a full project stop, • or proceed further to the final decision.

5.5 Determine If the whole process is moving forward, and if the choice has not been made for an internal solution, the next step is to determine which solution and with whom to implement: Where to buy? In the Determine phase, there are usually only a few providers left in the final race, and often a preliminary decision has already been made and a clear tendency for a supplier is visible.

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Fig. 5.6   Complexity of the procurement process

5.5.1 High Level of Activity in the Decision-Making Group At this step, the buying center has a number of tasks to do: • First, an agreement on the solution must be reached: Is it really what we want / need? For this purpose, all the evaluated options are reduced to a few, usually one or two, which are to be further pursued. More and missing details for the selected options are obtained, and, as next or even simultaneously the respective suppliers are evaluated, depending on whether the selection of the solution entails the selection of the supplier or if there is a separate evaluation needed. • A final (preliminary) decision needs to be taken and validated: Is the pre-selected supplier and/or solution the right one? This assumption made has to be confirmed or disproved. For this purpose, further details are requested, such as delivery capability, implementation period and terms, conditions, return options, contract terms, etc. Of course, there are also negotiations involved.

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5.5.2 Decision or Validation? Once the buying group has reached an agreement, it is ready to buy and has a clear tendency as to where to buy. The preliminary decision is rarely overturned, the buying center rather looks for further evidence to confirm it—Confirmation Bias, see Sect. 3.1 and 6.4. Therefore, the negotiations with the pre-selected supplier are more formal in their nature: the decision has basycally been made, it's just a matter of “squeezing” the price and negotiating the best possible terms. Of course, no one would openly admit it. At this stage of the decision-making process, sales often fails to understand the customer's true intentions and “for no reason” destroys the profitability of the deal. Think about, quotes have usually been collected and reviewed in the Consider or Interact phase. If you haven’t been eliminated there yet, you could assume that the investment size is generally acceptable. Nevertheless, the preliminary decision for a specific provider could be revalidated either by the—unexpectedly negative—behavior of the pre-selected provider or by the—unexpectedly positive—behavior of another provider, or when new unknown critical factors appear. However, this is rather the exception than the rule. In addition, a final ROI calculation is performed or the business case is finally evaluated. Perhaps the final budget authorization or the purchase approval of all relevant departments and the procurement permission are still pending.

5.5.3 Decided is Not Yet Decided Often, this phase does not end with the decision to buy and the selection of the provider, because the decision made still has to be justified and explained to others. A factor that can add further complexity. In some constellations the decision can be overturned, and the purchasing team has to take some steps back in the process, worst case back to the beginning. Understanding who really decides and on what basis is extremely important in order to finally win the business. Often—especially in big corporations—even the buyers themselves are not clear about who really decides. They are surprised and disappointed by the overturned decision, especially if many hours have been invested in the project. If the buying group cannot justify the need for investment to the real decision maker, it has actually failed. This happens more often than one would think. Of course, people wouldn't openly talk about and not necessarily hung their failure on the big bell. 

Decision-making teams not only have to make decisions, they also have to be able to sell them internally.

Let's recall the 2020 B2B Buyer Behaviour Study mentioned earlier, in which 71% of B2B buyers said that purchases in their companies are now being revised by formal buying committees.

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Even if it may seem that here we are talking about B2B business only, the same thing happens in B2C too, of course not to the same extent of complexity. But the process itself is the same. Let’s stay with the simple smartphone example. The customer is already well informed, has a preference and just wants to decide between the two last providers from his selection. For this he needs to get the final OK for the budget— the consent of mom and dad—and then decide where to actually buy: Who ships faster, who offers a discount and until when could they return the device? The activity is basically the same, but with a different level of complexity. In B2B, it might take several months and involve dozens of people. In B2C, it may be a matter of seconds if you are the sole decision maker and only check where the device is istantly available and where is it the cheapest. Alongside these two classic criteria of a “simple” decision, both convenience and speed of the buying process would obviously come into play. Are the 13 euros price difference worth it to me to set up a customer account or should I rather immediately and effortlessly by from Amazon? And maybe I'm not willing to wait for five (long) days just to save 27 euros? Quite often, the channel and the associated ease and convenience of purchase will ultimately determine where to buy. Increasingly in B2B too.

5.6 Execute It is only at the end of the decision-making process that the effective act of buying takes place. The distinction between the decision process and the purchase process is of fundamental importance. Even though they sometimes run simultaneously within a few seconds—seeing something on Amazon and ordering it straight away—the paths of decision and purchase are different in their core. Although a customer may become aware of a specific product on Amazon, he may not necessarily buy it there immediately, but first go in search of further information. 

The way and the place of decision are not identical with the way and the place of purchase.

Both coexist and influence each other: Esentially, the decision determines the path to purchase, but the place of purchase or the quality of the buying experience may also influence and determine the decision process. As illustrated when discussing the EEEWorld, the latter case is increasingly becoming more prevalent, where channels and the user experience influence the buying decision: If it is too complicated and takes too long, we just don’t want it anymore. For the PHANTOM, simplicity and convenience in the purchase process have become a necessity, it's not a nice-to-have. Fast delivery, shipping tracking options, real-time communication, self-service, minimal administration effort, transparent and personalized processes—all these are decisive criteria that would confirm an already made cus-

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tomer decision or, on the contrary, dispruve it. Of course not only in consumer business, since the evidence is also clear for B2B. Customers make financial decisions based on their perception of how easy it is to do business with their suppliers.

5.6.1 Nothing Is Won Yet At this stage, even if the customer is ready to buy and is already about to open his wallet, it's still easy to put him on the run: to another provider, back into the Interact phase or even further back in his decision process, into Consider or Explore phases. This happens more often than some providers are aware of. According to the most recent studies, the percentage of abandoned shopping carts is somewhere between 65 and 85%. In other words, around three quarters of customers leave an online shop without buying anything. Some still may return, but the most don't. Smartphone users have the greatest tendency to “evaporate”, which is a clear indication that the user experience plays a decisive role in the decision-making process. Or if, during the process of solution implementation, suddenly a new information appears that overturns an already made purchase decision. For example, that a product, which was advertised as available for immidiate delivery is only going to be shipped in five days; that shipping costs are going to be unexpectedly added; that the price is only valid for a subscription of three years or only as part of a package with another product. Or, if the price suddenly changes during the check-out process. These tricks of the providers, aiming to lure customers to their websites, may atrract visitors, but if they are detected, they loose those potential customers most probably forever. Because the disappointment is big, and the customer is going to buy only if he has no other choice. But we know that there is rarely a lack of alternatives today. I know an airline where, every time I try to buy tickets—and that for years—an error message pops up at the end of the check-out process, after entering all the passenger data: “We’re sorry, this booking category is no longer available, the last seat has just been sold”, along with a price increase of 20 euros. And it’s not about the 20 euros, but about the realization of having been deliberately deceived - over and over again. Which customer wants that? The result: As a matter of principle, I don't fly with this airline anymore, even though they are mostly the cheapest option, I rather pay a few euros more and fly with another airline which doesn't try to obviously cheat on me. Besides the sudden changes in purchase terms, other factors can also abort the buying process, such as new information about the product itself or the process of its implementation. This too, may be perceived as a deceptive maneuver on the part of the customer, even if it is not intended at all. If you provide a relevant information too late in the decision process, the customer may wonder: Why was this not clarified until now? Why didn't you point out to me such an important detail earlier? The skeptical and distrustful customer—for which he has every reason, considering the numerous Internet fraud cases—will run away at the slightest suspicion of being misled.

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5.6.2 Never Put Trust at Risk Customers are finding it increasingly difficult to trust companies. In 2020, 82% of customers stated that the trustworthiness of a company was much more important to them than it was a year ago. This is a significant increase from 73% in 2019. In addition, 61% say that it is much more difficult for companies to gain their trust—also a significant increase of 54% from the previous year (Salesforce 2020). As described in Sect. 4.1.4 today it is much more difficult to build trust than it was the case in the recent past. Thus, we should not put it at risk carelessly, as this can easily scare even a customer which was determined to buy. Is it different in B2B? Sure not, it's maybe even more dramatic. Quite a few projects are getting cancelled in the middle of their implementation because companies realized that they had been deceived. Whether with bad intention or not: If something that was promised or said to be possible in the decision-making process suddenly no longer works—for whatever reason—the customer will lose trust. The result: The project is either cancelled or the customer will switch to another provider at the first best opportunity. 

The Quintessence At this stage, providers should not feel over-confident just because they have been awarded the contract. They must prove themselves to be trustworthy: before, during and after the purchase.

5.7 The Zigzag Path to a Decision The decision-making process is never linear and leads by no means straight to the goal. Although it is illustrated in a line for the sake of simplicity, in reality it actually • follows a zigzag pattern, • moves forward, backward and sideways, and • turns several loops around each process step. The digital world in particular, contributes to the leaving the straight linear path to a decision. The decision-making process of the PHANTOM customer: • • • • •

usually involves several channels, will slow down, accelerate or even come to a standstill over time, can repeat the same process step several times, may skip some steps completely, and will never end where it started.

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Even though people keep trying to illustrate this new buying process, it is in fact impossible to sketch it visually, see Fig.5.7. Even in the consumer area for a relatively simple buying decision, such as sports shoes, for example, illustrating the many different touchpoints and activities becomes an impossibility, let alone for a complex B2B purchase. You're probably familiar with the funnel principle, which represents a series of increasingly narrowing steps that a customer goes through when buying products or services. At the beginning of the buying funnel, the customer identifies a need for a product or solution. In the middle of the funnel, information is collected and potential products are evaluated. At the end of it, a decision is taken and the purchase is made. This process is represented linearly and implies a straight path to the product, in Fig. 5.7 referred to as “yesterday”.

5.7.1 The Sales Funnel—an Outdated Concept In digital times, this linear and inflexible approach is hardly justified anymore, perhaps when the customer would choose a brand from several available milk variations being in front of a full supermarket shelf. For most purchase decisions, the traditional funnel process is no longer relevant. Today, customers integrate several digital and analog touchpoints and experiences over the course of their decision-making process, sometimes entering and exiting the process several times over time. They also no longer follow the prescribed steps in a tunnel style, but jump back and forth and sometimes skip steps altogether. That's because new factors are constantly coming into play and influence their decision, like a post in social media, a negative review on Amazon, or a special offer in a retail store. 

Today, the decision-making process is neither linear nor chronological, nor does it follow predetermined steps—neither in the consumer sector nor in the B2B environment.

On the unstraight straight Despite the complexity and non-linearity of the decision-making process, there are certain stages that a customer always goes through, although not in a predetermined order. These stages combine all the single actions that a customer performs—in whatever order—in a holistic decision-making process: the DECIDE process, see Fig. 5.8. This is of course a greatly simplified illustration of a relatively complex process which of course is not linear. Admittedly, the conception of a generally applicaple customer decision-making process valid for all industries, products and applications is not possible. Universal formulas are rare. However, there are certain correlations along the customer’s decision-making process which can be established in relation to the customer's core questions, tasks and activities as well behavior: whether inside or outside the decision group.

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Fig. 5.7   Customer Journey

5.7  The Zigzag Path to the Decision

Fig. 5.8   Customer decision-making process

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Although the DECIDE idea considerably simplifies the processes that actually take place, this is intentional and deliberate. Especially because of its simplicity, the idea focuses on the core of the respective decision step. Although the activities, jobs and the length of the respective step will vary in each individual case, and even for the same products and the same target group, in its core it is always a decision. It’s their decision, not yours The DECIDE principle puts the behaviour of the modern customer in a nutshell: It's the customer, who decides. Always. Yes, it 's obvious, but sales and marketing organizations seem to rarely take this into account. They focus on designing a customer journey that defines the process and its steps a customer should follow. But, the PHANTOM is hardly interested in what we expect him to do, strictly speaking not at all. 

In reality, the customer’s decision-making process differs completely from the customer journeys defined by the providers, just as their sales process doesn't reflect the customer's buying process.

Today, sales organizations shouln't think of optimizing their sales processes and activities, but of how to best support customers in their decision-making. Chap. 6 describes how to achieve this.

5.7.2 B2C and B2B—Where is the Difference? As outlined at each of the DECIDE levels, the customer's decision-making process is essentially the same in B2C and B2B. Of course, there are differences in terms of complexity, the number of people involved and in terms of the decision criteria. But in the end, the same steps are taken on the way to a decision. And although in business rational decision criteria will predominate, it is still people who make the decision, and they will only buy if the emotional factors are met too. You may have offered the best price, but if customers do not trust that you will deliver on your promises, they will not buy. Ever read the fine print in the bidding documents? The decisive criterion is not the best price, but the best price-value ratio. And the term “pricevalue ratio” is very elastic. Ultimately, the hundreds of evaluation criteria in a decision process will always reduce to the same two main criteria: • •

Benefit and value in relation to investment (monetary and resources). Core question: Do we really need it and is it worth the investment? Confidence that you will fulfill your promise. Core question: Do we believe this provider and his promise?

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Only if these two questions are answered positively will a purchase also take place. What happens next? Of course, we should not neglet what happens after the decision has been taken and the solution implemented. After all, this has a strong influence on the next purchase decision of the customer. Consciously or unconsciously, formally or informally, the PHANTOM customer will always validate his past decisions. He will ask himself: Was this a good decision? Or was it a mistake? Reflection always takes place: Customers think about how they feel after the purchase and weigh up whether it was a good investment. He may share his recognition with you, or keep it in secret, or express it openly on the Internet—with reviews, user reports, recommendations or even with expressions of discontent. Whatever he will or will not do, in any case he will draw lessons from his decision. As a result, he might stay with you, or flee at the next best opportunity. He will only buy again if he was not disappointed in his decision—in whatever way. Whether with the delivery, the product quality, the service or the customer care. But, if you have exceeded his expectations, he will even act as an advocate for your company. Voluntarily and unpaid.

Conclusion: Customers go their own way in their decision-making— sales must align accordingly The buying -processes of modern customers should not be considered stand-alone, but as part of the entire decision-making process: DECIDE. Each step of this process has its own characteristics. Different activities take place, and different people and roles are involved. Only with a deep understanding of the customer's DECIDE process are sales and marketing able to effectively address and reach customers. The DECIDE process is the only relevant basis to build an effective, state-of-theart sales process.

References Demandbase (2017) 2017 B2B buyer’s survey report. https://www.ehareport.com/resources/ research/2017-b2b-buyers-survey-report/. Accessed 12 July 2021 DemandGen (2020) B2B buyer behavior study. https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/ reports/2020-b2b-buyer-behavior-studypurchase-plans-still-progressing-despite-disruption-butwith-increased-expectations-for-relevance-personalization/. Accessed 14 Aug 2021 Drift (2020) 2020 state of conversational marketing. https://www.drift.com/blog/state-of-conversational-marketing/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021 Forrester (2021) Three seismic shifts in buying behavior from forrester’s 2021 B2B buying study. https://go.forrester.com/blogs/three-seismic-shifts-in-buying-behavior-from-forresters-2021-b2b-buying-survey/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

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Gartner (2019) New B2B buying journey & its implication for sales. https://www.gartner.com/en/ sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey. Accessed 9 Aug 2021 Gartner (2020a) How to use buyer intent data to your sales advantage. https://www.gartner.com/ en/digital-markets/insights/how-to-use-buyer-intent-data-to-your-sales-advantage. Accessed 10 Aug 2021 Gartner (2020b) Gartner says 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels by 2025. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/202009-15-gartner-says-80%2D%2Dof-b2b-sales-interactions-between-su. Accessed 11 Aug 2021 Harvard Business Review (2017) The new sales imperative. https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-salesimperative. Accessed 9 Aug 2021 Iyengar SS, Lepper MR (2000) When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing? J Pers Soc Psychol 79:995–1006 McKinsey (2020) These eight charts show how COVID-19 has changed B2B sales forever. https:// www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/these-eight-chartsshow-how-covid-19-has-changed-b2b-sales-forever. Accessed 10 Aug 2021 Merit (2016) B2B report millennials. https://madewithmerit.com/reports/Millennial_B2B-ReportMerit.pdf. Accessed 10 Aug 2021 Salesforce Research (2020) State of the connected customer. https://www.salesforce.com/ resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/. Accessed 11 Aug 2021 Schwartz B (2009) The paradox of choice: why more is less, revised edition. Harper Collins, New York Shah AM, Wolford GL (2007) Buying behavior as a function of parametric variation of number of choices. Psychol Sci 18:369–370 Think with google (2015) The changing face of B2B marketing. https://www.thinkwithgoogle. com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/the-changing-face-b2b-marketing/. Accessed 31 July 2021 TrustRadius (2020) The 2021 B2B buying disconnect. https://www.trustradius.com/vendor-blog/ b2b-buying-disconnect-2021. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

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Summary A state-of-the-art sales process reflects the customer’s decisionmaking process. Meaning that all the activities in sales and marketing are aligned with the needs and expectations of the specific target group and are primarily aimed to enable the customer to make the best possible decision. This is the core of the ENABLE sales process, whose steps—Educate, Nurture, Affirm, Brainwash, Leverage, Easy-Buy—are aligned with the respective phases of the customer’s DECIDE decision-making process. The customer and all interactions with him are in the focus of all activities, whether technological or human in nature. Consequently, the relevant resources, channels, content, touchpoints and engagement forms are determined based on the requirements of the respective phase.

Their websites state they are customer-oriented. They say they know their customers’ needs. They firmly believe to be able to understand and meet their customers’ expectations … The bitter truth is that this is rarely the case. In reality, most sales and marketing structures focus more on selling their products than fulfilling customer needs and are primarily sales-oriented rather than customer-oriented in their activities. You don’t believe me? Let’s ask a sales rep what is his job about or what he thinks are the main tasks in his role. The typical answers we will get: • • • • • •

Explaining products, presenting the company product and services portfolio. Advising customers, informing them about new products. Convincing customers that our products are better. Maintaining, nurturing and expanding customer relationships. Selling products and services. Explaining why we are better than the competition.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – The PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6_6

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• Solving customer problems. • Acquiring new customers. Intermidiate question: What is included in the job description or the tasks specification of a sales representative in your company? Let’s take one step further and ask a sales manager what skills a sales rep should bring. Typical answers are: • Persuasiveness. • Expertise, product knowledge. • Extroverted personality, eloquent. • Good communication skills. • Presentation skills. • Negotiation skills. • Argumentation power. • Assertiveness. • Building and maintaining relationships. Intermidiate question: On what criteria do you hire sales staff yourself? Let’s have a detailed look at these typical answers: Isn’t something missing there? Where is the customer and his needs? Which of these does the customer really need? Actually, non of it. Strictly speaking, a customer does not need anything listed above. He doesn’t need someone to explain products to him, present his own company and inform him about the latest product releases. Nor does he need someone to convince him that his products are better. Not even someone who solves his problems. And certainly not someone to sell him something. What he really needs is support and guidance in his decision-making. He doesn’t need a salesperson to prospect on him and he can certainly solve his problems himself. But he will gladly accept a sincere support on his way to the right decision.  From the customer’s perspective, the true task of a salesperson is to help him to find the best way to solve his problem. He needs someone who acts in his interest instead of trying to sell him the own products. Expertise, presentation skills, negotiation skills, argumentation power, assertiveness: Who does all this really serve? Certainly not the customer. Of course, good communication skills and emotional intelligence are always helpful, but a customer won’t really need them. What he needs is someone who would recognize his true needs; who can understand how serious his problem is; who understands what implications this problem could have on his business; who points out a possible pitfall to him and someone who helps him create a compelling solution and brings valuable insights for his specific situation.

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Customer focus: a misunderstood concept The ingredient that’s missing is the customer focus. Although companies assume they are customer-centric, in reality their structures, processes, activities, and employees are anything but that. According to a study by Capgemini, while three-quarters (75%) of companies believe they are customer-oriented, not even a -third (30%) of customers share this opinion (Capgemini 2017). The results of this study are no exception: The majority of providers are convinced to be acting customer-oriented, but their customers see this quite differently. But is that surprising? Even if ignoring the above-mentioned job profiles and requirements, the true focus of sales orgnisations is obvious. It starts with the sales targets, sales management metrics, and even the key aspects of sales trainings, like selling, prospecting, negotiating, persuading. When last did your sales staff—not marketing— thoroughly analyzed the needs of their customers? Usually, this knowledge is taken for granted. It is assumed that salespeople are aware of and are able to identify their customers’ needs. But this knowledge is not self-evident and rarely emerges on its own. 

Being a salesperson is not a talent, it is a job.

And a job has to be learned. The most important thing in a sales role is to be able to understand and recognize customer needs. However, these skills are rarely trained, but instead price negotiations, conversational skills, cold-calling and prospecting. Isn’t there a fundamental misunderstanding about customer centricity in sales? There is no doubt that one can give enough examples of companies that are successful without customer orientation. But no matter how innovative and unique your product is and how cheap your services are or how much faster you are than the competition, in the long run the success of a company depends on how well it understands and meets the needs of its customers. Because even with a great product you can quickly become a one-day fly in industry history. There are plenty of examples of this too. If a company is driven by something other than the interests of its customers, this could have negative consequences for the company in the long term. Ultimately, in the business environment, it doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we are able to connect what we do with what customers need. 

Every business—without exception—thrives only and exclusively on its customers.

Customer focus should be the foundation of every corporate strategy. Customer focus is not a task that can be assigned to the marketing or sales department or left to sales staff alone. Management must make customer orientation the most important task at the top of the company’s agenda. The reality, however, is far from this. When did your company last deal with this topic? How often is the topic on the agenda, let’s say, within a month?

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A company needs to create an environment that enables employees to know their customers better, understand their needs better and respond to them better. How can sales really perform if it does not understand its own customers? Instead of organizing product trainings, companies should better organize workshops where sales staff works out what potential results and outcomes customers would be able to achieve with these products. Not the products or their sale, but the customers with their needs and expectations should be focused. And more than that, creating a high-quality customer experience should become the daily task of all departments, not just sales. Last but not least, customers can—and should—be involved in corporate plans and strategy. This has always been the better way to sustainable corporate success in the long term, but under digital conditions it becomes a necessity. The—no longer—new reality The circumstances have changed dramatically: customers take control of the seller-buyer relationship. As the numerous quoted studies have repeatedly shown for some years now: The PHANTOM is a—new—reality. But the reality in sales organizations is unfortunately still the same as 20 years ago. At its center are still pushing sales, various methods of sales promotion and figuring out sophisticated sales techniques. In reality, a sound understanding of own customers and their needs is still a rare commodity in sales circles, despite the contrary opinion and conviction of the companies themselves. And before you disagree in your thoughts, allow me to quote another study (Salesforce 2020): • 57% of B2B customers say that salespeople often do not have sufficient knowledge about their business. • 63% of B2B customers say that most sales conversations focus on products and not on solutions. • 73% of B2B customers say that most conversations with salespeople feel very salesoriented. As we can see, the overwhelming majority of customers say that sales do not understand their business and only focus on selling their own products. “What else?” you might now object. “In the end, sales have to sell the company’s products.” Ok, basically a legitimate expectation. But the problem is: Customers do not want to be sold anything per se. There is a clear discrepancy between the own perception and the reality in terms of customer centricity in sales organizations. As a result, a discrepancy arises between the expectations of customers and the approaches of companies as well as between the true needs of customers and the businesses’ offerings. This discrepancy is the biggest problem in sales that needs to be solved. Sales beyond selling Please allow me to take you into a fantasy world for a brief moment: What, if sales:

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• • • • • •

• • •

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tried to identify and meet more customer needs, instead of selling more? helped customers achieve better business results, instead of maintaining relationships? generated value for its customers, instead of communicating value? brought its portfolio of services in line with customer needs, instead of just presenting it? gave its customers important decision insights for their specific situation, instead of advising them on products? helped customers understand the extent of the impact of a bad or even no decision would have on their situation, instead of negotiating hard and setting deadlines on the validity of their quotes? instead of just convincing the customer, what positive effect on his business the cooperation could have, if we would try to demonstrate this? would try to understand what the customer really wants to achieve and point out his possible misconceptions, instead of writing offers in response to requests? would stop selling? And instead start empowering customers to make their best possible decisions?

Wouldn’t the products and services than sell on their own? It’s not my claim, it’s my promise.  Contemporary sales is a process of connecting a company’s products and services with the problems and the needs of its customers. This includes all the activities and tasks of an organization that are necessary for the successful marketing and distribution of the company’s service portfolio. Reinventing sales Many companies are painfully aware of the changed dynamics in the purchasing behavior of their customers: first in the consumer sector and now also in the business sector. So, they try to react to  these changes and design new customer journeys. Unfortunately, most of these initiatives lack customer centricity, because they are usually approached from the company’s own perspective. The result is rather what the provider imagines or hopes the customer will do, or what they think the customer should do, than what actually happens on the customer side. The bottom line is that a customer journey defines the path a customer is supposed to follow. But as we know by now, the PHANTOM is rarely interested in following any predetermined paths. Instead of forcing customers into its own invented processes, sales should better align its processes with the behavior and expectations of its customers. That would be true customer orientation. While the digital world has separated the paths of decision and purchase on the customer side, many providers still focus exclusively on the process of selling. Sales must follow the evolution on the customer side and also take separate paths, focusing the customer’s decision-making process instead of the pure buying process.

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The ideal sales process reflects the customer’s decision-making process.

In this sales process the goal is not to sell, but to best support the customer in his decision-making. Only in the last step of the process, when the customer effectively makes a purchase, will we move on to effective selling. But here too, the focus should be less on the sale but more on the facilitating the buying process. The idea is simple: Customers follow the DECIDE process, and as a result, sales should guide them in their decision-making and enable them to make the best possible decisions, by following the ENABLE process, see Fig. 6.1. The respective levels of the ENABLE sales process mirror exactly the respective levels of the DECIDE  customer process: DECIDE  → ENABLE Discover  → Educate Explore  → Nurture Consider  → Affirm Interact  → Brainwash Determine  → Leverage Execute  → Easy-buy Specifically, this means that: • When the customer first discovers the need or the problem, sales should make him aware of this specific issue: educate. • When the customer explores the problem and the possible solutions, sales should provide him with relevant information and insights: nurture. • When the customer considers potential solutions, sales should confirm him on the way to the solution: affirm. • When the customer evaluates the available options and interacts with suppliers, sales should question his existing assumptions in order to provide him with valuable insights and to point out possible thinking errors: brainwash. • When the customer finally evaluates his plans and determines the supplier, sales should minimize the burden of decision-making by recommending a course of action and positively influence the decision by explaining and outlining its necessity and consequences: leverage.

Fig. 6.1   The ENABLE sales process

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• When the customer is ready to execute  his decision and buy, sales should make the act of purchase and implementation as simple as possible: easy-buy. In its core, the ENABLE sales process supports the customer’s decision process, instead of “simply” selling, see Fig.6.2. It guides the customer to his right decision, which usually results in a purchase. “Really, his decision?”, you might be thinking. Absolutely. If everything has been done right in the process, the final decision will be right for the customer—not for you. After all, with an influenced decision into your favor, but “bad” for him, the customer will be disappointed and you will certainly have to pay the bill: If he won’t cancel or return the purchase, he for sure will disappear at the next best opportunity and instead of recommending you, he may even actively try to dissuade others from making the same mistake. But, if you advise the customer against a bad purchase, he will be grateful to you and will never forget it, and will ultimately thank you at some point— in another project or with an eventual refferral. In the long run, this is the only right way. Advise customers against a purchase? We’re in sales, we have to sell, we have to meet the targets! We’re not a non-profit organization, are we?! Such thoughts may arise, and they are quite understandable, assuming the risk of missing targets and commissions pay-offs, and the fear of not being able to pay its monthly rent. It is quite understandable that people might use persuasion and convincing skills with customers for existential reasons. In the long run, however, it will be difficult for companies to build a loyal customer base with such strategies. Short-term thinking as the main reason for poor sales performance Unfortunately, many sales organizations are still too short-term oriented, which is due to the corporate strategy and the executives’ attitude. Many sales organizations live from

Fig. 6.2   DECIDE-ENABLE process mirrorring

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one quarter to the next, and some executives make decisions dependent of their annual bonus. After me the flood, isn’t it? Many people behave unconsciously this way. Mainly out of ignorance, because they've learned it this way and this attitude cannot or should not be questioned in the existing organizational structures. This short-term thinking is often the main cause of poor performance in sales, and in the long run a continously high level of sales performance cannot be maintained with such an attitude. The biggest problem: This way of thinking has led to the fact that the job of the salesperson is frowned upon. The sales profession has a bad aftertaste. When we think of a top salesperson, we usually think of the notorious salesperson who can sell anything to anyone. Sincerity and honesty are not high-valued qualities. Psychological tricks, skillful conversation leading, misleading statements, hidden facts, suggestive questions: all this serves customer manipulation and is usually part of conventional sales trainings. Do we want to rehabilitate sales? Who really wants to be a salesperson? The profession is rarely chosen consciously, especially women have a great aversion to this profession. How many women do you know in field sales, key account management or even in sales management? They are rather in the background, to be found in the administration area and do the “paperwork” of the salesmen at the front. I have often experienced that people vehemently reject the idea of developing in the area of direct sales, sometimes they even perceive the suggestion as an insult. I even lost a job for a presentation coaching once because I argued that any presentation is actually about “selling” something: whether it is a product or an idea. But the lady definitely did not want to be associated with sales in any kind. “I present, I don’t sell”, was her deep conviction and not to be dissuaded from it. No matter what a company does, it cannot exist without sales. Because in the end every business has to win customers for its products and services, everything else only produces costs. How did it come to this that the most important task of a company has become the most dishonorable of all? We all know it: Sales has a bad reputation. Shouldn’t we all work together to change it? Misleading sales tactics and the old methods, approaches and also attitudes in sales rarely lead to long-term success and no longer work in the modern digital world: The PHANTOM cannot be reached with traditional sales methods. On the contrary, it is driven away by them. But, it can be easily won with the ENABLE approach. Because at the heart of the ENABLE approach is not the sales process, but supporting the customer in his decision, with the intention of meeting his needs in the best possible way. Enabling customers to make good decisions The goal of the ENABLE process is to make it easier for the customer to make a good decision. Because the sooner he decides and the more convinced he is of the quality of his decision, the sooner he will buy. And the better you have supported him in

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his decision-making, the higher the probability that he will buy from you. To do this, we must offer the customer the necessary support throughout his entire decision-making process and at every level of his decision, which includes, among other things: • Content relevant to his decision • Tools and interactive applications • Calculations, analyses • Access to systems • Instructions • Neutral advice • Use Cases • Content marketing approach primarily focuses on providing information. But our PHANTOM no longer lacks that. There is more than enough high-quality information in the digital space available to customers. What is really still lacking: relevant insights for the specific situation of customers that enable them to gain important knowledge for their decision finding. • Inbound marketing is focused on making you visible to and findable by potential customers. But this too, is not enough today. The PHANTOM is gone just as quickly as it appeared if it does not find relevant content quickly enough. The traditional approach to inbound marketing assumes that the customer knows what he wants and the company tries to position itself among the many other providers: I am the best of them all. Few providers consider that the customer may not even know what he wants yet. Most marketing initiatives focus on putting the company and its products in the right spot light, especially on their websites. Essentially, the efforts focus on the very last step in the customer’s decision-making process—purchase—and overlook everything that happens before this. Undoubtedly, there are skilled professionals in sales who can help customers make the right decision. But what if the customer doesn’t even get that far? If he’s already gone on the first visit of your website? I may make an educated guess that this happens more often than we would like to believe. But you can check the bounce rate of your website, to be sure. Both approaches, content marketing as well as inbound marketing, are certainly a good start to position oneself in the digital space. But they should be optimized by focusing on relevant content only. Better decisions through less information The vast majority of sales and marketing organizations believe that more information helps customers make better decisions. In their efforts to be responsive to customer

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needs, they assume that it is “extremely important” to help customers evaluate different alternatives. The CEB study “The new sales imperative” (HBR 2017) found: • 86% of sales professionals agree that it is important to “help the customer consider all possible options and alternatives.” • 79% agree that “during a sales process, I am very flexible in responding to customer needs and opinions, even if I am not necessarily in agreement with their direction.” • 68% agree that “more information generally helps the customer make better decisions.” But this “flexible and responsive” sales approach has the opposite effect. Customers say that this decreases the likelihood (by 18%) of making a purchase decision easily. Moreover, the likelihood that the purchase will be regretted increases by 50% (HBR 2017). Salespeople are more than ever trying to engage with their customers and provide them with a wealth of information, but this only confuses customers in their decision-making. Because more information and more options only make things more difficult. Although the PHANTOM has access to information, this does not mean that it can make better decisions. We now produce so much digital information that customers no longer know when and where they can retrieve it effectively and which is really relevant and unbiased. 

Instead of overwhelming customers with information and thereby paralyzing them in their decision-making process, sales must offer content that is relevant to the specific situation of the individual customer and to his decision: at the right time, in the right phase of the decision-making process, on the right channel and tailored to the needs of each role in the Buying Center.

The goal is to avoid too many—unnecessary—information and only provide relevant content. But what is relevant content and where is the difference between an information and a relevant content? Reach relevance through 5E Insights Relevant content differs from traditional marketing content and product information. Its relevance is defined by the fact that it helps customers, • • • • •

To discover problems they didn’t know they had, To gain important insights into how critical these problems could be for them, To see solutions in the context of their own situation, To find possibilities that are entirely new to them, To generate insights that are important for their decision.

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The difference is that traditional marketing and sales statements: • • • •

Are primarily supplier and product-centered, Address a wide target group, Try to meet an existing need, Focus primarily on selling and advertising.

Relevant content, on the other hand, focuses on providing assistance in the process of customer decision-making. Such content is supplier-neutral and puts the respective supplier’s information into the specific customer context, see Table 6.1. 

The purpose of relevant information is not to confuse, but to create clarity—clarity not in terms of the product, but in terms of the customer’s decision.

Product information, instructions, company information, testimonials, image videos do not fall under this, because this type of information is product- and provider-centered and focuses on selling. But the customer is looking for insights, experiences, recommendations, from which he can gain important knowledge relevant to his own decision. Table 6.1  Traditional information versus relevant content Traditional marketing and sales communication Relevant content Focuses on its own products and services: func- Focuses on the benefits for the customer. Makes tionality, descriptions, unique selling points it clear what specific results can be achieved through the use of the solution or product Addresses a large target audience with general information

Puts the information in the context of the customer: his industry, his application, his needs, etc.

Tries to cover already existing needs

Brings new insights, generates new needs

Tries to generate urgency with special offers, limited in time

Generates urgency by outlining the negative consequences of existing problems and positive effects of new approaches

Offers as much information as possible to increase the likelihood that the customer will find something useful in it

Is selected and adapted to the specific situation of the customer

Offers a wide range of options

Provides few specific options for different purchase situations

Focuses on the sale and promotion of its own products

Provides unbiased decision-making support

Is provider-specific

Is provider-neutral

Helps to select or configure a specific product from the provider’s portfolio

Helps make the right—neutral—decision

Is arranged on the basis of the company’s offer- Is arranged along the customer’s decisionings and portfolio making process

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Instead of leaving it to the customer to find his way through the mountain of irrelevant information, we offer him what helps him to gain new perspectives relevant for his decision, see Fig. 6.3. Unlike traditional marketing materials, E-Insights offer value in itself, not just for a specific purchase. Consequently, the likelihood increases that customers will visit your website multiple times and spend more time there. This, in turn, increases the relevance for search engines, which attracts more potential customers and ultimately leads to customers buying from you. After all, as we have seen, customers use to buy there where they find the most relevant content. Moreover, E-Insights are the perfect tool to increase your own credibility and demonstrate competence, which in turn builds more trust on the customer side, resulting in higher sales. 

E-Insights offer the best and biggest opportunity to differentiate yourself in the digital space.

By doing same things as the competition does, but just for own products, we are not differentiating ourselves in the customer’s eyes at all. And the more providers and the more information there is, the more difficult it is for the customer to make a decision. Less is more, as we already know.

Fig. 6.3   The 5E- Insights

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Less information in more context We achieve much more by providing few and relevant content in a narrower context. The fear of missing out on potential customers through strong focus is likely to be found in every target group definition. Unfortunately, this only leads to the opposite effect: The wider the target group and the more generic its addressing, the lower the effectiveness of the customer approach. Especially in the digital space, the information must be as specific as possible to the narrowly defined target group in question. Of course, this requires a lot of effort: both, in terms of creating relevant content and its targeted placement along the customer’s decision-making path. Relevance is not a new concept in itself. For some time now, marketing departments have been working with landing pages and trying to bring together information about a specific product in one place. Unfortunately, the content there is still often product-oriented and not decision-oriented. There are so many product configurators, why are there no decision configurators? Apart from that, they are rarely integrated into the individual context of the customer or the website visitor. Sure, this is the royal discipline in marketing, which is the most difficult to master, but the one which offers the best chances. Because even the most relevant E-Insights becomes irrelevant without any context for the individual situation of the customer. 

Companies must understand their own position in the context of their customers and set their marketing and sales communications in this—tight—context.

This alone can become an almost impossible task for a company who addresses multiple target groups with multiple products. Furthermore, there is another complicating factor: Creating relevance for each individual decision maker in the customer’s buying center. And the more involved roles there are (finance, IT, purchasing, management, etc.), the more impossible this task seems to be. But just because it’s difficult, it’s still not a reason to give up. The task is to recognize when, for whom and through which channels which content should be provided. Because not all involved people follow the same path in their decisions. However, this challenge can be mastered by the intelligent use of technology, such as account-based marketing tools for example. The goal is to make the decision-making process easier. The more complex the decision and the more people involved, the more decision facilitation must be offered. This requires a complete rethinking of sales and marketing approaches. And the attitude of the sales staff needs readjustment, starting with the realization that they are not responsible for selling. Their role is shifting from selling to supporting customers in their decisionmaking processes. Creating relevance and context for the right person at the right time and on the right channel Companies must offer relevant, meaningful content when the customer needs it, on his terms and through his preferred channels—not when and how the company deems

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it appropriate. We need an individualized strategy to provide relevant and personalized content in the customer context for the entire buying center on the right channels at the right time, see Fig. 6.4. The core task of contemporary and future sales is to improve and support the customer’s decision journey through adaptive, intelligent and personalized experiences. Which we are not left alone with, as modern technology, in particular artificial intelligence, offers many possibilities to accomplish this difficult task. The goal is to tailor the sales and marketing approaches to meet the needs of the PHANTOM at each stage of its DECIDE process and thus gain access to the entire decision-making process rather than waiting for customers to get in touch or even worse, driving them away with outdated methods, such as advertising and cold prospecting. To achieve this, each step of the ENABLE process must be strategically designed and structured.  Note  The following description of the ENABLE process will place greater empha-

sis on B2B particularities. This is for the simple reason that while there is already a certain awareness of the changes taking place in the B2C market, I believe there is still a great need for awareness-raising in the B2B sector. However, the process is equally relevant for both areas and considering the Business2Person perspective no longer separable.

Fig. 6.4   Customer targeting strategy

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6.1 Educate The Educate phase reflects the customer’s Discover phase, in which the customer is not yet aware of the problem or its effects, or does not yet know about the existence of a potential improvement to their situation: • Either they do not know they have a problem. • Or they know it, but do not yet see a need for action or have not yet recognized how critical the problem is and what negative effects it has. • Or they do not know the new—better—ways to improve their existing situation. The customer does not yet have a need, he must first discover and develop it. As a result, we need to help the customer recognize his potential need.

6.1.1 Goal: Recognize the Problem All sales and marketing activities in this phase are aimed at educating the customer and making him aware of his potential needs. Which is intended to trigger the desire to deal with the topic in more depth. Basically, we want to bring the customer from the “Awareness-Missing” to the “Aha?!” level (see Sect. 5.1 and 5.3), so that he starts actively researching on this subject. He recognizes that he has a problem and wants to learn more about it, which sets the stage for further needs development.

6.1.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Not Product Education One might easily assume that “Educate” means informing the customer about the existence of their own products or services. Although this sometimes happens in one go, especially in the consumer sector, this is not about educating customers about own products and services, but educating them about the associated problems and the potential benefits of their solving. Companies rarely provide information on the problems that their products solve, on their eventually negative effects on the customer’s situation and the ultimate consequences of an unresolved problem. Instead, they focus on self-promotion, which a customer is rarely interested in. Especially at this stage: Why should he feel appealed to your products if he doesn’t yet know what he needs them for?

6.1.3 Necessary Understanding: Customer-Specific Situation For education activity, a deep understanding of the customer’s situation and needs is required. What moves them, how do they want to be perceived, what is important to

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them, what goals do they have? In the business area, this requires sound knowledge of the customer business. What trends are there in the industry of your customers? What pressure are they under? What specific problems do they have to solve? What—maybe undiscovered—dangers are lurking? We want to highlight potentially undiscovered problems and unrecognized threats as well as their effects on the customer’s situation. First, this understanding must be built up in one’s own organization—sales and marketing—in addition to common product knowhow and expertise. When sales and marketing educate about new products, they always have to connect them to a customer’s problem or an improvement opportunity, because only then do customers really feel appealed. This will not succeed without a deep understanding of the customer’s situation. 

The sales and marketing teams must have a comprehensive understanding of the customer’s particular situation: specific to the customer’s industry.

It is not enough to be familiar with the own industry and the own products, it’s far more important to understand the customer’s business in order to establish the connection to the own services. Here, it’s important to understand that we are talking about the “customer’s situation” in relation to our own company’s field of business, which can be very specific in some cases and of a generic nature in others. It is necessary to get to the real causes and the triggers, and this can only be done if the sales department understands what moves its customers. For marketing it may even be “worse” because usually there is a lack of market and customer understanding in marketing departments. Traditional marketing focuses more on form and less on content and more on promotion of products than on content related to the decision itself. Nowadays, in both areas—marketing and sales— a fundamental understanding of the market, the customers, their situation and their problems is necessary. Furthermore, the sales and marketing tasks can hardly be separated anymore, see more about this in “Digital Transformation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a).

6.1.4 Touchpoints: Digital, Indirect, Passive Even if it would be obvious at first to believe that the own website serves as an eventual touchpoint, this is a misconception for the Educate phase. Because the customer is not actively looking for answers or solutions yet. He doesn’t even know about the existence of a problem or isn’t actively dealing with it. As a result, we have to approach the customer on places where he is usually to be found anyway. “Approaching” do es not mean proactive prospecting methods, but the passive, strategic placement of content that is supposed to attract the attention of customers.

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Once interest is raised, customers can be directed to the website. But publishing something on the website and waiting for customers to find it there is a thinking mistake. Google Ads, for example, would only make sence in cases when the customer is actively searching for something he knows about. But in reality, search engine advertising is often placed for products of which customers are unaware or cannot relate to. This phase is about education, for which traditional advertising channels may be used quite well, but with the aim to convey insightful content. Better are social media posts, articles in specialist media, lectures, online events, webinars, conferences, discussion circles, forums, networks and any other websites or platforms where customers usually spend their time. To identify the right touchpoints, the following considerations are helpful: • Where does the target group spend most of its time? • How can you address target group there indirectly and passively? • Which content should be prepared in which way so that it attracts the attention of potential customers? • Which content might trigger the next step in the DECIDE process?

6.1.5 Key Content: Needs and Problem-Oriented Here, the content focuses mainly on the problem and its effects. The customer should immediately find himself in the described problem, feel the pain caused by it and become aware of the consequences associated with it. This should ultimately trigger the impulse and wish to deal with this topic in more depth. It’s not about the products or their functionality and certainly not about the provider. While 75% of B2B buyers want access to content that helps them in their research and the identification of new business ideas, 93% of companies focus on marketing their own products and services (Peppercomm 2014). Speaking of 93%, we could safely say “everyone”, altough the companies would rarely classify themselves in this group or recognize the urgent need for change in their approaches. Introducing a new product, escorting it with a data sheet and a list of features, and then starting a market launch campaign isn’t really effective. Of course, we could continue to leave it to the customer to find out himself his eventual needs and maybe develop the wish to meet them, but in an increasingly loud and crowded digital space, this will only work to a limited extent. To attract the attention of the need-oriented PHANTOM, we must learn to communicate primarily about its eventual problems and the potential improvements, rather than advertising. 

The goal of the content used in this stage is to make customers aware of needs they did not even know they had.

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The approach is to generate interest, for instance with questions like these: • • • • • •

Did you know that …? Have you seen …? Do you have this problem too? Many people have experienced that … This problem leads to the fact that … This trend is alarming because …

We want to highlight something that the customer does not yet know or does not take seriously at this moment, and make him think about it and motivate him to deal with it in more depth. Customers want to be made to think: 92% of B2B buyers rate “a wealth of content that encourages thinking” as important (DemandGen 2020). They don’t need someone who sells them something, they want to learn something new and gain important insights for themselves in their own situation.

6.1.6 Buying Center: Recognizing Initiators Customer education does not only imply the simple distribution of information and relevant content, but also a well-thought-out approach based on the different interests in the customer’s buying group. First, we need to identify the roles within the Buying Centerwhich should be addressed in the Educate phase specifically. Because not everyone in the Buying Center would develop an imminent need to solve the problem. Consequently, we need to identify the so-called initiators. These are the ones who are most likely to recognize the problem and become aware of the need to solve it. We need to ask ourselves: • Who on the customer side has the greatest interest in a solution? • Who has what problems and needs in relation to our solutions/products? • Who feels the greatest pain? From this, we determine which target persons from the buying center should be addressed—educated—and then tailor the content specifically to their interests.

6.1.7 Content Forms: Provocative and Awakening For the Educate phase, the content should be adjusted to the different levels of interest and the different attention spans of the involved parties: from easily digestible forms such as posts, tweets, comments, short videos, pictures, ads and up to more detailed industry reports, market trend reports and professional articles. Here, provocative forms of expression and questions are particularly well suited to shake things up and trigger the

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impulse to dig deeper in to the topic. News and market updates are also good for this. We talk about events, trends and developments in the industry, in the market, in companies and point out existing problems and potential dangers, thus highlighting problems and need for action. All content forms that convey this kind of content are suitable for this, including events—whether online or offline.

6.1.8 Activities: Content Distribution In this phase, the primary focus is on content-related activities that involve spreading and distributing relevant content in such a way that it appears in sight of potential customers and addresses their problem directly. In traditionally organized corporate structures, these activities are more likely to be located in marketing departments. In contemporary structures, there should be no separation between marketing and sales. Instead of waiting for marketing to generate leads, every salesperson is involved in the task of customer education. After all, every person in the sales organization actually represents an additional channel for information distribution in the digital space—their every single social media profile is a own channel. Thus, every member of a marketing and sales organisation should be involved in the strategic distribution of content, which increases its overall reach. For the same reason, companies should not limit themselves to marketing and sales: Why should other departments be excluded? Every employee can and should educate customers independently via digital channels and in social media. No matter who else gets involved, one thing is certain: Content distribution will become a new daily task for salespeople. For they have access to existing customers, where educating and generating awareness on new topics is needed—attention: not products! Sales should actively look for further potential problems within its existing customer base as well as look for people with the “right problem” in the wide digital world: state-of-the-art customer acquisition. For example, with social selling activities that of course do not imply cold prospecting or direct approach via social media. The aim of this new approach is to make relevant content visible to selected target persons in a focused and strategic manner, so that prospects develop the desire to learn more about the topic and start interacting with the respective sales reps themselves.

6.1.9 Engagement: Open Access to Content In the Educate phase, potential customers learn through free, easily available content that they might have a problem. In this way, they also realize that you might offer a possible solution to this problem, which increases the likelihood of early engagement. But what should be avoided here: giving the impression of wanting to sell something. Because at this point they are not even convinced that they want to solve the problem and they are still far from thinking about you or your products. Consequently, traditional CTA (Call-

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To-Action) with appeals for contact or buying incentives with special offers should not be used. First, the customer wants to inform himself and if you confront him with a promotional offer, you can quickly ruin all your future sales opportunities. We still want to use CTAs, but in a different way: “Read more …”, “See video …”, “Learn more …”, “Download an e-book …”, etc. Thus, it is only logical that we should refrain from all methods of “catching” prospects at this point in the process, such as requiring contact information in exchange for more and better information. 91% of B2B buyers rate “easy access to content without long forms” as important (DemandGen 2020). We want to give them this access and leave the free decision whether and when they want to get in touch. If a customer decides to interact at this early stage, we want to focus on the problem and continue to inform and educate him about its importance and by no means take the opportunity to actively sell him.

6.1.10 Technology Aspects: Fast, Responsive, Barrier-Free A positive first impression is important in every customer encounter, but in the digital space of the EEE-World, it is a decisive factor. Simplicity and speed in access and use of information are at the top of the priority list in the educate phase, in order not to strain the patience of the PHANTOM and not to challenge his thin thread of attention. If a prospect feels appealed by the exciting headline of an article in social media and takes the next step to read the article, but the website loads too long or a registration form is required or the navigation is too confusing, he is quickly gone and probably immediately forgot his not yet discovered problem. All the effort for the creation of the content was in vain. We want to focus here on technologies that enable a fast, open and intuitive access to relevant content and fascinate the customer so that he deals with it intensively and dives deeper into the content. This increases the likelihood that he will move on to the next phase of his decision-making process, rather than jump off immediately. All this with the particularly pleasant side effect that your website will also gain in relevance for search engines and be better ranked in the search results.

6.2 Nurture Nurturing is a process in which prospects are accompanied and supported with information on their decision-making journey until they are ready to buy. In our specific case, this is the reflection of the Explore phase of the DECIDE decision-making process, see Sect. 5.2. In this phase, the customer’s interest is aroused, he now focuses his attention on the topic and actively researches about it. What exactly happens here:

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• He wants to validate his first impression. • He has recognized the problem or the potential need for improvement and wants to learn more about it. • He wants to understand what this would mean for him and his situation. • He wants to receive answers to questions such as: – What is this problem all about? – What are the causes, where does the problem come from? – Are there any effects that I am unaware of? – What could I do about it? – Do others have the same problem? What do they do? The potential buyer has many questions that we need to answer as exact as possible. The more relevant and enlightening the answers he finds, the greater the likelihood that he will deal with the topic in depth and continue the journey with you.

6.2.1 Goal: Deepen the Problem The goal in the Nurture phase is to strengthen the customer’s just emerging need and to nourish it with relevant content. To do this, we provide insights, experiences and expertise. We offer answers to the questions that eventual would arise in his mind and help him to realize that his problem must be solved before it gets worse or its consequences increase dramatically. We want to bring the prospect from the “Aha” need level to the next levels “Attention” and “Acute”, perhaps even to the “Alarm” level (see Sect. 5.1 and Fig. 5.3), so that he recognizes the need for action.

6.2.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Do Not Overwhelm With Information The first misunderstanding stems from the term itself. Because, thinking of nurturing in its original meaning, one could feel drawn to provide as much information as possible in order to provide the customer with extensive content. The danger here is that they overload the customer with a wealth of information and eventual too much complexity. This runs the risk of achieving the opposite effect and even scaring off the customer. If dealing with the issue and solving the problem seem more complex than the problem itself, the desire to continue with the topic is nipped in the bud. The goal is not to confuse the customer, but to create clarity for him. We have to make the right amount of content available at the right time for the respective stakeholder, for which creating context and personalization are important.

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6.2.3 Necessary Understanding: Relevance From the Customer’s Perspective First and foremost, if we want to answer the questions in the customer’s head, we must also know what they are and, of course, have enlightening answers to them. However, this is one of the areas that marketing and sales departments rarely deal with. For this reason, it is not surprising that most of the content produced by marketing is perceived as useless. Not only by customers. Ask your salespeople what they think of your marketing materials. Of course, form and content have to be great, but useless content in outstanding form remains useless. The need-oriented PHANTOM customer who is in a hurry will not waste his valuable time on useless content. If your content doesn’t make him think or nod, he’ll just continue to search—elsewhere. Sales and marketing should approach this task from the customer’s perspective and based on it create added value for customer: In terms of their problems and, more importantly, in terms of the impact and potential threats associated with them. Because anything else will not only fail to lead the customer on his decision path, but might even stop him. At this point, the prospect could easily come to the conclusion: “Well, that’s not as bad as I thought.” And if no other provider manages to help him realize that action is indeed needed, he will abort the process and devote himself to other tasks, which appear to him to be more important and critical. So, find out what customers are concerned about in their market, their industry, and their business field, and reinforce their individual needs. Providers must not only understand what customers need, but also what customers want to achieve when meeting a need and why. This is the only way to address the really important pain points. Understanding the depth of the customer problems and challenges behind your solutions, including their impact on the customer’s future, is essential to ensure that your content hits the right nerve on the customer side. If you would ask marketing professionals, they would say, they do this anyway. But the content circulating on the Internet rather suggests the opposite. For years it has been said “content is king”, but this should not imply the quantity, but the quality of the content. There is a lot of information provided, but little specific customer-relevant content. And here too, less is more: Only relevant content in the context of the customer’s individual situation is really King. Anything else simply contributes to sensory overload in the digital space.

6.2.4 Touchpoints: Visible, Barrier-Free, Website-Related During their search for valuable content, prospects often consume more from the same sources that point them to the “right” problems and offer relevance in their individ-

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ual context. Consequently, starting with the trigger in the Educate phase, a chain of relevant content should be built. There is no doubt that the PHANTOM will also research elsewhere, because it never relies on a single source. But, if it has found the most relevant knowledge and gained the most important insights with you, it will certainly return. Let’s recall the study mentioned in Sect. 4.4 which showed that B2B customers  use to buy from those providers where they get the most valuable content for their decisions: 76% of respondents said that the content of the “winning” provider had a significant impact on their buying decision (DemandGen 2020). In the Nurture phase, one of the most important touchpoints is of course the website, where content should be provided in such a way that the relevant people gain valuable insights into the topic in their particular context. It is at the center of all activities in the digital space, see the example in Fig. 6.5. Potential customers rarely land on your website on their own. If they are not aware of your existence, they must be led to the website with systematic and purposeful measures. This includes the targeted forwarding with the activities from the previous ENABLE phase, the strategic distribution of the content in the digital space including targeted routing to the website and of course SEO, SEA and social media activities. With this, we want to reach all potential buyers who are researching for information on this specific topic. The more relevant the content is for the visitors to your website, the greater its relevance for the search engine. Today, the ranking of the website is primarily defined by the value oft its content and the behavior of the visitors on the website—duration of their stay and interaction—and not by the keyword battle anymore, as it was in the past. Your website should be built primarily for potential customers, not for the search engine. The aim is to create visibility and findability in relation to this specific topic—problem,

Fig. 6.5   Website at the center of all activities in the digital space

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not product!—for the respective stakeholders. Landing pages that address specific issues are particularly well suited for this purpose, so are knowledge platforms such as Medium or Quora and of course Wikipedia and own blogs too. Free webinars as well as events and lectures are also to be evaluated. The idea is to provide appropriate content everywhere customers might search for answers. But if you try to collect contact information and are requiring customers to sign up, fill out forms or make an appointment, you are still in the “old” thinking that simply will not work at all, or just to a limited extent in today’s world of convenience. Consequently, we should offer content transparently, free of charge and without lengthy forms or registration processes. You can—and should—offer the opportunity to subscribe to news, blog updates or newsletters. If you provide valuable content, customers will sign up and give you their data voluntarily. But, it you try to force it, the PHANTOM will make sure to avoid any compulsion or any traps out of principle.

6.2.5 Key Content: Neutral, Product- and Vendor-Independent In the Nurture phase, we want to start giving answers to all eventual customer’s questions. In this context, we do not yet offer solutions meaning “our product is the answer to your problem”, but primarily outline the basic problem, its causes and the associated risks. We continue to inform the customer: Less in terms of the solution, but deepening the problem and perhaps also clarifying how to make a founded decision in this context: We outline the decision-making process, not the solution. 

The goal is to increase awareness and reinforce needs before we move on to solutions.

We should not make the classic sales mistake here and offer solutions too quickly. If the customer is not yet ready to buy and has not developed a strong need, it makes little sense or can even be counterproductive to offer solutions to buy. In the Nurture phase, the customer is not thinking about solutions at all, he is still researching about the problem. It’s still not about you, but about his problems. Consequently, we mainly focus on providing neutral and vendor-independent content. The content should be problem-oriented and best placed in the customer’s context. 70% of buyers rate “relevant content that directly addresses our company” as “very important”, and 96% of B2B professionals consider messages that “directly address the needs of our industry” to be important (DemandGen 2020). We want to provide content that is relevant and tailored to the needs of the narrowly defined target group. For example, case studies, industry reports and scenario illustrations demonstrate expertise and competence and are at the same time practical tools for customers which they can use in their decision-making process.

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6.2.6 Buying Center: Addressing Problem Owners The content must of course be adapted to the respective roles in the Buying Center. To do this, we should know who from the buying center is doing the research in this phase: Who is particularly interested in this problem and which of its specific aspects? We want to address this specifically and in as personalized a way as possible. As a rule, the initiators will still be the ones addressed, because they usually feel the greatest pain in connection with the problem. Moreover, we do not want to point out just the effects of the problem on their business, but also on their individual roles in the company. Those individuals, who will not or too late recognize the problem will probably also have to be made responsible for its consequences or additional problems caused by it. We need to identify who is responsible for the origin of the problem and its solving, and address these people with the right content. In cases where several roles have to be addressed, AI technology can provide good support, such as design of dynamic and personalized content or FAQ that automatically adapts answers and questions according to the respective decision-maker role.

6.2.7 Content Forms: Knowledge-Based As already illustrated, the PHANTOM wants to learn at its own pace, when and where it wants, not when the providers are available. In first place, people turn to the Internet, and not only in the consumer sector. We recall: The top 3 resources that B2B customers use to inform themselves are (DemandGen 2020): • Web search: 53% • Provider websites: 41% • Rating portals: 30% Content forms that are consumed in this phase include blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and interactive content. The main preference is neutral third party information, no wonder rating portals land so high on the list of top resources. Depending on the business sector, it may also make sense to set up forums and discussion platforms on your own website where customers can interact, exchange ideas and learn from each other. If the discussion takes place on your website, the customer is also more likely to choose you as the best provider. Furthermore, 91% of customers would use an online knowledge database if it were available and tailored to their needs (ZenDesk 2013). Customers want immediate and continuous access to resources. However, these knowledge databases and resource sources should not be structured by the form of the content, as is usually the case, like videos, downloads, E-Books, etc. Instead, the content should be alinged with the customer’s questions and interests. The B2B sector in particular is still falling far behind in this respect: No matter whether they offer products or services, the websites of a typical B2B vendor often resemble a

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static and confusing advertising catalog. Is it any wonder that visitors are leaving websites right away? Customers want adaptive content, personalized experiences, and responsive websites which enable them to quickly get to the content they need. The content form should not overwhelm and should be easy consumable and fast scannable. A visitor should be able to gain knowledge quickly without having to think and search too much. For this purpose, typical questions and answers on the respective topic are well suited. Moreover, not just the content itself, but also its form must be adapted to the preferences of the narrowly specified target groups, because they might be quite different. Let’s take the age groups as an example: Different generations have different preferences for the form and scope of content. Compared to the other generations, generation X prefers articles with more than 500 words. In contrast, baby boomers have the highest preference for articles with less than 200 words, which are less popular with the X-es (Fractl 2015). Here too, we need testing: Observing consumption behavior, reading time, and reading frequency will provide good insights into the individual preferences of the own target group.

6.2.8 Activities: Provide Content Passively In the Nurture phase, potential customers are looking for answers in relation to the need that is just emerging, consequently all activities should be aligned accordingly. These will be predominantly content activities. However, we must distinguish whether the customer is on an active or passive search in his Explore phase, see Sect. 5.2, because they require different approaches: • Passive: If customers are passively researching, then we should place the content in a way that customers will notice it. We do not address these customers directly with intrusive methods, because they are still passive and just gathering information casually. They are not yet ready to be directly approached. • Active: Those who are actively researching, as can be concluded from their behavior on the website or in their interaction with the company—newsletter, registration, downloads, etc.—can be addressed more directly. For example, with an email marketing strategy or with a personalized and individual approach by the sales staff. In general, however, the activities have a more passive character, whereby content is made available rather than actively approaching customers. It’s not just during their Nurture phase that modern customers are hostile to direct targeting, it is a general trend, as a study by Trustradius (2020) demonstrates. According to the survey, the likelihood that a technology buyer would be responsive to direct approach tactics is very low: • Non-personalized messages: 5% • Cold calls: 7% • Chatbots/AI assistants: 10%

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• Targeted advertising: 19% • Personalized messages: 29% • Invitations to online events: 43% This reveals that practically all customers reject mass messages (95%) and cold calling (93%). But what’s on the agenda of most marketing and sales departments today? Isn’t it generic newsletters and cold prospecting? Although this study was conducted specifically in the technology sector, we may assume that in other B2B areas the results will be similar. Even in the most conservative industries, nowadays suppliers are going their own way and search for new suppliers, rather than waiting to be acquired by vendor’s sales staff. If at all, the PHANTOM would like to be directly addressed with personalized messages and would like the sales representative to do thorough research prior to the initial contact and not ask what they consider to be superfluous questions. “Well, I’d certainly appreciate a seller who did all necessary research into our industry needs beforehand, and did not ask unnecessary questions!”—buyer feedback B2B Buyer Preferences study (Miller Heiman Group 2018). 

Consider this: A question to which a customer knows the answer is only beneficial to the salesperson asking. The customer doesn’t learn anything from it. Only a question that the customer doesn’t have an immediate answer to and which makes him think will he find valuable.

In this phase, the sales team’s task is to help customers explore the identified problem in greater depth. We want to help customers realize that they don’t have all the answers, or might not be able to find all the answers on their own, so they willingly accept sales support. This means that the prospecting activities should primarily focus on exploring and understanding customer problems. Sometimes customers would get in touch with sales in this early phase and look for support right at the beginning of the decisionmaking process. It is important for sales to understand what the customer really needs in this first interaction. Because, if they immediately seize the opportunity to sell, missunderstanding the customer’s intention and assuming that he wants to buy—What else, if they get in touch?—the first interaction might eventually be the last one. A salesperson must quickly recognize what stage of his decision-process the customer is in and what he really wants and address his needs correctly. If he succeeds, the customer will most likely get back to the same person at a later stage with an intention to buy. During its first—hesitant—attempts to make contact, we should handle the PHANTOM, which is just slowly advancing on its decision path, with care. We shouldn’t waste the leap of faith he gives us, as in using his provided information or analytics data to track him. Increasingly, people (57.2%) find targeting tactics creepy because they become aware of how their personal data is being used (SmarterHQ 2020). You know those ads that continue to haunt you for weeks after you visit a certain website? This is a good example of poorly executed targeting tactics that annoy customers rather than motivating them to buy.

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Nurture phase marketing and sales activities should be designed in such a way that while ignoring the PHANTOM, they provide it with so much added value that it develops a desire to interact with you on its own.

6.2.9 Engagement: Digital, Anytime, From Anywhere If the customer decides to interact, we should not make it too difficult for him. In the nurture phase, the customer is still searching for relevant content, and if he starts an interaction, he usually expects to get exactly what he is searching for in the quickest way possible. Instead of hiding valuable content behind closed doors, we should make it available easily and quickly: with interactive applications or well-designed AI bots. After all, customers will only reach out to the phone if they have not been able to find the needed information during their own research: 40% of customers contact a call center only after they have searched for answers in the self-service area (ZendDesk 2013). And what if the customer does not reach out to the phone, but finds what he is looking for somewhere else? Generally, at this early stage, the probability is low that the customer will interact at all. If he does reach for the phone or chooses another way of direct interaction, then of course we have to satisfy him with a high reaction speed and a diversity of engagement channels.  As we know, modern customers rarely, if ever, enjoy waiting. Thus, we should not challenge their already quite low patience and better provide easy, fast and intuitive interaction possibilities: at the place where he is and at the moment his desire emerges. It probably needs no further explanation that offerring accessibility 9 to 5,  Monday to Friday is no longer up-to-date today. However, this is still common practice in the B2B sector. It does not mean that sales departments need to be occupied 24/7. But we should create opportunities for customers to instantly interact during their research in the moment they may have a question, which should also be responded to as quickly as possible. Today, technology makes this possible, and we should use it for this purpose. Consider that customers do not always have time to deal with issues that are not yet urgent for them during their busy day-to-day lives. They often consume content outside of working hours, with some differences in the preferences of different generations (Fractl 2015): • Over 40% of Generation X and Millennials consume content in the evening. • Baby Boomers mostly consume content in the morning and are online as early as 5 a.m. • Compared to Baby Boomers, almost twice as many Millennials and Gen X consume content around noon. As we can see: customers use to consume content in the morning, in the evening and at noon. And when is your sales department available? What if a customer has an important question at 5 a.m. or 9 p.m.? Who does he turn to then? Hopefully not the competition.

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6.2.10 Technology Aspects: Data-Based Personalization Technology is a key element in the Nurture phase: starting with a fast, responsive and interactive website and up to the use of analytics and AI technology. But, it’s the customer who sets the pace. In sales, we need to start choosing technology based on the requirements and needs of our processes, rather than adapting the processes to the requirements of the tools, or even worse, not questioning them at all. First and foremost, it is the customer who defines the requirements including his expectations of the technology used. For example, when customers surf the websites of providers, they expect intuitive and user-friendly navigation. The emphasis is on user-friendly, not on what the website builder allows to build. We also need to constantly analyze and optimize the performance of the website, for which there are also thousands and thousands of possibilities: from high-tech eye-tracking systems to well-known analytics. Not only the general performance of the website should be optimized, but also its findability in the digital space: think SEO. For this to work, it must be clear what the customer is looking for: which keywords are used? There are also numerous tools that help to gain more clarity on this. The common mistake made here is to focus on product and solution related keywords, instead of the problem from the customer’s perspective. In this phase we are still dealing with the problem and not its solution. What keywords would the customer use to find information in connection with the problem? In marketing departments, this question is still asked far too rarely. In order to effectively target the prospect who has landed on your website, not only the user experience should be optimized, but above all the content should be adapted to his individual needs as far as possible. There are also many technological possibilities here, such as On-Site Behavioral Targeting, which will provide the visitor  content that is related to his previous behavior on the web. With AI technology, we can even display different versions of a website for different visitors and thus optimize the visitor experience to the best possible extent. Targeting tactics should be used with caution and, as mentioned, should not be too obvious and disclose the use of customers’ behavioral data. How does Google do it? It uses clever algorithms to present each of us with an individual search result that is tailored to our needs and is based on our research behavior. We should try to achieve the same for our potential customers: 

With the use of AI technology, we can ease the visitor’s tedious search for content that is specifically relevant to him.

Computers have IP addresses, web browsers have cookies, hyperlinks have tracking codes, smartphones have location services, and every online interaction is overlaid with metadata from which an intention of a prospect can be derived. Of course, we must not forget GDPR compliance, but we recall that customers are more than willing to grant

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access to their data for a better customer experience. With the increasing use of technology, a wealth of data sources becomes available to sales and marketing organizations and enable them to optimize their activities, see Fig. 6.6. It is important not to use this data to actively sell something to prospects, but to facilitate their decision-making process. These mechanisms should be used to identify which stage of the decision-making process the prospect is in, which role he plays in the buying center, and what interests he has in the procurement process. This, with the main goal of providing him the support he needs at this specific time so that he can move on to the next step in his decision-making process. We want to make the research phase, which is becoming more and more difficult and takes longer, easier for him and shorter. The faster he gets the right information, the faster his decision will be, which will shorten your sales process. In the long run, this is the much more effective way to quickly generate sales rather than creating time-limited special offers and promotions. The Internet is loud, chaotic and, for the tech-savvy PHANTOM, mainly irrelevant: full of intrusive advertising, generic and repeating messages, self-promoting statements by providers, poorly designed websites and constant requests for contact, it is not easy for customers to make the right decision quickly. Especially, B2B providers convey the impression they would have deliberately designed their digital customer experiences for anyone other than their potential customers. The goal is to stand out from this—irrelevant to customers —crowd, and there is no shortage of technological possibilities to achieve this. A seamless transition between the website and the other channels is a matter of course. The mobile experience too, should not be neglected—especially during the research phase. Because we remember: Customers research outside of regular working hours, often in the background of their other activities and usually spontaneously. Most

Fig. 6.6   Data sources in marketing

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of this happens mainly on their smartphones. With this understanding, providers must create a synergistic ecosystem that integrates mobile and other channels of information consumption and interaction. In the Nurture phase, marketing automation tools can also be used. The aim is to measure, model and accelerate the decision-making process. In the B2B sector, accountbased marketing tools are an indispensable tool for addressing the right stakeholders with relevant content and coordinating marketing and sales activities along a complex procurement process.

6.3 Affirm When customers reached the Consider phase, they have basically convinced themselves that a solution is necessary and already have a vague idea of the solution they need. During this phase, customers try to thoroughly evaluate how reasonable the solving of the problem might be, and look for plausible evidence to support their assumption. The providers usually do not make it easier for them by offering more information instead of decisionmaking aids. Even at this stage, the customer is not yet looking for products or suppliers, but for answers to his questions, which now are less related to the problem, but primarily to the different solution options available to him, so that he can evaluate the added value of the solution in relation to the expected investment. We remember: one of the options is to do nothing, see Sect. 5.3. Basically, the customer asks himself: “What can I do about this and is it worth it?” It is not yet about buying something new. “Do-it-yourself” or “repairing” the problem are quite valid options next to “doing nothing”. But sales generally would assume that when customers are looking for solutions, they want to buy something. What the customer really does in this phase of his decision-making process: He is not looking for purchase options, but is considering the various alternatives of changing the existing situation. He is collecting all relevant information and trying to create clarity for himself. We now will have to support his intention and help the customer to identify and correctly evaluate all possible course of action.

6.3.1 Goal: Affirm Need for Solution The goal in the Affirm phase is, on the one hand, to confirm the customer on his way to the solution. Meaning providing him with further evidence that a solution is really necessary, so that he does not eventually fall into “inaction” due to the complexity of the decision. In parallel, we have to support him in the process of decision-making itself, which means listing all potential solution options (including the “inaction” alternative), revealing all the evaluation criteria and providing decision-making aids. It is important that the customer feels reaffirmed in his belief of need for a solution. After all, his problem will not disappear by itself. Which implies that he must be sure of the necessity of

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the solution and that all doubts have been dispelled, so that the evaluation of options continue without bias. The main goal is to first get the “inaction” option off the table and to enable him to correctly evaluate the respective available options for “action”.

6.3.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Benefit Instead of SelfPresentation Still, we’re not selling. Because, even if the selection of a specific solution will often automatically result in the selection of a provider, we have to understand that here customer doesn’t care about the provider, but about the solution of his problem. If the seemingly best solution is that of a certain provider, he will probably also get in touch with him. But in principle, the customer is not concerned with the provider of the solution, but with the results it will achieve for him. Here, too, we run the risk of making a significant contribution to information overload by trying to provide as much information as possible about our products and solutions, aiming to help customers get a clear picture of what we can do for them. In this context, we are prone to describing products and services, explaining how they work, making product data sheets available for download, and inviting customers to product demos. But customers are not interested in the functionality of your solutions, they want to know what they can achieve with those and what does it mean for their situation. This is what they try to find out, when looking at and analyzing functionalities of your products. That’s why product demos or test accounts are at the top of the resources preferred by customers. Sales-intelligent providers do not list product functionality, but connect all important functionality of their products with a customer benefit. They convert every relevant feature into a customer benefit. And in their customer communication, they mainly convey the results customers would achieve when using their products and solutions. Rather than leaving it to customers to figure out for themselves how they can benefit from your solutions, it’s much more effective to focus on clearly communicating the customer value and benefits and achievable outcomes. With this in mind, we want to avoid this type of marketing and sales communication in this phase: • • • •

too generic content that does not offer any specific customer value, self-promotional content that focuses on the products and the providers, praising own solutions as the best among all the others, repeat what everyone else communicates on the net.

6.3.3 Necessary Understanding: Connecting Customer Problems With Own Offerings While the Educate and Nurture phases are about the problems and the challenges of the customers to be solved in order to eliminate their negative impact on their individual sit-

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uation, the Affirm phase is about conveying the results that can be achieved by using the respective solution. Not just in the age of the Internet, customers have never been solely concerned with the functionalities of products or how great the providers are. Deep inside, they are interested only in what they might achieve with through them. However, this understanding is rarely found in sales organizations, even less in marketing departments. A situation, which is no longer sustainable under digital conditions. 

In essence, we connect customer’s problems with our offerings and establish parallels between the customer’s needs and the benefits of our products.

This knowledge must first be built up within the organization, because it does not emerge on its own. Just as little as the knowledge about what customers don’t need or what is less important to them. Let’s not ask product developers about that, because they are usually mainly feature-oriented. How many percent of the features of your oven or car do you know and how much of it do you actually need and use? You can probably count them on your—own—fingers. The real understanding needed is not about what your product can do, but only about what it is needed for. I enjoy asking the same questions over and over again in sales workshops: As a customer, what do I get out of it? What do I need it for? Yes, but it can do this and that … So what, why and to what extent do I need it really? It is astonishing how seldom these questions are actually addressed, even though it is the only thing a customer really wants to know. What does your customer really need? Determine what your customer really needs. Identify the—few—most important results that he achieves when using your solution. Preferably the ones that also stand out most from other similar solutions. Concentrate only on that. The fewer, but the more important the criteria you put in the foreground, the higher the probability that you address the customer in the core of his true needs. Don’t be afraid to leave out all the other features in first place, because as we know: Too much is too much. Specifically, I recommend going through all the marketing statements, sales arguments and product features in detail and critically examining this question: What does the customer really get out of this? What results does he actually achieve with it? Rate them according to their importance for the customer and focus on the most important ones—from the customer’s perspective, of course. What options does your customer really have? An understanding of all the options available to the customer is also necessary. Start by thinking through all the different options that your potential customers might consider as an eventual solution to their problem. Try to put yourself in their shoes: • Can customers solve it themselves? What are the arguments in favor, what are the arguments against?

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Is it a standard solution or tailor-made? What is the degree of customization? What happens if the customer does nothing? What external options are available? What are the pros and cons? What obstacles can arise? What do customers need to consider when choosing a solution? Do customers need external support: consulting?

Finding out what questions potential customers are trying to answer in their considerations will give you a good understanding of their situation, which you can use to generate targeted messages to address them directly on their concerns. This allows you to put a mirror in front of the customer and meet them exactly where they are. Apart from that, this targeted approach will also qualify the target group through the approach itself and narrow down the leads to those who will benefit from your solution the most, which will also increase the probability of converting them to customers and save valuable resources in sales.

6.3.4 Touchpoints: Research-Related In the Consider phase, the customer is actively evaluating multiple solution alternatives, thus the number of possible touchpoints also increases. By their very nature, they will vary, depending on the business area in question, and may well take analog and digital forms. For example, a customer may visit your physical store to see the stone tiles in daylight or have a sample sent home. Another will want to see the tiled area at one of your reference projects. Some other might want an AR simulation for his penthouse. And many others may find a picture on the website quite sufficient. However, despite different business specifics, similar digital touchpoints would be used in the Affirm phase: • • • • • • • • •

Search engines Website, webshop, apps E-mail, social media, online marketing Content marketing, social selling Online presentations and demos Chatbots, AI assistants, interactive solutions Sales departments, call centers, sales reps profiles on social media Third-party, neutral sources, communities Rating portals, forums, review platforms

The research phase can take a long time depending on the product. And, it’s continously getting longer. Let’s recall the results of the 2020 Buyer Behavior Study, which found that a whopping 77% of B2B buyers spend more time researching compared to 2019 (DemanGen 2020). In the process, they consult more different sources, consequently we should offer them more different touchpoints.

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Today, simply having a website is no longer enough. An essential part of a touchpoint strategy is connecting all channels to ensure a consistent experience across different touchpoints. The more personalized and tailored to the needs of each stakeholder, the more efficient and impactful your strategy will be.

6.3.5 Key Content: All Solution Options Whatever channels may be used, it is essential that they are used to convey the right content. At this stage, the need for change and the need for a solution are acknowledged, but it is not yet clear to the customer which option is the best for him. Consequently, we should list and compare all eventual solution options from the customer’s perspective. Some vendors have already recognized this necessity, especially in the software sector, and offer their prospects suitable resources to compare between different solution providers.  While these comparisons make it easier for customers to make a decision, they are still purely reduced to comparing existing purchase options. Although the providers have recognized the benefit of providing a comparison, they still assume that the decision to buy has already been made. Yet only the decision to solve the problem has been made, which in itself does not imply a purchase. 

The need to solve a problem does not necessarily result in a need to buy.

The common assumption, a demand would already exist can lead to a great misunderstanding, for two reasons: • A need to solve a problem does not necessarily imply a need to procure an external solution. • The demand must be put in relation to the investment. Because, if the investment exceeds the existing capabilities and possibilities, be it in monetary, risk or resource terms, the demand will evaporate. Therefore, we need relevant E-Insights (education, enrichment, elucidation, experience, expertise, see Chap. 6), which on the one hand should help by the choice of the solution and on the other hand also substantiate its necessity. For this purpose, illustrating “What if …?” scenarios is particularly suitable, so that the customer can easily imagine what might happen in different cases. And if you can’t demonstrate specific real-case scenarios, you could use “What if …?” questions, which are in themselves a good tool to encourage customer’s thinking processes and help them list and identify the different scenarios themselves. Be sure to list all the important questions and things to be considered when evaluating different options. Furthermore, the options themselves and their comparison should be presented as vendor-neutral as possible and should not contain any manipulation in your own favor. Because, a manipulation will probably be detected, and we don’t want to take this risk to lose PHANTOM’s trust.

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Transparency is the key to customer trust If we don’t win the customer’s trust, we will be out of the race, despite even having the very best solution to offer. Transparency in this context means that you grant access to accurate, correct, and preferably provider-neutral content. Nowadays, customers just do not rely on a single option. The variety of different alternatives available on the Internet almost always leads to a comparison. Customers evaluate multiple options in their Consider phase and can re-access a previously evaluated solution or simply go back one step in their decision process at any time. This is not just something the PHANTOM imagines, it is in fact much less dependent on individual providers thanks to the possibilities of the digital world. Nor is it dependent on those from its own environment, as was the case in the past. Not even on existing supplier relationships, as some salespeople still believe. In this context, it is all the more important to differentiate oneself from the other solution options. The best way to do this is by • outlining and illustrating a neutral decision-making process and highlighting everything what needs to be considered along it, • pointing out potential errors and pitfalls, • showing all possible solutions and options, • recommending and describing the scenarios for each option, • illustrating the future results and outcomes that can be achieved, • sharing practical knowledge from many years of experience and implemented projects and • positioning oneself as a trustworthy and helpful partner. While 37% of visitors leave a B2B website because of poor navigation and non-userfriendly design, 46% of visitors do so because of the lack of message: they do not understand what the company does (Huff Industrial Marketing et al.2015). If visitors cannot understand what you do and how they could benefit from it, is it a wonder they go away? 

Customers do not leave websites just because of their bad usability, but mainly because of their bad content.

The same study also asked its participants which information they lacked most on B2B provider websites. The results: details on technical support (59%), pricing (56%) and product reviews (43%). What customers don’t find on your websites Customers not only want to know what you have to offer and how great your products are, but also what happens after they have chosen you: Support. They want to find out what your solutions cost, preferably directly on the website, so that they don’t have to contact sales separately: Price. And they want to know what experiences others have had with you: Reviews, Use Cases.

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On the subject of ratings, there is another interesting discrepancy between customers and providers: customers say that the most important thing for them is the content of the reviews. Providers, however, believe it’s the amount of the reviews or their ratings level, that’s the most important for buyers (TrustRadius 2020). In essence, it doesn’t matter to potential customers who buys from you, they want to know what experiences they have had with you or your products. Few of us want to be guinea pigs for an unknown solution. We would like to have proofs that the solution in question has proven to be successful for others. “Proofs”, because it is important to them to be sure that the solution really works the way they expect. 

But most importantly, customers want to know what results the others have been able to achieve.

And what do providers do? They list logos in the “References” section and long lists with customers’ names. Basically, the idea is not wrong, because the more names and the more famous they are, the higher the assumption that your solution works. But a single customer story with a description of the results achieved is much more informative and valuable than the list of dozens names and logos. What can they achieve with your products? In addition to positioning ourselves as experts, we also need to demonstrate the potentially achievable results. In particular in the Consider phase is this important, because it is still about the solution itself, not about the provider. If customers consult references and reviews in this phase, they only do so in order to understand what is possible with the use of your solution. That’s why it’s not very useful if existing customers rate us high star and allow us to print their logo on the marketing brochure, but prospects don’t know what benefit these customers have drawn from working with us. The best way to communicate this is with use cases, customer storys and project descriptions with a clear presentation of the results achieved. And if you don’t get permission to mention the customer’s name, anonymous use cases are still better than none. Much better are testimonials and use cases that reflect the respective industries and the situations of the specific target groups: the more precise, the higher the probability that the content meets the individual needs of the prospect. Technology can provide good support here and help providing preconfigured and customized content tailored to the specific market segment or customer situation. This will make a prospect feel most confirmed with his problem with you, compared to the other noise in the digital space. Because with such customized content, you give him the feeling that you are the one of the few who understands him and his special needs. Don’t be afraid to publish use cases without publishing the respective customer names, if you are not allowed to do so. Even without a customer name, they still do a better job, compared to a meaningless logo.

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6.3.6 Buying Center: Identify All Stakeholders At this point, decision-making groups are beginning to form. More and more people are becoming involved in the decision as the need for a solution is being acknowledged. Our first goal here is to identify the relevant roles in the Buying Center and address them individually. Because only if the needs of all of them are met, will the decision process also progress. In complex procurements, sales people are usually already involved at this point in the process. One of their most important tasks here would be to identify all the people involved in this particular situation and either gain access to them or otherwise ensure that their specific needs are correctly addressed and met. This can be done using existing relationships, but also technology, see “Technology Aspects” in Sect. 6.3.10. Reconciliation in a modern Buying Center can become a special challenge, so we need to be actively involved here: The sooner all stakeholders are identified and those needed to be involved are pointed out (for example, that the financial decision-makers should be involved in good time) and the better all their different interests are addressed, the sooner they will reach an agreement, and the decision-making process will be shortened, thus also your sales process. Possible external parties involved must not be overlooked, as they often play a decisive role in the decision-making process, such as consultants, investors or other suppliers.

6.3.7 Content Forms: Distribution Before Production The best way to reach potential customers in the Consider phase is through strategic content marketing with all its different content forms. But, we should not be too hasty in advertising for our own brand and products or try to sell with intrusive, aggressive methods. Instead, we want to provide educational content that illustrates all eventual solutions to the customer’s problem. Ultimately, the goal is to bring the customer into the narrower range of options that he considers in his decision-making. For the distribution of content, various channels should be used in order to reach the target group as best as possible. These can be divided into three supercategories: earned, owned and paid channels, see Fig. 6.7. • Paid media: are paid channels to convey content. These include, for example, ads on social media, search engine advertising and traditional advertising formats. It is important that the content itself does not have an advertising character, but conveys relevant content. Here, we use paid advertising channels, because these might be better visible to the target group, but we convey valuable content with the aim of leading potential customers to the website, where we offer more relevance and added value. • Owned media: are basically own channels such as website, landing pages, blogs, podcasts, video channels, profiles on social media, etc., which are used for content

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Fig. 6.7   Content forms

marketing in its classical sense. With these channels we have the full control in every respect: in terms of content, its publication and distribution. • Earned media: are media where distribution has to be “earned” in a figurative sense. This means that influential third parties promote and share your content on their own accord or generate content about your company or your products. For example, an IT service provider praises your software or a popular blogger links to your article or an influencer reports on the experience with your products (unpaid in this case). Whether owned, paid or earned: All channels offer their advantages from different perspectives. Ideally, you should not limit yourself to just one of these approaches, but use a multi-channel approach. The gain is that the content can attract potential new customers even years after its publication, if it has been placed strategically. Distribution before production It is important not to concentrate only on the generation of content, but above all on its distribution. Many misunderstand the content marketing approach and assume that they would have to produce new content all the time, which is very resource-intensive. The true art lies in producing less, but more valuable content and placing it as often as possible and in the right places to reach the largest possible target group. The importance of the greatest possible spread of the content must not be underestimated. Do not make the mistake—as many others do—to assume that it is enough to publish content on your own website and then share it once in a post in social media. It is reasonable to convey the same content in different forms. This is not only efficient, but also allows to meet different preferences of the target group. The forms avail-

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able to distribute content can be very diverse: teaching videos, explanatory videos, events, webinars, presentations, analyses, instructions, solution illustrations, guides, infographics, pictures & photos, vlogs, how to’s, do’s & don’ts, quizzes, discussion rounds, options comparisons, configurators, interviews, customer storys, use cases, interactive models, ROI calculators, guides, checklist, e-books, demos, customer experience reports, reviews, FAQ, Q&A sessions, buyer guides, decision tree, etc. Diverse, but strategic Once again, we don’t want to overwhelm them: You can certainly use many different forms to replicate the content, but they need to be strategically placed in different places for the particular stakeholders in the decision-making process, so that a single person is unlikely to be overwhelmed by the mass of information. To be able to decide what are the right forms to be used, a deep understanding of the target group is necessary. Let’s take the different generations once more as an example: The probability that customers of Generation Z and the Millennials will discover a product via online channels is almost twice as high as for older generations, who tend to rely more on existing relationships and experiences from the past (Trustradius 2020, p. 1). Generally, the younger generations (Z and Y) tend to prefer shorter content in visual form (infographics, images and videos). Generation X, on the other hand, prefers to read longer articles and consult trade press and market reports. Also consider the new SEO trends, such as image, voice, video and local search, and of course mobile SEO, which are gaining importance, especially among younger generations, see Fig. 6.8. In any case, the content should be offered for self-service, as this preference is becoming increasingly prevalent among all generations. Remove all barriers to content and eliminate possible dead ends. If the customer has started his self-service research journey, he should not end up at a point where he has not found the answer and has to start all over again or switch to alternative resources. Interactive forms of content presentation can be used to overcome this, such as assistance bots or targeted and selective navigation through website content. When it comes to self-service, customers increasingly prefer interactive formats to static websites, which is due to the lack of time and the flood of information. Avoid providing too much information at once, but present it selectively based on its value for the respective personas.

6.3.8 Activities: Pull Before Push As we know, more information, more options and more people involved in the buying process lead to customers being slowed down and partially paralyzed in their decisions. Consequently, all marketing and sales activities should be focused on affirming customers on their decision-journey and in their decision-making ability. To this end, we also make use of passive and active measures. The passive ones include the content strategies

Fig. 6.8   New SEO

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described above and the active measures include the activities of the sales staff and other directly engaging approaches, such as ABM strategies or e-mail marketing. In marketing circles, a distinction is made between pull-push or inbound-outbound strategies. Put simply, push marketing means that you actively “push” your own brand and the products of your target group, which means “forcing”, usually with paid advertising or acquisition activities. Pull marketing, on the other hand, means implementing a strategy that naturally arouses customers’ interest in the brand or products, usually with relevant and interesting content. Basically, we use the push approach to actively search for customers and the pull approach to build the necessary conditions for customers to find us. Both approaches are justified—when using the right content—and in most cases a combination of both will make sense. Generally, in the research phase, the pull approach is more effective because it better reflects the behaviour of the modern customer. Active, but not intrusive When considering active measures, we should make sure that they are not too intrusive. In particular, caution is advised when using push approaches, as they may be perceived as a nuisance. 74% of consumers consider push notifications on their smartphones to be the most invasive channel because they view their phone as an everyday tool and a part of their personal space (SmarterHQ 2020). As a result, push messages of any kind, including messenger services such as WhatsApp, can be seen as an intrusion into personal space and have the opposite of the desired effect. 

Customers vehemently reject intrusive marketing and sales methods.

In answer to the question of what they find most annoying about marketing, B2B buyers list e-mails first and cold calls second, followed by aggressive salespeople, uniform sales conversations, and non-personalized communication (Trustradius 2020). The study went one step further and asked customers how likely they are to be receptive to such tactics. The result speaks for itself: over 90% of buyers say they would not respond at all to nonpersonalized messages and cold calls. No wonder—who loves cold calls? But instead of building an understanding about the target group’s needs, sales continues to be trained doggedly in cold prospecting techniques that simply leave customers cold. Not even buyers, whose job it is to find potential suppliers, let alone busy decision-makers, are willing to react to them. It is hard to imagine a greater discrepancy between sales activities and customer expectations. The same applies to social selling activities. Here too, we are dealing with a misunderstanding of this approach: instead of cold calling and writing prospecting e-mails, now sales reps use LinkedIn InMails to actively acquire customers. This too, belongs to the categories “undesirable” and “outdated approaches”. After all, it’s the same prospecting approach, just on new channels. Social selling, done right, can be a very effective

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sales tool, but it implies by no means spamming customers with self-promotional messages in social media.  Social Selling refers to a process of targeted customer relationship building via social networks as part of the sales process. The focus is on direct dialogue with customers, which intiates through providing relevant content and offering added value on the social network. It is not the sale and prospecting that are in the foreground, but the building of a network within one’s own target group, which—indirectly—leads to more business in the long term. It is about building trust and demonstrating expertise in the respective subject area. The aim is to position oneself here as a valuable source of relevant content, so that customers themselves develop the desire to contact the provider and initiate a dialogue. It is important to keep in mind, that in the Consider phase potential customers are still looking for different solution options and are not yet intending to buy. If we want them to seriously consider us as a potential solution, we must demonstrate understanding of their situation by showing them that we recognize and know their problems. This is one of the most important tasks of salespeople in the Affirm phase, because here the first direct contact often initiates. If we have done a good work in the previous phases, the customer will voluntarily develop the willigness to start an interaction. Because we focus on providing content that is relevant and important for his decision, he believes he would benefit even more from a direct contact and eventually learn more important things. But we should be careful not to disappoint the prospect here, which undoubtedly will happen if he gets the impression that he is being actively sold something. The task of sales at this first contact attempt is to find answers to the following questions: • • • •

In which stage of the decision-making process is this person? What role does he play in the Buying Center? What challenges does he face in the decision-process itself? What has already been done and what support is needed now?

And then provide exactly the support that the customer is looking for at that moment. Attention: The goal is not to exactly answer the customer’s question or to provide him with the information he asks for, but to offer him the necessary decision support. To do this, we have to understand his situation and, above all, answer the question: What does he want to achieve? With this, customer will feel reassued in his intention to contact you and his developing trust into you will strengthen, which will consequently open up a potential access to his decision-making process for you. When planning specific activities, it is important to understand to what extent the customer actually needs support in his decision-making process. For this purpose, we need to identify the degree of customer’s independence in the respective decision phases, for which we need a deep analysis of the customer buying process, see “Digital Transfor-

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mation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a). For example, a decision on which printing paper to buy is probably not going to require a telephone sales consultation, but a press might.

6.3.9 Engagement: Unenforced In the Affirm phase, we want to build up mainly interactive, anticipatory and personalized engagement channels. The goal is to create an experience that is as individualized as possible. To this end, we need to enter into a dialogue with prospects, rather than simply conveying information from the inside out. The best way to do this is to give the PHANTOM control over his experience. This is the highest and most effective form of personalization that customers expect today. Ideally, it takes into account the entertainment factor of the EEE -World, keyword enthusiasm. Because, our inner child will welcome humorous, original and entertaining forms of interaction, which of course shouldn’t be too banal. The more the customer interacts with you and the more information he shares with you, the more personalized his experience should be. We don’t want to scare him off with “creepy” data-based targeting tactics, but enable a continuous dialogue in both directions, rather than starting it from scratch every time. Particularly for existing customers who repeatedly purchase and re-enter the Consider phase in their decision-process, the customer experience should be personalized based on their known interests and purchase history. Thereby the simplicity and speed of the customer experience must not be forgotten. As we already know, reaction speed is one of the most important criteria in the customer’s decision-making process. But reaction times also differ depending on the engagement’s reason. If a prospect asked for a speciffic quote or price, he usually would expect an immediate reaction. If someone has filled out a contact form, they would expect a response soon. But if someone has completed a form to download a whitepaper, it doesn’t mean they want to talk at all. Moreover, such practices of forced interaction should be better avoided. 

Companies must understand that interaction can’t be forced, and certainly not by withholding important information and forcing customers into interaction in order to get it. On the contrary, the goal is to trigger a voluntary desire for interaction through added value.

A potential customer will recognize the eventual added value based on the quality and relevance of the content you offer. Many companies repeatedly face concerns about making key content freely available to anyone on the Internet. Especially within companies acting in highly competitive market segments, it is difficult to create awareness for the necessiity of this approach. Their fear of thereby strengthening the competition is absolutely understandable. But let’s be realistic: If the competition really wants to, it will always find a way to get it, won’t it?

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However, with the PHANTOM customer it is different. He has to want it. And he will develop this wish only if he cannot obtain the information in any other way. By withholding valuable information from customers, whether out of fear or with the intention of generating leads, you are not doing yourself any favors. Because the PHANTOM customer will go other—open—ways that are available to him today to a greater extent. Companies should not simply ignore, but critically and factually consider the risks and gains of this transparent approach. The main question ist: Where do you lose and where do you gain more, on the competition side or on the business side with potential customers?

6.3.10 Technology Aspects: Analytics and Automation In the Affirm phase, there are various technological aspects to consider which enable us to optimize the customer experience: • Analytics provide various levels of analysis for the purpose of optimizing marketing activities. To this end, we now have a wide range of applications and providers available that perform this analytical work in the background and offer the user relevant information of all kinds and in a convenient format, see Fig. 6.9. The use of such tools is essential for contemporary marketing activities. After all, we have to adapt the approaches, the content, the design and the user experience to the constantly growing and changing needs of the target groups. And that’s only possible with ongoing performance analytics. • Tracking Tools allow us to see who is interested in the content, how deeply and how they interact with it. This can be useful for identifying new unknown target groups, better understanding the existing target group and also identifying individuals within a buying center. These include, for example, sales enablement tools that allow tracking and gaining insights into who interacts with the content as well as sales intelligence tools, AI-supported CRM systems or analytics. They allows to see exactly who, when and how long they interact with the content, providing important insights for addressing and supporting the decision-making process on the customer side. • ABM—Account Based Marketing is essential in complex decisions with large buying centers. These are tools that enable targeted and personalized approaches to target customers with coordinated marketing and sales activities across the entire decisionmaking process and for all decision-makers in the buying center. These include tools that specialize in supporing the winning of new accounts, or focus on supporting the business development with existing customers. • Automation tools are a prerequisite for modern marketing. The amount of tasks in the digital space is continously increasing and their planning, coordination and execution is hardly possible with manual resources. Nowadays, no marketing department will be able to do its work without automation. Furthermore, modern technology can better and faster perform many tasks in marketing. There are numerous applications

Fig. 6.9   Analytics Tools in Marketing

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and tools that provide great support of the marketing activities: from the automation of classic tasks like email marketing, to the automation of social media and content activities, and up to dynamic targeting and automated interaction with prospects, see Fig. 6.10. Other technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality, can create simulated environments that help customers better understand the potential value of an offering. This creates additional value and the content gains new meaning. AI-supported solution and product configurators enable quick configuration of a tailor-made product or solution and generation of an individual quote, so that customers do not have to take long journeys or rely on the opening times and responsiveness of sales departments. A detailed description of the various technological possibilities for sales can be found in “Digital Transformation in Sales” (Rainsberger 2021a).

6.4 Brainwash The Brainwash phase reflects the Interact phase in the customer’s decision-making process. At this point, the customer is still researching, but the solution is usually already clear, Here, the customer is primarily concerned with choosing between different providers. Depending on the business sector, this phase can take place without any interaction

Fig. 6.10   Marketing Automation

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with sales, if the customer has been able to gather all the necessary information digitally and on his own. Otherwise, the first contact with providers will be initiated in this phase, especially in B2B. Now, we basically have reached the 70 percent threshold, see Fig. 4.3 in Chap. 4. The customer is usually well informed, and there is a basic agreement among the parties involved about the need for the investment. Now it is about validating the assumptions and evaluating the investment in relation to the expected added value of the solution. Your prospect is now looking more closely at the options which appear feasible and meaningful. Including yours. Now is the time to demonstrate him why he needs your support in the process of evaluation itself. If you have guided your prospect well through the previous decision phases (Discover, Explore, Consider), your previous work  and investment will now pay off. If you manged to lead the prospect from the stage of no awareness up to the solutions identification, he will surely come back to you when evaluating potential suppliers. And provided he has been able to extract the most value from your resources, he will most likely rely on your expertise and give you a head start.

6.4.1 Goal: Create the Right Perspective Now that the customer is actively interacting, we need to do two things: • Open up new and relevant perspectives for his specific situation that he has not yet recognized himself. • Show how his problem might be solved with your solution and what concrete results he will be than able to achieve in his specific situation. Strictly speaking, we are pursuing the goal of helping the customer to see his situation in a new—and more correct—way—enlighten—and at the same time outlining which tangible results he will achieve when using your solution—reinforce. 

We want to create the right perspective and outline the future outcomes.

6.4.2 Misunderstanding Potential: The Product is Not the Goal One of the biggest misunderstandings potential here is to assume that now is finally the time to put own products and solutions in the foreground. This misconception is based on the false assumption that once customers start detailed vendors evaluation, it’s necessary to let yourself and your products shine against the competition. Even though we want to show customers how our solutions and products might solve their problems, it doesn’t mean we need to switch into sales or presentation mode and deliver a “sales

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pitch”. We continue to be guided, as in the previous phases, by the aspiration to empower customers to make right decisions for themselves.  Since, it’s still about his decision and not about our products. But, if we show him what results he could achieve with our solutions—ideally those that the competition does not offer and that are also relevant to the customer—naturally, we will catapult ourselves to the top of the shortlist, without us having to specifically advertise for it. This is the best possible way to differentiate yourself. You stand out from all the other providers by focusing on future results instead of own products: What can be achieved with them? At the end of the day, that’s what a customer is really aiming for.  He does not need your solution per se. He wants to achieve something with it and that is exactly what we want to highlight. Let’s briefly recall the study by Rain Group that examined what distinguishes the winners from the second-placed, see Sect. 4.4. In third place was: Convinced me that we will achieve results with the solution (Rain Group 2021). That’s good evidence, but when you think about it, it is only logical: 

The solution and the product is only a way, a means to an end, never the goal itself.

Let’s recall: At the top of the reasons why providers choose someone, stood: Offered me new ideas and perspectives (Rain Group 2021).And that is exactly what we want to offer the customer in this phase. For the next big misunderstanding of salespeople lies in the assumption that the customer is well informed and that if he has already evaluated various solutions and only one or two final clarification questions remain open, he has done a good job of his research and that he well knows what he needs. The later in the procurement process the sales are involved, the more likely salespeople are to assume that the customer, armed to the teeth with information, is clear about his needs and the right solution requirements. Although the customer may believe this, he may well be wrong. Remember my Ferrari chair. Just because a customer has lots of information, it does not necessarily mean he is more knowledgeable: think of our pseudo-informed PHANTOM. The irony, as we know, is that more information does not automatically lead to more “correct” insights; in fact, the opposite can be true. However, sales people tend to assume that customers can make good decisions themselves and do not dare to intervene in their decision-making process, but try to respond to the customer’s requests as best they can. A want is not equivalent to a need I want a chair, but my need is to get rid of my back pain. In contemporary sales, it is extremely important to clearly distinguish: What need is hidden behind the expressed wish? Often, salespeople know more about potential needs than their customers. Because, with each new customer they go through the purchase process over and over again. But prospects and buyers may experience this specific purchase process only once or twice in their lives. Consequently, an unconscious discrepancy between want and need often occurs in their thinking, which worst case may cause more problems.

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Awareness about such discrepancies and the importance of this knowledge is missing in most sales organizations. Good salespeople do this instinctively and unconsciously. But pointing out such discrepancies to customers requires methodology and conscious application. Because with this knowledge we make customers think and offer them new perspectives, enabling them to gain important insights related to their procurement.

6.4.3 Necessary Understanding: Irrational Decisions Ultimately, we want to shake up the self-convinced customer, figuratively wash his head, so that he experiences an “aha” moment and realizes that he needs you and your insights for his decision-making. That’s why this phase is called “Brainwash”, because it’s about waking up. About focusing the customer’s attention on where the potential dangers lie in his decision. We want to save him from a wrong decision, which is much more common than we all think. Because, not only our customers, but we all mistakenly assume that we make mostly correct decisions. Our psyche leads us to this conviction. Our brain often plays tricks on us. We constantly make thinking errors and don’t even realize it. We’re talking about the so-called cognitive biases that behavioral research has discovered and for which it has provided numerous evidence over the years. A Nobel Prize has even been awarded for this research. Cognitive biases

Even though we consider ourselves to be rational beings, in reality we are often victims of our brain, as behavioral research has often revealed. Unconscious processes take place in the background, which influence the quality of our decisions. Consequently, we assume to make rational decisions, although they are often irrational and influenced by factors other than we are aware of. Scientists (Amos Tversky, Daniel Kahneman, Robert Cialdini, Peter Wason, Norbert Schwarz, Richard Thaler, etc.) speak of so-called cognitive biases, which occur as thinking mistakes in the process of information processing and interpretation. Among the best known and also relevant in our context are: • The anchoring effect: Decisions are influenced by a certain reference point, referred to as an “anchor.” Once the value of the anchor is set—and it can be purely random—the person’s subsequent assessments are influenced by it. The anchor effect is well observable in negotiation situations: The first-mentioned price influences the rest of the negotiations. The information does not need to have any direct relation to the subject. Any—first-mentioned—number can influence the subsequent decisions. The thinking mistake lies in the assumption that we would consider all factors rationally and independently of each other, while we are influenced by the first information we receive. Perhaps an explana-

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tion for why those providers who respond first to an inquiry would usually win the deal? The confirmation bias: With this cognitive distortion, the decisions are influenced by already existing opinions, beliefs and convictions. While we believe we are considering multiple alternatives, in reality, however, we first make an assumption based on our existing opinions and interpret all future information to best confirm this first assumption. We ignore everything else that contradicts it, the “counterproductive” information that would disprove our assumption we unconsciously blank out. The thinking error is that we assume we have examined the situation objectively, in reality we confirm existing beliefs instead of questioning them for the sake of making a better decision. Perhaps a good explanation for RFP’s that seem to be precisely tailored to a specific provider? The availability heuristic: In this case, our thinking takes the shortest routes and relies on the information that comes to mind most quickly, such as recently heard information from a competitor or information that has strongly influenced us, such as a bad experience with a product or supplier. The thinking error lies in the fact that we assume to have good arguments for our decisions, but in reality we rely on information that is easiest to retrieve from our memory. Perhaps a good explanation for why the same suppliers are always drawn into the shortlist? Fast and slow thinking: This cognitive bias is about our brain always trying to use as little energy as possible when making decisions. We make most of our daily decisions intuitively with the so-called System 1 (fast thinking). This makes us quick, but we can often be wrong. System 2 allows slow and logical thinking, which enables us to make decisions consciously, but from the perspective of our brain it is associated with more effort and energy consumption. Consequently, we unconsciously go the easier way and use System 1, but believe to be consciously using System 2. The thinking error lies in the fact that we assume to have made a logical and rational decision, but in reality it is pure intuition. Perhaps a good explanation for why many brands appeal to our intuition and the unconscious? The loss aversion: This cognitive bias tempts us to hold on more strongly to what we already have in comparison to an eventual gain in the future. The pain of losing something is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. Consequently, we tend to protect and defend what we already possess rather than opening up to new possibilities whose outcome is uncertain. The thinking error lies in the fact that we assume to have rationally analyzed the current state versus the future state, but in reality we hold on to the existing state, even though it is bad. The unconscious fear of aggravating an existing condition is the main reason for this behavior. Perhaps a good explanation for why companies eventually end up doing nothing?

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• Social proof: In this case we tend to consider a behavior as more “right” when several others demonstrate the same behavior. In short, people seek validation from others—and when they receive it, they are more likely to act accordingly. People rely less on their own individual opinions, but much more on the opinion of many others. The thinking error lies in the fact that we believe to have made an unbiased factual decision based on our own opinion, but in reality we do what the others do. Perhaps a good explanation for why people rely more on the ratings and comments of others than on their own judgment? Behavioral science has proven that our brains provide us with many opportunities to make bad decisions without being aware of. Sales should be aware of these correlations, of course not in order to manipulate customer decisions in their own favor, but to recognize that “brainwashing” customers is necessary. And especially to build up the necessary skills to do so. The traditional sales rep typically doesn’t have the business acumen, industry knowledge, or customer understanding to shake customers up in such a way. This knowledge and the ability to shake customers awake without appearing too provocative or know-it-all has to be built up across sales organizations. The necessary (re-)training can be significant. It also requires close collaboration with product management or product development to build the essential knowledge related to the product benefits and the problems it solves. Ultimately, this means that sales staff need quite different skills and abilities than in the past. Change, rethinking and retraining are never easy, however, in today’s times, this is probably a chance for salespeople to survive. After all, if they do not succeed to offer added value, but continue primarily acting in their informative and price negotiating roles, sooner or later they will also lose their access to the last 30 percent of the customer decision process, see Fig. 4.3 in Chap. 4. However, with the ENABLE approach, at this point in the process, you have the best chance of gaining access to the customer’s decision-making process. Because, if a customer realizes that he might be making a mistake, or that his perspective and the evaluation of the situation contain misconceptions, he will voluntarily take a step back in his process and will revalidate his assumptions, and most likely engage you as a critical and honest companion.

6.4.4 Touchpoints: Easy, Direct Contact Options The touchpoints in this phase resemble those of the Affirm phase, except that they are used more intensively and personal interaction occurs more often, but this also depends on the industry. Contact points are usually the common telephone or e-mail, but the convenient customer will take today the quickest way—depending on where he is in the spe-

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cific moment. For example, it is more convenient for a prospect to fill out a contact form directly on the respective subpage of the website than to switch to Outlook and write an e-mail or even go to the “Contact page”, because this too requires an additional click. Although it seems simple and easy, searching for a contact form somewhere in the website menu or under “contact details” might be tedious for a busy customer. Every single additional click to start an interaction should be questioned for its meaningfulness. Consequently, contact forms—with few fields and preferably none of them mandatory—are not only to be placed classically on the contact page, but also strategically everywhere where the customer’s desire to get in touch could arise. The idea is to make it easy for customers and offer them direct, immediate, effortless contact options. Even though it  should be obvious that contact information and options are one of the obligatory features of any website, it is astonishing how many companies still offer their customers insufficient contact options. The B2B-Web Usability Report has found that 44% of B2B customers leave a website because they “cannot find contact information/ telephone number”. When asked which website elements bother them most, more than half (54%) of respondents said that the lack of contact information would greatly impair the credibility of a provider and would cause them to leave this website. When asked which types of content are missing on most provider websites, 51% of respondents again said “thorough contact information (telephone/e-mail address)” (Huff Industrial Marketing et al. 2015). In this day and age, how come that contact information is missing on websites? In the consumer sector, it may be understandable why some providers carefully hide their phone numbers and email addresses and deliberately try to force customers into their predefined customer journey. Though that also could be questioned as to its meaningfulness. At the end of the day, the customers are not stupid and realize that you are hiding from them. But in the B2B sector? Which B2B company would be interested in not disclosing its contact information? For instance, to avoid the sales staff being disturbed by potential customers? No, this is no joke: Recently, I discovered at one of my clients that all incoming calls—on the advice of a consultant, by the way—were being redirected to reception, even when directly dialig sales. The reason: They don’t want to disturb the employees and distract them from the work they are concentrating on at that moment. Seriously now? We build processes so that customers do not disturb the employees? Instead, the customer is left to hang in queues and repeat himself several times to several staff members instead of being directed directly to the right person? 

Please allow me to explicitly request that every imaginable opportunity should be created for customers to interrupt salespeople and other employees in their—concentrated—work as often as possible.

This, by the way, applies not only to potential customers, but also to existing ones. The supposedly clever strategies to provide free phone lines for those callers who want to buy

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something, and to send those who have a problem to the e-mail support aren’t a good tactic too. Why should a customer buy again if he is treated like this? We want to offer customers as many, as direct and as easy as possible touchpoints, think cross-channel.

6.4.5 Key Content: Shake Up The goal of all content activities in the brainwash phase is: offering customers opportunities to recognize and gain important insights about their eventual misconceptions. For this, we concentrate on such insights that a customer would typically not come to on his own during his digital research. Repeating what everyone else is telling, or what is obvious, doesn’t get us anywhere. It’s not easy to identify the messages that generate the greatest “aha” effect with customers, and a great deal of preliminary work must be done. Usually, this knowledge lies dormant in the sales organization: especially among long-serving employees and among managers. The goal is to convert this slumbering knowledge into understandable and appealing customer messages. The best way to do this is with provocative approaches, because they shake customers in their existing assumptions—think of the cognitive biases. Some examples of possible approaches: • • • • • • • •



Identify a critical or existentially-threatening problem. Ask “What if” questions and explore the consequences of a bad decision. Get to the root of the problem and point out factors that may have been overlooked. Point out the danger of losing track of really important goals during the decisionmaking process. Create new and unusual perspectives on the problem. Draw attention to “little things” with “big impact”. Outline how the future will be potentially worse if a bad or no decision is made. Create fresh perspectives on the future once the solution is in place.

Ultimately, it is about identifying a problem in the customer’s specific situation of which he is not aware. And that in two ways: in terms of the problem and the customer’s need for a solution and in terms of the decision-making process itself.

If you manage to do that, the customer will recognize your added value in his decisionmaking process and consequently also the added value of working with you, which will most likely lead to a purchase from you. With this approach we want to demonstrate that: • we really understand the customer’s situation and his challenges, • we have already gained experience on this and are able to point out potential pitfalls to customers,

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• we can help the customer make the right decision, • we can support the customer to make a decision faster, • but above all, that we really want to help him and act in his interests. Most customers basically don’t care how much you know. Your knowledge only becomes interesting to customers when you manage to convince them that you are using this knowledge in their interests and that you understand their special situation. The best way to do this is to show the customer that • You understand their business and their business problems, • You are well able to assess the full implications in the event of inaction or a wrong decision, • You can help them craft a solution that also achieves tangible results. As a result, customers will see you not just as one solution provider among many others, but as someone who can help them make the right decision. Consequently, they will involve you more and deeper in the whole decision process and ultimately most likely also buy from you. The proof: 84% of business customers are more likely to buy from a company that demonstrates an understanding of their business goals (Salesforce Research 2020).

6.4.6 Buying Center: Keeping the Goal in Mind At this point, the buying group has made a general decision about the investment and the potential solution path, but still lots of details need to be coordinated. Especially in the case of complex decisions, the real work begins now, involving other departments to validate requirements and assumptions, and to evaluate the feasibility of the preselected solution. The danger at this stage is that in all the detail work they lose track of the results they are aiming for and, above all, run the risk of forgetting what the whole thing is supposed to be for and why the project was initiated. This risk can also be amplified by the fact that important decision-makers and initiators of the project drop out of the process at this stage, only to re-enter and make the final decision at the end. In this phase of “detailed work” the whole project may take a different direction—completely unnoticed. Worst case, it can happen that the team has created a very detailed solution, but no longer knows why. I have experienced it live how far it can go: After many months of long and detailed work, the decision-makers presented the project to the managing director of the company for final approval. When he asked “What are we doing this for?”, no one could immediately answer. Therefore, the task of sales here—assuming it has the necessary access to the decision-making process—is to keep drawing attention to the project goal and the aimed outcomes, so that no discrepancy between want and need may occur.

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This not only makes it easier to highlight the added value of the solution, but also nips some conflicts or counterproductive discussions about unimportant details in the bud. Because, sometimes buying group debates about single functionalities can go on forever, which in reality are unimportant for the achievement of the project’s overall goals, but require an extremely large amount of resources and slow down the decision-making process. The task of sales is to recognize this, tactically react to it and unobtrusively bring the group back on course again and again. Which means gaining access to those people who actually decide, as well as insisting that the right people are involved at the right time. Occasionally, the person in contact with sales is unable to steer the group and lead the decision-process, especially in corporate constellations or in the case of complex decisions. In such cases, the sales rep should not rely on this single contact point, but must gain own access to the decision-makers or enable his contact person to properly guide the decision-making process.

6.4.7 Content Forms: Attention! The content forms in the Brainwash phase resemble those from the Educate phase, Sect. 6.1.5. Here, we need rather short formats with a questioning and stirring character, but above all in connection with an interaction option, in order to increase the likelihood of being contacted. Interactive content, such as decision-making aids that point to critical decision criteria, are well suited for this. We want to challenge, therefore the used forms should support this intention. Even customers are mainly looking for prices and more detailed specifications in this phase, we must distribute appropriate hints in between this information, so that they realize they might be overlooking something. Basically, we want to use such ideas: “You want to know a price, but have you already considered that …? You are interested in product X, what do you want to achieve with it exactly? Is function X important to you because … or because …?” Such and similar questions will make the customer think and, if an option for a direct interaction is provided, they will most likely trigger a contact request. Ultimately, we want to invoke alertness and uncertainty in their decision making and create awareness for the need of additional support.

6.4.8 Activities: Questioning Assumptions The sales activities in this phase have an investigative character. Imagine the sales rep being a detective looking for the customer’s misconceptions and respectfully but directly confronting him. It takes courage to do this, especially when dealing with senior-level executives. The irony, however, is that it is especially the highest executive levels who appreciate this attitude. After all, it’s the executives of a company who are usually interested in making right and impactful decisions.

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Unfortunately, sales reps rarely have the courage to approach them with such an attitude. To recall, 79% of salespeople agree with the statement “I remain very flexible to customer needs and opinions throughout a sale, even when I don’t necessarily agree with their direction.” (Harvard Business Review 2017). What salespeople actually do: They make sure that customers have all the data, the facts and documentation they need to make a decision. They provide a variety of options, constantly adapting their quotes to changing customer requirements. While doing so, they try to meet the expressed customer requirements as best they can. Instead of questioning the requirements—especially when they are constantly changing—sales try to fulfill them as best as possible. However, this simply qualifies you as one of the providers that the customer will meticulously chose from, and you reduce yourself to the level of functionality and price comparison. That’s exactly what we don’t want. We don’t want to simply bid and hope that our solution or quote will be the best. We want to differentiate from all other providers on the market, not just with features or prices, but above all with at different sales approach. Sales staff should realize that outstanding customer service does not mean saying “yes” and “amen” to everything. With this approach, they are treated like a commodity and considered irrelevant in the decision-making process: they are merely viewed as a source of information. Usually, when considered to be a good salesperson, it means primarily being a good, reliable, fast and friendly source of information. But, what we really want is to be a source of insights, we want to challenge customers’ ways of thinking and empower them to make right decisions. Something that is rarely found in sales, but definitely welcomed by customers. What customers really want—in their own words (Trustradius 2020): 1. Personalized guidance: Buyers want to know you’ve done your homework and can provide them with personalized guidance throughout their product evaluation and selection processes. “Know my business. The basics are available on our website through a simple Google search, so it’s easy to see the industry, our owner info, etc.” 2. Immediate Differentiation: Buyers are tired of hearing the same old sales pitch from every rep they meet with. They want to get to the heart of what sets your products apart from the rest—fast. Think about how you can achieve immediate differentiation in the eyes of your buyers. “I wish they would explain what sets them apart in their initial phone or email pitch.” 3. Balanced Feedback: Buyers want honest, transparent conversations with vendors about the pros and cons of their product or service. While giving buyers a rose-tintedglasses view of your product is tempting, balanced feedback is a much more effective way to gain their trust. “I would like them to stop telling only the good points and strengths [of their product] and start telling also the constraints and frame or scope of the hardware/ software. We are getting this kind of information from references anyway.”

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Customers want to deal with salespeople who really understand their situation and act sincerely in their interests. They too, don’t need anyone who fulfills all their wishes, but would rather have someone who understands their needs and helps them fulfill them. Sales must learn to properly investigate these needs. The investigative approach should not be misunderstood and customers should not be questioned and asked too many “unnecessary” questions. Even if it means saying during customer’s first contact: “Please give me some time to first visit your website and get an understanding of your company and your business. Then I’ll get back to you and we can talk more specifically.” Nobody would mind. On the contrary, the customer would be grateful that you value his time. 

Today, customers expect every interaction to be clear, convincing, and concise, and worth their time.

Consequenly, we should not only avoid interrogating customers, but also telling them what they already know. Usually at this stage, customers already have consumed information that they have access to. They are now collecting missing things and looking for what they do not yet know, otherwise they probably would not contact you. The seller must be able to quickly recognize—without boring and catechizing the customer—at what level of knowledge and in which step of the decision-making process he is, what he really needs and not what he asks for, and guide him from there or better get out of his way. Because, the worst thing a B2B salesperson can do at this point is to further exhaust the PHANTOM’s already very low patience. The seller in the role of a “talking marketing brochure” is no longer bearable for customers, if they already have that information. Especially the digital natives have researched the functional and provider-related aspects long before the first meeting. For instance, research from Santa Clara University has found that these generations react positively to those sellers who evoke a feeling of trust, compatibility and connection, in contrast to buyers over 50, who focus more on business benefits and results (HBR 2018). Moreover, sales should immediately find out which role in the Buying Center they are interacting with: because the best insights that will appeal to a CFO will not only be of no interest to a CTO, but may even bore them quite a bit. The messages must reach the right people, otherwise they are ineffective.

6.4.9 Engagement: Hybrid Interactions Here too, we should offer customers a variety of engagement options. In the consumer sector, the providers have long since understood this, but in the B2B sector it is still primarily e-mail and telephone that are offered as options. I’m not even talking about AI chatbots. Live chats that are operated by your employees in the background can already remove many boundaries between your staff and your customers. For many, chatting is

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simply more comfortable than to call somewhere and wait to be connected to the right person. Have you ever wondered why employees who sit in the same office write each other chat messages instead of picking up the phone or taking ten steps to the colleague and talking to him? Because it’s more convenient. Of course, this does not apply to each of us, but for most it is simply the more comfortable way of conversation in the age of multitasking. In particular, in relation to simple topics and questions, such forms of conversation are preferred. Consequently, it is not surprising that the medium of live chat has surpassed the use of e-mail and telephone among customers in terms of popularity (Zendesk 2015): Channel Satisfaction Live Chat 92% Voice 88% Web Form 85% E-Mail 85% Facebook 84% Not only are these communication channels more popular with customers, using live chat in sales allows serving several customers at the same time and increases reaction speed. Although customers are preferring the most convenient communication channels, it doesn’t mean they do not want human interaction. On the contrary, the 2019 CGS Customer Service Chatbots & Channels Survey showed that 71% of customers would probably not buy from providers who won’t offer any human interaction, with 10% admitting that they would not be able to tell the difference (CSG 2019). This raises the question of whether this is more about principle than satisfaction with the performance of machines. Because several studies demonstrate, especially among younger generations, that the use of chatbots and their acceptance is increasing and that people are generally opening up more and more to digital channels, such as chat and messenger applications. The ability to do multiple things simultaneously and conveniently via one platform prevails over some principles. While people are still somewhat skeptical about personal interactions with robots, such as on the phone—51.9% can imagine communicating with a digital partner—84.7% have no problem with it when it comes to digital forms of contact (PIDAS 2017). Hybrid solutions—a combination of AI bots and live chat—are probably the best way to offer customers the desired engagement options around the clock 24/7. And as AI algorithms learn and evolve, they will also solidify their place and role in the customer interactions. After all, although customers claim they don’t want to interact with those companies that only use robots, their today expectations in terms of customer experience—speed of response, convenience and personalization—cannot be met without the use of AI technology. At Amazon and Netflix, there are no people sitting and thinking about what products or movies to recommend you tonight.

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

People are often not aware of how much they rely on the technologies they consider unethical and how much their behavior forces providers to use them.

Modern customers expect a consistent experience across various engagement channels— think Omni-Channel. But meeting this expectation is only possible through the use of artificial intelligence, whether we like it or not.

6.4.10 Technology Aspects: Artificial Intelligence When talking about sales technologies today, artificial intelligence can no longer be avoided. AI can provide sales with valuable insights from a variety of unstructured, context-related and behavior-related data and enable companies to understand their customers better than ever before. The level of personalization in customer experience required today can only be achieved with AI, as it enables hyper-personalized forms of interaction. AI also helps to better understand customers. For example, there are applications that create a detailed picture of customer engagement by visualizing every salesperson-buyer interaction: calls, emails, social media interactions, meetings, etc. The AI technology enables the salesperson to quickly get an understanding of the customer’s business and find a suitable solution for the customer’s business problem. It does not replace sales people, but enables them to do their job better (Rainsberger 2021b). In particular, in the Brainwash phase, this technology can help sales to gain a better understanding of their customers’ true needs. If this understanding already exists at the time of initial contact, sales can better address the customer by his needs. For new prospects, the use of analytics and tracking systems can provide support to a certain extent, but for existing customers this knowledge should already be in place. Customers want to be recognized during their renewed interactions in context with a new purchase and to be addressed by their individual needs.

6.5 Leverage The Leverage phase reflects the Determine phase in the customer’s decision process, in which the few final solution options are narrowed down and the suppliers are finally evaluated. The eventual preliminary decisions must now be validated. And although the customer is already quite far in the process, he is now facing the final and serious decision: What (who) do we want to decide for? Typically, the vendors do not provide any special support at this stage concerning the choice of solution. Even though many sales people do a good job up to this point and support customers well on their decision-making journey, when they reach this stage they literally let go of all the reins and leave the customer to their fate to make

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the final decision. Especially in B2B this behavior can be observed: They provide all the necessary information, calculate the best quote, and then just wait and hope. For whatever reason, salespeople tend to lapse into a state resembling powerlessness here: Although they have been actively involved up to this step, they assume there is nothing more they can do except put themselves and their products in the best light and hope that the customer will decide in their favor. A few sellers, however, are still active here and try to manipulate their existing connections in their advantage, to find out the competitors’ terms and prices in order to counter them or to offer extras to influence the decision in their favor. They do not understand that the relationship bonus is of no use if the customer is not convinced by the solution. They don’t realize that when competing with others, it takes more than just a better price to win the game. And that no further additions or give-aways will change the core of the solution. All of this may reaffirm a decision already made in the first place, but they are not factors that will essentially influence a decision. The heavy load of responsibility However, the customer himself is faced with the final decision. Thus, he is not less overwhelmed. On the contrary, perhaps more than at any other point in the decision-making process, a sense of uncertainty may arise: What if a wrong decision is made? Now it’s time to take responsibility for the decision. The fear of making a bad choice increases proportionally with the number of options that were available to choose from. It is not uncommon for the customer to go back a step to take another look at the options they had already sorted out and check again on them to make sure nothing was overlooked. The greater the impact of a wrong decision on the customer’s situation, the greater the responsibility. And the greater the responsibility, the more hesitant the decision is made, see Fig. 5.6. 

What the providers overlook is that customers would like to be taken by the hand and would prefer to shed the burden of the decision-making.

This is the main reason why more and more people are involved in a serious decision: people do not want to bear responsibility for a wrong decision alone. Only very few people are aware that this makes the situation even more complicated. Customers are actively searching for advice and ease of the decision-making process—whether they are aware of it or not. This can manifest itself in different behaviours in their decision-making: • • • • •

They involve colleagues or peers. They consult someone experienced, such as a supervisor. They read the content of reviews carefully. They validate their options again. They bring in external consultants.

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In this process, the providers are omitted for two reasons: On the one hand, customers do not trust that vendors wouldn’t just have their sales in mind, and on the other hand, vendors usually do not make meaningful recommendations either. What they usually do: They try to promote their own solution and themselves, but do not recommend an ideal course of action for the customer’s specific situation, nor do they explain why their solution appears to be the right one, from their point of view. Rarely will a vendor, when finally asked to step up to the negotiating table, make a clear recommendation to the customer and also link it to the results that will be achieved as a consequence. Providers in the consumer area too, find it just as difficult to make and explain personalised recommendations and offer few options only, even though they have all sorts of data and technology at their disposal to do so. But that is precisely the task of modern sales: to narrow down the many options to the customer’s specific situation on the basis of existing experience and the expertise built up over the years—which is, of course, more comprehensive than that of the customer—and to make a clear recommendation. Why do bestsellers sell best? Maybe because they convey an indirect recommendation? The customer wants and needs guidance, which we want to offer him in this phase.

6.5.1 Goal: Minimize Decision Load The goal in this phase is now to take the decision-making burden off the customer’s shoulders, to give him a clear recommendation and to substantiate it argumentatively. We want to make a powerful prescription. Just as a doctor writes a prescription. Whether the customer redeems the prescription is up to him, but we recommend a clear way to improve his situation. In addition, we need to point out what happens when nothing happens. We should not assume that the customer will inevitably take the last step just because he has come this far. When the customer arrives at this point in the process and receives more and more high-quality but often contradictory information from the various providers, this does not necessarily lead to more clarity, as we know. Rather, the amount of information that vendors inundate the customer with often leads to greater uncertainty. In fact, Gartner research shows that “89% of customers report encountering high-quality information during the purchase process. However, when customers struggle to make sense of all this high-quality information, they are significantly more likely to settle for a course of action that is smaller or less disruptive than originally planned.” (Gartner 2019). Consequently, the task of sales here is not only to make a recommendation, but also— once again—to show the consequences of not taking action, so that customers recall how uncomfortable they feel with the status quo. Otherwise there is no or not sufficient reason to change anything. Moreover, the potential consequences of a wrong decision must also be clearly outlined. Many RFQ’s even contain a reference that the provider is

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obliged to point out errors in the requirements or inconsistencies: the best proof that customers want to avoid mistakes and expect providers to point out misconceptions. 

Recommend. And explain why. By doing so, you empower your customers to make better decisions more easily.

6.5.2 Misunderstanding Potential: Do Not Manipulate, But Enable The first misunderstanding may lie in the name of this phase alone. “Leverage”  could be understood as influencing the decision in one’s own favor. The aim here is to get the decision-making process moving on and to help the decision-makers achieve a breakthrough. By no means does it involve the intent or the use of techniques of manipulation. We want to make a recommendation to the customer that is, in our opinion, optimal for his situation. It must serve exclusively his interests, because any attempt to manipulate a recommendation in one’s own favor would be probably discovered and have the opposite effect. With the “Leverage” approach, we aim to empower customers, who are increasingly stressed, overwhelmed, and more paralyzed than empowered in their decision-making, not to be unsettled by the burden of choice, but ultimately to make a decision with a good conscience. This we achieve through meaningful recommendations and not by providing more information. In which the second misunderstanding appears. Because, customers do not need information per se, but they use it to improve the quality of their decision. It is wrongly assumed that customers are increasingly able to form a “correct” opinion on their own due to the greater amount of information they have access to. That this often means the opposite, we have seen several times in the course this book. What sales should avoid doing here is making the customer even more uncertain than he already is. Any more information would only add to the flood of conflicting messages from consultants, vendors, users, media, and individuals on social media, and may finally paralyze the customer in his decision. 

The clearer, more concise and shorter the path to improvement is illustrated and connected with benefits and future outcomes, the greater the likelihood that the customer will opt for it.

This is the new form of customer guidance that sales must adopt. For customers need and want to be led, even if they would never admit it out loud. They are not even aware of it, as we know. Yet deep down inside, they want us to assume they’re silly and guide them.

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Decision is not equal to decision Another misconception might be to confuse the act of deciding with the act of validating a decision. Often unconsciously influenced by cognitive biases, customers are just looking for further confirmation of their decisions already made in the subconscious. Here, sales needs to recognize whether this is the case and, if necessary, have the courage to challenge the customers in their assumptions, as illustrated in Sect. 6.4. Another misconception would be to assume that customers do not consult the competition. This misconception arises in particular when the sales employee has initiated the entire decision-making process himself—i.e. has acquired the customer. However, a customer will not necessarily buy from you just because you have pointed out a critical problem to him. He may be able to solve this problem with the help of a competing provider too. Salespeople often lull themselves into a sense of security here, also and especially in sales situations with customers with whom long-standing relationships already exist. 

Remember: as long as you simply offer a product, but don’t explain in a plausible way why that product, of all products, is the optimal choice, you are simply one of many other options the customer is considering. Besides identifying the problem, you must also explicitly recommend the specific solution for it, explain why you are making this recommendation and back it up with future outcomes.

Another misconception is to assume that it would be easier for a customer to make a decision if he is offered only a few—usually two or three—options. The listing of potential options should be accompanied by an explicit recommendation as to which is right for the customer’s specific situation in your opinion. After all, without a directional guidance, the options lose their power and are just another alternatives on the customer’s list that he has to choose from.

6.5.3 Necessary Understanding: More Is Not More On the one hand, companies must understand that in their efforts to provide more information and more different options, they do not necessarily contribute to customers buying more. Think here about the “paradox of choice”, which was described in Chap. 5. “More” is more confusing, thus providers should narrow their options purposefully and specifically. However, this is often countered by the fear of offering too little or omitting products. Why should you limit the options? Assuming that more offerings will lead to more sales, companies seek to expand their portfolio. As we have seen, however, often the opposite is the result. The greater your

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focus, the quicker the customer can find his way around and create clarity for himself. Focusing, however, does not mean that you should reduce your own portfolio— although this would often make sense—but rather narrow it down considerably in its presentation and in the process of offering it to meet customer needs. It’s not about reducing your portfolio per se, but about its thoughtful adaptation to the respective target groups. How can you narrow down options? Constraining options is achievable by grouping the portfolio or options into personalized recommendations that are specifically geared to the customer’s needs. The typically overstuffed websites and product catalogs are not particularly customer-friendly in this respect. The vast selection and its endless categories sound great until you have to go through them yourself. Any good example come to mind? This challenge is not an easy one, but once you have mastered it, you can be sure that your sales will ultimately increase. Just think of the EEE-World and its requirements: ease, eagerness and enthusiasm. An overflowing product catalog may satisfy the enthusiasm requirement by offering a huge choice, but it quickly leads to overwhelm and does not reflect the requirements for ease and eagerness at all. The PHANTOM customers may believe they are knowledgeable and able to make decisions independently, but in reality they are pseudo-informed and overwhelmed and need guidance. A simple recommendation tailored to their specific needs will exceed their expectations. And I am convinced, as a consequence, you’ll win them as customers, too.

6.5.4 Touchpoints: Personalized and Interactive No matter which touchpoints you choose to offer in this phase, they must be one thing: personalized and interactive. We are at the end of the process here, where the customer has already gathered most of the information he needs and usually an interaction alreay occured. Consequently, human channels become more relevant at this point, which is also very well illustrated by a PIDAS study. When it comes to advice, most customers prefer human interaction, see Fig. 6.11 (PIDAS 2017). Although some consumer areas will be able to operate without human interaction completely, we will still need people in consulting-intensive areas—for the theoretically remaining 30% of the decision-making process. For this, the responsible employees must be able to recognize what the customer needs in his interaction and where exactly he is in his decision-making process. Does he just want information? Does he want advice? Does he need help buying? But, understanding what the customer wants, as we already know, does not necessarily mean that we should simply provide him with what he asks for. Starting from where he is, we take the lead and guide him.

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Fig. 6.11   Channel-Preferences

6.5.5 Key Content: Contextual Recommendations Across all channels, we want to convey that we understand customers, that we really listen, and that they truly matter to us. Especially in the B2B sector. Because, even if they buy on behalf of their company, they are still people who make purchase decisions. This means that emotions and feelings will always play a role in their decisions. According to a study by CEB in cooperation with Google, B2B decision-makers are twice as likely to buy when they perceive personal value. This is because they otherwise hardly perceive any business difference between the providers. And when they perceive personal value, they are even eight times more willing to pay a premium (Think with Google 2013). Today, companies need to distinguish themselves in the crowd of equivalent options. Because it is not enough to offer only tangible material benefits. We must also increasingly consider the intangible and hard-to-touch added value. The main intangible added value that modern customers are looking for is getting support in their decision-making. 

It’s like baking a cake: It’s not enough to just offer the needed ingredients in the best quality and at the best price, we also have to highlight an outstanding and inspiring recipe along with it. Give a clear recommendation and show how much nicer the customer’s life will be. And of course remind him why he needs it at all.

Consumers care about how they look, how they are perceived, how they see themselves and how they feel—especially in a world dominated by individualism. To win them over, we need to address their human needs and clearly define how they can benefit from what we do. Too many brands spend too much time talking about themselves and showing how wonderful the properties of their products are. What usually gets lost in this process is the connection between the brand and the customer. The benefit or emotional need that

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is satisfied by their offering is not apparent. In B2B too, we need to create connections, because here too there are people who want to achieve something for themselves and for their companies. Without that connection we end up in a mechanical transaction, in a simple buyerseller relationship, which diminishes the potential to win lifelong brand advocates—fans. And here too, I would like to point out a discrepancy: The PIDAS Benchmark Study on the Evaluation of Customer Service in the Digital Age has shown that most companies assume that more than 50% of their customers are fans. In fact, only 20% of customers say they are fans of a company (PIDAS 2017). Perhaps customers only buy from you because they have not found a better alternative yet, and not because they are convinced of your company? Could this be the case? It probably doesn’t need any further explanation what happens when customers increasingly have more alternatives. Customers don’t want to regret their decisions That’s exactly where we want to start: Not only offer one or more alternatives, but also outline a clear and specific recommendation with a personal added value. Sales is reluctant to give customers instructions,  but this is precisely what makes customers much less likely to regret the purchase or express negative opinions about the supplier, along with a greater likelihood of repeat purchase compared to traditional sales interactions: A proactive, prescriptive approach increases purchase intent by 86% and reduces the likelihood of purchase regret by 37% (Harvard Business Review 2017). The study shows that those providers who take a “prescriptive” approach are better able to convince customers. However, we do not simply want to make know-it-all recommendations, but rather focus the content on highlighting the usefulness of the recommended solution in the individual customer’s situation. We achieve this by: • • • • • • • • •

making a clear recommendation for action, supporting it with a sound justification, focusing on the results that the customer will achieve, emphasizing the implications of not taking action, presenting a consice proposal, describing the implementation process, demonstrating one’s own ability and competence for implementation, explaining the complex decision.making aspects, and pointing out the potential consequences of a bad decision.

This, in summary, is the core of all content to be used in this phase. When it comes to demonstrating ability and competence for implementation, of course, we do not fall into self-promotion mode. Here we would rather highlight the results that other customers have already achieved with similar solutions.

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Let others promote you It is much better to let others put you in the best light than to praise yourself. According to a study by Hubspot, word-of-mouth (references from friends, social media) is the most convincing factor in purchasing decisions with 55%, followed by customer references with 46% and press articles with 38% (Hubspot 2020). Customers want proof of confidence that you will deliver on what you promise. It’s probably self-explanatory that the days of sales promising a lot and not being able to deliver on much of it after the contract is signed are over. Because anyone who thinks they can keep a customer in today’s world with a contract signature or an empty promise is probably still stuck in the years before globalization. Your contract—whether on paper or virtual—will be torn up faster than you might think if you can’t deliver on your promise. 

The trust of your customers rarely begins with the first promise you make, but always ends with the first promise you break.

Today, customers have more access to more providers than ever before. Thus, it becomes even more important to gain and strengthen their trust instead of putting it at risk. Not only by empty promises, but also by bad experiences that other customers had to make with you or your company, you lose the trust of your customers. And as we know, the modern customer does not lack the means to get an idea of it.

6.5.6 Buying Center: Create Urgency Among Decision Makers At the latest at this point in time, we should have identified all relevant decision-makers in the Buying Center. You would not believe how rarely it is actually the case that the sellers identify all involved persons and are clear about who actually decides. They often spend their time with those they like and mostly with those willing to make time for them. That those are often not the decision-makers is probably no surprise. Which decision-maker has too much time today? Furthermore, as we know by now: The bigger the buying party, the more crucial it becomes to adopt customer-focused strategies and to be able to identify the individual intentions of the stakeholders and meet their needs. At the same time, we should not forget that we are dealing with III-Humans, who are informed, independent and individualistic, thus rarely willing to renounce their own interests and needs. The interests of others—even within their own organization—are not always their concern. Apart from that, in times of democracy, everyone wants to be involved and participate in an important decision. This is where sales should try to take control instead of waiting or inquiring what will happen next. They should actively point out which steps still need to be taken and which stakeholders still need to be updated. By ensuring—for instance with relevant content—

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that the needs of all stakeholders are satisfied, you actively manage the decision-making process and thus simplify and shorten it. Ultimately, this is another intangible added value offered to the customer. Additionally, it may be necessary to show stakeholders how to form a compelling business case and how to internally advocate it. When you provide the described key content, you actually do most of the buying center’s work and create the best foundation for a decision which therefore will most likely be easy, and probably in your favor. For this purpose, in complex decisions, it may be necessary to develop targeted strategies and tactics maps, because each involved person may have different priorities. Your sale is the top priority for you, but not necessary for the customer. Your offer may be one of a hundred other decisions that need to be made, and many of them may be more urgent. That is why it is all the more important here to focus on the key content, namely on the meeting the specific needs of the respective decision-makers. On the one hand, this creates urgency and, on the other hand, workload is reduced by providing the necessary basis for decision-making in a ready-to-use form. 

A convincing new idea can shift priorities and make an action urgent.

Urgency is not created with time-limited offers, as sales usually try to, but by highlighting the importance of a fast decision to all decision-makers.

6.5.7 Content Forms: Options with Recommendation The content forms in the Leverage phase would be diverse, depending on the business specifics. Starting from “simple” classic proposals and quotes, presentations, product details, product demos, customer business cases, reviews and up to complex ROI calculations, product and quote configurators and AR or even VR solution simulations. The goal is to make the solution as tangible and comprehensible as possible and to outline its value in relation to the investment. Moreover, the provided options must be as personalized and tailored to the customer’s individual situation as possible. The content should be prepared in such a way that it makes sense to the customer in the context of his situation. For this purpose, options should be narrowed down as much as possible, and supported with a clear recommendation for one out of them. Narrowing down the options does not mean reducing them to a single one. Recommendation does not imply a single option Few options with a personalized recommendation will often provide the best choice. Recall the illustration from Chap. 5 in Fig. 5.1. No choice is just as counterproductive as too much choice. Different studies find that formulating two to four options is a good approach in many situations. This is a good way to start, but you have to test it within your field and keep trying—also in terms of option’s presentation—to see what works even better.

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Especially when you have no data about the website visitor, the designing of a personalized experience can be challenging. Nevertheless, it is not impossible. You could • design an interactive workflow to guide the visitor to the content that is important to him using questions or selection options, • provide an AI-powered virtual assistant that leads the visitor to the pages relevant to him, • structure the website according to customer needs, applications and desired outcomes, • limit the number of options offered per page, • outline different options recommendations for typical customer situations, • adapt the content using AI algorithms based on customer behavior and research context, • ask questions to stimulate reflection. If you provide ROI calculations, please note that • simple to use applications lead to more engagement, • calculation should be highly customizable for different needs and situations, • inputs should be specifically adjustable to each stakeholder. Even if it is not an easy task, we have to face it. Too much choice negatively affects the conversion rate of your website. Customers will be confused by the unorganized presentation and, due to the pure product focus, will not immediately recognize his benefit and thus instantly leave the site. The content should be ideally placed in the context of the customer and make sense to him. He should be able to see himself in the provided content. We want to give the customer what he is looking for and in the form in which he prefers. Because here too, we have a discrepancy between the content forms that customers prefer and those that companies use to provide, see Fig. 6.12. Both, sellers and buyers use demos and vendor websites. But besides that, there is a large discrepancy between the resources that customers rely on and those that vendors provide. The next most important sources of information preferred by customers are reviews, sales staff, and free trials. In contrast, vendors focus more on marketing materials, case studies and testimonials (Trustradius 2020). In short, customers want to try the product themselves, find out what others are saying about it, and talk to sales staff. But vendors primarily focus on traditional marketing communication.

6.5.8 Activities: Customer Key Content Map Sales activities in this phase focus on maximizing the customer value. This includes, in addition to generating and conveying the key content described above and steering the activities in the buying center, also the orchestration of all necessary internal resources:

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Fig. 6.12   Information sources: discrepancy between providers and customers

overcoming boundaries between departments, adapting products and solutions to the individual needs of customers (customizing, bundling, reconfiguring), building necessary external partnerships, and coordination with any third parties involved on the customer’s side. In order to be able to create really relevant key content, in particular in strategic projects, an individual map of the key content should be generated, which results from a thorough analysis of the customer situation, see Fig. 6.13. The goal is to create relevant content for the customer on three levels: • Future-proofing the company in the market context: guide from market outlook to future customer’s situation scenarios. • Elimination of the problem: guide from the existence of a problem to the recognition of the urgent need to solve it. • Result-oriented solution concept: guide from the recommendation of a solution to the future outcomes and results due to its implementation. This is definitively not an easy task, because it requires a real deep understanding of the customer’s situation, but it turns out to be the biggest success factor. Because such a map outlines everything that is important for the customer in his decision-making and offers the provider a good opportunity to understand how to better meet his customer’s needs. Once the map is created and the content is defined, we of course should not assault the customer with all the information, but rather consider who to share it with, when, and in what form. A proactive call or a short e-mail, a LinkedIn message or a link addressed to the right people are proven methods to share new and important insights with custom-

Fig. 6.13   Customer Key Content Map

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ers. In particular, the use of account-based marketing can make sense here, because it allows you to address the respective people with the content relevant to them in a targeted manner. Target group focus While sales creates a map of key content for specific strategically important accounts, marketing should do the same for different target groups and focus on making the right content available to the right decision-makers within specific right target groups in a personalized and context-related way, using the specific maps. However, the complexity of the information should not be overwhelming, not even when providing recommendations. 

The idea is to allow customers to draw their own conclusions.

We do not force our opinion on anyone, but recommend optimal approaches. Although a customer always has to convince himself that the recommendation you have made is right for him, be sure that the insecure PHANTOM will be more than happy to receive a guidance and will probably rely on it, as all the quoted studies demonstrate. One more thing to be considered here: taking into account the trend towards individualization (see Sect. 2.3) we should think of offering customers the opportunity to design their own products and solutions. Companies need to develop solutions and products which allow a high degree of customization, both in B2C and in B2B. Because the customizing trend is on the rise, so opportunities and processes must be created here to allow customers to configure solutions themselves or to develop specific solutions together with them, think: co-creation.

6.5.9 Engagement: Personalized and Contextual Once in the Leverage phase, the PHANTOM has usually already made itself known. And once it has done so, it also expects to be recognized in every future interaction: whether by the sales representative on the phone, in the live chat or by the AI assistant. It has no desire for repeating himself and for standard interactions, neither as a consumer nor as a business customer. In the survey “2020 State of Conversational Marketing”, participants were asked to think about B2B products and services they use every day, as well as the frustrations they typically experience with these solutions. The results illustrate the following problem areas (Drift 2020): • 53% of respondents are frustrated because they receive too many irrelevant ads and emails from B2B companies. • 36% feel that they cannot get answers to simple questions. • 35% say that the service is impersonal.

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Customers are not only frustrated with non-personalized engagement, but also with poorly personalized, like when continuing to receive special offers for items they have already purchased or being pursued by re-targeting ads even months after purchase. Or when they are addressed with “wrongly” personalized content on the basis of their behavior or a recent purchase and not on their real needs. For example, when people are being followed by ads about baby items just because they bought a baby gift for their friend. Bad personalization is just as frustrating as no personalization We have to make an effort and offer “right” personalized experiences to minimize the frustration of our customers rather than increasing it. For this purpose, a sound personalization strategy is necessary, which includes several elements: • Coordination of all channels in real time for the purpose of customer recognition. • Information transfer between the individual channels in real time so that the customer does not have to repeat himself. Even during a single interaction, such as having to explain the same thing over again to each call center agent you might be directed to. • Target group-specific choice of language: starting with the form of expression and up to professional industry terminology. • Personalized engagement based on interaction preferences (channels) of the customer. • Anticipative messaging based on the customer’s purchase history and behavior. • Content in the context of the customer, based on his research and individual interactions with the company. • Individual and personalized recommendations based on the customer profile. • Customizing and configuration options so that customers can personalize both, their products and their customer experience. • Interactive consulting concepts, such as AI-based virtual assistants, that advise customers on their purchase and select matching items. • Personalized options also provided by AI assistants. For example, they could reduce the large product selection to a few, relevant options for the customer, based on criteria such as clothing size and color preferences. • Personalized recommendations and reminders for routine purchases. • Search help: For example, identify the desired items and put together matching outfits based on an uploaded photo. There are enough possibilities for personalization, it is important to bring them to the level of your target group and to make them functional.

6.5.10 Technology Aspects: Data Data is key to creating personalized customer experiences. Sales organizations need to learn how to produce, collect, analyze, and use data, and bring it to the level of the indi-

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vidual customer. Not only in the future, but today there must be no sales without the intelligent use of data. Different data sources are available for this: internal and external in nature, see Fig. 6.14. To consolidate, process, and draw insights from the vast amount of data from different sources, technologies such as Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (especially Machine Learning) will be needed. For these technologies enable personalization on a large scale, which in turn makes it possible to gain a deeper understanding of customer behavior and, as a result, a better “real” personalization. The goal is to use all of this data to create an individual customer profile, which is the key component of a personalization approach. Based on this, content and engagement models are specifically tailored to the needs of customers. Implementing powerful analytics tools, in conjunction with AI-powered CRM systems or similar customer data platforms, will be inevitable if you want to seriously pursue personalization, whether in the B2C or B2B segment. AI-powered analytics provide deep insights into what customers need, and CRM systems make this information available to sales and marketing, allowing them to optimize their approaches. Last but not least, product development would also benefit, allowing companies to better align their products and services with customer expectations. But, we need to keep in mind one thing with all personalization initiatives: They must not appear creepy. The customer should not feel “stalked” or observed. This applies in particular to push approaches, which must be used with caution because they could be counterproductive and, in the worst case, lead to customers not buying at all. 

Personalization should be helpful and useful, not creepy or manipulative.

Modern customers are increasingly skeptical about the use of their data. They would reveal it voluntarily in exchange for value—such as a personalized experience—but they expect responsible handling and full transparency. Consequently, we are talking about personalization within the permitted framework that is also considered appropriate. This framework of course includes the security of data as well as the respectful handling of it. When properly designed and executed, personalization can be a powerful tool for customer acquisition and retention.

6.6 Easy-Buy The research and evaluation are complete, a decision has been made, and now the customer just needs a clear path to purchase. This phase is about making the effective buying process as simple as possible. Remember, nothing has been won yet. The customer can still change his mind during the purchase process, see Sect. 5.6. To avoid this, the buying experience must be seamless, effortless, and fast so that the customer does not lose the desire to act on his decision. In online shopping in particular, a smooth buy-

Fig. 6.14   Data sources in sales

CRM ERP POS E-commerce Apps Sales tools Markeng tools Bots Call center Service Desk Loyalty Programs Customer Sasfacon Systems Customer Surveys Telephony Systems

SYSTEMS Web Analycs Newsleer Interacons Documents Email Tracking Touchpoints

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Social media Websites Re-Markeng Plaorms Marketplaces

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Data Warehouse SQL Sales intelligence BI tools

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ing experience has become a buying decision criterion. Often, the channel provided, the shopping experience, and the easiness of the check-out process determine whether a purchase is ultimately made. Who are all these processes for? Nor has anything been won in B2B, because regardless of the nature of the business— whether it’s a mass-produced, custom-configured product or a highly specific, valueadded service—it’s critical to make interactions, processes and systems as simple as possible from the customer’s perspective. “Easy to do business with”, is business-speak that implies simplifying the business relationship. This is not about simple products, but about the way business is done. With some companies, it is very difficult to conclude business deals and implement projects quickly because their processes and structures are complicated. The larger the company, the more complicated the processes seem to be. Yet it is the large companies that should have the resources to design processes that are customer-oriented and simple. It is often at this stage that the big corporate machinery is first set in motion, and lawyers, controlling and finance departments or purchasing and product management become involved. Sometimes things seem so tedious that you get the feeling that the company is reluctant to enter into a business relationship with a customer if its requirements do not fit one hundred percent with the vendor’s standard or process. It’s understandable that a company wants to hedge its bets and limit its risks, but if that means setting insurmountable limits for customers, it’s counterproductive. Instead of erecting barriers, we should consciously remove obstacles. Some processes make sense, but they should not be reduced to absurdity. Some others, however, seem to be deliberately designed to make it as difficult as possible for the customer to spend his money here. Lengthy registration processes, complicated customer account creation processes or solvency checks, as well as inexplicable authentication processes (see section “Engagement”) are to be radically questioned. In the simplicity requirements of the EEE-World, we have to do that. There is a reason why agility and flexibility are high on the list of modern buzzwords. 

Every process and every step in it must be subject to a thorough examination. Who do they serve: the customer or the company?

Unfortunately, many processes serve neither the customer nor the company itself. Many processes are maintained because they have always been done that way. And many activities are continued only because certain departments and people think it is the right thing to do or because they give them a reason for existence. However, the goal cannot be to maintain a high level of activity in one’s own company, but rather to make it easy for the customer to do business with the company. “Ease Of Doing Business” is an index published by the World Bank. It is an aggregated score based on different parameters that define the ease of doing business in a

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country. I wished for a similar index for companies so that customers know in advance what they are getting into. How quickly do you think they would manage to simplify their processes than? By the way, this is not a phenomenon that is purely related to company size, but has more to do with the culture and attitude within the company. Some smaller companies are just as difficult to do business with, and vice versa there are surprisingly flexible and agile corporate structures too.

6.6.1 Goal: Easy To Do Business With The goal in the Easy-Buy phase is, as the name suggests, to make the purchase process as simple, fast and barrier-free as possible. If a customer has already decided to buy from us, we don’t want to drive him away with complicated processes. At the core of every product or service is the aspiration to make the customer’s life easier or better in some way. The same claim should also apply to the sales processes. In the B2C segment, customers have long since been buying where it is more convenient, and not necessarily where it is cheaper. And how complicated B2B purchasing has become, we have already seen. 

The goal is to become the business partner that is easiest to do business with. Everything about doing business with you should be effortless, which means creating a simple, frictionless, and anticipatory customer experience.

B2B customers in particular are increasingly looking for uncomplicated and flawless buying experiences. Hoping other providers would be worse is not a viable strategy. Enable your customers to complete their tasks easily. Eliminate any friction and any potential reasons to opt for other vendors—before, during and after purchase.

6.6.2 Potential for Misunderstanding: Technology Without Business Perspective The first misunderstanding here stems from approaching processes from the company’s own perspective, rather than from the customer’s perspective. Processes are built company-centric and not customer-centric. Who do the tedious account creation processes with five-page forms and plenty of fine print serve? Your company or the customer? Such processes are developed by people who have no connection to the customer, such as IT staff or system administrators. As a result, processes are rarely customer-centric. Importantly, however, every process that might have even the slightest impact on the customer experience must be evaluated by those decision-makers who have an understanding of the customer. Every barrier, no matter how small and apparently necessary, must be mercilessly questioned, down to every single box that requires ticking.

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Companies are often victims of their own systems. In the best case, they try to provide arguments for this, in the worse case potential customers are simply told: “That’s just the way it works with us.” Why would a customer want to continue doing business with us if it is complicated and time-consuming? Never mind who is whose victim. A cumbersome system is one big annoyance for customers, and no one cares why it is or has come to be that way. Before becoming a victim of any system, not only in a figurative sense, we should work on eliminating the negative effects of the system, at least with respect to customers. Technology alone cannot make a difference Technology is a good place to start, as it now offers numerous ways to simplify complex processes. But here lurks the next misunderstanding. The implementation of technology will not make things easier per se. It can even have the opposite effect and make processes more complicated than they already are. Implementing technology without considering the business perspective is not only pointless, but can even be harmful. In reality, however, in most companies the deployment of new technology is left to the IT departments, which rarely demonstrate business competence. Is it really surprising that most digital transformation projects are ultimately seen as failed? Not really, if you look closely at how they were implemented. 

Any technology rollout initiative that does not take the business perspective into account is inevitably doomed to failure.

The results of the McKinsey 2018 Global Survey on Digital Transformation clearly illustrate this: Only 16% of those surveyed said that digital transformation in their company has successfully improved performance and also enabled them to sustain the changes in the long term. In reverse, this would mean that 84% of the initiatives did not improve the companies’ performance. In addition, 7% stated that performance had improved, but these improvements were not sustainable (McKinsey 2018). The report summarizes some similarities as to why the projects fail: On the one hand, companies tend to focus inward when initiating such changes. Furthermore, initiatives for digital transformation tend to have a broad focus. And last but not least, such projects focus on the implementation of technologies per se. Technology alone actually makes it worse, not better Digital transformation is never about technology introduction per se. Not only, but especially in sales-specific projects, it is only a means to an end (see Rainsberger 2021a). Technology is supposed to support creating better customer experiences, but in reality it makes the customer experience even more complicated, precisely because the customer perspective is missing. Just because you've set up an online system to keep up with the demands of the times doesn’t mean you're making it easier for your customers. The best example of this is

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provided by the countless B2B webshops launched, but which no one uses. Do you know such a case? The primary reason for the failure of these shops is that the customer perspective of a B2B buyer was not taken into account. Unlike a consumer, a B2B buyer is not interested in shopping and browsing, but in getting his job done as efficiently as possible. But, if he first has to enter a purchase order in his own ERP system, then log in to your webshop and enter the same data again or search for correct part numbers, etc., this can mean additional complexity in his job. Compared to a “simple” forwarding of his purchase order by e-mail to your sales department, the customer has not gained anything, but lost a lot. 

The goal of an e-commerce system is not to reduce the workload in your sales department, but to make the customer’s purchase process easier.

Preferably both: The goal is to create seamless customer experiences and at the same time better and scalable processes in your own organization. In the example mentioned above, an EDI interface would possibly be the better option for all parties involved. Easy-Buy in B2C can mean Complicated-Buy in B2B Although modern business customers behave similarly to consumers and want to shop comfortably—when they want, where they want and how they want—the term “comfortable” must still be defined in the context of a purchase in a business environment. There is a great potential for error in the B2B segment because the processes of the purchase decision are confused with the purchase activity itself. While B2B customers have the same expectations with regard to the research process and the interactions with the vendor, in the purchase process itself, “user experience” can have a different meaning. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the behavior of customers in the respective business field and in relation to the respective product and to keep this perspective in mind for every technology-related initiative.

6.6.3 Necessary Understanding: Digital-Virtual-Human Let’s stay with the topic of online shopping for a moment: An e-commerce system in the B2B sector will usually differ significantly from an e-commerce system in the B2C segment. Because the requirements also differ: While in a B2C shop everything is the same for everyone, whether range, prices, terms or payment modalities, in B2B often everything is individual, see Fig. 6.15. A B2B e-commerce system must be able to map all these individual requirements. There are indeed systems that are used by customers purely for the purpose of checking stock levels, because their individual prices that take into account all eventual terms and back rebates cannot be reproduced by the system. For this, the customer still has to call the sales department. While customers would have been willing to tolerate this just a few

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years ago, today their patience is gone. B2B buyers simply don’t have the time anymore. Complex, multi-level buying processes make their work more difficult and rob them of valuable time. 

Today, when B2B customers call sales to get a price, they don’t do it because they love talking to your sales rep or because they love haggling. They do it only because they have no other choice—yet.

Sometimes buyers just don’t want to talk to a salesperson: They simply want to visit your shop, select the items they need, and buy them—especially for repeating and routine purchases. An in some other cases, they absolutely would want to talk to your sales representative. So both occurs. In the B2B area, a combination of human and machine would be often necessary in order to meet the customer’s expectations. Therefore, this does not mean that with the deployment of a B2B e-commerce system, there will no longer be a need for salespeople involved in the buying process. Depending on the type of product and the complexity of procurement, one or the other way will be preferred by customers. The more complex the product or solution, and the more strategic the investment, the longer the sales process and the higher the need for consulting and advice: Here, we will still have people on the job. But the less explanation the product requires and the easier it is to put into operation, the more digital the buying channels will become, see Fig. 6.16. It can be assumed that sooner or later digital processes will be preferred everywhere where the complexity is low. In the “middle” of the matrix, hybrid and virtual sales (via online meetings) will do just fine, and in strategic and consulting-intensive sales we will still need human competence and face-to-face interactions. But here too, we should not confuse the consulting process with the buying process. After all, even a decision-mak-

Fig. 6.15   E-Commerce Systems: Different requirements in B2C and B2B

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ing process that involves people may be completed with a completely digital act of purchase. The trend is clear More and more B2B companies are planning to make their purchases online. The 2019 B2B Buyer Survey from Digital Commerce 360 demonstrates that B2B buyers are already doing a lot of buying online and expect to do even more of it in the future. One third of the buyers surveyed said they do at least some of their business shopping online, and seven in ten said they expect to buy more online in the coming year. They also plan to source a greater variety of products online: 65% said that they will buy online in more categories next year (Digital Commerce 360 2019b). If providers do not recognize this trend, they run the risk of being overtaken by marketplaces: Amazon Business is growing rapidly—also due to the pandemic—and is expected to triple its business volume in B2B e-commerce by 2025. 

For providers, it is crucial to understand when B2B customers want to buy online, and when not.

Fig. 6.16   Digitalization degree of the sales process

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Consequently, the processes for the customer should be aligned accordingly, with the goal to create a more convenient and efficient B2B customers’ buying experience. For this, there is no shortage of technological possibilities. Nowadays there are enough providers who offer good solutions in this area, such as Salesforce Commerce, SAP Hybris, IBM Commerce, Magento, etc. Today, you can safely access ready-made solutions instead of building your own systems. The IT department might disagree, but from the customer’s perspective, this might be the better way. B2B providers must make it as easy as possible for their customers to buy from them, offer self-service options, and personalize the experience. Otherwise, like many B2C vendors before them, they will have to vacate their place and leave it to the market giants. Moreover, surveys show that a customer-focused and well-implemented e-commerce strategy directly impacts business results.

6.6.4 Touchpoints: Mobile, Voice, Social, Multi-Channel Commerce Many different touchpoints need to be offered not only for research purposes, but also in the process of effective purchasing. Because, as we know, consumers like to shop while in their bathtub, and B2B customers are often on the go and can no longer afford to wait to reach their desk to place orders. Today, mobile commerce sales are already said to account for a good half of all e-commerce sales. M-Commerce is becoming mainstream. In addition, new trends are emerging in e-commerce: • Voice-Commerce: 11% of traditionally conservative German consumers use Alexa & Co at least once a week to shop online. Among those aged 35 and younger, 19% do so, significantly more than the European average of 8% (PWC 2019). • Chatbots in e-commerce: For years, chatbots have been trying to take their place in e-commerce. Now, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine learning, they are experiencing a breakthrough: the chatbot market is growing exponentially, with a major share in e-commerce. • Social-Commerce: More and more social networks are entering the e-commerce sector and developing into shopping platforms. A variety of shopping options are now being offered: Shoppable Images, Shoppable Galleries, Shoppable Videos, Shoppable Ads, Shoppable Posts, etc. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest now offer shopping functionality, and YouTube has entered into a partnership with Shopify at the time of manuscript writing and plans to offer products and items appearing in videos for immediate purchase. For social platforms, social media shopping is the biggest topic for the coming years and is to penetrate the B2B sector after B2C. All this on multiple screens The Google report “The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior” illustrates that 90% of people switch between different devices—smart-

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phones, PCs or tablets—to complete a single task online (Google 2012). Customers can no longer be reduced to a single device or a single channel. They take the device or channel that is most convenient at that moment, and often it is a combination of many. Following all these developments, companies must learn to build a modern multichannel commerce approach that goes far beyond simply offering multiple online and offline sales channels. The goal is to tailor the various channels to the needs of one’s target audience and the business specifics, which interact closely creating a seamless customer experience across all channels the customer intends to use. Furthermore, any friction or discrepancy between the channels is to be avoided. Marketplaces too, must be evaluated as eventual touchpoints, because their relevance in e-commerce is no longer to be denied. More than half of all online sales worldwide now come from the large marketplaces such as Alibaba and Amazon. It is not to be expected that this trend will be reversed, on the contrary: Initially founded as online stores, these platforms are evolving into digital ecosystems that generate less and less revenue through their own online sales, but more and more as marketplaces. They may be considered a threat, but also an opportunity to take a place in these ecosystems and gain access to their customers.

6.6.5 Key Content: Focus on the Value Chain The contents in the purchase phase are mainly related to the correct price display, stock levels, shipping and payment information and other order relevant details. Of course, the information should be updated in real time. The days when in B2B you had to wait until the next morning to query the correct stock level are over. Customers expect transparency in terms of inventory and price: AI-supported dynamic pricing models that adapt to the needs of each customer are a good way to address the customer’s specific situation and at the same time improve own profitability. Because, with dynamic pricing the price calculation is not based on the classical cost plus margin calculation, but takes into account a variety of factors, such as time and place of the price inquiry, used device, frequency of the inquiry, competition prices and even the weather. Existing customers should be spared any repetition of steps already completed, such as entering the billing or shipping address or payment data. Personalized interfaces and content as well as predictive ordering complement an excellent user experience. In general, when setting up an e-commerce solution, the entire value chain should be kept in mind, rather than just the transaction or the online sale itself, see Fig. 6.17. More than a sales channel An e-commerce system should not be considered as a sales channel only, but as a mean to strenghten the customer loyalty. The more you focus on customer value and the quality of the customer experience, the higher the likelihood of repurchase and customer retention in the long term. Amazon Prime is a perfect example of how to retain customers, for which customers are also willing to pay extra.

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Alongside “simple” product stores, be sure to evaluate new forms of e-commerce. For example, subscription models are very popular in e-commerce, known from Outfittery or Birchbox, where customers receive a box with a content tailored to their needs and attractive surprises. Replenishment models for consumables and automated deliveries not only make it easier for your customers to manage their routine purchases, but also offer you the benefits of recurring revenue business models. Different delivery options—from standard to next-day—and payment modalities— from bank transfer to PayPal—are now self-evident, although I am constantly confronted with the situation that some important options are completely missing in e-commerce offerings. When asked why, I get answers like “the system provider did not have this option” or “the fees were too high”. Not to forget shipping tracking options, especially for B2B deliveries. Because a consumer—even if it might feel differently—will probably not spend sleepless nights if he does not know when his order arrives. In contrast, a B2B customer might be already sweating if fulfilling his promise to his customers depends on your delivery. When you know what is going on and when the shipment is expected, you can timely react. Proactively informing customers when their goods will arrive or that a delivery may be delayed is much more helpful than leaving them completely in the dark. Because, this enables them to prepare for it and react accordingly.

6.6.6 Buying Center: Access to the Project Implementation Team At this point, the Buying Center has largely completed its tasks and handed over the order to the purchasing department to execute the purchase. Consequently, there is little

Fig. 6.17   E-Commerce Value Chain

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interaction here, except in more complex projects where it comes to the implementation of the solution. While the purchasing department is concerned with the formal procurement, a new implementation project team is formed, which usually consists of the same people to a large extent. However, new members are joining who were not involved in the decision itself, but are supposed to contribute to the implementation process. Here, sales reps should stay involved and proactively engage in getting the new people on board and informing them, especially in terms of the project’s objective. It is not uncommon for this important part to be lost in a company: Employees are assigned to the implementation, but it is not explained to them what the purpose of the project and the new procurement is. In their own interest, sales should make up for this and help all those involved in the implementation of the project to understand what the whole thing is about. This will significantly increase the chances of a successful implementation. After all, the sales work does not end with shaking hands, signing of contracts and handover of projects to the implementation teams—whether in their own organization or on the customer side. Only successful projects which achieve the set goals can serve as reference projects and generate further business: with this customer as well as with many others. Consequently, sales should not withdraw immediately after the contract has been signed, but observe and actively support the project, if not even steering it.

6.6.7 Content Forms: Fast, Easy Buying Options The content forms in the Easy-Buy stage either reduce to e-commerce solutions or common ordering processes, such as contracts, agreements or orders, which will not be discussed in more detail here. Instead, I would like to go into more detail on e-commerce systems and describe the requirements they have to meet in relation to the new customer behaviours. Often, online stores or websites are structured as static and stifling product catalogs. Modern and advanced IT systems would not solve the problem too, if the customer benefit is not the main focus during the implementation. In such systems, customers experience nothing but frustration and disappointment and increasingly lose the desire to deal with them. In the 2019 Digital Commerce 360 B2B Buyer’s Expectations Survey, B2B customers named their three main reasons for frustration in this context (Digital Commerce 2019a): • Unavailable or hard to find products on a B2B e-commerce website: 63% • Insufficient or inaccurate product information: 55% • Too long duration of the buying process: 36% The study also collected the factors that are most important to buyers (Digital Commerce 2019a):

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Ability to pay online: 63.9% Different payment options (Purchase order, leasing, PayPal, line of credit): 55.6% Ability to order through an online sales portal: 48.6% Bulk prices: 44.4% Integration with supplier’s ERP, CRM and supply chain: 36.1% Accessible and stored profile data: 22.1% IoT-based systems for ordring products: 21.1% EDI connection: 20.1% Voice-activated ordering: 11.1%

The results of this study clearly illustrate what B2B customers expect in e-commerce: online payment options are at the top of the list, closely followed by different payment options. 

B2B customers require convenient and fast online ordering and payment processes in self-service form, that are automated and integrated with their own processes.

And of course personalized, which in B2B means displaying correct prices and discounts, re-order options, product recommendations, bundle options, successor items, accessories, multiple delivery addresses and payment terms. The 24/7 availability of the system is of course a prerequisite. The consumer sector in the midmarket is not much better Likewise, the processes in the B2C segment are in need of improvement, although awareness of the need for e-commerce is more pronounced here. While the products and services are presented and priced on websites, the buying process itself is often still manual. Products are listed, but to order them, you often still have to call or fill out order forms and email them. This is anything but customer-oriented online sales. Nowadays customers expect a seamless experience, which means being able to buy products quickly and easily. The process should be as automated as possible and not contain any barriers or hurdles. Today, numerous ready-to-use technological solutions are available for this purpose. With a good system, all tasks can be done in one: website, online shop, bookings, payment processing, invoicing, customer management, email marketing and social media activities. And everything up and running in a matter of days, even hours. Today, there is really no reason to maintain such manual processes. Because they not only cause effort on the provider side, but also massively worsen the customer experience. Furthermore, as already mentioned, an e-commerce solution is more than an online shop, which increases the customer loyalty to the company in the long term. Therefore, the solution must be seen as another way to meet customer needs. Depending on the type of business, different options for improving the customer experience should be evaluated: personal product recommendations, offering complementary products, simulations,

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visualizations, virtual consultants, customizing options, interactive elements, product comparisons, avatars, chatbots, etc.

6.6.8 Activities: Building Trust The main focus in the Easy-Buy phase is, of course, on optimizing the user experience. The goal is to enable a really easy buying experience. Even if companies believe they offer a great user experience, the reality is usually different. When analyzing the customer’s decision-making process, we have seen that the proportion of abandoned shopping carts in online shops is relatively high. According to the Baymard Institute, the average derived from several studies is 69.8% (Baymard 2021). The reasons for this are manifold, but also clear: customers leave the shops during the check-out process because • • • • • • •

extra costs arise (shipping costs, taxes, fees): 49% the provider requires the creation of a customer account: 24% the delivery time is too long: 19% the check-out process is too long and too complicated: 18% customers have no trust to disclose their credit card data: 17% customers could not find out the total order costs upfront: 17% the website had errors or hung up: 12% (Baymard 2021)

The results of this study sum it up: The PHANTOM cannot really be manipulated or outwitted and it has no desire to deal with lengthy and non-transparent processes. This free spirit feels no longer dependent on single providers and simply goes other ways. The only ones who suffer are the providers themselves. Whether the “hiding” of the extra costs is done deliberately or unconsciously, it is misleading in any case, because customers are not fools in the end and learn from their mistakes. With each additional negative experience, they become wiser and won’t allow to be misled the next time. And certainly won’t come back: not because of your products, but because of the experience they had with you. Nowadays, even having the best products you can lose customers by the dozen. A bad mobile experience is enough: A Google study found that if people have a negative mobile experience, they are 62% less likely to buy from that vendor in the future (Think with Google 2018). Therefore, the most important thing in the buying process is to optimize the user experience, because nothing has been won until the last button has been pressed. And there are just too many buttons to click, and fields to be filled out: on average 14.88 (Baymard 2021). That a customer has little desire to fill out 15 fields is probably not particularly surprising. Let’s be honest: Would you like to? Here too, Google has outpaced the providers and offers its users automatic filling of forms with stored browser data.

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Do we really need Google to improve the experience of our own customers? I am convinced that if you put yourself in your customers’ shoes, you can do it yourself. 

Customers want—not only, but especially at the end of their decision-making process—an intuitive, fast, simple and transparent experience. If they have already decided to buy from you, you have to prove yourself worthy. This includes a pleasant and barrier-free buying experience.

To do this, the number of fields in the check out must be reduced to the bare minimum, as well as the steps to complete any task in the store, such as a product search and item selection or comparison. And all of this, of course, in responsive mobile design. Continuously optimizing the customer experience Establishing an excellent buying experience once, however, is not enough. To continuously improve the user experience, it is necessary to implement processes that allow for constant adaptation and optimization. As customer experience evolves into a competitive advantage and differentiator, it should be declared a KPI in its own right and continuously monitored. For this purpose, technology offers many options, besides which proactive customer surveys are well suited for this too. Ask your customers directly what they are looking for and what they want, take their feedback seriously and try to act on it. This helps to build trust in the long term, which becomes a critical success factor in the digital age in particular. Let’s take another look at the Baymard study mentioned earlier: 17% of customers abandoned the buying process because they did not trust the provider (Baymard 2021). Consequently, building trust is becoming one of the most important activities in e-commerce. For B2B, we've already touched on the importance of trust. When it comes to consumers, to transactional sales, trust is based on the ability of the product to function and the ability of the supplier to deliver. If the customer doesn’t believe you, they won’t buy—even though you might have the best and cheapest product immediately available. Building trust is complex Building trust is a complex process that involves psychological, social, organizational, and technological factors. A single and seemingly small factor can positively or negatively influence the building of trust. For example, a customer might decide to abandon a purchase, because unknown costs appear during the check out process, even though the provider is still the best option considering them. He will still break off the process, not because of the increased costs, but because he has lost his trust in the provider and does not want to take any more risks, in order to eventually experience more negative surprises. On the one hand, providers must not put the trust of their potential customers at risk, and on the other hand, they must provide trust signals to strengthen the relationship

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basis. These include, for example, certificates, seals from recognized certifying institutions, customer reviews, reference statements and other social proofs, mentions in the press, public relations, presence in social media, correct and transparent information about the company and its policies, imprint data, contact information and -options, and last but not least a consistent and professional appearance on all digital channels. However, it is important to understand that building trust should be a long-term goal in order to increase customers’ loyalty. It should be kept in mind all the time and in all activities in the digital space, because the slightest hint of misconduct or lack of credibility can destroy the work of several years in a few minutes. Moreover, we have to win the trust of the elusive and opportunistic PHANTOM over and over again. This also includes the respectful treatment of customers and their data after a purchase has been made. We must not carelessly jeopardize the customer’s trust granted during the initial transaction, such as with aggressive and unqualified marketing and customer engagement tactics. In particular, marketing tactics such as re-targeting, which point to the obvious use of their data, are often perceived by customers as annoying and disturbing, especially when they are poorly executed (SmarterHQ 2020): • • • • •

Addressed too often and repeatedly: 66.2% Addressed too long: 44.3% It feels like they’re trying to sell me something again: 41.4% I’ve already bought the stuff: 38.6% I was looking for a gift: 36.8%

We want to strengthen the thin and fragile bond of trust, rather than trying to maximize sales from it. In contrast to a sales- and revenue-driven approach, a customer- and relationship-driven approach fosters customer loyalty and satisfaction, which leads to lower churn rates, more referrals and, ultimately, more revenue. Sales should never be promoted directly, but should result from an excellent customer relationship.

6.6.9 Engagement: Customer Experience in Focus Having reached the end of their decision journey, a customer may well experience a sence of decision weariness, known as Decision Fatigue. It is also understood to be one of the causes of irrational compromise in decision making and is also blamed for bad decisions. A high Decision Fatigue can also lead people to completely avoid decisions, a phenomenon referred to as Decision Avoidance. Security should not be a barrier Therefore, our processes should not force the customer to make even more decisions, but rather provide the simplest possible path to completing the purchase. Every additional step on the way to the desired end of the purchase decision can enhance this

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fatigue. These include, above all, long forms and authentication steps that often make no real sense but create a barrier in the customer experience. 

The goal is to take all security aspects into account and minimize risks, while at the same time not negatively impacting the user experience.

Seamless and adaptive authentication processes are necessary. Eventual security risks should always be set against the potential losses in the customer experience and thoroughly evaluated. It is surprising, however, how often the implementation of security requirements is misunderstood, for example the 2-factor authentication, and thus leads to even more frustration on the user’s part. Technology must be simple and easy to use, as illustrated in Chap. 1. Of course there are risks of fraud that one would like to avoid, but please not at the expense of the customers. Even though there are many warnings from IT experts about security in the Internet and they explicitly recommend the consistent introduction of authentication procedures, they should be put in relation to the potential risk and questioned as to their relevance in the respective applications. If it is a question of accessing the customer portal, signing in to the online shop, RMA portal or customer account, security checks are still comprehensible, even though some processes overreach in their complexity. But with simple queries, such as tracking a delivery or sending an inquiry through a web form, their usefulness is to be questioned. For instance, I recently wanted to check the status of a delivery with a carrier and needed to perform a captcha verification to do so. Why is a verification necessary in this process? Even after longer reflection, I could not find a meaningful answer to this, except that IT experts would consider it necessary. However, for me as a customer, it was tedious to recognize and enter the blurred letters with each new query. Another example from an airline: The captcha query only comes after entering all the data for a flight search and then it sends the user back to the beginning of the process, where he has to re-enter all the data. Do you know the case when you call a provider’s customer service and first are asked to enter your customer number or order number in the phone menu, only to be asked for the same number by three other agents? What’s the point— other than to torture customers? Such cases are a clear sign that the priorities of the company have got out of hand: After all, you don’t want to protect yourself from your own customers, do you? Aside from each of these barriers being tedious and frustrating, they slow down the entire process. Customers appreciate companies that make an effort to save their valuable time and offer the fastest possible experience. This includes not only the processes in the online shop itself, but all engagement types that are offered. Especially in the business environment, customers want matters to be resolved quickly. 

Companies must break down their silos and ensure the transfer of data from one department to another in real time, so that the customer feels like interacting with a company as a whole, not with dozens of independent and even conflicting departments.

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Here too, technology can serve this purpose, as it can take over the transfer of information as well as administrative tasks. This relieves sales staff and allows them to focus on supporting their customers in their decision-making and responding faster and more qualitatively to their requests.

6.6.10 Technology Aspects: Individual Buying Experiences In the final phase of the customer decision-making process, when it comes to the actual purchase, there are numerous technological options that could be useful. To some extent, we can’t do without technology anyway: whether it’s an ERP system to handle sales transactions, or integrated order entry systems or e-commerce solutions. Moreover, there are exciting possibilities not only to optimize the customer experience, but to innovate it. For example, with augmented reality and virtual reality, two technologies whose importance in e-commerce is rapidly increasing. • AR and VR technologies leave nothing to be desired when it comes to immersing customers in their future reality with your product. It allows to try out the items before buying them or to integrate them into the customer’s specific situation, for example placing the couch in their own living room. Virtual applications make it significantly easier for customers to make informed buying decisions, while brands can better meet customer expectations and at the same time reduce their costs associated with product returns. Such applications have been used in the consumer sector for some time, especially for bulky items, such as in the furniture trade. And now they are increasingly being used in the beauty or clothing sector, and not least in the B2B segment. Furthermore, AR is increasingly being used on smartphones, thus enhancing the customer’s mobile experience. Ultimately, the goal is to offer customers in online retail similar experiences to those in stationary retail, only in a more convenient way—everywhere, anytime and tailored to their individual needs: in their personal context. • Big Data and Artificial Intelligence are the next technologies to provide great help for creating ultra-personalized customer experiences. Content personalization is one of the best ways to increase conversion rates in e-commerce. In fact, providers report revenue increases of around 20%, when they use personalization in their e-commerce systems. Although personalization is nothing new, the Covid-19 crisis has triggered changes in shopping behavior that suggest consumers are increasingly looking explicitly for personalized experiences. Shopping wish lists, product collections, gift preferences, item recommendations, reminders, and similar options provide extensive opportunities for personalization. For this, the providers need the technologies of Big Data and AI, which already offer great customer experience in the B2C sector. In the B2B segment, most systems are still reaching their limits, which is due to the specific B2B complexity in terms of products, buying centers and the diversity of tar-

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get groups. However, providers can be expected to catch up quickly. Because B2B customers too, increasingly demand personalized B2B buying experiences, the design of which is technically possible today, with the use of advanced AI solutions (ML and DL). • AI-Analytics and Machine Learning are developing at an astonishing speed, making it possible not only to design highly personalized customer experiences, but even to predict them. With predictive analytics, the eventual customer’s wishes can be predicted on the basis of a myriad of factors, such as items previously purchased, viewed or selected by the same user or by similar customers, the specific context and also the search behavior. This happens in an intelligent and unobtrusive way, so that customers do not feel harassed, but rather supported. Additionally, companies can gain deep insights into their target groups with Dynamic Personas and Predictive Analytics and understand the individual needs of their target customers even better. As a result, they are able to offer “more accurate” solutions in real time, for which customers are willing to pay. Quite often even more. This too, applies to the B2B area, as more and more information is available in digital and interconnected form, which enables algorithms to better identify and anticipate customer needs within the entire buying center. • Customer portals and self-service solutions are further applications to improve the customer experience during and immediately after purchase. With the constant availability of the Internet and everything that goes with it, customers are spoiled and expect the possibility to serve themselves 24/7. Especially in B2B, we have to try to get to the B2C level in terms of availability, simplicity and speed of the customer experience. This means that the online customer platform should be available around the clock, with immediate access to all the information they might need, such as product information, stock availability and delivery details or invoices, preferably with direct interaction options. According to a study by Sana Commerce, 30% of B2B buyers would prefer to buy at least 90% of their products online (Sana Commerce 2021). Trend rising. Companies need to do more if they want to satisfy the increasing demand for B2B e-commerce among their customers. Designing individual buying experiences using technology Although even a partial use of technology leads to incremental improvements, it is unlikely to provide a satisfactory response to the growing demands of customers. Therefore, technologies should not only be introduced sporadically, but the improvement of the entire buying experience should be kept in mind and permanently strived for. Test innovations with different customer groups, and also involve customers in the design of their processes. Even better: Create experiences that customers can personalize themselves. Because we're getting more and more evidence of that too: Customers appreciate the providers who enable them to control and customize their own customer journey. The further increase in the needs of the individualistic human being is firmly to be expected.

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6.7 The Big Picture—Bird’s Eye View No one will deny that customers have changed their behavior, now sales have to follow, whether in B2C or in B2B. Although there are still customers who go the traditional way, this group is more of a dying breed, especially due to the naturally growing new customer base of digital natives. In the B2C segment, this awareness is more pronounced, but even there, there are a number of suppliers who recognize the need for change but do not place it in the context of other developments in our world. The vast majority in the B2B midmarket segment is just developing this awareness. But although the need for change is recognized here too, there is still a lack of knowledge about how to adapt and which approaches are the right ones.  People try things out, tools are tested, here and there something is posted on social media or sporadic blog articles are written, Google Ads are run or SEO is optimized. Besides the lack of understanding that these are only means to implement a well thought-out marketing and sales strategy, the main problem is that they simply continue to pursue traditional marketing and sales approaches across new (digital) channels. 

Status quo in B2B: new markets, new customers, new products, but old marketing materials and sales methods.

We simply do the same as always, just on new platforms and with new tools. But the PHANTOM doesn’t want that: It doesn’t want to see any more advertising, receive any meaningless messages, wait in front of closed company doors, encounter barriers and hurdles in its buying experience, accept rigid and inflexible sales processes, and interact with “old school” salespeople. What modern customers really want was presented in this book—hopefully in a way that is easy to understand—and backed up with data from numerous studies. However, this is not enough. Every provider must perform a comprehensive analysis of their own target customers, their needs, their situation, their behavior and their expectations in order to understand how they make decisions: this is the purpose of the DECIDE process. Consequently, the sales and marketing process is built on this basis, which is what the ENABLE process serves for. This allows providers to precisely address the needs and expectations of their customers, which inevitably increases their revenues and strengthens their market position. What better alternative could there be than for sales and marketing to mirror the behavior of their customers and to anticipate their needs and expectations? This is by no means an easy task, on the contrary. Because first and foremost it requires a fundamental rethinking of sales: 

From the ambition to sell products to the ambition to empower customers in their buying decisions.

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Conscious rethinking is hard work and requires willingness to change. And whether we like it or not: Sales is particularly change-resistant. This is precisely the first and perhaps also the greatest challenge of the digital transformation in sales. Combined with the creation of the necessary understanding and the development of new skills and competencies, this task can even become a Goliath challenge. But is there any way around it? If you look at the EEE- World, the III-Human and the PHANTOM from a bird’s eye view, probably not. Because under these new conditions it is obvious that sales has to do more than just communicate the features and prices of their products. Just as marketing has to do more than just run ads for products and the brand. Companies need to design their sales and marketing processes much more strategically in order to pave the way for the modern customer and to avoid friction on his decision-making path. For this we need to consider the Enable Principle from several perspectives. Enable—Empowering in many ways  It is not enough to just enable customers to buy products. We must also enable them to make the right decisions. For this, marketing and sales themselves must also be enabled to design, implement and continuously optimize these modern approaches. 

Enable Decision—Enable Buying—Enable Sales and Marketing The combination of these three levels of enablement will be critical to sustained sales success. The ENABLE approach is a very effective one, but it requires a sophisticated combination of marketing and sales, of technology and people, industry knowledge and customer understanding, data usage and technology deployment. Each step and each level in the ENABLE process must be thoughtfully and strategically designed from a big-picture perspective, and then continuously improved. Fig. 6.18 summarizes the ten levels in each of the six steps of the ENABLE process. From this overview, it is easy to see what to pay attention to in the six pillars of the process at each level: These are the key points from the detailed descriptions in the previous chapters. This means a lot of work. But don’t let the complexity discourage you and take small steps in the right direction rather than none at all. The necessity for this should, at this point in the book, no longer be doubted. Personally, I don’t see any alternatives other than sticking to the old patterns or spending money unwisely on new tools or online marketing efforts that break new ground but still reflect the marketing paradigms of the 1990s-2000s. Whereby the investments made—money and resources—will not bring the expected success. The ENABLE sales approach is a long-term approach: it is a marathon and not a sprint, and you should be prepared for that from the beginning, so as not to be disappointed in the middle of the process. You can’t just introduce the ENABLE

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approach in a company and expect it to work immediately. It takes time. Moreover, intensive training and workshops will be decisive in creating the necessary awareness and the “right” knowledge in the organization. Sales employees have to learn, practice and internalize this approach. To do this, they also need to develop new skills and competencies, which rarely works without a targeted coaching program. A combination of coaching and training will be necessary. In addition, the “right” people must be hired: hard-sellers, hunters and persuaders are no longer needed in a modern sales organization.

6.7.1 New Sales and Marketing Roles The ENABLE approach requires a change in the relationship between sales and marketing: instead of competing with each other, they need to work closely together. The activities between marketing and sales can no longer be easily separated and should be intertwined rather than interconnected. The conventional process in which marketing “attracts” leads and sales “produces” customers from them is outdated. In order to address modern customers, a change in behavior is necessary for both, salespeople and marketing staff. Sales people no longer need to be able to prospect and convert, and marketing no longer needs to be able to do web development or graphic design. Many of the traditional marketing tasks can be done much better today by technology, such as AI-driven website design or video creation. Above all, both areas must understand customer needs and be able to convey content and messages that are relevant to customers, as well as guide them in their decision-making process and help them make the right decision. It is not easy to build an ENABLE process properly. But if you manage it, it is one of the best tools a sales organization can have. Because it not only allows you to sell more effectively, but also faster, because: • Narrow and specific target groups are addressed, which increases the likelihood of purchase. • With the focus on outlining potential results, the solution / product becomes much more attractive. • By providing relevant 5E Insights, the provider’s competence is greatly increased. • By specifically guiding the customer in his decision, he can decide faster and you can sell faster as a result. A single sales success based on the ENABLE principle can establish you and your company as the top of mind with your customer and positively impact your business directly and indirectly for many years to come.

Fig. 6.18   Levels of the ENABLE Process

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6.7.2 Focus On Buying Process Instead of Sales Process If you help customers make the right decisions, they will buy from you most of the time and recommend you in any case and do more business with you. If you think short-term and act selling-oriented, the customer will see no reason to involve you in his decision-making process. He will make his decision independently and eventually buy elsewhere. Although both approaches have the creation of customer solutions at their core, the ENABLE approach and solution-oriented selling differ fundamentally from each other, see Fig. 6.19. In traditional solution sales, a solution is indeed specifically tailored to the customer’s needs, but the focus is still on selling the solution. A problem is identified for which a solution is offered, and the customer ultimately decides on the added value of the investment. In the ENABLE process, on the other hand, the customer is guided and above all supported on the way to his decision. He is made aware of threats and their effects, at the same time being shown the right decision-making path. In the process, he is alerted to potential mistakes and, most importantly, he is supported to gain the right perspective. In the end, an option that can achieve the desired results is explicitly recommended to him. The decision is basically made together. Even if customers believe that they know what they need and can make sound decisions independently, a provider who has supported hundreds or thousands of similar decisions simply knows it better, compared to a customer who only goes through the process once or for the first time or only within his narrow business area. Sales usually knows it better, but the challenge is to know how to use it, above all in helping customers achieve their goals. The more complex the decision-making process, the more important the ENABLE approach It is no surprise that efficiency and speed in procurement processes are a top priority for companies, because in a world that is spinning faster and faster, sluggish and slow

Fig. 6.19   Difference between the ENABLE process and Solution Selling

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decision-making processes are no longer affordable. Ironically, however, the processes are becoming slower as a result of the growing independence of customers and the associated increased complexity. The ENABLE approach supports companies in coping with this complexity and shortens the buying processes of their customers, because it specifically supports and promotes the decision-making. Rather than simply making quotes, the sales department shows the customer what he should best do in relation to this decision, how he can proceed and above all why he should do that. Customers will welcome this kind of support, yet this approach does not guarantee you a sale in every single case. However, it will undoubtedly improve the overall sales performance in the long term. With the ENABLE approach, the customer’s real purpose behind a buying intention is identified, which makes it much easier to address it. 

The ENABLE approach helps us to recognize what customers do and, above all, why they do that.

This realization represents the first important building block. But that alone is not enough. In the age of rapid digital transformation, we must also understand and be able to respond to customers’ expectations regarding the quality of their buying experience. We need to provide customers with meaningful interactions and innovative experiences, and make their lives easier overall by facilitating their experience with us—the provider. With every single business decision, we should consider its potential impact on the customer experience. Because that’s what really matters: As the studies cited have well illustrated, the quality of the buying experience is becoming an important decision criterion.

6.7.3 Understanding Outstanding Customer Experience A great customer experience means something different to every customer: starting with the quality of the interaction, the products and services offered, the various buying options, the channels available, the ability to deliver, all the way to the variety of payment methods and return options. Everyone has different preferences: Convenience can mean different things to each of us. Is a consultation at the dealer around the corner convenient? A phone conversation with a call center agent? Or an interaction via Facebook chat? Providers need to focus on their customers and figure out what type of convenience their customers specifically prefer, and then align their processes accordingly throughout the customer journey. Customer experience is not the same as buying experience: it starts with the first glance at your Google My Business listing and may end in your physical store or in your app. Whatever convenient and outstanding means to your customers, make sure that designing a simple and exciting customer experience becomes a priority in your mar-

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keting and sales teams, with the ultimate goal: to create a personalized and individual customer experiences. Of course, this includes considering the interests of the Buying Center and personalizing content accordingly. The content should reflect the individual purchase needs, address them directly and at the same time be provided in the right places and in the right media so that they can be easily found and digested online—barrier-free. This is because the removal of information barriers means that customers can do their own research at their leisure and at their own discretion. The freedom to do so translates into a willingness to trust the company that unselfishly provides them with valuable information. While the idea of making important information freely available is relatively new to some sales organizations, others have been doing this for years. The principle of secrecy, according to which critical information and prices are not disclosed, has also become obsolete. Highly qualified prospects feel deterred when their access to important information is restricted, and they develop affection for those providers who offer them the needed information without asking for anything in return: when and where they want it.

6.7.4 Focus On Value Instead of Information Thanks to Content Marketing, there is a lot of high-quality information on the Internet today, which ultimately also means that customers rarely contact a salesperson before they have formed their own opinion about the alternatives. And the more providers come to the realization that valuable content is the way to attract customers rather than strengthening the competition, the amount of information on the Internet will only continue to increase. The trend is clear, which inevitably leads to even more information noise in the digital space. As a result, customers will focus even more on value during their research. For this reason alone, we should focus purely on relevant and useful content. 

The goal is to generate and convey value through content.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is important not to overwhelm customers with information. This is the key in the ENABLE process. With a focus on value and benefit, we want to eliminate all information that is irrelevant from the customer’s perspective. This is not an easy task for a provider, because a lot of things are important from their own point of view. But what is really important to your customers? All too often, customers have to find their way through a labyrinth of information and despair of it. Save your customers the trouble, they will be grateful to you. Because despite digitalization, the basic needs when making buying decisions have not changed much. The basic needs are the same Customers may have more information, they may go other ways, they may make decisions on the basis of new factors, but at the end of the day it is still about making the

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right buying decisions. The behavior during the decision-making process has changed, but nothing has changed at the core of a decision itself: Customers still have a problem that needs to be solved and for which they are looking for solutions that they evaluate and put their added value in relation to the needed investment. In the actual decision-making process, however, many things have changed: customers come to know that they might have a problem in different ways; the nature of problems has changed; their threats are of a different nature; they learn about solutions from different sources; the nature of solutions has changed; they inform themselves differently about it; they have different criteria for making decisions; their internal processes have changed; their supplier preferences are new; they involve other stakeholders in their decisions; they have less time; they are under greater pressure; they have to make decisions faster and better … Despite all these changes, it is still about a problem for which a solution is required, and they still try to achieve results with the investment and to minimize the risks. However, nowadays they need a different kind of support from sales people. The customer world has changed and become too complex for traditional sales efforts to bring them any further. 

Providers need to create added value along the modern decision-making process of their customers.

Traditional approaches are simply not longer capable of doing this. We need a smart mix of technology and human expertise, which requires knowing exactly what the human being can do better and what technology can do better. But first we need to understand what effective use of technology means.

6.7.5 The Technology Intelligence Technology is not there to replace humans, but to improve our lives as humans. It is not there to automate processes and increase efficiency in sales processes, but to enable sales to fulfill customer needs better. It is also not there to control the performance of people in sales, but to enable them to do their jobs better. The biggest misunderstanding about technology is that it is used wrongly. If we implement technology simply to make our own processes more efficient, or for the sake of technology, we run the risk of deteriorating the customer experience. 

The purpose of technology use in sales is not to replace humans in customer interactions, but to provide customers with what they need faster, more conveniently, and more easily.

Although new technologies help optimize sales processes, companies should not focus blindly on optimization and efficiency. After all, it is possible to operate highly effi-

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ciently, while completely ignoring customer requirements, and to “digitize oneself to death”. Likewise, one should not insist on the supremacy of personal relationships. Technology can never completely replace human interaction. Nevertheless, it has a significant impact on how we interact with each other and with the world around us, and it can greatly affect the quality of the customer experience: in a positive and negative way. The intelligence lies in distinguishing when to prioritize what. 

Technology should be used to improve the customer experience, not deteriorate it.

In reality, the opposite often happens: Many customers are put off or disappointed by automated technological interactions, such as automated phone systems or badly programmed chatbots and confusing websites. If the technology does not work properly, it is more than frustrating to interact with it because it cannot solve its own problem: You're spinning in circles. Used correctly, many technological developments can create a pleasant customer experience and at the same time help companies to understand and meet the needs of their customers better. Because the use of technology gives us insights into the behavior and needs of our customers in a previously unprecedented depth. Companies should—finally—learn to use this true value of technology instead of just implementing it for the purpose of automation and increasing productivity.

6.7.6 Customer First, Not Technology First Customer experience is often directly associated with the use of technology. This misunderstanding arises from the use of the term UX (user experience), which is now on everyone’s lips. A customer experience implies the totality of all interactions with the company, not just those of a digital nature, as is often mistakenly assumed. No matter how highly developed the technology is: If it is misunderstood at its core, it will also not be able to develop its potential within the company. The best example of this are the CRM systems, which are doomed to be misunderstood by their history from the 1990s and 2000s. A CRM system is not a contact database. Nor is it a reporting tool. Nor is it a controlling instrument and it is not intended to capture and track all sales activities. If you don’t trust your salespeople, you have a different problem that no CRM system will solve. It is also not intended to minimize the dependence on individual salespeople. The purpose of a CRM system is to support the single salesperson and the entire organization in their sales activities. 

A CRM system should make a sales representative better, not worse.

And it could do that very well, if it were properly understood and used correctly by all the parties involved: by the companies and the sales representatives. Unfortunately,

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there is a widespread lack of awareness of this, and the introduction of a CRM system is even actively boycotted by the sales department. Too often, I have heard sales managers or CEOs - not the sales staff—making the statement: “I have successfully prevented the introduction of a CRM so far!” Instead, the sales department is kept busy with countless Excellists. Who, if not the management, should recognize the value of a system helping sales to do their job? Any use of technology in sales should serve to better meet customer needs and design better customer experiences. In the ENABLE process, there are many ways to do this, as we have seen. In addition, there are numerous technological possibilities in the area of sales management: Today, technology leaves no wishes of a sales manager unfulfilled. On the contrary, AI-powered systems enable unprecedented granularity in sales performance analysis and planning, making it possible to make informed decisions. But here too, a change of mindset is necessary, because many traditional sales management approaches and methods fail to serve their purpose under digital conditions.

6.7.7 Leading Sales Instead of Controlling Sales The frequent practice of monitoring sales staff and assessing their performance on the basis of their activities, like the number of customer visits or calls has never been effective, but it no longer has any reason for existence today. Sales representatives should be measured on the basis of results achieved rather than activities performed. Similarly, the traditional approach of determining the closing probability of an opportunity based on its sales process phase has become obsolete. Likewise, the approach of driving lead generation to maximize the bottom line is no longer viable. Today, these approaches only work to a limited extent, which means that sales management approaches need to be rethought. Sales managers should: • Enable salespeople to perform in their jobs, rather than put them under performance pressure; • Focus on results rather than monitoring activities; • Drive the quality of opportunities and leads, not just their quantity; • Help employees understand their customers and identify their needs, rather than organizing traditional selling and prospecting seminars and trainings; • Organize business development workshops on an ongoing basis, instead of sending sales on training once a year; • Evaluate the quality of customer’s guidance through their decision-making process, rather than measuring the number of deals closed; • Provide salespeople with tools to navigate the new nonlinear customer decision journey, rather than introducing monitoring instruments; • Encourage meeting customer needs, rather than pushing sales;

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• Develop long-term metrics and trust-building compensation models, rather than setting short-term sales targets and using monthly or quarterly commissions to drive sales performance. It’s not just sales and marketing people who need to rethink. Above all, executive levels must detach from short-term thinking and driving of immediate results.  The ENABLE approach enables customers to make better decisions and

thus achieve better results in the long term, which results in long-term customer loyalty. This is achieved through the achievement of a high quality decision. For this, first and foremost, sales staff must be empowered to achieve this quality and be measured on it.

6.7.8 Rethinking Customer Loyalty With the ENABLE approach, the much desired long-term customer loyalty becomes possible. Because sales is never about single sales transactions, but about building strong and trusting relationships with customers who will remain loyal for a lifetime. And they will only do so if they have made the right decision with and through you, a decision they will never regret. They will remain loyal to you forever and even serve as brand ambassadors by sharing positive feedback online or through word of mouth. This is true customer loyalty, which cannot be achieved through traditional customer retention programs and loyalty bonus systems. Such approaches sure have they relevance, but in a different context. A long-term relationship and trust cannot be built up so easily with a bonus program or achieved o a single occasion. It’s a long process based on several factors, at the core of which is a sincere effort to help the customer make the best decision possible. If you show your customers that you care about them, or that you really listen to them and understand them, you will certainly build meaningful, lasting relationships and win new fans for your company who will buy from you again and again and recommend you to colleagues, friends and even strangers. How customers think The ENABLE principle may be difficult to implement at first, but it pays off many times over in the long run. This is because it takes a long-term approach instead of promoting quick sales with short-term promotional measures. If you act in the interests of the customer and from his perspective, you will build a stable and lasting business in any case. Well, what else would be the goal of a business? The ENABLE process allows sales to truly put themselves in customers’ shoes and understand their thinking and aspirations. This not only promotes revenue, but also makes it possible to early recognize changes in customers’ needs and expectations and in

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the market, thus to align with them and to adjust business models and offerings. Many times, I have seen new business models emerge as a result of a workshop in which the customer’s perspective was explored in depth. The customer perspective is the only perspective that ensures long-lasting business success. But gaining customers’ perspectives is not achieved with a single workshop, because a change in thinking is required on several levels. If you recognize the value of this approach and want to pursue it, the processes must be set up accordingly and awareness must be intentionally promoted. Initially forced and later systematic, you should always slip into the shoes of the customer until it becomes natural. The sales organization and the sales activities will change as a result. Much more will happen in the background than on the front line. While we ignore the customers, we create all the conditions for them to find us and feel comfortable with us. Sales teams spend more time understanding their customers through deep needs analysis, identifying stakeholders in the decision-making process, and exploring their interests. The ENABLE approach requires a lot of preparation to really understand the customer’s situation and to find out what he really wants to achieve. The structure of the conversation with customers will be different, the quotes and sales presentations will require much more time to be tailored exactly to the customer’s requirements. In return, however, we are much more effective during direct customer contact, which the customer is more than happy about. Because, as we know, he has no desire to spend his valuable time listening to salespeople qualifying him during direct interaction, not to call it “interrogating”. In consumer business, we already reached the stage, where much more is happening in the background than in the direct interaction with customers, the same will happen sooner or later in B2B sales. Just as in B2C today, the buyer-seller relationship is already predominantly driven by the customer, B2B is adapting to this as well, with sales increasingly losing control over the customer relationship.

Conclusion: Sales not selling—utopia or future? The goal in sales of the future—and even today—is not to try to maintain control of the customer relationship, but to facilitate an outstanding customer relationship. The intention of sales should be not to sell their products, but to enable customers making good decisions. In this way, customers voluntarily commit to companies without us having to catch and tie them down, which doesn’t work today anyway. The result: more sales. Without force and pressure. ENABLE sales is not wishful thinking, but the longed-for solution to many problems in sales. It is not utopia, but the way to sales success under digital conditions.

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References Bymard Institute (2021) 44 cart abandonment rate statistics. https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate. Accessed 1 Sept 2021 Capgemini (2017) The disconnected customer. https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/ uploads/2017/07/the_disconnected_customer-what_digital_customer_experience_leaders_ teach_us_about_reconnecting_with_customers.pdf. Accessed 19 Aug 2021 CSG (2019) CGS survey reveals consumers prefer a hybrid AI/human approach to customer service. Is there Chatbot Fatigue? https://www.cgsinc.com/en/resources/2019-CGS-Customer-Service-Chatbots-Channels-Survey. Accessed 25 Aug 2021 Demand Gen (2020) 2020 B2B buyer behavior study. https://www.demandgenreport.com/ resources/reports/2020-b2b-buyer-behavior-studypurchase-plans-still-progressing-despite-disruption-but-with-increased-expectations-for-relevance-personalization/. Accessed 14 Aug 2021 Digital Commerce 360 (2019a) B2B buyers go elsewhere when their expectations aren’t met. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/12/10/b2b-buyers-go-elsewhere-when-their-expectations-arent-met/. Accessed 31 Aug 2021 Digital Commerce 360 (2019b) Business buyers like self-service websites, but sometimes want a rep. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/10/03/business-buyers-likeself%E2%80%91service-websites-but-sometimes-want-a-rep/. Accessed 31 Aug 2021 Drift (2020) 2020 state of conversational marketing. https://www.drift.com/blog/state-of-conversational-marketing/?utm_source=salesforce&utm_medium=blog. Accessed 31 Aug 2021 Fractl (2015) Content engagement by generation. https://www.frac.tl/work/marketing-research/ content-engagement-by-generation/. Accessed 20 Aug 2021 Gartner (2019) Gartner says the biggest challenge in B2B sales today is a lack of customer confidence. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-09-17-gartner-says-the-biggest-challenge-in-b2b-sales-today. Accessed 26 Aug 2021 Google (2012) Navigating the new multi-screen world: insights show how consumers use different devices together. http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2012/08/navigating-new-multi-screenworld.html. Accessed 31 Aug 2021 Harvard Business Review (2017) The new sales imperative. https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-salesimperative%20. Accessed 9 Aug 2021 Harvard Business Review (2018) How digital natives are changing B2B Purchasing. https://hbr. org/2018/03/how-digital-natives-are-changing-b2b-purchasing. Accessed 25 Aug 2021 Hubspot (2020) Happy customers are the biggest marketing opportunity of 2020. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/happy-customers-marketing-opportunity?__hstc=144543722.2052ad617b5 4efdb3be9590eb647922c.1625548461490.1625548461490.1625548461490.1&__hssc=14454 3722.1.1625548461490&__hsfp=836532174. Accessed 30 Aug 2021 Huff Industrial Marketing, KoMarketing, BuyerZone (2015) B2B web usability report. https:// komarketing.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2021 McKinsey & Company (2018) Unlocking success in digital transformations. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/unlocking-success-in-digital-transformations. Accessed 30 Aug 2021 Miller Heiman Group (2018) The growing buyer-seller gap: results of the 2018 buyer preferences study. https://www.millerheimangroup.com/resources/resource/2018-buyer-preference-studyresults/. Accessed 8 Aug 2021 Peppercomm (2014) Global business executives to marketers: stop marketing. https://www.peppercomm.com/global-business-executives-to-marketers-stop-marketing/. Accessed 19 Aug 2021 PIDAS (2017) Benchmark-Studie Kundenservice im digitalen Alter. https://page.pidas.com/benchmark-studie-kundenservice-im-digitalen-zeitalter. Accessed 25 Aug 2021

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How Does This Knowledge Help Me?



Summary The realization of the extent of necessary changes in sales can be overwhelming and paralyzing, and the subsequent sense of helplessness could lead to “doing nothing” at worst. However, returning to familiar and comfortable methods could ultimately be fatal—for organizations and individuals in sales. Because traditional sales approaches are simply no longer effective or only to a limited extent, and lose even more relevance with every new change in the PHANTOM's needs. Change is inevitable—regardless of whether we have the foresight to design and implement it ourselves or whether we are forced to do so by external circumstances. Waiting and hoping for the good old times to return is not a strategy. Considering change as part of the sales strategy and aligning it with the expectations of modern customers is the wise way, what this book should serve for.

By the end of this book, you may feel uncertain and overwhelmed, and you may not know exactly what to do with all this knowledge. Moreover, the complexity of all the processes described and the extent of the necessary changes can cause confusion and perhaps even helplessness. I can not diminish the complexity, sales is becoming much more complex and difficult than many could even imagine. “What am I supposed to do with it now?”, you might ask yourself. Indeed, the acquired knowledge will probably not help you sell more immediately. In the long run, however, it definitively will, if you take the decision and, above all, the courage to follow these principles. Because true change always requires courage and open-mindedness. And that a change in sales is long overdue, you have certainly already recognized, otherwise you would not have made it to this point in the book. You will probably still hesitate A short hesitation before accelerating on a highway when overtaking is normal. Just as when you briefly feel uncertain because the car in the side lane suddenly accelerates too. Or when unease arises because someone speeds past you like a flash. A short pause is absolutely normal in such situations. But if you suddenly decide to take your foot off

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 L. Rainsberger, The Modern Customer – the PHANTOM, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39196-6

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the pedal and line up behind the others at full speed, it is probably not for rational reasons, but because of the situation or the fear of an uncertain outcome. We have several options: We can follow others and keep on the right lane. We can take the the middle lane, because it feels safer there and occasionally overtake a car or two and watch others speeding by. Or, we can pass all the others on the speed lane. It makes a difference whether we are driving with an unsafe vehicle that is almost falling apart, endangering ourselves and the others, or a safe vehicle, but dangerously slow and hesitant, being an obstacle for the others. Or whether the lane in front of you is swept clean simply because the others see you in the rear-view mirror. Every this behavior is to a certain extent a matter of a free choice. But what is not subject to our free choice are the other drivers on the same highway. What cars do the others drive? How safe are their vehicles? Are they up to date with the latest technology and do they have all the necessary assistance systems on board? Does the majority already drive new engines or still the traditional ones? Do they meet the modern requirements? What is happening around you? If we look at the situation in sales, it feels like most companies are driving on high-speed roads with rickety car bodies from the 80s and 90s that are about to fall apart. But they obviously don’t want to scrap them, and keep holding on to them. Out of nostalgia or because of vintage car fondness? Or is it ignorance? Meanwhile, others—younger ones—rush past them in comfortable, modern, even self-driving and increasingly exotic vehicles. And their number is constantly increasing. Quite possibly, our “oldies” might be carrying innovative and highly developed products, in which many investments have flowed and which they are very proud of. However, investments are rarely made in a new means of transport. After all, it has always run well, and it may well continue to do so. Just because you can keep on the road doesn’t mean you can well steer the vehicle under the new conditions around you, and to get the valuable load to its destination quickly and safely. What if a traffic jam suddenly occurs and you can’t stop in time? Without ABS, ESC and other control systems, you are probably at the mercy of fate and who knows if you ever will arrive at your destination and how much longer it will take … And no, the government will not do you any favors, and give down payments for taking back outdated sales organizations.

The inevitable change The world of sales is increasingly accelerating,  and traditional sales approaches only work to a limited extent, if at all. Instead of holding on to it feverishly, you should bring your own sales vehicle up to date and then, without hesitation, step on gas. Because not only are competitors racing past you, but more importantly, customers are racing away from you. The COVID-19 pandemic acted like a nitro boost, merely accelerating all the developments that were quitely ongoing. In order to be competitive themselves, your customers simply can no longer afford to be considerate, wait for you to catch  up and be loyal to you. Nor can they afford to

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wait to be called by your salespeople. They are actively searching for solutions to their problems on their own and exploring potential improvements to their situation. Because they, too, have to survive under the new digital conditions. Unless they recognize you and your organization as an asset in meeting their challenges, you will be just one of the many other suppliers or options being meticulously chosen between on the basis of product features and pricing. The personal relationship, which is so often and so readily placed in the foreground and declared to be irreplaceable, is ultimately not the main reason why customers buy. • Would you buy an outstanding product from someone you don’t like? • Have you ever bought a inferior product just because you liked the seller? The personal relationship is not the decisive factor in a vendor-customer relationship, but a supporting factor. Even if customers like the salesperson, they will still buy from the competition if their offer is more suitable for them. Only if both offers are of equal value will the sympathy for the seller win. Perhaps the customer will give the salesperson he likes an opportunity to improve his quote. But if the offer is worse, the customer is unlikely to buy. There is one more thing I would like to clarify in this context: Sympathy is not to be confused with the competence of the salesperson. A good salesperson who acts in the interests of the customer and helps him make the best possible decision will gain sympathy through this intention alone. Yet human sympathy is not by itself a decision-making criterion.

Sympathy and a personal relationship alone are not enough The salesperson must be able to relate the capabilities of his company to the goals of his customers. Because they alone, no matter how sympathetic they may be, cannot accomplish much. At the end of the day, we all buy from companies. A salesperson can only be as good as his company allows him to be. With the spread of digitalization, the personal relationship is losing more and more relevance, whether we like it or not. On the one hand, because customers simply can no longer afford to take personal preferences into account. And on the other hand, because sales today are not about buying from a single person. 

Companies are still looking for the perfect salesperson, instead of thinking about how to create a perfect customer experience for their customers.

In the past, good salespeople was a prerequisite for providing an outstanding customer experience. Today, there are many more possibilities—besides the salespeople themselves—to create an outstanding buying experience. And these new possibilities are not really a matter of choice, they have become a prerequisite for reaching modern customers. Because by now we know: The PHANTOM is reality and is actively fleeing from the “old” sales.

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With each passing year, salespeople are losing their predominant roles in the buyerseller relationship. It wasn't long ago that salespeople played a critical and irreplaceable role in all aspects of a buying process. The salesperson made the customer aware of their problem, demonstrated the product, explained the value proposition, presented the solution, put together a formal quote, negotiated the price and agreed the terms of the contract. After the deal closed, he continued to maintain the relationship with the customer and handling repeating sales, contract extensions, support and other issues, such as overdue invoices. Today, sales people are usually involved only in a part of the buying process, if at all, and must actively gain access to the customer's decision-making process, which used to be taken for granted in the past. This requires, above all, a deep understanding of the customer —an understanding of their PHANTOM.

Customer focus is demanding Radical customer focus doesn't happen on its own. It is a process that requires strategy, motivation, planning and investment. It means a lot of work. Do you recall the warning notice from the preface of this book? Customer focus has never been easy, but today it is especially challenging when we try to understand the mutating-mobile PHANTOM customers and gain their trust. Even with strategic alignment and strong executive support, it's not easy to build a culture that is radically customer-centric. Today, companies have to change their culture to align their organization with the needs of their customers. Reorientation is difficult and shedding existing beliefs does not happen overnight. People keep falling back into old patterns and ways of thinking, and they have to be consciously aware of this to resist this urge and keep mentally watching for potential pitfalls that are lurking everywhere. For many years, salespeople have learned traditional sales methods in training courses and applied them on a daily basis. Shedding all that doesn't happen on its own. It is a process that must be consciously directed. To do this, it is not enough to “command” customer focus or to “declare” oneself as a customer-centric organization. Nor is it enough to organize a one-off training session. • First, a fundamental understanding of one’s own customers must be created. • The processes in the organization must then be aligned accordingly. • Then, salespeople must be systematically supported in building on and applying this understanding. • Strategies and tactics for ongoing validation of assumptions, realignment and development of new sales approaches must be developed.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution While there is never a single solution for everything, this book provides you with a good way to question your own sales approaches and methos to develop an understanding of your own customers and align your own processes with their changing behaviors and needs.

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

Understanding customer needs is not a guessing game. It requires a systematic approach. And sales success is not a game of chance. It requires a strategic approach. Good sales approaches rarely develop on their own, but in today’s business environment, a systematic and well thought-out approach is essential for building and managing sales. Sales organizations need to gain a deep understanding of the changes taking place with their customers. There is no room for guesswork. In high-speed times, being rickety and blindfolded is not only ineffective, it is even negligent. Because this endangers not only oneself, but also one’s environment and other market participants. 

Hoping that the competition is even worse is certainly not a good strategy.

Sales success is not dependent on the performance of sales reps only In recent decades, sales organizations in SME have focused almost exclusively on improving sales effectiveness, productivity and performance at the level of individual salespeople. The salesperson and the sales team were “optimized”. Today, a salesperson alone, no matter how good it may be, can no longer deliver the necessary performance. The success of a sales organization today depends on the intelligent combination of the human factor with the technology factor and a strategic market and sales approach that reflects the customer’s decision-making process and is tailored to his specific needs. In addition, the quality of the customer's experience throughout the entire duration of his decision-making is shifting into focus. Companies must develop other sales management instruments and focus on analyzing the performance of sales from their customer’s perspective. Modern customers can no longer be reached with old methods On these last pages I would like to summarize the difference between traditional and modern sales based on the ENABLE principle (Table 1) The list could go on and on, but it certainly serves its purpose in this short form: to make it clear that state-of-the-art sales requires a complete change of mindset. Starting with a value-driven approach to customers, through the use of technology, and up to mastering the new digital media, many companies have a steep learning curve ahead of them if they want to meet the demands of the modern customer. Today, the B2C sector is almost completely driven by the customer, and the B2B sector is rapidly approaching this state.. Do you still remember the 9:00 to 17:00 business and working hours? Taking orders by fax? Waiting week after week for the next episode of your favorite show? Waiting for the stores to open on Monday? Not so long ago, waiting was not a big deal. And today? What are we still willing to wait for today? And what are we, as customers, still willing to tolerate? Today, a business is bound neither to a location nor to opening hours—neither in buying nor in selling. More and more customers in the private and business sector are looking for ways to fulfill their needs without waiting—preferably immediately. The image

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Table 1  Difference between traditional sales and ENABLE sales Traditional sales

ENABLE sales

Focus on selling and revenue generation

Focus on meeting customer needs, which results in revenue

Focus on accelerating the sales process

Focus on facilitating the buying decision, which accelerates the sales process

Focus on a wide target audience

Focus on a very narrowly specified target group that derives the greatest benefit from the company's offerings

Focus on promoting product features

Focus on outlining the results that can be achieved through the use of the products

Sales people are knowledgeable about their own products

Sales people are knowledgeable about what customers need these products for and what they can achieve with them

Focus on the presentation of one’s own portfolio and the company

Focus on the content relevant to customers for their decision making

Sales representatives actively prospect on customers: cold prospecting. Marketing generates leads: runs ads and campaigns

Sales and marketing create the necessary conditions for being actively approached by customers

Sales representatives address all customers with same approach

Sales representatives develop targeted strategies to specifically address each customer: Customer Key Content Map

Sales representatives qualify customers during direct interaction with the customer

Sales representatives qualify and inform themselves about the customer’s situation in the background and do not waste valuable time during direct interaction with the customer

Sales works with information: information role, answers customer questions

Sales works with insights and tries to create the right perspective for the customer

Sales tries to meet customer wishes

Sales tries to recognize the real needs behind the stated wishes

Sales representatives ask questions to inform themselves

Sales representatives ask questions that help customers gain important insighs and recognitions

A lot of work at the front

A lot of work in the background

Sales is trained in sales, prospecting and negotiation methods

Sales is trained to understand customer needs and to bring them into connection with their own offerings

Customer Journey in focus

Customer decision-making process in focus.

If at all, technology is primarily used for the automation and increasing the efficiency of internal processes

Technology is used to increase the quality of the customer experience

Sales is measured by revenue and contribution margin Sales sells its own services and products

Sales is measured by how well it leverages the potential of its customers Sales enables its customers to make good business decisions

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of the field sales rep on his weekly customer tour no longer fits into the picture. Companies, and especially B2B providers, must say goodbye to traditional sales methods and learn to interact with their modern customers in the way customers want, instead of trying to force them into their outdated processes. Human-Technology-Intelligence With a smart mix of technology and human intelligence, we should try to build new kind of relationships with customers—relationships that are aligned with their growing digital needs. As well as setting up processes that reflect customer behavior as accurately as possible and are aligned with their individual expectations. Technology offers us the best opportunities for this. Because despite the many challenges it brings with it, digitalization holds many new opportunities for us. We just have to learn to recognize and take advantage of them. Sales have never been easy. But customer centricity and building a value-driven, easy, and exciting customer experience involves even more complexity and work. I warned you about this right at the very beginning of the book. And remember my other warning? If you implement the suggestions from this book correctly, you also run the risk of customers beating down your doors. This is not meant metaphorically. I actually had a project where the managing director said a few months after the parital implementation of the concepts developed: “We are hardly able to cope with all the new requests. Now, we have to make sure to be able to cope with the business which is coming in by itself.” That’s exactly what I wish for you: that you can hardly save from qualified prospects and that they become loyal customers who voluntarily and at any time promote you. With this book, I have given you the most important tool for this purpose: the ENABLE sales principle, which differs from other sales approaches by the fact that it is precisely aligned with the customer’s decision-making process: DECIDE. The goal of this approach is to make the decision and buying easier for the customer, not just optimize sales processes. Once you achieve this, business is bound to develop on its own and there is no need for pushing sales and promotions. Unfortunately, the very tactics that are supposed to promote sales have the opposite effect on the PHANTOM customers. Remember: The PHANTOM is opportunistic, and if your current offer seems attractive, it may strike, but that doesn’t mean it won’t strike with the competition next time. The ENABLE principle makes it possible to retain customers for the long term, rather than luring them with short-term incentives. ENABLE sales is the future. Easier customer experiences with increasing complexity Companies need to learn to align their offerings, processes and competencies to the needs of their modern customers. Under digital conditions, the winners will be those companies that can turn complex approaches into easy, convenient and effortless customer experiences. Companies that build such sales organizations that “see”, “perceive”, “understand” and “inspire” customers will lead far ahead on the highway, with a great distance gap. In this book I have outlined what is necessary to achieve this. And at the

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Fig. 1   The essence of this book

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end of it, I would like to summarize its essence in a core idea and illustrate it in a single image, see Fig. 1: Conclusion:  KISS the PHANTOM, is the modern approach to reach the modern customer—the PHANTOM, a product of the EEE-World and a reflection of the III-Human. This requires a smart mix of technology and human to build an ENABLE sales that empowers customers in their DECIDE decision-making process. I wish you all the best with your initiatives! Sincerely Yours, Livia Rainsberger