The Indecisive Customer Scenario:  A Marketing Strategy For B2B Sales

As we build the marketing technology stacks that will power the future, we must remain cognizant of the issues facing sales teams that are on the front lines, telling our stories to customers each and every day. 

The best marketing automation strategies work to enhance sales best practices–not replace them.

But…

I am not a salesperson. None of my friends are in sales. None of my networking contacts are salespeople. So when I hear about new insights in the world of sales, I tend to scan right past it. It just doesn’t normally feel like its “for me.” 

So when I was listening to a marketing podcast recently, and the host mentioned a new book about sales, my eyes began to glaze over…until she hit me with this statistic:

According to Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna in their book The Jolt Effect, a staggering 40-60% of B2B technology sales processes end in indecision. 

40-60%?! 

Seeing as I was currently producing a competitive analysis for a client, I immediately realized that I had left our largest, most pernicious competitor out of my analysis–indecision. 

Understanding the Indecisive Customer

In the companies I have worked for, I have gotten to work alongside some truly remarkable sales professionals. And these folks talked constantly about our competitors; how we differentiate from them, how we can do what they cannot, and on and on. 

I also heard them speak frequently about the issues that caused them to lose deals to the status quo–how we hadn’t made the case or were missing a key feature that would have gotten us there.

When we lose deals to competitor groups, they typically shake out like this:

• Direct Competitors: Buyers choose a tool that performs almost identical functions to yours.
• Status Quo: Buyers stick with their existing platform or an imperfect collection of tools (spreadsheets, pen-and-paper) or make a purchase that doesn’t fully solve their problems.

There are tried and true methods to better address each of these groups and convert more of them into sales. 

However, the third competitor, Do Nothing, where no decision is made, can be the most challenging.

Despite the massive number of sales efforts that end this way, I have witnessed far fewer conversations on indecision and how to address it.

There is a perfectly logical reason for this: an indecisive customer is just a relationship you need to keep working on. The deal isn’t dead. It’s just asleep.

But if we want to truly address these indecisive customers, we need to do a few things much better: 

1. We need to have a plan to address indecision.
2. We need to identify the signs of a deal slipping away and address it before it does.
3. We need to focus on the right customers–and let go of the wrong ones. 

This is where marketing strategy can be tremendously helpful. Let’s talk about the issues that may lead to indecisive customers, and the essential elements for a marketing strategy to reverse the indecisive customer scenario for your business. 

The True Nature of Indecision

Addressing indecision requires a different approach than merely highlighting the danger of inaction. According to Dixon and McKenna’s research, once purchase intent is established, customers are less concerned about succeeding and more about avoiding failure. 

This shift in perspective means that despite an interest in your product, external risk factors may overshadow the decision to proceed. Key issues contributing to indecision include:

• A Lack of Available Budget
• A Toxic or Broken Culture
• Uncertain Leadership
• Shifting Departmental Goals
  

Why Current Tactics Fail

To effectively address the indecisive customer scenario, you have to find customers who’s risk of inaction outweighs the external challenges and roadblocks keeping them from saying yes. 

Traditional sales practices would tell you to push harder and keep delivering the features, functions, strategies and tactics your customer needs to beat their competition. Indecisive customers will often ask for more and more information, hoping something will eliminate their fear of making a decision that leads to a negative outcome. 

This approach backfires because your customers have already been convinced that you are the best solution for them. Your job is to make them believe that, not only are you the best solution, but that you can offer creative solutions to eliminate the downside risks that have paralyzed them. 

©2022 Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna (P)2022 Penguin

Strategies to Overcome Indecision

If you are facing an indecisive customer, consider implementing the following strategies:

Trim Your Audience 

Indecisive customers can eat up a ton of your time. You have to be sure that you are dealing with a decision-maker, that they are able to make (or heavily influence) a final decision, and that the business is worth your time. 

Address the Risk of Inaction 

While it’s essential to highlight the benefits of your solution, it’s important to pivot to emphasizing the risks associated with inaction when prospects become indecisive. Stress the potential security risks and lost revenue opportunities that could result from not adopting your solution. Most people fear making a choice that has a negative impact over allowing bad things to happen due to inaction. Make clear the consequences of inaction and, if possible, the necessity of time. 

Position Your Product as Essential 

To overcome indecision, your product must be seen as indispensable. Help your champion within the prospective company understand how to present your service as a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. This involves showcasing the critical role your product plays in mitigating risks–not achieving goals. Remember, you’ve already convinced them of your utility. Now, you must show them how your product can protect them against the external forces that are out of your–and their–control. 

A Marketing Strategy For The Indecisive Customer

All of the above tactics can be tested, scaled and added to strategic planning. Here are just a few of the ways to systematize the above strategy for future prospects:

Add Lead Scoring or Lifecycle Stages that Include Indecision 

Start by identifying metrics that indicate indecision. Maybe a deal has been open for significantly longer than your average sales cycle. Create a mixture of qualitative (assigned by the sales rep) and quantitative (decided by data) metrics to ensure that this is truly an indecisive customer worth focusing on.

Create A Content Brief for Custom Sales Enablement Reports

Closing indecisive customers will involve some custom work from the sales rep to outline the risks associated with inaction. To drive the point home, arm your sales reps with custom reports that clearly lay out the risks of inaction for the client, but also reassure them that their problem is not unique. This is where report templates, branded charts and graphs, and a content strategy for distilling complex topics into content assets becomes essential. Make sure your marketing team is prepared to fulfill these requests. 

Social Proof

Whether it’s filming testimonials, collecting quotes or arranging networking meetings, connecting indecisive prospects with your happy customers who have faced similar challenges can be powerful. The key is customization–understand your indecisive prospect’s fears and make sure your customers have stories prepared to address them.

Once you open up a lead scoring automation for indecisive customers, its important to create a library of content and a messaging strategy around indecision. How can your product become essential? How can you mitigate risks? How have you overcome these objections in the past? And what content have you created to address them in the future? 

As long as you are decisive in your planning, strategy and execution, you can overcome indecision and get to action more quickly and efficiently than ever before.