By Gordon

I just returned from Food Marketing Institute where they commonly talk about Pre-tailing.  It is when consumers use the Internet to shop and compare retail and online products or use social media to ask their friends for advice when making a buying decision.

In the B2B realm, the exact same thing is going on, key executives are pre-tailing their purchasing, professional services, and hiring decisions.  With today’s smart phones and new apps, your B2B prospect can research your competition, determine price ranges, and solicit recommendations from their friends (that’s the power of social media) right in front of you – even in your office.  That is called “In-tailing”, competitive research done in a store or in a meeting using smart phones, applications, text messaging, and the Internet. The consumer is more and more in control.

In the retail food industry, new strategies have emerged to respond and keep customers in the store.  They are personalizing the shopping experience and enhancing in-store ease and convenience. They are also providing consumers more information (healthy choices, complimentary menu choices, matching wines, etc.) and more “price transparency” – which is exactly what consumers (business and retail) are demanding – more information and truth in pricing.  Crazy?  Look what all the insurance companies are doing in their TV ads, asking consumers to “come to our website and we will provide you competitive pricing information” – that’s price transparency.

But what if you’re B2B?! Well know this, your B2B prospects are pre-tailing, too! Remember the data showing business people in their 50s and 60s are using the Internet – on average – nine hours a week.  The Forbes article I mentioned in my earlier blog clearly states that “C-suite” executives use the Internet to do research and about half do their own research.

As a B2B sales company, it is important to reconsider how you can use the web, online tools, and apps to enhance ease and convenience for your prospects and customers.  Understand, as I said before, how “combining relevant web content and search engine optimization is the very essence of a strong Internet presence today.”

In today’s pre-tailing B2B world, you need to ask yourself, if 50% of my prospects are pre-tailing via the internet, are they finding our website, are they finding our product information?  What are you doing to keep your pre-tailing customers and prospects doing business with your company?  When someone Googles your industry or your products, where does your company rank in the listings?  And, with social media, is your brand represented where they are searching – Facebook, 4Square, etc? And how can you find the answers to these questions?

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Tags: B2B, consumer research, Gordon O'Neill, Pre-tailing, price transparency, retail, social research

About the Author

Gordon O'Neill is the founder and CEO of O'Neill Communications and has over 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations, Gordon is invested in each client’s success. He is talented in creating strong brand identities and setting the strategic direction for businesses and associations in a wide range of industries, including finance, government, tourism, manufacturing, professional service firms, technology, and consumer goods.

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