What Is Buyer Enablement? A Comprehensive Guide to an Approach That Benefits Both Companies and Customers | Blog

What Is Buyer Enablement? A Comprehensive Guide to an Approach That Benefits Both Businesses and Customers!

Updated: May 15, 2024

What Is Buyer Enablement?

In recent years, with the widespread adoption and development of the internet, it has become standard practice for B2B customers to conduct independent research and selection before purchasing products or services.

On the other hand, the ease of gathering information has created unintended negative consequences, such as complicating the customer's purchasing process. Specifically, as the volume of available information increases, customers often face greater difficulty and time consumption in collecting and comparing data. In this context, the concept of "Buyer Enablement" is gaining significant attention.

This article explains the key points for achieving Buyer Enablement. In addition to the functions required to realize enablement, we also discuss how to create a "Buyer Journey" using the massive corporate database uniquely built by our company, uSonar. Please read until the end.

>> Click Here for Details on uSonar, Powered by Japan's Largest Corporate Database

What Is Buyer Enablement? Definition

Buyer enablement refers to the information that companies provide to customers for the purpose of advancing the purchasing process. In a broader sense, it can also refer to the initiatives or strategies themselves used to provide this information to customers.

Gartner, which proposed the concept of buyer enablement, defines information that satisfies the following four points as buyer enablement.

Relevance

It must be relevant to the specific challenges the customer is facing.

Ease of Use

It must be easy for the customer to use quickly and effectively.

Utility

It must be useful for the customer to advance their intended purchasing process.

Reliability

It must be reliable and backed by data and facts.

A key point common to these is a "customer-centric perspective." It is important not just to introduce products, but to provide the information necessary to advance the customer's purchasing process with that process in mind.

Creating a "Buyer Journey" is a recommended method for understanding the customer's purchasing process. Please see the article below for a detailed explanation of the Buyer Journey.

>> Click Here for an Explanation of the Buyer Journey

By grasping the Buyer Journey, it becomes easier to understand what stages a customer goes through when purchasing a product or service, and what information should be provided to help them progress through those stages.

Examples of Content That Satisfies Buyer Enablement

What kind of content satisfies the definition of buyer enablement mentioned above?
Gartner lists the following seven types of content that satisfy buyer enablement.

Analytical Content

Providing data or tools that allow customers to perform their own analysis regarding their challenges.

Diagnostic Content

Providing frameworks that help evaluate the customer's current situation and identify options.

Shared Content

Providing information necessary for all stakeholders involved in the purchase to have a common understanding.

Recommendations

Providing clear options based on the customer's own input.

Advice

Providing guidance to lead the customer through their purchasing activities.

Comparison Content

Providing comparison information with competing products or services using data that is difficult for customers to obtain on their own.

Simulation

Providing tools to estimate the benefits of introducing a product or service.

When creating content that satisfies buyer enablement, using the seven examples above as a starting point is the most efficient approach.

On the other hand, even if content does not fall into these categories, it can still be effective in advancing the customer's purchasing process as long as it meets the definition of buyer enablement. It is necessary to design engagement points tailored to your company by considering the characteristics of your products or services, as well as the features of your market and industry.

What Are the Keys to Practicing Buyer Enablement?

Another important element for successful buyer enablement is "timing." Even if you create content that satisfies buyer enablement, you cannot practice it effectively if you fail to provide the necessary information at the right time.

Providing information at the wrong time not only wastes resources but also risks creating a negative impression of the service or damaging trust, which can lead to a degraded customer experience.

To determine the appropriate timing for providing information, it is necessary to grasp which stage of the purchasing process each customer is in.

In the later stages of the purchasing process, it is possible to capture the customer's stage through two-way communication between the customer and the sales representative.

On the other hand, in the early stages of the purchasing process, information tends to be one-way from the company, making it difficult to identify the customer's purchasing stage. In such cases, it is necessary to estimate the stage based on the buyer's website browsing history and behavioral data.

Services Useful for Realizing Buyer Enablement

The following tools and resources are useful for realizing buyer enablement.

Content Marketing Platform

Used for creating and managing content that attracts customer interest, such as case studies and white papers.
Utilized to provide information tailored to the different challenges and needs of each target and stage.

Sales Engagement Tool

Enables management of interactions and tasks to provide information and support tailored to customer needs.
Used to gain insights into customers from past interactions while building trust.

Data Management Platform

Features functions such as CRM and DWH to manage and integrate customer information.
Utilized to provide information at the appropriate time and build trust with customers.

Customer Experience Management

Provides resources such as support desks and information portals that allow for information provision and feedback sharing, and acquires data used for analyzing and segmenting customer behavior.

By combining the tools and resources mentioned above, it is possible to realize "buyer enablement" to advance the "Buyer Journey."
At uSonar Co., Ltd., we believe that the key to our unique method of creating a "Buyer Journey" is to clearly define three elements: "Customer Persona," "Customer Stage," and "Engagement Point."
Please see the article below for a detailed explanation.

>> Click Here for uSonar's Unique Buyer Journey Creation Method

Conclusion

Buyer enablement is an approach that benefits both companies and customers.
By being conscious of buyer enablement, you can establish a competitive advantage during the product/service selection phase, while simultaneously leading to the development of long-term business relationships through the building of trust.

Realize Sales Efficiency and Maximize Marketing Effectiveness
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Author

uSonar Editorial Department

MX Group, Editor-in-Chief

This is the uSonar Editorial Department.
We provide information on data utilization and digital technologies useful for rethinking future business operations, primarily for companies engaged in B2B business.