For many of us, the idea of a treasure map ignited our imaginations as a kid. The promise of hidden riches, secret paths, and the thrill of the hunt to find the big red X on the map captured our attention like nothing else. The idea that a few marked lines on a parchment could lead us to unimaginable treasures was, and still is, enchanting.

Today, B2B marketing and sales professionals are constantly seeking their own form of treasure. They’re hunting for strategies to better understand buying groups, build engagement, and ultimately drive revenue. However, they are typically using different treasure maps to find their troves of gold. Buying groups are in control of the buying process, so marketing and sales teams need to use a new approach to connecting with buying groups and getting their treasure.

“Today’s business buyer controls the buying process more than today’s seller controls the selling process."

Lori Wizdo, VP, Principal Analyst, Forrester

So how can companies create their own treasure maps and uncover all the hidden spots for enhancing their B2B experiences and driving leads and sales?

A typical error we find when we start working with many B2B marketing and sales teams is that each team has a different understanding of who their customers or buying groups are. Both teams are too siloed and busy to stay in sync or consistently collaborate around their B2B customer engagement efforts. Marketing teams’ maps rely on demographic data, web analytics, and high-level market research to help them find their gold: how to generate awareness and drive quality leads. However, the Sales team’s maps rely on understanding their customers from countless conversations and interactions with prospects and customers. Both teams rarely have a shared understanding of their customers and their journeys.

In other words, they are using disconnected maps (or no maps at all!).

At iCrossing, we’ve found that three mapping techniques can guide both teams toward riches: B2B Buyer Personas, B2B Customer Journey Maps, and Service Blueprints. Much like old pirate maps marked with a large “X,” these three mapping strategies can reveal opportunities to improve experiences and relationships with B2B audiences.

How B2B Buying Group Personas Define Roles

B2B Buying Group Personas are fictional representations of target customers based on insights from qualitative and quantitative research. They help teams see through the eyes of their buyers and understand each audience’s characteristics such as:

• Needs from your product or service

• Pain points they have related to your product or service

• Attitudes and behaviors during the sales process

• Their role and influence in the buying group

In addition, buying group personas inform brand communication, develop stronger value propositions, support the creation of targeted customer loyalty programs, and equip sellers with insights to assist their customers in making purchasing decisions.

A real-world example: For an Auto Manufacturer-owned Financial Services client, we identified three key roles in the buying group for commercial banking services: the Dealership Owners, their Partners, and the Dealership Managers below them. Each role was active during the sales process at different times, and each had different goals and needs, and levels of influence when the dealership wanted to expand and needed a commercial loan, for example. Hence, the type of content and experiences we can offer to each role are different along the marketing and sales journey. By interviewing several people in those roles, we uncovered their pain points and expectations when trying to get a loan, which helped us not only improve the upper-funnel website experience but also streamline the commercial loan application process.

Using B2B Customer Journey Maps to Visualize Purchase Decisions

The buying journey isn’t straightforward, so each path to a purchase decision will be different. To fully visualize the path, teams need to create the closest thing to a real treasure map: B2B Customer Journey Maps. B2B Customer Journey Maps take persona insights a step further by visualizing the process that a customer goes through to achieve their buying goals during the sales process. Each map highlights that persona’s different touch points, emotions, information needs, and experiences at each stage of the buying journey, allowing teams to identify areas of friction or opportunities for improvement (the treasure!).

Layering the different customer journey maps allows teams to compare the experiences of different buying group personas. This comparison can reveal patterns and insights like common pain points, opportunities for improvement, or areas where the buying experiences might need to be personalized for different user groups.

Delivering Amazing Employee and Machine Experiences through Service Blueprints

Service blueprints break down the customer journey maps to the nuts and bolts of your service operations. It gives an overview of all the people, processes, and touch points involved in delivering the customer experience during the Marketing and Sales process. This helps in realizing how to improve service delivery from backend processes to front-end interactions. By associating personas with specific steps in the blueprint, teams can ensure that their experiences deliver on the expectations of their key audiences.

When improvements are implemented, B2B Buyer Personas provide a way to measure how the new experiences impact each role in the buying group. Insights on persona satisfaction help teams optimize their journey maps and blueprints to continuously refine the buying group experience.

Treasure Maps Created – B2B Gold Found

Combined, the B2B Buyer Personas, B2B Customer Journey Maps, and Service Blueprint equate to having multiple treasure maps, giving teams an outside-in and inside-out view of how to optimize the buying experience for different roles in buying groups. Now that you know how to make treasure maps to find all the gold, your team will be able to identify customer-focused improvement initiatives to be defined, prioritized, and sequenced in strategic roadmaps. With the entire team using the same treasure maps, they’ll have a clearer path to find the sales gold.

At iCrossing, we work with Marketing and Sales teams to ensure a seamless experience. By gaining a deep understanding of B2B buying groups, purchase journeys, and how employees and technology support the buying experience, we help B2B organizations find their own hidden treasures.

If you would like more information related to this topic or need to understand your buying groups, please contact us to transform how your team markets and sells.