Visualization – Life of a B-2-B Decision Maker

Challenge and Selection:

In the B2B industry (specially in Information Technology industry), there is minimalistic physical  intervention between the marketing employee of a vendor and the decision-making official of the  customer. It is often difficult for the former to understand the buying behavior, consumption trends and  pattern of influence of the latter. Further, the customer inputs which come from the on-ground teams  are quite adhoc and incomplete.

In this kind of scenario, creating a market facing collateral or content piece becomes challenging as the  creator is not well aware of the customer persona and how he consumes the content. This was a major  problem which many of our colleagues were facing in the marketing department.

The visualization tool was chosen to get an understanding of how a copywriter or agency official  understands the customer, their consumption pattern and how decision making happens.

Application:

It is good to learn something in theory, but the results are even better of it is applied in practice. Instead  of just making people think that they are working on a task, we thought to make them feel what their  target audience is like – the idea was to get them exposed to the life of a Decision maker.

The concerned team which constituted of 7 members was asked to consider themselves as a part of  decision making team in a customer organization. The first day was to get an understanding of the life of  a decision maker, and the second was to get reflections through group discussions and perspectives on  how the company’s content and collaterals scored if they were a Decision maker.

Visualization of the current state– At a personal level (digital and physical):

Each individual was asked to read blogs, case studies, news portals, and see videos to get an  understanding of the current industry trends, life of a Decision maker and what kind of content was  being presented to them. Everyone was asked to make notes basis their observation and visualize how  they would have perceived their own created content and artefacts.

The second half of the day was to understand it in person. Every team member had 2 detailed discussion  sessions with a senior sales team member to understand one of their projects. The topics covered were  only two: Decision making process in the deal (starting till end) and detailed inputs on the role/ response  of the Decision makers at each stage and their observations. Basis the discussion, the team members  were asked to create images and notes which reflected on their understanding of the process and  inherent challenges at each step.

Insight:

The second day was for getting and discussing insights as a group. Each team member explained his  thought pattern, images they had drawn, notes they had made as per their visualization of the  personality of the decision maker, deal process and influencing triggers during that situation.

After the individual descriptions, there was a group discussion in which all the team members were  evaluating all the descriptions to bring out the common traits, educational backgrounds, challenges in  professional life, and thought process affiliations of the decision makers.

The results were stunning and refreshing. The people who were the primary producers of the finished  content and collaterals had for the first time experienced the life of their target audience.

There was a variety of aspects to the approach of every team member and that brought robustness to  the evaluation. The exercise helped in bringing out certain action points where the team was required to  do course correction and beefed up their morale for bringing out more impactful and targeted  messaging which was interesting, and insightful.

Approach:

One addition which could be done is to get one more layer of visualization and inputs by getting the  team members meet with some customer officials who are willing to help them understand their  challenges better. The base has already been created by this exercise and if more exposure could be  given to the team, it would certainly aid them in demystifying and understanding their challenges  through their own visualization and by applying their own mindset. After all, design thinking is a journey  and it should be enjoyable to the participant.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Visualization – Life of a B-2 - B Decision Maker Challenge and Selection : In the B2B industry ( specially in Information Technology industry ) , there is minimalistic physical intervention between the marketing employee of a vendor and the decision - making official of the customer . It is often difficult for the former to understand the buying behavior , consumption trends and pattern of influence of the latter . Further , the customer inputs which come from the on - ground teams are quite adhoc and incomplete . In this kind of scenario , creating a market facing collateral or content piece becomes challenging as the creator is not well aware of the customer persona and how he consumes the content . This was a major problem which many of our colleagues were facing in the marketing department . The visualization tool was chosen to get an understanding of how a copywriter or agency official understands the customer , their consumption pattern and how decision making happens . Application : It is good to learn something in theory , but the results are even better of it is applied in practice . Instead of just making people think that they are working on a task , we thought to make them feel what their target audience is like – the idea was to get them exposed to the life of a Decision maker . The concerned team which constituted of 7 members was asked to consider themselves as a part of decision making team in a customer organization . The first day was to get an understanding of the life of a decision maker , and the second was to get reflections through group discussions and perspectives on how the company ’s content and collaterals scored if they were a Decision maker . Visualization of the current state – At a personal level ( digital and physical ): Each individual was asked to read blogs , case studies , news portals , and see videos to get an understanding of the current industry trends , life of a Decision maker and what kind of content was being presented to them . Everyone was asked to make notes basis their observation and visualize how they would have perceived their own created content and artefacts . The second half of the day was to understand it in person . Every team member had 2 detailed discussion sessions with a senior sales team member to understand one of their projects . The topics covered were only two : Decision making process in the deal ( starting till end ) and detailed inputs on the role/ response of the Decision makers at each stage and their observations . Basis the discussion , the team members were asked to create images and notes which reflected on their understanding of the process and inherent challenges at each step . Insight : The second day was for getting and discussing insights as a group . Each team member explained his thought pattern , images they had drawn , notes they had made as per their visualization of the personality of the decision maker , deal process and influencing triggers during that situation . After the individual descriptions , there was a group discussion in which all the team members were evaluating all the descriptions to bring out the common traits , educational backgrounds , challenges in professional life , and thought process affiliations of the decision makers . The results were stunning and refreshing . The people who were the primary producers of the finished content and collaterals had for the first time experienced the life of their target audience . There was a variety of aspects to the approach of every team member and that brought robustness to the evaluation . The exercise helped in bringing out certain action points where the team was required to do course correction and beefed up their morale for bringing out more impactful and targeted messaging which was interesting , and insightful . Approach : One addition which could be done is to get one more layer of visualization and inputs by getting the team members meet with some customer officials who are willing to help them understand their challenges better . The base has already been created by this exercise and if more exposure could be given to the team , it would certainly aid them in demystifying and understanding their challenges through their own visualization and by applying their own mindset . After all , design thinking is a journey and it should be enjoyable to the participant . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------