"As a seller, when you approach a big company, you are most likely more concerned about your fears than theirs," writes Barbara Weaver Smith in an article at Selling to Big Companies.

But big-company buyers are often fearful of their own decisions, she argues—especially the decision to do business with a small, unknown or new company.

For that reason, a lot of B2B marketers get their sales pitches wrong, she notes: They tout the benefits they will provide, without paying enough attention to a big company's fears.

She lists four main fears that plague employees of large companies:

• Change. Requirements to do anything differently represent a big hassle.
• Conflict. Decisions that colleagues or supervisors or other departments oppose are simply too risky to pursue.
• Work. If they perceive that your solution requires a lot more work on their part, they will not buy.
• Failure. If they choose you and you do not deliver, they will be held accountable for the bad choice.

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article