Understanding Your Buyer's Perception will Lead to an Effortless Client Experience
Updated: Nov 21
Perception is reality— or so we think... but what if your views of your B2B client relationships are skewed?
At Encompass-CX, we’ve delved into the depths of buyer perceptions so you can equip your business with data for CX improvement.
Encompass-CX's Study On Buyer's Perception
Our eye-opening and actionable findings:
In a recent study, we discovered that 51% of sellers with strong, Trusted Advisor relationships with their clients significantly UNDER-estimated the strength of those relationships, by an average of 35%.
Imagine the missed new sale opportunities: the cross-sell potential you didn’t tap into, the referrals you didn’t ask for, and the pricing leverage you failed to use. All because you didn’t realize how valued you actually were.
In this same study, 63% of sellers with weak, Transactional client relationships OVER-estimated their connection by a whopping 45%. This means they overlooked critical signals from their clients—signals that could have warned them about potential churn, cost overruns, and commoditization.
The result?
Higher service costs, unexpected churn, and lost revenue.
But here’s the kicker:
In our research, 86% of sales and account team members across the board have significant blind spots in their client relationships. This isn’t just a minor oversight; it’s a systemic issue costing your business more than you might realize.
In short, when buyer perceptions are good, we don’t realize how good they are; when they are bad, we don’t accept how bad they really are!
Why Should Buyer Perception Matter To Your Business?
Unfortunately, in business, you can do everything right and still lose a buyer to a competitor. As a business owner, you determine your prices and how you want to market certain products or services. However, your potential buyer ultimately gets to decide who he/she/they want to compare you to and where he/she/they want to spend their money.
Buyer perceptions are formed based on the buyer’s assessments of businesses. Remember Bob and the car dilemma? (Read more about Bob’s customer experience here from our previous blog post in this series.)
Let’s take a closer look at Bob’s Purchasing Perspective...
Bob went back to Dealership B for an oil change. At Dealership B, Bob continued to receive exceptional customer service. They offered him a loaner car for the day, so he didn’t need to wait for 30 minutes, while his oil was changed. Despite Dealership B’s offer, Bob decided to stick around in their waiting room with fresh pastries and good coffee. When his car was returned, the mechanics laid paper mats on the floor to keep his car clean and wrapped his steering wheel to avoid getting grease in it. The whole service cost Bob only $29!
A few days later, Bob stayed at a Marriott hotel on business. He paid $400 for one night. In the morning Bob went downstairs to discover he had to pay $8 for a watered-down cup of coffee! He couldn't help but remind himself of the excellent, free cup of coffee he received when getting his oil changed at Dealership B.
Bob found himself comparing his experience at the car dealership to a hotel.
While Bob received different services from Dealership B and the Marriott, his time at Dealership B negatively impacted his perception of the Marriott. This seems unfair to the Marriott—shouldn’t Bob be comparing them to other hotels? Truthfully, it doesn't matter. Bob is a paying customer, which means he can compare the Marriott, and any other business, to whomever or whatever he wants!
When you’re not in tune with how your clients truly perceive your relationship, you’re leaving money on the table and risking the very relationships you depend on.
Focusing on Customer Loyalty can go a long way!
Understanding buyer perceptions isn’t just a nice-to-have— it’s a business imperative.
Your relationship with each client is like a bank account. In fact, there are various types of customer loyalty:
If you work hard and make your clients happy (happier than they think they can be with other businesses), your sales equity with this client will be deposited into your relationship bank.
If your client doesn’t feel valued or important, there will be a withdrawal and your sales equity will decrease.
The goal is to earn maximum sales equity with each relationship you build; however, this is all dependent on the buyer’s perspective.
Your Customer Retention Rate isn’t always up to you
When deciding whether to deposit or withdraw, clients tend to reflect on recent services you have provided them. Their decision depends on what they recall happened, which can be different than what actually happened.
If your relationship with your client is low or negative, it will be more challenging to influence your buyer’s decision than it would be if you have a positive balance. If I’m your client and have continued to make withdrawals from our relationship bank, why should I start making deposits? What will you do for me moving forward that will make me better off? If you can’t prove to me that our sales equity will increase, then I will take my business to another company.
The answers to these questions will affect your customer retention rate and your company tenure.
How Can You Improve Your Buyer's Perception?
We all know the saying, “A happy client is a loyal client,” which means businesses can expect a long-lasting relationship if they can build a good relationship with their clients.
Therefore, it’s crucial to constantly review your sales equity with your clients and evaluate how you can improve your clients’ perceptions of your business. Customer loyalty will likely fall if you fail to keep up with client expectations. By keeping Bob happy, Dealership B was able to solidify a faithful client even though they had competitors with more inventory and services to offer.
If you learn to think from the perception of a buyer, your clients will be happier and better off in the long run.
Encompass-CX simplifies understanding your buyer's perception
Start bridging the gap between your buyer's perception and your reality. Measure these insights and build your CX strategies according to your business relationships. With Encompass-CX you can collect, measure, and analyze client relationships all in one platform.
You'll get actionable insights and all the resources to equip your business to improve your buyer's experience. Uncover blind spots in your B2B relationships and turn them into growth opportunities!
Bridge the Gap Between Perception and Reality
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