Behavioral Dynamics in B2B Relationships

Research is catching up to what we can see about how B2B buying is changing. The 3rs: 𝗥elationships, 𝗥ecommendations, and 𝗥elatability factors are taking centre stage. While product features, price, or brand recognition are in decline. Research from Warc reveals that emotional factors are more consequential in B2B buying decisions than rational levers. • Recommendations from similar customers or trusted colleagues are 3x more likely to tip the balance than cheaper prices • These recommendations are also 3x more influential than products promising better performance So cultural, social signals, and emotions are shifting decision-making. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁? 2/3 of big-ticket B2B buyers are now millennials or Gen Z. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸: This isn't about giving old tactics new names. It's about recognising that B2B buyers (especially younger ones) make decisions based on what their peers say and who they trust, not just specs and prices. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁? Stop treating B2B buyers like robots comparing spreadsheets. Focus on the right places to build relationships. LinkedIn (not spam), WhatsApp groups, Slack communities, industry events. Focus on getting more recommendations, and broadcasting them. Create customer communities where peers validate each other's decisions. Avoid the BS: fake testimonials, aggressive automation, undisclosed paid recommendations. Most B2B marketers still pump budget into feature comparisons. Your prospects aren't asking "what does it do?" They're asking "who else like me uses this?" Track where your best deals come from. It's not the trade show booth. It's Sarah telling James at drinks that your product saved her quarter. That's your real marketing channel now.

Let's talk about the emotional algorithm of B2B decision-making. At the core of every buying decision—whether it's enterprise software or sneakers—lies the same human truth: Logic justifies. Emotion decides. Heartstrings loosen purse strings. We've spent decades pretending B2B decisions are purely rational. The data tells a different story: - Kantar research reveals emotionally-driven digital ads are *4X more likely* to build brand equity than their rational counterparts. - LinkedIn x Magna research shows *39% of B2B buyers* prioritize emotional connection when selecting vendors. (Yes, even for those six-figure contracts!) Yet I see most marketers make one of two fundamental mistakes: 1. They ignore emotion entirely, clinging to sterile "professional" content that feels safe but fails to connect. 2. They treat emotion as a blunt instrument, defaulting to generic inspiration that could apply to any brand in any category. There's a smarter, more nuanced approach. Our Creative Labs team at LinkedIn for Marketing decoded an emotional blueprint that maps precisely to the buyer's journey. I'm breaking it down in today's #PurnasProTip because it's too good not to share. After analyzing top-performing tech brands on our platform, we discovered distinct emotional patterns: - Awareness Stage: Winning content sparks celebration and love, mirroring the optimism of discovery. This is where possibility lives. - Consideration Stage: Reactions shift dramatically to insightful, reflecting the brain's need for evaluation and validation. Depth matters here. - Decision Stage: Top performers blend insightful + love, proving final choices require both confidence and emotional resonance. The head and heart must align. What this means for you: LinkedIn isn't a "suit and tie" network where emotions get checked at the door. It's where professionals come to solve problems, feel understood, and align with brands they genuinely like. The most successful B2B marketers are those who understand the emotional journey behind every seemingly "rational" decision. Infuse the right emotion at the right stage, and watch your impact multiply. Because heartstrings loosen purse strings. #HICM #CreativeLabs #B2BEmotion #HeartstringsLoosenPurseStrings

What role do emotions play in B2B buying? This came up at the InsightsIQ™ launch - and it’s one we’ve been reflecting on deeply at Think ABM. On paper, B2B decisions are logical. ROI. Risk. Efficiency. But talk to any buyer in the room - and it’s never just about that, it's more humane, emotional, and multi-level decision driven.  A VP of Ops isn’t just choosing software. They’re betting on something that could either solve a headache… or create a new one. A CFO isn’t just approving a budget line. They’re guarding the company’s resilience, and their credibility in front of the board. Underneath the business case, there’s always a personal one: - Will this make me look good? - Will I feel confident standing behind it? - Will I regret this later? That’s where psychographics matter - the motivations, beliefs, and emotional drivers that shape how people evaluate, decide, and move. With InsightsIQ™, we’re making those signals visible. Not just who to talk to, but how they think, segmenting key accounts not just by firmographics or intent, but by how decision-makers think, what they care about, and how they want to win. We're already seeing 2x higher engagement rates and faster sales cycles when messaging is tuned to these underlying psychographic signals. Not personas, real psychological profiles based on signal data. In B2B, relevance isn’t just about timing or product-fit anymore. It’s about resonance. The best GTM teams in 2025? They aren’t just selling. They’re tuning into the emotional stakes of every deal. More on how we’re using psychographics to shape pipeline plays coming soon.

A B2B brand leader recently told me that their customers only make logical decisions, not emotional ones. 🚫 Sorry — wrong answer. Research repeatedly shows that B2B customers are significantly MORE emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than B2C consumers are. And B2B purchasers are almost 50% more likely to buy a product or service when they see PERSONAL value in the purchase. If this data surprises you, think of it this way: Your customer has a lot at stake. When was the last time somebody got fired for buying the wrong jar of peanut butter? A whole lot of emotional energy is invested B2B purchase decisions — because there's a whole lot of emotional pressure on your customer to get them right. Their personal and professional reputation — and maybe even the next step in their career path — is directly tied to choosing or advocating for your brand as a smart business choice. So think about your B2B buyer's emotional triggers: 👉 Relieving pain is the biggest purchase motivator there is. What pain do you solve for your customer? What emotion will replace the pain they feel? Is it confidence? Peace of mind? Joy? Relief? Name it. 👉 How do you support their aspirations and desires? How will you make your customer look like a hero to their boss? Are you helping them save big money, or permanently solve a pestering business problem? Put a name on the upside they get, too. 👉 How are you alleviating their fears and anxieties? Promoting any new solution comes with inherent personal and professional risks. Be clear on how they can measure performance, and demonstrate it up the food chain. Create opportunities for quick wins as well as long-term success. If you can communicate how your brand fulfills your B2B customers' emotional needs as well as their functional ones, they are going to be far more likely to stick their neck out for you — and your close rate will go WAY up. #b2b #brandstrategy #buyers #branding #leadership

Every sales leader I talk to at the moment is struggling with some version of the same issue. The symptoms are different, but the underlying cause is the same. - Sales cycles elongating - Deal slippage - Prospects not showing up to meetings - An uptick in ghosting - Poor forecast accuracy - A drop in deal volumes - A drop in conversion rates What's actually happening out there in Buyer land? I've been delivering win-loss reviews for B2B companies around the world since 2011 and I'm seeing buyer behaviours I've never observed before... Let me break down some of them quickly for you and share some guidance on how to use these lessons to your advantage: Trend #1: Risk has jumped up the decision tree in order of importance, to the very top of the list for many clients, even more so when it's a new vendor. Action: Go deeper on risk in your discovery conversations, recognise that risk is both organisational and personal...find ways to better manage, mitigate and share risk with your clients...Be the low risk option. Trend #2: Value for Money, Responsiveness and Cost are consistently selected as the most important decision criteria by many clients. Action: Responsiveness should be an easy one to get right, but many sellers are stretched too thin right now...do less, but do it better. Trend #3: Change in Strategic Direction is the most frequently cited reason for customers coming to market for a new solution at the moment. Action: Try to reverse engineer this reason, to understanding what caused this change in direction and what it actually means for the business. These are your keys to the kingdom, when building a rock solid business case. Trend #4: Feedback from Peers and Colleagues has emerged as the most trusted information source for almost all respondents. Action: Case studies and customer references are losing their luster...find ways to tap into the trust which prospective clients have in their own peer network, as a way to unlock deeper connections and build trust. Trend #5: Customers are demanding more detail in the proposal documents, tender responses and business cases which they are receiving. Action: Put in the work, avoid the cookie-cutter responses, find your win themes and weave them in, share the detail they need to make an informed decision. I haven't got a crystal ball, so I can't tell you if/when the pendulum will swing back the other way, from a buyer behaviour perspective. What I can tell you with a high degree of certainty is that prospective customers have raised the bar, in terms of their expectations from their vendor partners. It's our job now to to elevate the preparation, patience and professionalism of B2B sellers everywhere, to meet these changing needs and maintain our relevance to the customers we serve.

Buyers rarely choose the objectively best option. They choose the one they recognize. In many B2B decisions, familiarity plays a greater role than features or pricing. Teams may evaluate multiple vendors, but preference often leans toward the one they have consistently seen, heard, and understood over time. The reason is simple. Recognition signals safety. When a brand shows up repeatedly with clear, consistent messaging, it reduces perceived risk. Buyers feel more confident choosing what already feels familiar, even if alternatives may appear stronger on paper. This is where many marketing strategies lose effectiveness. In the pursuit of novelty, teams constantly change angles, campaigns, and positioning. But without consistency, recognition never compounds. Messaging resets instead of reinforcing, and trust takes longer to build. Repetition, when done well, is not redundancy. It is reinforcement. Each consistent touchpoint strengthens recall. Each repeated idea builds confidence. Over time, familiarity becomes preference, especially in longer B2B buying cycles. This week’s newsletter explores the psychology behind recognition, why repetition drives trust, and how to build consistency without losing relevance. For teams focused on sustainable growth, this is a shift worth understanding.

A prospect ghosted me after 7 follow-ups. Then I found them at a conference restroom. Awkward? Isn't it. But what happened next taught me everything about why deals really die. "Oh hey, aren't you the data guy who keeps emailing me?" I laughed. "Guilty. Should I follow up here too?" He actually smiled. Then said something that changed how I think about B2B sales: "Your emails are fine. But I get 200 a day. I only remember the ones that feel different." Feel different? In B2B sales. Where we worship logic and ROI. Here's what I learned after testing this with 47 campaigns: WHAT KILLS DEALS: • Perfect pitch decks with 0 emotion • Feature lists that sound like Wikipedia • ROI calculators that ignore human psychology • Follow-ups that feel like robots talking WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS: • Admitting when you screwed up (vulnerability) • Sharing why you personally care (passion) • Telling stories of failure before success (relatability) • Making them laugh or think differently (memorability) Real example from last month: Biotech CEO wasn't responding to our HCP targeting pitch. 14 emails. Nothing. Email 15: "I just realized I've sent you more emails than my mom this year. She's getting jealous. But here's why I keep trying..." Response in 12 minutes. Closed $17K deal in 2 weeks. The data matters. Our 94% accuracy matters. But none of it matters if they don't remember you exist. We tested emotional triggers across 27M outreach attempts: • Humor: 3.4x higher response rate • Vulnerability: 2.8x higher response rate • Controversy: 2.1x higher response rate • Pure logic: 0.7x (yes, LOWER) Like my former boss' - Stanley used to say: "If they don't remember you, you didn't connect well enough." Your prospects aren't spreadsheets. They're humans who happen to work at companies. What's the weirdest thing that actually got you a response?

Still, treating Every Buyer Like They’re in the Same Funnel? The Biggest Marketing Mistake of 2025: Most B2B marketers are still making a fundamental mistake in 2025: They treat all buyers as if they move through the same linear funnel. But here’s the reality: ✔️B2B buying isn’t a single journey. ✔️It’s a collection of micro-journeys happening at different speeds, with different priorities, across multiple personas. Most marketers push a one-size-fits-all narrative. 1. Your CTO prospect isn’t evaluating your product the same way their Director of Ops is. 2. Your CFO isn’t asking the same questions as the end user. 3. Your buying committee isn’t aligned internally, yet most B2B marketing assumes they are. The Problem? Static Messaging in a Dynamic Buying Process. The 2025 Playbook: ABM Content Needs to Follow the Buying Journey. ✔️Vendor-unaware accounts -Thought leadership that educates and helps learn. ✔️Vendor-aware, engaged accounts (unknown product need). -Content that helps sales validate pain points and build trust. ✔️Vendor-aware accounts (validated product need). -Hyper-personalized content that removes objections and accelerates deals. Example from an ABM playbook we ran for an enterprise SaaS client: 1. We ran a LinkedIn + email drip with industry trend reports for cold accounts to establish credibility. 2. For engaged accounts, we used role-specific insights to help SDRs book meetings. 3. We created a custom value calculator for late-stage deals that showed their potential cost savings. ✔️When buyers reach your demo request, they’ve already formed their perception of your brand. ✔️That perception isn’t influenced only by ads. ✔️It’s shaped by what they’ve seen on LinkedIn, heard in podcasts, or discussed in Slack groups. -The best B2B marketers do more than capture demand. -They engineer influence across multiple personas before the buying process even starts.