It is important to understand human emotions to enhance sales growth for businesses

The latest research reveals six to ten buyers are involved in one buying cycle. 73% of these buyers are millennials that have quickly become the driving force behind the new era of B2B sales. They want to connect with a brand and form an emotional connection – sales are deeply connected with emotions, with one Harvard professor believing 95% of sales are driven by emotion.

Notice how there hasn't been a mention of a product yet? Branding is more than just the product or service up for grabs and actually is more than the brand itself. Let's explore how B2B brands can connect with buyers to build a brand they remember.

Sales Driven By Emotion

Emotional triggers have been the driving force behind sales for decades – early on, B2B brands realized that buyers wanted to connect with the business rather than the product. One way to achieve this is through emotional advertising.

According to research, it takes three seconds for someone to have a gut instinct about something – video marketing is the optimal solution for helping buyers feel that gut instinct. Video marketing is a big focal point amongst marketers at present, with 81% of businesses now using it as a marketing tool.

That's probably because we only retain 10% of the information when reading text, compared to 95% of a video. Thus, videos become the best way to connect with buyers. Plus, it's easier to convey tone and body language through a video which further influences emotional connections.

Grabbing Emotion Through Incentives

What better way to grab emotion than by providing incentives for each sale. Offering incentives is a loyalty and sales tactic that the B2C industry has long adopted, but 75% of B2B buyers now expect a B2B customer loyalty programme that proves the brand is loyal to them. Plus, the incentive for B2B sellers to offer a reward program is endless. Here's what to expect in return:

• Brand advocates
• Raised brand awareness
• Better buyer understanding
• Instantly respond to competitor promotions
• Increase product knowledge

Offering a B2B loyalty program is also far more effective than customer acquisition tactics that focus on profit-damaging discounts. Loyalty programs allow you to create tiered rewards that focus on the expectations of every buyer. Offering a set incentive for each buyer might not tap into that all-important emotion.

Focus On Buyer Expectations

49% of marketers feel that they achieve more ROI by focusing on existing customers than through acquisition methods. Plus, it's far easier to focus on buyer expectations with existing customers than with new ones. One buyer expectation to focus on is social media, a somewhat alien concept to a B2B industry that heavily relies on traditional sales methods.

Social media is the new hub for buyers, with 83% of B2B marketers that say they focus on social media for at least a year, reporting it generated not-seen-before brand exposure. Plus, social media is a free platform with integrated paid business features that further boosts brand exposure.

Social media gives sellers the chance to interact with buyers without necessarily having to promote products or services. LinkedIn, for example, is the go-to platform for B2B brands to connect with buyers and like-minded businesses within the industry, but brands don't have to promote their products or service. Instead, they can publish blog-style posts about relevant topics that link to the business. It's a great way to capture emotion through an informative blog rather than pushing a sale.

Focusing on the emotional side of sales rather than the end sale is an excellent way to build long-lasting buyer-to-business relationships. Technically, by focusing on the emotion, you are focusing on the sale. But you're doing so without promoting products or the business. It's about tapping into the expectations and demands of buyers and how to meet them on an emotional level.