Where b2b research goes wrong

B2B research is a great tool if executed well. However, it often falls on its backside, and today I’m going to highlight two of the biggest reasons why. But before I do, there’s one golden rule to consider.

Be very clear about why you’re doing research. Be laser sharp on your focus. What’s the purpose of the research? Are you looking to generate PR headlines? Is it to support sales? Or will it inform a wider business strategy? Which leads to the first point…

Split personality

Typically, b2b research originates because someone, somewhere in the business has said, ‘we need to do some research’, or ‘we need some thought leadership’ – be that to generate PR headlines or to support sales. Regardless of how the conversation comes about, it often begins to fulfill a need. And there are some good use cases:

‘Solution selling’ for example, places focus on the challenges you’re trying to solve for any given client, and this is where a good b2b research study has a place at the table. By delving more deeply into these challenges, your organisation can form a strong narrative around your solutions – hence the ability to support sales.

But support sales too much and the research can become too contrived. Leading questions somehow always point towards company X’s solution as being the answer to the industry’s problems! Funny that! Don’t be tempted to find the line of least resistance. Educate people as to how research can support them in a way that adds value beyond their own immediate needs. Be led by what the market tells us rather than what we want the market to say by engineering narratives and questions that confirm our own bias. Sure, there’s always an underlying, ulterior motive to drive sales. But if you have a product or solution that genuinely solves an industry need, that will shine through regardless.

The other side of the coin is that PR wants a piece of the pie. Logically, PR and sales should be aligned. Afterall, industry media generally provide a commentary focused on issues and challenges organisations face, so shouldn’t the narrative match? You’d think so, but more often than not, they don’t. In many ‘PR thought leadership studies’, headlines are contrived to suit the media’s desire for ‘newsworthiness’, which don’t often match with the day-to-day realities of what customers are dealing with. Sometimes, our b2b world isn’t sexy enough. Or going back to our previous point, the research is too contrived towards a sales / product push.

Then there’s digital, SEO, content, brand, performance marketing etc… all of whom have their own needs, wants and desires in a bid to ‘optimise’ the narrative for their own needs. Quite frankly, it can become a cluster$%&* quicker than you can shake a stick at. And in a bid to satisfy everyone, we please no-one.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again (and again at the end of the article). If you’re going to do b2b research, be very clear on its objective, what you want it to achieve and stick to it. It’s hard I know. Research is often a big investment for organisations, so the temptation to get as much mileage as possible from it is too great for many.

Audience

Let’s be honest, a lot of b2b research is simply an eco-chamber – the industry talking to itself. The big consulting and analyst firms are great at this.

“A study by an AI technology company found that technology professionals expect to use more AI over the next 12 months”

Or….

“A study by xxx IT consulting firm found that investment into IT is set to increase over the next three years.”

Give me strength… please… In fairness, the stats are great for my own desk research, so I certainly appreciate the tens of thousands of dollars they spend. Despite that vague usefulness, this drivel does absolutely nothing to generate real business outcomes.

If you want real traction and insight, great b2b research goes beyond the obvious of questioning the very people you’re selling to. There’s a time and place for that stuff, but instead consider things differently – talk to your customer’s customer. This is what makes the organisations you’re selling to sit up and listen. If you’re telling them things about their own customers they don’t know, then you’re onto a winner. And if you do it right, it can even generate some decent PR headlines too – but remember the golden rule (again) of b2b research. If the shoe fits, great – but don’t force it into a mangled word vomit of emptiness devoid of any real substance.

Which leads me onto my final point. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? So much b2b research leaves you hanging. What do I mean by that? Well, in a bid to include as many questions across as many different topics as possible, there’s never any depth of thought; instead we’re given surface level insights that leave more questions than they answer.

Don’t be tempted to force every single thing you can think of under the sun into a questionnaire. Instead, become a child. And by this I mean, keep asking why. Get to the underlying meaning of the hypothesis you’re challenging. It can be uncomfortable, but it will be so much more rewarding if you can deliver insights to a depth that no-one does or is prepared to even consider.

Make it hard, but easy (?)

Great b2b research is hard. It’s meant to be challenging and at times difficult. That doesn’t mean to say the output should be complex. Far from it – it should be simple and easy to understand, but getting to that point can be tough – and that’s OK. And finally, the golden rule of research once again? For the love of God, be clear on what you want it to deliver and for whom. Sometimes you’ve just got to say no to people.