Why does B2B buyer’s anxiety exist and how to deal with it

Buyer’s anxiety is the hesitation you feel when thinking about purchasing a big-ticket product. Especially in B2B, sales reps need to constantly monitor and appease prospects’ emotions to get the deal done. Therefore, in this post, I will discuss the reasons for buyers’ anxiety and how to deal with it like a sales veteran.

Before I start breaking down each topic, here is the list of them for reference:

Why prospects have buyer’s anxiety

How to deal with buyer’s anxiety

• handle objections about the product legitimacy
• handle objections about the business
• handle objections about the pricing and support

Buyer’s anxiety is a natural instinct to protect the buyer from making a rash decision that they will regret. Especially in B2B, the process of choosing a tool involves a certain time and money commitment, and reputations of employees can be on the line. Therefore, before a prospect decides to sign a contract with you, they will likely need answers to several questions and concerns:

• Is your product good?
• Does it work to solve their needs?
• Can they trust your business and your sales reps?
• What happens if they are not satisfied?
• Can they trust your customer support/success?

Assuming the prospect has shown interest, then the account manager has only to deconstruct the objections. Simplifying and personalizing an offer for the target helps too in reducing purchase anxiety.

The more expensive and complex a product is, the more anxiety the sales rep will have to deal with. That is why the average sales cycle in B2B is three to six months involving seven decision-makers.

Note: customers trust more established businesses leading to lower purchase anxiety. Lesser-known businesses have to work harder to demonstrate knowledge and product fit to be taken seriously.

A prospective buyer will have questions about the legitimacy of your product and your business. Handling their concerns is essential to build credibility and bring purchasing anxiety down. Let’s breakdown the different objections that an account manager has to handle:

Handle objections about the product legitimacy

The first step in decreasing product-related concerns is to provide as many details of your product as possible, in visual and/or written form. That includes anything that helps understand your product’s inner workings and capabilities. For example, if you are selling software, then you would show screenshots of your product’s features and dashboards.

Furthermore, reviews and testimonials from past customers are also crucial to building credibility. Those provide details about the quality and applicability of the product from a customer’s point of view.

Handle objections about the business

For prospects to gain trust in your business, it is important to humanize your website and social platforms with, for example, a detailed ‘About us’ page with photos of employees. Or the journey of the company with stories of customers.

Here are a few tips to prove that you are a reliable business:

• Prove that you value and protect their privacy – include a privacy policy on your site; it reassures people that you will never share their personal information with anyone
• Include the source of a statistic – always link to the source of statistics or other forms of industry information to back up claims
• Include your contact information and forms – spread around the website easy-access website contact forms and chats for the prospect to get in touch
• Show certifications from reputable organizations – if you belong to any important organizations, then mention them on your “About Us” page; also, include quality or high-status badges
• Let your prospects know your story – show your prospects how long you have been in your industry, what made you get into it, and what is your expertise

Handle objections about the pricing and support

In the negotiation phases of the sales process, you have to handle objections in the payment structure in three different grounds:

• the amount charged (e.g.: xx€ / month)
• the frequency of payment (e.g.: monthly, yearly, quarterly)
• the features that come with the contract (e.g.: number of users, pro features)

To avoid future misunderstandings aim to explain the pricing structure thoroughly and answer questions as needed.

In terms of customer support/success, it is a good idea to share:

• the available times of your customer support staff (e.g.: 24/7, 9 to 5, 24 hours from Mon to Fri)
• the channel(s) of communication (e.g.: email, phone, chat)
• the degree to which they will help the customer (e.g.: in our pilot program, we co-execute the first campaigns with the customer)

Each company has to decide how much it wants to share with the public and with their prospects to prevent undesirable situations. Those could be, for example, competitors stealing key information or wasting time with prospects that are not a fit.

In this post, I discussed why buyer’s anxiety exists and how to deal with it. Hopefully, you will be able to implement the tips in your own process of dealing with prospects. Handling objections about the product legitimacy, the business, and the payment and support will decrease the buyer’s anxiety of your prospects. Here are the main takeaways of this post:

Buyer’s anxiety is a normal phenomenon that increases as the price and complexity of the product go up (especially if a company’s budget is limited).

There are various ways to deal with the anxiety:

• give the prospect as much information as possible about your product and company through your website, speech and visuals
• be available for contact so that the prospect can clarify any issues or questions
• add testimonials that showcase your current customers’ satisfaction
• display badges of quality, privacy or any high-status badge
• provide clarification on customer support and payment structures