Page 209 - Marketing Management

186 PART 3 CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

• Modified rebuy. The buyer in a modified rebuy wants to change product specifications, prices,
delivery requirements, or other terms. This usually requires additional participants on both
sides. The in-suppliers become nervous and want to protect the account. The out-suppliers see
an opportunity to propose a better offer to gain some business.
• New task. A new-task purchaser buys a product or service for the first time (an office build-
ing, a new security system). The greater the cost or risk, the larger the number of participants,
and the greater their information gathering—the longer the time to a decision. 10
The business buyer makes the fewest decisions in the straight rebuy situation and the most in
the new-task situation. Over time, new-buy situations become straight rebuys and routine pur-
chase behavior.
New-task buying is the marketer’s greatest opportunity and challenge. The process passes
through several stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. 11 Mass media can be
most important during the initial awareness stage; salespeople often have their greatest impact at
the interest stage; and technical sources can be most important during the evaluation stage. Online
selling efforts may be useful at all stages.
In the new-task situation, the buyer must determine product specifications, price limits, deliv-
ery terms and times, service terms, payment terms, order quantities, acceptable suppliers, and the
selected supplier. Different participants influence each decision, and the order in which these deci-
sions are made varies.
Because of the complicated selling required, many companies use a missionary sales force con-
sisting of their most effective salespeople. The brand promise and the manufacturer’s brand name
recognition will be important in establishing trust and the customer’s willingness to consider
12
change. The marketer also tries to reach as many key participants as possible and provide helpful
information and assistance.
Once a customer has been acquired, in-suppliers are continually seeking ways to add value to
their market offer to facilitate rebuys. Data storage leader EMC successfully acquired a series of com-
puter software leaders to reposition the company to manage—and not just store—information,
often by giving customers customized information. 13
Customers considering dropping six or seven figures on one transaction for big-ticket goods
and services want all the information they can get. One way to entice new buyers is to create a cus-
tomer reference program in which satisfied existing customers act in concert with the company’s
sales and marketing department by agreeing to serve as references. Technology companies such as
HP, Lucent, and Unisys have all employed such programs.
Business marketers are also recognizing the importance of their brand and how they must exe-
cute well in a number of areas to gain marketplace success. Boeing, which makes everything from
commercial airplanes to satellites, implemented the “One Company” brand strategy to unify all its
different operations with a one-brand culture. The strategy was based in part on a triple helix rep-
resentation: (1) enterprising spirit (why Boeing does what it does), (2) precision performance (how
Boeing gets things done), and (3) defining the future (what Boeing achieves as a company). 14
NetApp is another good example of the increased importance placed on branding in business-to-
business marketing.

NetApp NetApp is a Fortune 1000 company providing data management and storage
solutions to medium- and large-sized clients. Despite some marketplace success, the company
found its branding efforts in disarray by 2007. Several variations of its name were in use, leading
to a formal name change to NetApp in 2008. Branding consultants Landor also created a new
identity, architecture, nomenclature, tone of voice, and tagline (“Go further, faster.”) for the brand
and its new name. Messages emphasized NetApp’s superior technology, innovation, and customer-centric
“get things done” culture. Some of the marketing efforts supporting the brand, however, still left some things
to be desired. The Web sites were called “Frankensites” because they had been worked on and modified by
so many developers over a 12-year period. Web site makeovers streamlined and organized the company’s
presentation and made it easier to make changes and updates.The new Web site was estimated to increase
sales leads from inquiries by fourfold. Investing heavily in marketing communications despite the recession,
NetApp ran print and online ads and tapped into a number of social media outlets—communities and forums,
bloggers, Facebook,Twitter, and YouTube. 15