Not the majority, finds a new study by Gallup.
Gallup finds that only 3 in 10 B2B customers are emotionally and psychologically attached to their suppliers.
The rest—70%—could care less, and are ready to take their business elsewhere, according to analysts Craig Kamins and Anson Vuong.
But wait! Is it your fault customers don't feel the love?
"A big part of the problem is that when customers make their purchasing decisions, they really care more about the product or service they're buying than the company that provides that service," Kamins and Vuong write.
"Put another way, they're buying the function, not the brand. This makes them a flight risk."
Company leaders are often the last to know customers feels unloved, Gallup finds. Leaders don't:
- Hold meaningful conversations with customers
- Try to empathize with customers
- Pay attention to burning issues brought to their attention by account reps
Not only is lost business at stake.
Account growth is, too.
Gallup's analysis of more than 200,000 relationships shows that indifferent customers are less likely to want to increase their business with current suppliers, or be an early adopter of new products those companies might offer.
To fix the problem, Kamins and Vuong recommend B2B companies work hard to engage customers with their brands.
"If the brand promise is distinct enough, if the company effectively communicates its promise to the customer and if the company consistently delivers on its promise, then it can fully engage more of its indifferent customers," they write.
To engage customers, a B2B company's brand must promise "impact," according to the two analysts.
"Impact can be the catalyst that transforms indifferent customers into fully engaged ones," they write.
To create impact, a company must:
- Understand customers' businesses
- Bring them a steady stream of relevant new ideas
- Put those ideas to work by tailoring them to specific markets and workplaces
