The B2B Elements of Value (original) (raw)

How to measure—and deliver—what business customers want

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As B2B offerings become more commoditized, the subjective, sometimes quite personal considerations of business customers are increasingly important in purchases. To discover what matters most to B2B buyers, the consulting firm Bain analyzed scores of quantitative and qualitative customer studies. All told, it identified 40 discrete “elements of value,” which fall into five categories: table stakes, functional, ease of doing business, individual, and inspirational. The elements range from strictly objective—those related to pricing and specifications, for example—to more subjective ones, such as reducing the buyer’s anxiety and enhancing his or her reputation. Understanding this full range of rational and emotional considerations, and tailoring the value proposition to the ones customers prize most, is critical to avoiding the commodity trap.

It’s Saturday, and a chief operating officer who last week negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal for a fleet of vehicles for her company is feeling pretty good. To reward herself, she’s shopping for a convertible sports car to enjoy on weekends. Surely the price-value calculation she makes for a fun personal purchase is different from the one she made when negotiating at work, right?

A version of this article appeared in the March–April 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.