Make no mistake: we live in a digital world. For many of us, this is also the main channel through which we make an increasing number of purchases.

Industry surveys consistently show that shoppers want the same easy experience they now routinely enjoy in their private lives.

Related: 5 Painful Mistakes That Damage Your Customer's Shopping Experience

Given these trends, it can be easy to conclude that shoppers no longer need or want a “human” touch when making a purchase. In the world of B2B sales , conventional thinking has become especially difficult.

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Several industry analysts have gone so far as to portend “the death of the B2B seller”.

At TimeTrade, we wanted to go beyond rhetoric and take a more quantitative approach to understanding what today's buyers want from sales organizations and how today's B2B buying journey works.

B2B Shopping Journey Experience Survey Summary 

To understand the new B2B buying journey, the survey sought to answer three main questions: 

1. What are the common challenges that arise in the B2B shopper experience ?
2. How and when do buyers want to engage with suppliers of goods and services, and are there unique preferences for buying scenarios between B2B and B2C?
3. When available, what is the potential impact of providing easy 1:1 appointment scheduling between buyers and companies they can buy from?

For this specific survey, 300 B2B buyers were interviewed , representing a cross-section of products and services, company sizes and vertical markets.

The end result? B2B buyers reported a significant need to improve engagement with seller companies . 

Shoppers are specifically looking for ways to make it easier to connect and interact with a knowledgeable resource before making a purchase.

Now let's split and analyze the data in more detail:

1. Your buyers are knocking at the door. Is someone answering? 
2. Still thinking B2B vs. B2C? It's time for H2H: human-to-human sale
3. How does interaction with “knowledgeable” employees influence the purchase?
4. Three main conclusions

Your B2B buyers are knocking on the door. Is anyone home?

First, the bad news. Could you imagine a prospect visiting your website and saying, “Sell it to me!”, only to go unnoticed and never get a response?

In 2018, this was the experience of a large number of B2B buyers.

In fact, 84% of shoppers surveyed reported that “Always” or “Often” do not receive answers to their questions related to a purchase .

After-sales numbers were equally stark. 76% of shoppers reported that “Always” or “Often” do not receive an answer when asking support or service-related questions after a purchase.

Given the growing importance of the customer experience in today's marketplace, as well as the increasing complexity of many B2B sales cycles , these numbers are a significant red flag.

How much are companies leaving behind when these pre-sales questions go unanswered? 

What is the impact on customer loyalty when service levels fall below shoppers' expectations? 

Still thinking B2B vs. B2C? It's time for H2H: human-to-human sale

The case of live meetings

The case of live meetings

Clearly, companies must work to close this gap in the B2B buying journey with professional buyers. 

One solution: make purchasing easier by offering the option to make appointments live, virtually or in person.

When asked about the value of face-to-face meetings, 88% of B2B shoppers, on average , said it 's important to have face-to-face meetings or appointments with a company they can buy from.

These numbers increase significantly for buyers of technology (92%) and banking or financial services products (96%), categories that are generally more complicated in terms of:

• scope,
• risk level,
• potential cost.

In addition, 90% of B2B buyers reported that the availability of setting up live appointments made it easier to buy a business. 

And 91% agreed they would like it easier to schedule meetings with companies when shopping for work.

Related: Stop Speaking - 6 Ways to Be Really Human in Sales

Ease of working with companies willing to schedule appointments

But as the saying goes, “if you build it, they will come”?

92% of buyers said yes, reporting a high probability of booking appointments with a seller if the option was available .

As most sellers are looking for easier customer engagement opportunities with prospects, making it easy to schedule appointments for both parties seems like a winning proposition when looking at a B2B buying journey.