Why Marketers Need to Find the G-Spot

It was bound to happen. Sooner or later business marketers would need to pay attention to this often-ignored bit of the B2B buying anatomy. You’ve probably been there yourself a few times, and you almost certainly have one in your company: I’m talking, of course, about the special place in the company where things get got: the G-Spot.

G-Spotters are the folks who just go get stuff. They might be executive assistants, office administrators, project coordinators, analysts, the receptionist or some poor intern. Whatever their title or real job, they also buy stuff.

In fact they buy tons of stuff the P-Cube would rather not even think about. Things like food for meetings, hotel rooms, staplers, cell phones, airplane tickets, garbage cans, dry erase markers, coffee, meeting spaces and countless other commodities. Sure, the P-Cube may have set up an agreement with an office supply company, but it’s the G-Spot where the decision to buy one brand of file folders over another is typically made. In general, all the P-Cube offers the G-Spot by way of guidance is some tersely worded policy about spending the company’s money as if it were their own and stern warnings not to try anything funny.

We’ve discussed how the C-Suite likes relationships and the P-Cube is all about detail and the F-Word needs some special, pragmatic approaches so, naturally, we need to look at the reality of the G-Spot and what to do about it. Let’s call our solutions the G-Whiz (it’s late; I’m tired. You do better)

Reality #1: They are in a hurry

Shopping is not the G-Spot’s core responsibility so when something needs to be found, it’s almost always an unplanned activity. Often it starts with statements like “I’m very sorry but I’ve just realized I need to be in Dallas tomorrow with 12-dozen logoed golf balls and a fire-eater.”
G-Whiz:
Make it easy for them to get in, get their stuff and get out. A really great website that works is a major bonus and, even better for a time-strapped G-Spotter, is a toll-free number with helpful people who understand urgent. Also, make sure you take all types of credit cards, especially the kind that come in green, gold and platinum. Big companies like that kind of card and it’s often the only acceptable way to pay for stuff. Get rid of ridiculous account set-up forms and credit checks for routine purchases. Make sure the receipts you issue are itemized. Keebler Elves like itemized.

Reality #2: They have little or no context

A related statement to the one above goes something like this: “I really need four eggplants, a projector, a motivational speaker and some green twine by 2pm”. A good G-Spotter will not waste time asking whether the eggplants should be the Sicilian kind or the regular ones. They really don’t want to know anyway. They will simply execute based on the information available to them at the time.
G-Whiz:
Help them out but don’t make them feel stupid. This means offering a sales rep who can do some consulting on the phone, ask probing questions and all that but who won’t give them a hard time if they can’t come up with an answer. Either you can sell them something or you can’t but don’t make them beg and don’t waste their time.

Reality #3: They have limited information

Even if the request is fairly straightforward, the poor G-Spotter may not really know all that much about the thing they have been asked to buy. A long time ago I was asked to source a quantity of divot fixers for a corporate event. Not being a golfer at the time, I had really no idea what a divot was, why so many people needed to fix it and what the thing that fixed it might look like. I wasn’t even sure if the fixer was a guy in coveralls or some kind of aerosol.
G-Whiz:
Happily for me my first call was to my premium supplier who not only defined a divot fixer for me but also took a few minutes to describe the features and benefits available and why one might or might not want to include them.  So make sure your website and your sales teams are armed with plenty of information on how to evaluate and buy the thing in question. The G-Spot will thank you and reward you with more business.

Reality #4: They are super networked

Many G-Spotters are members of Gen Y or, heaven help us, Millennials. This means that everything happens in front of their considerable networks. Before they open Google or pick up a phone, they Tweet or post their need for an orange lawn tractor on Facebook. After all, why do business with strangers?  Remember, if their vast networks can’t come up with the goods, they will almost certainly share their experience later on, including the part where your company screwed it up. Now let’s say they aren’t of the Twitter crowd: you can bet they have a good network inside their company and with people in similar positions at other companies. Guess who they tell when you drop the ball? Guess who they recommend when their buddy in accounting needs a few bags of Type O negative for the Q2 forecasting meeting?
G-Whiz:
Don’t screw it up. Even if you can’t help them find an ice sculpture of William Shatner by 5pm, make sure you are as helpful as possible. Recommend a competitor, if that’s what it takes. The G-Spot respects that type of thing. And if you do take the job, do it cheerfully and manage their expectations every step of the way. Communication is key with G-Spotters, as we will see below. Never forget they have the power to banish your company from their company forever.

Reality #5: Their upside is less downside

In most cases the G-Spotter is not getting any benefit from whatever you sell except, perhaps, a grunted thank you. While this might suggest they don’t really care if your coffee tastes like diesel fuel, they will almost certainly never hear the end of it if the experience sucks. So we need to acknowledge that the G-Spot has considerable personal risk in the transaction, with very little personal gain.
G-Whiz:
At a minimum, this suggests you need to deliver. Not just deliver good products on time but do it in a way that the G-Spotter can track easily. They need to know the mime arrived at the hotel on time, the nut-free salad was signed for at 11:53pm and the 200-page document was collated, cerloxed, laminated and shipped to Yellowknife on time.

Smart marketers do more than indulge the imbalance between risk and control; they create professional gain for the G-Spotter. It can take the form of volume discounts (buy ten tasers; get the eleventh free) or loyalty points they can apply to future purchases. These are good things since they make the G-Spot look like a good corporate citizen with a diligent affection for the bottom line.

Really smart marketers go one better by providing personal gain to the G-Spot. A chain of sandwich shops I know always includes a free sandwich  for the person placing each order. It’s simple, it’s cheap and it acknowledges that the person on the other end of the phone is not the person for whom the order is intended. I hope it’s spiked their lunch orders; it deserves to. If you can’t do a promo as seamless as this, you can sure as heck send a nice gift basket at Christmas or some flowers or a pre-loaded Starbucks card now and again. How about a phone call to the G-Spotter saying thank you?

They don’t hear that phrase enough.