There is not clear cut difference between B2B and consumer decisions.

Focusing on meeting
specifications, regulatory compliances, ethical standards, and ensuring that the product or the
service is in the acceptable price range in B2B decision making has now become the minimum entry
point criteria for a B2B supplier. B2B offerings are also becoming more commoditized. So in-order to
achieve differentiation in B2B, tapping into the subjective or personal concerns that business
customers bring to the purchase process is extremely essential.

The article talks about 40 fundamental elements of value, which reveal what matters to
customers and helps a company stand out from its competition. These elements are structured
in the form of a B2B value pyramid, which draws inspiration from Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs, with the more rational values at the bottom and the more subjective values at the top.
These elements have been categorized into table stakes, functional, ease of doing business,
individual, and inspirational. At the bottom layer are table stakes, which are the most basic
needs, which talks about ensuring compliance with regulations, meeting specifications at an
acceptable price range, and abiding by ethical standards. This is followed by functional
elements which talks about economic and product performance aspects such as improving
top-line, scalability, innovation, product quality. The ease of doing business elements
incorporate productivity enhancement values for example a company called Workday Human
Capital Management which gives HR managers access to a dashboard of analytics on their
organization's workforce thereby increasing time saving, or other elements such as cultural fit
for eg-Salesforce which works with non-profits at a substantial discount. Thus this category
has both objective and subjective elements to it. This is followed by the individual category,
which talks about individual buyer concerns and is much more subjective in nature. For
example IBM has a strong reputation and thus shields decision makers from criticized for
choosing this company. It taps into the reputational assurance value. In terms of fun and
perks- Salesforce invites users to its World Tour to learn about new products and hear
impressive keynote speakers.

At the top most layer are the inspirational values such as Vision- for example- Nielsen's retail
data and analytics services help consumer goods companies envision shifts in demand for
their products or give buyers and users hope for the future of their organization or enhance
the company’s social responsibility- for example- Dental and medical products wholesaler
Henry Schein organizes its employees, customers and industry partners to participate in
philanthropic programs.

Elements at the bottom are easier to measure and manage but

differentiation lies in tapping into the emotional and subjective
elements found in the middle and upper layers.
Now we will deep dive into which elements matter the most.