The gap between perception and reality
Owners and directors of B2B manufacturing companies often believe they know their customers inside out. After all, they have been working with them for years and sales staff are in daily contact with them. However, practice shows something quite different. According to a study by Bain & Company, up to 80% of companies believe they provide customers with an exceptional experience, but only 8% of customers agree. This is a huge gap between what management thinks and what customers actually perceive.
In the industrial sector, this gap often widens even further. Customers do not buy a ‘machine for the factory’ or ‘components for production’. They buy the assurance that the technology will help them increase efficiency, reduce downtime and maintain quality. If a company bases its communication solely on technical specifications and price, it has often missed what is truly key for the customer.
Why companies ‘don’t hear’ their customers
There are several typical reasons why B2B companies do not understand their clients’ real needs:
- They rely on salespeople – whilst the sales department has direct contact, it often only picks up on what the customer says in passing and filters information based on what is most important for closing the deal.
- They confuse internal assumptions with facts – management thinks it knows what the customer needs because ‘it worked before’ or because they see it with competitors.
- There is a lack of structured feedback – information is scattered amongst individual salespeople and never comes together to form a single picture.
How in-depth interviews reveal real needs
In-depth interviews with customers are a simple yet systematic tool for bridging this gap. It is neither a standard questionnaire nor a sales call. It is a guided conversation designed to uncover:
- The real motivations behind a purchase – why the customer chooses your company (or why they hesitate).
- Pain points and risks – what challenges they face in production or when deciding on an investment.
- The decision-making process – who is involved in the purchase, how long it takes, and what factors play a role.
- Expectations of the supplier – not just technical, but also regarding service, logistics or the relationship.
Just talk to 10 customers and you’ll uncover 80% of the key insights that will open your eyes.
A real-world example
A manufacturer of industrial compressors believed that customers valued technical parameters above all else – performance, energy consumption and price. However, in-depth interviews revealed that the main factor was the speed of service in the event of a breakdown. A single day of compressor downtime meant a loss of millions of crowns for the factory. Armed with this knowledge, the company refocused its marketing and sales pitch specifically on after-sales service, resulting in a 25% increase in demand within a year.
Why entrust interviews to an agency
Customers often do not open up when their supplier calls. They fear that the sales representative will simply ‘tick the box’ for the interview or that their honest feedback will be used against them. An independent third party acts as a neutral intermediary. Clients speak more openly and share information they would never tell your team directly.
As a digital agency, AITOM conducts these interviews systematically. We don’t just look for “what works”, but also what bothers the customer and what they feel is missing. We translate the findings into concrete conclusions that you can immediately use in marketing, sales presentations or when designing a new website.
How to get started
If you’re interested in learning more, we recommend watching our webinar on YouTube, where we discussed in-depth interviews in detail and showed several real-world examples: Webinar recording on YouTube.
And if you’re considering how to use interviews in your own business, get in touch with us. At AITOM Digital, we help B2B manufacturing and industrial companies get to know their customers better, so that their marketing and sales strategies are based on facts, not assumptions.