Another one from the archives and passing on some wisdom from a marketing star:

If you are in business and don’t follow Seth Godin or read his books, perhaps you should.

His blog (of 29 May 2012) considers B2B selling where your “B” is small and their “B” is large.  Seth suggests an “hierarchy of their needs” as follow:

  • Avoiding risk
  • Avoiding hassle
  • Gaining praise
  • Gaining power
  • Having fun
  • Making a profit

Worth bearing in mind for your next pitch?

And for those convinced by the Business Model canvas might I suggest you match each of the key “value propositions” against each “need”. 

Read more here:  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/05/a-hierarchy-of-business-to-business-needs.html

And if this prompts you to refresh your memory of Mazlow, this is a good starting place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs