Last Updated: October 2025
Reading Time: 18 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Most B2B marketers are fighting the wrong battle.
They pour millions into rational messaging, feature comparisons, and ROI calculators—all designed to persuade the conscious mind. Meanwhile, 95% of B2B buying decisions happen in a place they’re completely ignoring: the unconscious brain.
Leslie Zane has generated over $50 billion in incremental revenue for Fortune 100 companies by understanding one counterintuitive truth: B2B buyers don’t make rational decisions. They make instinctive ones.
As the founder of Triggers Brand Consulting and author of The Power of Instinct, Zane has spent 30 years proving that the psychology driving B2B buyer behavior operates below conscious awareness. The brands winning in enterprise sales aren’t the ones with better features—they’re the ones building stronger neural pathways in buyers’ unconscious minds.
This isn’t theory. It’s the strategic framework behind McDonald’s turnaround, Aquafina’s category dominance, and countless B2B transformations you’ve never heard about.
KEY STAT: 95% of B2B purchase decisions are made unconsciously, yet 95% of marketing budgets target conscious deliberation.
Meet the Expert: Leslie Zane
Leslie Zane is the founder and CEO of Triggers® Brand Consulting, the first brand strategy firm rooted in behavioral science. An award-winning marketer, TEDx speaker, and author, Zane has been pioneering instinct-based marketing since 1995, seven years before Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for his work on unconscious decision-making.
Credentials:
- Yale University graduate
- Harvard Business School MBA
- Former consultant at Bain & Company
- Former brand manager at Procter & Gamble
- Congressional Women of Distinction Award recipient
- Ogilvy Award winner
- Published in Harvard Business Review, World Economic Forum, Knowledge@Wharton, Newsweek
With degrees from Yale and Harvard Business School, and experience at elite firms including Bain & Company and Procter & Gamble, Zane recognized early in her career that traditional marketing was fundamentally flawed. While working as a brand manager in the 1980s, she discovered that indirect messaging and positive associations were far more effective than direct persuasion—insights that were initially dismissed but have since become the foundation of her $50 billion success story.
Today, Zane is recognized as the foremost authority on harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand growth. Her client roster includes Fortune 100 companies across various sectors, including consumer goods, healthcare, insurance, and social impact.
EXPERT HIGHLIGHT: “In 1995, seven years before Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for his ‘System One’ thinking, Zane pioneered and launched TRIGGERS®—the only proven method for changing instinctive customer behavior and increasing market share.”
In this conversation on the Predictable B2B Success podcast, Zane reveals the psychological frameworks that drive billions in B2B revenue—and why most companies are marketing to the wrong part of the brain.
Watch the Full Episode
Episode Highlights:
- The 95/5 rule of B2B decision-making
- How to map your competitor’s brand connectome
- Why emotion-based marketing fails
- The science of distinctive brand assets
- Measuring unconscious brand preference
The 95% Problem: Why B2B Marketing Targets the Wrong Mind
Here’s the uncomfortable reality about B2B buyer psychology: 95% of purchase decisions are made unconsciously, yet 95% of marketing budgets target conscious deliberation.
The conscious mind—where all those detailed case studies, feature matrices, and demo presentations live—controls only 5% of decisions. It’s resistant to change, skeptical of claims, and requires enormous effort to influence.
The unconscious mind makes snap judgments based on accumulated associations, operates 275,000 times faster than conscious thought, and drives every “gut feeling” that ultimately determines which vendor gets the contract.
“Think of the conscious mind as the path of greatest resistance to the sale, and the instinctive mind as the path of least resistance.” — Leslie Zane
The iceberg model of B2B buyer psychology:
| Consciousness Level | Decision Control | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Above waterline (5%) | Conscious Mind | Rational evaluation, feature comparison, ROI analysis, stakeholder consensus |
| Below waterline (95%) | Unconscious Mind | Brand associations, implicit trust signals, familiar patterns, unconscious biases, and accumulated memories |
When a procurement team selects Oracle over a technically superior competitor, they rationalize it with feature checklists. The real driver? Decades of positive associations that make Oracle feel instinctively safe.
When a CMO chooses HubSpot despite cheaper alternatives with identical capabilities, they cite “ease of use.” The actual reason? A rich network of positive mental connections built through years of smart marketing to the unconscious mind.
From over 500 CEO conversations on the Predictable B2B Success podcast, a consistent pattern emerges: Tech founders claim they evaluate vendors based on “technical specifications” and “integration capabilities.” Yet when Dr. Yaniv Zaid, author of The 21st Century Sales Bible, dissected actual B2B purchase decisions, he found the real driver was fear—specifically, career risk.
“The person making the decision is under immense pressure,” Dr. Zaid explained in his podcast episode. “He wants to make a decision that is validated and approved by everyone else. He doesn’t want to stand out. Nobody in a corporation wants to stand out because creativity is punished in big corporations.”
The conscious justification? “Best ROI.” The unconscious driver? “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM” (or Salesforce, or Microsoft, or any recognized brand that provides psychological safety).
RESEARCH INSIGHT: According to research on cognitive biases in B2B purchasing, emotions account for approximately 50% of B2B buying decisions—not the 5% that rational analysis would suggest.
The Brand Connectome: Mapping the Unconscious Mind
B2B buyer psychology operates through what Zane calls the “brand connectome“—a neural network of associations that determines instinctive preference.
Picture your brand as a central node in the buyer’s brain. Radiating from that node are branches holding memories, experiences, visual cues, emotional residue, and associations—both positive and negative.
The three criteria for a healthy brand connectome:
1. Size (Salience)
The more mental real estate your brand occupies, the more instinctively buyers choose you. A vast connectome means your brand naturally comes to mind when needs arise.
2. Positivity Ratio
Brands with 70% positive associations and 30% negative maintain healthy growth. Flip that ratio, and you’re headed for decline—often long before conscious metrics show problems.
3. Distinctiveness
Your connectome must have unique elements that distinguish you from competitors. But here’s the counterintuitive part: distinctiveness matters far less than the other two factors.
| Connectome Health | Positive Associations | Negative Associations | Business Trajectory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy Growth | 70% | 30% | Sustainable expansion |
| Declining Brand | 30% | 70% | Steep decline |
| Optimal Performance | 80%+ | 20% | Market leadership |
“Attributes are not the same as associations,” Zane emphasizes. “Associations are more implicit. Very often they’re latent. And they just don’t come to the surface.”
This explains why B2B companies often suffer mysterious sales slumps despite excellent Net Promoter Scores. Their conscious metrics appear healthy, while their unconscious associations deteriorate. By the time leadership realizes there’s a problem, negative associations have metastasized throughout their growth target’s mental model.
CASE STUDY: The Virus of Negative Associations
A SaaS company’s brand health metrics showed steady improvement. NPS scores climbed. Feature satisfaction remained high. Then sales fell off a cliff.
What happened? A network of negative associations—”difficult implementation,” “hidden costs,” “poor support responsiveness”—had been quietly spreading through their target market’s unconscious mind. The company’s surveys never asked about these implicit barriers because they were measuring conscious attitudes, not unconscious associations.
TrustRadius research reveals this disconnect in action: When B2B tech buyers were surveyed about their decision criteria, they cited “features” and “pricing” as top factors. Yet, behavioral data showed that 79% of buyers ultimately selected products they or their colleagues had prior experience with—regardless of whether those products offered the best features or the best pricing. The unconscious familiarity bias overrode every rational consideration.
KEY STAT: 79% of B2B buyers select products based on prior experience, not features or price
Why Emotion-Based Marketing Fails in B2B
The marketing industry made a catastrophic misinterpretation of behavioral economics.
When Daniel Kahneman proved that humans make irrational decisions, agencies concluded: “We must communicate emotion to win.” Billions of dollars later, we’re still producing emotionally manipulative content that fails to move the needle on B2B buyer psychology.
“Emotion is an outcome,” Zane clarifies. “It’s how you want people to feel at the end of the day, but it’s actually not what you use to drive choice at all.”
The Emotion Trap
Making B2B buyers laugh or cry creates momentary feelings, but those feelings are fleeting. Emotional content goes “in one ear and out the other” because it doesn’t build the mental infrastructure that drives instinctive choice.
What actually works? Distinctive brand assets—visual and verbal codes that stick in memory and accumulate into preference.
Consider Gatorade’s lightning bolt. It’s not “emotional” in the way marketers typically use that term. However, it’s packed with associations: achievement, athletic performance, pushing limits, professional sports, and a competitive edge. These associations exist in the unconscious mind before the mention of Gatorade.
“The brain doesn’t have to work hard to understand,” Zane notes. “When you see that snow-capped mountain on Aquafina, your brain is already telling you, ‘snow-capped mountain, that’s a match. I know what that is.'”
The Cognitive Shortcut Principle
B2B buyers don’t have time for your brand story. They need shortcuts—visual and verbal cues that instantly communicate value without conscious processing.
Comparison:
- Long narrative about your company’s innovation journey → Forgotten by tomorrow
- Distinctive visual code representing “enterprise-grade security” → Permanently embedded in the unconscious mind
In building Sproutworth’s content marketing strategy with clients—including the approach that helped WPCurve grow to 30,000 subscribers before its acquisition by GoDaddy—the focus was never on emotional storytelling. Instead, the emphasis was on creating repeatable, recognizable patterns: consistent interview frameworks, distinctive visual layouts, and verbal cues that became synonymous with actionable insight.
When subscribers saw the familiar format, their unconscious minds immediately recognized “valuable content” without needing to process emotional appeals. The format itself became a distinctive asset that triggered instinctive engagement.
“A long story I’m going to forget, but a cognitive shortcut I’m going to remember.” — Leslie Zane
The Competitive Psychology Strategy: Exploit Negative Associations
Here’s where B2B buyer psychology gets tactically interesting.
Every dominant player in your space has negative associations in the minds of buyers. Find those associations, position your strength against their weakness, and you can capture market share faster than trying to create an entirely new category.
“If you can take your strength and put it against the negative association of a large dominant competitor, that becomes the Achilles heel,” Zane explains. “That enables you to take some market share pretty fast.”
The Disruptor’s Playbook
Dollar Shave Club didn’t create a new razor category. They identified Gillette’s negative associations—overpriced, overcomplicated, inconvenient—and positioned direct simplicity against legacy complexity.
Carvana didn’t invent the used car sales industry. They found the negative associations haunting traditional dealerships—pushy salespeople, time-consuming negotiations, anxiety-inducing experiences—and built their entire brand connectome around eliminating those pain points.
How to Execute This in B2B
Step 1: Map your largest competitor’s brand connectome. What negative associations exist in buyers’ minds?
- “Difficult to implement”?
- “Poor customer service”?
- “Nickel-and-dime pricing”?
Step 2: Identify which negative association you can credibly counter with your genuine strength.
Step 3: Build distinctive assets—not just messaging—around that counter-positioning.
Step 4: Never mention the competitor by name, but create contrast through comparison.
RESEARCH INSIGHT: “Contrast is one of the most powerful things to the human brain,” Zane notes. “Consumers will tell you don’t do that. And I will tell you, every time we test that out in the marketplace, it wins and sales go up.”
Real-World Case: Pipedrive vs. HubSpot
Pipedrive identified negative associations plaguing HubSpot users: “too complex,” “feature bloat,” “expensive for what we need.” Rather than attacking HubSpot directly, Pipedrive lets customers tell the story.
Their comparison page features customer video testimonials: “We needed something simple and sales-focused. HubSpot had too many features we’d never use.” Pipedrive positioned its strength (simplicity) directly against HubSpot’s weakness (overwhelming complexity).
The result? Pipedrive captured significant market share from small to mid-sized businesses frustrated with enterprise-grade complexity. They didn’t need to be better at everything—just better at solving the specific pain point HubSpot created.
Another Example: Slack vs. HipChat
When Slack entered the team communication space, HipChat dominated. But HipChat suffered from a critical negative association: “boring enterprise software.”
Slack didn’t just build a better product. They built a completely different brand connectome. As Andrew Wilkinson from MetaLab noted: “We gave it the color scheme of a video game, not an enterprise collaboration product.”
That distinctive visual positioning—fun, approachable, modern—stood in stark contrast to HipChat’s gray, corporate aesthetic. Slack’s design became a distinctive asset that unconsciously communicated “this is different” before users even tried the product.
By 2018, Slack was receiving 133 million monthly visitors while HipChat faded into irrelevance.
The Myth of Unique Value Propositions
B2B marketing’s obsession with uniqueness is killing growth.
The human brain isn’t wired to embrace the unique—it’s hardwired to connect with the familiar. During the pandemic, shoppers were hesitant to try unknown brands. They bought trusted names because familiarity is often perceived as safety in moments of uncertainty.
“We reject the unique. Take a baby out of its mother’s arms and it’s going to scream.” — Leslie Zane
The Distinctiveness Principle
Forget uniqueness. Pursue distinctiveness—familiar patterns with your own creative twist.
| Brand | Strategy | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Slack | Made workplace messaging distinctive through playful design layered onto familiar chat patterns | Dominated category |
| Salesforce | Made CRM distinctive by adding “no software” positioning to familiar sales management concepts | Market leader |
| Aquafina | Used familiar snow-capped mountain to communicate purity without explanation | Category dominance |
The most effective B2B buyer psychology strategy isn’t finding white space—it’s riding existing mental pathways while making them recognizably yours.
Building Distinctive Brand Assets
Universal triggers: Find codes and cues that resonate across demographics. The brain doesn’t care about age, gender, or job title when processing certain symbols.
Visual shortcuts: Create imagery that instantly communicates your core value without explanation.
Verbal codes: Develop language patterns that become synonymous with your category benefit.
Aquafina’s snow-capped mountain communicates purity, pristine quality, and natural sourcing in a tiny visual element. No story required. The associations already exist in buyers’ minds, Aquafina just connected its brand to those existing pathways.
Through conversations with over 500 B2B tech CEOs on the Predictable B2B Success podcast, a universal truth emerged: Regardless of whether the guest was a CFO, CTO, or CEO, certain psychological drivers remained constant.
Bob King, author of “The Joy of Closing,” put it perfectly: “What drives buyers isn’t their role, it’s their humanity. A CFO worrying about budget and a CTO worrying about integration are both fundamentally worried about the same thing: not failing at their job.”
This insight shaped Sproutworth’s approach to client messaging. Rather than creating separate personas and messages for each stakeholder, the focus shifted to universal human drivers:
- Safety (will this decision protect my career?)
- Belonging (will my peers approve this choice?)
- Progress (will this help me advance?)
These universal triggers are effective across every B2B buyer, regardless of their title or industry.
Why Segmentation Fails at the Unconscious Level
B2B marketers obsess over segmentation—slicing audiences into increasingly granular personas, industries, company sizes, and buying stages.
This works for targeting. It fails spectacularly for messaging.
“We’re asking the wrong question when we try to segment messages,” Zane argues. “We shouldn’t be asking ourselves why are people different. We should be asking ourselves why are humans the same.”
The Convergence Principle
Human brains are far more similar than different. A CFO and a CTO might have different job functions, but their unconscious minds process information through identical mechanisms.
When you create segmented messages for each persona, you dilute your brand connectome. Your brand starts meaning different things to different people—which means it stops being a brand at all.
The Universal Approach
Find the codes, cues, and associations that work across your entire addressable market. Build a brand connectome that means the same thing to everyone who might buy from you.
This doesn’t mean generic messaging. It means finding deeply human psychological drivers that transcend surface-level differences.
| Surface-Level Role | Universal Human Driver |
|---|---|
| CTO security concerns | Human need for safety |
| COO efficiency priorities | Cognitive preference for ease |
| CEO innovation focus | Primal drive for competitive advantage |
Security isn’t just a CTO concern—it’s a human need for safety. Efficiency isn’t just a COO priority—it’s a cognitive preference for ease. Innovation isn’t just a CEO obsession—it’s a primal drive for competitive advantage.
The Promotion Trap: Why Discounts Create Weak Buyers
When B2B companies chase quarterly targets, they often resort to promotions, discounts, and limited-time offers. These tactics engage the conscious mind and produce sales, although they are fleeting.
“Companies that are over-relying on promotional techniques will get a bump, but it won’t last very long,” Zane observes. “They haven’t gained mind share and they haven’t created instinctive brand preference.”
The Economics of Unconscious Preference
Promotion-driven sales:
- Expensive (constantly paying to overcome a lack of preference)
- Temporary (stops when promotion ends)
- Low margin (discounted pricing)
Unconscious preference:
- Cost-effective (compounds without additional spend)
- Sustainable (preference remains)
- High margin (full pricing power)
Building Mental Infrastructure
Think of your brand as a living organism in buyers’ minds. It’s not your logo, website, or positioning statement—it’s the neural network of associations in your target market’s brains.
Feed that organism positive associations and distinctive assets, and it grows from a seed into a tree. Starve it, and it withers—creating space for competitors to plant their own seeds.
CRITICAL INSIGHT: “The moment your brand stops growing, the moment you stop feeding it positive associations, that’s when negative associations set in.” — Leslie Zane
The Compound Effect Timeline
| Timeline | Activity | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Add positive associations through smart content and distinctive assets | Foundation building |
| Month 6 | Brand connectome has grown | Unconscious preference strengthens |
| Month 12 | Instinctive choice becomes automatic | Sales conversion improves without additional spend |
| Month 24 | Your brand is the category default | Buyers choose you instinctively |
According to research from Corporate Visions, 90% of B2B deals are won by vendors from the buyer’s initial consideration set—the brands that already occupied unconscious mind space before the buying journey even began.
KEY STAT: 90% of B2B deals are won by vendors already in the buyer’s unconscious consideration set
Companies relying on promotional tactics to “break in” to consideration rarely succeed because they’re trying to build unconscious preference during the conscious evaluation phase. By then, it’s too late.
The most successful B2B tech companies—those achieving 5.31% conversion rates versus the industry average of 1.1-2.4%—invest in building unconscious preference long before buyers enter active consideration. They’re planting seeds, not trying to harvest crops overnight.
What B2B Companies Should Actually Measure
Net Promoter Score, brand awareness, message recall—these conscious metrics are leading B2B companies astray.
“The conscious level may be misleading and it’s not necessarily correlated to business performance,” Zane explains. “It’s not picking up what’s brewing, what’s coming down the road.”
The Implicit Tracking Framework
| ❌ Stop Measuring (Lagging) | ✅ Start Measuring (Leading) |
|---|---|
| Brand awareness | Positive association growth |
| Message recall | Negative association reduction |
| Stated preference | Instinctive brand preference |
| Purchase intent | Implicit barriers to purchase |
| Feature importance | Unconscious competitive positioning |
Traditional brand health tracking is backward-looking. It tells you where you’ve been, not where you’re headed. Implicit tracking is predictive—it reveals deteriorating associations six months before they crater your sales.
Leading vs. Lagging Indicators
Lagging: “Do you like our brand?” → Appeal doesn’t predict purchase
Leading: “What are the first three words that come to mind about our brand?” → Reveals unconscious associations
Lagging: “Would you recommend us?” → Conscious rationalization
Leading: “Which brand feels most right for your needs?” → Uncovers instinctive preference
Rai Hyde Cornell, CEO of Cornell Content Marketing and a guest on the Predictable B2B Success podcast, shared how they track unconscious preference building through behavioral signals rather than stated preferences:
“We don’t ask clients if they ‘like’ our content. We track how they behave with it. Are they forwarding emails to colleagues? Are they spending time with our long-form pieces? Are they returning without prompts? These micro-behaviors reveal unconscious preference far better than any survey.”
Behavioral Signals That Matter
For educational email courses and LinkedIn content strategies—core offerings at Sproutworth—the metrics that matter aren’t open rates or click rates (conscious actions) but:
- Unprompted returns – Visiting your content without email reminders
- Social amplification – Sharing content without being asked
- Extended engagement – Time spent suggests unconscious value recognition
- Pattern recognition – Do readers recognize your distinctive format immediately?
These behavioral signals reveal when content has moved from conscious consideration to unconscious preference—the holy grail of B2B buyer psychology.
The Content Implication: Codes Over Stories
B2B content marketing is drowning in storytelling. Long-form narratives. Founder journeys. Customer sagas. Emotional arcs.
But stories evaporate. Codes stick.
PULL QUOTE: “A long story I’m going to forget, but a cognitive shortcut I’m going to remember.” — Leslie Zane
The Asset-Building Approach to Content
Every piece of content should add distinctive assets to buyers’ mental architecture—not just convey information.
| ❌ Traditional Approach | ✅ Asset-Building Approach |
|---|---|
| “Our platform uses advanced AI to streamline workflows” | A consistent visual code representing AI-powered simplification across all content |
| Emotional case study about transformation | Verbal patterns synonymous with your category benefit |
| Long narrative about innovation journey | Cognitive shortcuts that communicate value instantly |
The Codification Framework
1. Expertise codes: Visual or verbal shortcuts representing your specific knowledge
2. Benefit codes: Symbols instantly communicating your core value
3. Experience codes: Cues that preview what working with you feels like
4. Category codes: Distinctive takes on familiar industry patterns
Aquafina didn’t need to tell stories about glacier water purity. They coded it into a snow-capped mountain that instantly communicates everything buyers need to know.
Sproutworth’s Distinctive Codes in Action
In Sproutworth’s educational email courses for B2B tech startups, distinctive codes appear in every piece:
Visual codes: Consistent formatting where key insights appear in bold, making them instantly scannable. The brain learns to recognize “this is the valuable part” without conscious processing.
Verbal codes: Frameworks like “The 3 Ps of Predictable Growth” or “Revenue Architecture” become shorthand for complex concepts, allowing for concise and effective communication. Once established in the unconscious mind, these phrases trigger instant recognition and associated value.
Structural codes: The Predictable B2B Success podcast follows a recognizable pattern—problem identification, guest expertise, actionable takeaways. After 500+ episodes, listeners’ brains subconsciously anticipate this structure, creating a sense of comfort and trust before the episode even begins.
These codes compound over time. Each email, each LinkedIn post, each podcast episode reinforces the same distinctive patterns until they become inseparable from the brand in buyers’ unconscious minds.
Compare this to one-off emotional storytelling: A moving customer success story might generate engagement today, but it doesn’t build lasting mental infrastructure. Next week, buyers will have forgotten the story—but they’ll still recognize your distinctive codes.
Implementing Unconscious Psychology in B2B Strategy
The Fortune 100 companies generating billions through this approach aren’t just changing their creative—they’re restructuring their entire go-to-market around unconscious buyer psychology.
The Strategic Framework
1. Map competitor connectomes Identify the negative associations haunting dominant players in your space.
2. Build distinctive assets Create visual and verbal codes that stick in unconscious memory.
3. Track implicit metrics Monitor association growth and instinctive preference, not just conscious attitudes.
4. Feed the connectome Consistently add positive associations through every touchpoint.
5. Leverage familiarity Ride existing mental pathways rather than forcing buyers to create new ones.
Implementation Roadmap
| Phase | Timeline | Key Activities | Success Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Month 1-2 | Map competitor connectomes, identify negative associations | Comprehensive association map |
| Asset Development | Month 2-4 | Create distinctive visual/verbal codes | 3-5 core brand assets |
| Deployment | Month 4-6 | Launch across all touchpoints | Consistent asset usage |
| Measurement | Month 6+ | Track implicit metrics, behavioral signals | Association growth rate |
| Optimization | Ongoing | Refine assets based on data | Improving conversion rates |
The Timeline Expectation
This isn’t an overnight transformation. Building unconscious preference requires consistent effort over months, not weeks.
But the compounding effect is dramatic:
- Traditional B2B marketing delivers linear returns—spend more, get more
- Unconscious psychology marketing delivers exponential returns as the brand connectome grows and strengthens
EXPERT INSIGHT: “Knowing these rules is really going to enable you to make change in your life and in your business much faster.” — Leslie Zane
Key Takeaways & Action Items
Critical Insights
- 95% of B2B decisions are unconscious – Stop marketing to the conscious mind
- Brand connectomes determine choice – Build positive associations, not persuasive arguments
- Emotion fails; codes succeed – Create distinctive assets, not emotional stories
- Exploit competitor weaknesses – Position strength against negative associations
- Distinctiveness beats uniqueness – Leverage familiarity with a twist
- Universal triggers work – Stop segmenting messages; find human commonalities
- Promotions create weak buyers – Build preference, not dependency
- Measure implicit metrics – Track behavioral signals, not stated preferences
- Codes compound over time – Invest in distinctive assets that accumulate value
- Start early – Build unconscious preference before buyers enter evaluation
Immediate Action Steps
This Week:
- [ ] Audit your current marketing materials for distinctive brand assets
- [ ] Identify your largest competitor’s negative associations
- [ ] List your brand’s positive associations (ask customers what comes to mind)
This Month:
- [ ] Develop 3-5 distinctive visual/verbal codes for your brand
- [ ] Map your brand connectome (positive vs. negative associations)
- [ ] Switch metrics from conscious (NPS, awareness) to implicit (behavioral signals)
This Quarter:
- [ ] Launch content using distinctive codes consistently
- [ ] Track unconscious preference through behavioral metrics
- [ ] Build competitive positioning against identified weaknesses
This Year:
- [ ] Achieve 70%+ positive association ratio
- [ ] Establish brand as instinctive choice in target market
- [ ] Measure ROI from unconscious preference building
Frequently Asked Questions
What is B2B buyer psychology?
B2B buyer psychology refers to the unconscious mental processes that drive 95% of business purchasing decisions. Unlike traditional models that focus on rational evaluation, B2B buyer psychology recognizes that business buyers make instinctive decisions based on accumulated brand associations in their unconscious minds, which they then rationalize with logic.
How does the unconscious mind affect B2B purchases?
The unconscious mind operates 275,000 times faster than conscious thought, processing decisions through accumulated associations, familiar patterns, and implicit trust signals. In B2B contexts, this means buyers instinctively prefer vendors with whom they have positive associations, even when competitors offer better features or pricing. The unconscious mind determines the “consideration set” before conscious evaluation begins.
What is a brand connectome?
A brand connectome is a neural network of associations, both positive and negative, that exists in buyers’ unconscious minds about your brand. Think of it as a central node (your brand) with branches radiating outward, holding memories, experiences, visual cues, and associations. The size, positivity ratio, and distinctiveness of this connectome determine whether buyers instinctively choose your brand.
How can I measure unconscious brand preference?
Instead of measuring conscious metrics (NPS, stated preference, awareness), track behavioral signals that reveal unconscious preference:
- Unprompted returns (visitors without email reminders)
- Social amplification (sharing without being asked)
- Extended engagement (time spent beyond expected)
- Pattern recognition (immediate format recognition)
- First-thought associations (“What three words come to mind?”)
These implicit metrics predict sales 6 months before traditional metrics show problems.
What are distinctive brand assets?
Distinctive brand assets are visual and verbal codes that stick in unconscious memory and accumulate into preference. Unlike emotional stories that fade away, distinctive assets are cognitive shortcuts that convey value instantly. Examples include Gatorade’s lightning bolt, Aquafina’s snow-capped mountain, or consistent verbal frameworks, such as “The 3 Ps of Predictable Growth.”
Why do emotion-based B2B campaigns fail?
Emotion creates temporary feelings but doesn’t build permanent memory structures. While emotional content might make buyers laugh or cry in the moment, these feelings “go in one ear and out the other” without creating lasting unconscious associations. Distinctive brand assets—not emotional appeals—build the mental infrastructure that drives instinctive choice.
How long does it take to build unconscious brand preference?
Building unconscious preference typically follows this timeline:
- Month 1: Add positive associations through distinctive assets
- Month 6: Brand connectome grows; preference strengthens
- Month 12: Instinctive choice becomes automatic
- Month 24: Your brand becomes category default
This requires consistent effort, but delivers exponential (not linear) returns as associations compound.
Should I stop using personas in B2B marketing?
Personas are effective for targeting (finding the right people), but they fail for messaging. Instead of creating separate messages for each persona, identify universal psychological triggers that resonate with all buyers. CFOs, CTOs, and CEOs have different job functions but identical unconscious processing mechanisms. Focus on universal human drivers: safety, belonging, and progress.
How do I identify my competitor’s negative associations?
Conduct implicit research asking buyers: “What three words immediately come to mind about [Competitor]?” Track customer conversation forums, review sites, and sales call recordings for recurring pain points. Look for patterns in what customers complain about, even when they stay with the competitor. These latent negative associations can become a positioning opportunity for you.
What’s the difference between uniqueness and distinctiveness?
Uniqueness = completely foreign, which the brain rejects
Distinctiveness = familiar patterns with your creative twist, which the brain embraces
Slack didn’t create a unique communication category (rejected). They made messaging distinctive through playful design on familiar chat patterns (embraced). Ride existing mental pathways; don’t force buyers to create new ones.
Related Resources: More from Predictable B2B Success
Dive deeper into B2B buyer psychology and growth strategies with these related episodes:
How to Use The Science of Customer Stories to Drive Revenue Growth
Joel Klettke reveals how customer success stories work at an unconscious level—creating social proof that triggers instinctive trust rather than conscious evaluation. Discover the repeatable process for crafting stories that foster brand connections.
How to Scale Predictable B2B Growth: Insights to Fuel Success
Oscar Torres explores managing employee behaviors and codifying company culture—critical for building the internal brand connectome that drives external success. Discover how culture shapes unconscious brand associations.
B2B Sales Enablement: How to Develop a Game Plan For Growth
Amy McClain from Calendly shares how sales enablement builds unconscious buying patterns through consistent, repeatable customer experiences. Learn to create distinctive sales assets that compound over time.
The Best Ways to Scale Your Business with a 3 Part Playbook for Growth
Brett Trainor’s framework for product-market fit and go-to-market strategy aligns perfectly with building brand connectomes that drive instinctive choice. Discover metrics that predict unconscious preference.
Leveraging Strengths And Personal Growth For B2B Growth
Lyn Christian discusses how identifying authentic strengths creates distinctive brand assets—both personally and organizationally. Learn to avoid “pseudo-strengths” that drain rather than build associations.
B2B Sales Prospecting Strategies to Improve Your Performance
Guillaume Moubeche reveals how personal branding builds unconscious preference long before sales conversations begin. Understand how to plant seeds in buyers’ minds months before they’re ready to purchase.
Related Links: Connect with Leslie Zane
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- Why Taylor Swift is the most successful brand (using Triggers® principles)
- The danger of emotional advertising without product connection
- How to crack the code on brand growth using behavioral science
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TEDx Talk: “The Hidden Link Between Success and the Subconscious” – Discover the science behind instinctive choice in 18 minutes
Glossary of Key Terms
Brand Connectome
A neural network of positive and negative associations that exists in buyers’ unconscious minds about a brand. The size, positivity ratio, and distinctiveness of the connectome determine instinctive brand preference. Developed by Leslie Zane and Triggers® Brand Consulting.
Cognitive Shortcuts
Visual or verbal cues that communicate value instantly without requiring conscious processing. Also called distinctive brand assets. Examples: Nike’s swoosh, Gatorade’s lightning bolt, Aquafina’s snow-capped mountain.
Conscious Mind
The 5% of the brain is responsible for rational evaluation, logical analysis, and deliberate decision-making. Highly resistant to persuasion and change. Located “above the waterline” in the iceberg model of decision-making.
Distinctive Brand Assets
Visual and verbal codes that stick in unconscious memory and accumulate into preference over time. Unlike emotional content that evaporates, distinctive assets build permanent mental infrastructure. Must be familiar (leveraging existing associations) with a creative twist (making them recognizably yours).
Distinctiveness
Familiar patterns with your own creative twist. Different from uniqueness (completely foreign, which the brain rejects). Effective positioning rides existing mental pathways while making them recognizably yours.
Growth Triggers®
Supercharged cues developed by Triggers® Brand Consulting that expand a brand’s connectome and sway decisions. These are distinctive brand assets optimized to establish positive associations quickly.
Implicit Barriers
Unconscious negative associations that prevent purchase are often undetected by traditional surveys and brand health metrics. Examples: “difficult to implement,” “hidden costs,” “poor support.” Must be measured through behavioral signals, not stated preferences.
Implicit Metrics
Measurements of unconscious preference through behavioral signals rather than stated attitudes. Examples: unprompted returns, social amplification, extended engagement, pattern recognition. Predictive of sales 6 months before conscious metrics show problems.
Instinctive Mind (Unconscious Mind)
The 95% of the brain that operates below conscious awareness, making decisions based on accumulated associations, familiar patterns, and implicit trust signals. Operates 275,000 times faster than conscious thought. Located “below the waterline” in the iceberg model.
Negative Associations
Unconscious connections in the brand connectome that create barriers to purchase. Often latent (not consciously acknowledged) but powerful in driving instinctive rejection. Can accumulate silently while conscious metrics (NPS, satisfaction) remain positive.
Positive Associations
Unconscious connections in the brand connectome that drive instinctive preference. Healthy brands maintain 70%+ positive associations. Built through distinctive brand assets, consistent experiences, and universal triggers.
Salience
The amount of mental real estate a brand occupies in the unconscious mind. The larger and more salient the brand connectome, the more instinctively buyers choose that brand. One of three criteria for a healthy brand connectome (along with positivity ratio and distinctiveness).
System 1 / System 2 Thinking
Framework developed by Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize 2002).
System 1 = fast, unconscious, instinctive thinking that drives 95% of decisions.
System 2 = slow, conscious, logical thinking that controls only 5% of decisions.
Traditional B2B marketing targets System 2; effective marketing targets System 1.
Unconscious Preference
When a brand becomes the instinctive, automatic choice in buyers’ minds without conscious deliberation. Built through accumulated positive associations over 12-24 months. Creates a sustainable competitive advantage by operating below competitors’ awareness.
Universal Triggers
Psychological drivers that work across all buyer personas, demographics, and job roles. Examples: safety (career protection), belonging (peer approval), progress (advancement). More effective than segmented messaging because human brains similarly process information at the unconscious level.
Some areas we explore in this episode include:
Listen to the episode.
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