The 95-5 rule and why search alone will not grow B2B

Professor John Dawes' 95-5 rule says only 5 percent of any B2B market is in market at a given moment. The other 95 percent are not in a position to consider an offer. Gerard explains why most B2B budgets get aimed almost entirely at that 5 percent, through search campaigns competing on exact intent at 7 to 20 dollars a click, and why timing a buyer to the exact moment they start looking is very hard to do. Search still matters, but it is a narrow way to meet a market. The brand and trust work has to happen before someone starts searching, so the business is already on the shortlist when the buying window opens. Gerard uses car dealerships opening inside Westfield shopping centres as the physical version of this: people buy a car every five or six years, so the dealership sits where they already walk each week.