Buyer Behaviour Regional Research:

Nordic Research Reveals Significant

Buyer Personality Differences by Company Size
NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH
May 2015
R Johnson
Principal Analyst

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

IDG Connect surveyed 262 IT professionals in Nordics countries; Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. 209 of the
respondents were from the non-tech industry while the further 53 respondents were from the tech industry.
Respondents were asked a multiple choice question to discover which buyer type they adopt when participating in a
buying team.
From this, the respondents answer was categorised into one of the three buyer behaviours:
Collaborator: A collaborator seeks comfortable team consensus when it comes to a purchase decision. They
consider member opinions, including the pros and cons, to be as valuable as facts and figures.
Challenger: A challenger consider themselves the experts in the group and will not hesitate to challenge points
to arrive at the best decision. Challengers respect competence, know-how and the views of industry
authorities.
Advocate: An advocate is vested in the potential impact the teams decision will have on employees, company
image and personal visibility. Advocates are action-oriented, working to promote their favoured vendor(s)
forward.
This research is part of a global survey that was conducted by telephone to 3420 IT and Business Professionals.
The survey was conducted across Benelux, DACH, EMEA, Latin America, MEFA, Middle East, Nordics, Scandinavia
regions.

Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 1

NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

56%

56% OF NORDICS
IT PROFESSIONALS ARE
COLLABORATORS
29%
15%

COLLABORATOR
Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 2

ADVOCATE

CHALLENGER

NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

BY COMPANY SIZE
LESS THAN 500 EMPLOYEES

500+ EMPLOYEES
ADVOCATE

26%

60%

32%

1 - 499

500 +

53%
14%
15%

ADVOCATE

CHALLENGER

Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 3

COLLABORATOR

GRAND TOTAL

CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL

35

19

79

26%

14%

59%

41

20

68

32%

16%

53%

76

39

147

133

129

262

NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

BY JOB TITLE
DIRECTOR & ABOVE

MANAGER & BELOW

DIRECTOR +

13

24

43

MANAGER BELOW

63

33

123

219

GRAND TOTAL

76

39

147

262

ADVOCATE CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL

56%

56%

15%

14%

Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 4

CHALLENGER COLLABORATOR GRAND TOTAL

29%

30%

ADVOCATE

ADVOCATE

CHALLENGER

COLLABORATOR

BUSINESS DIRECTOR +

IT DIRECTOR +

12

21

38

IT MANAGEMENT

63

33

121

217

OTHER

GRAND TOTAL

76

39

147

262

INSIGHTS & IDEAS

NORDIC BUYER PERSONALITY RESEARCH

IDG Connect defines three B2B buyer personalities within organisations, action oriented Advocates, expert
Challengers and consensus oriented Collaborators.
On a global basis, research in 15 countries rates Collaborators supreme with the highest percentage of team members
(49%) falling into that category. In Norway there is an even stronger Collaborator presence (56%), a fact certain to
impact go-to-market efforts of every vendor.
Nordic buyers are more team consensus centric and interested in the impact of investment on other people. In
organizations of greater than 500 employees, advocates appear more often, driven by the needs of business functions
to get the solutions that drive their processes.
The implications are clear. Address the process and people interests of Collaborators, those individuals who tend to
represent the rank and file. They have their ear to the ground and actively communicate with others with a position
that can enable vendor success or slow the decision process and cause post-purchase challenges to up and cross sell.
R Johnson, Principal Analyst at IDG Connect
Bob_Johnson@idgconnect.com

Buyer Behaviour Regional Research | 5

IDG Connect is the demand generation division of International Data Group (IDG), the worlds largest technology media
company. Established in 2005, it utilises access to 38 million business decision makers details to unite technology
marketers with relevant targets from any country in the world. Committed to engaging a disparate global IT audience with
truly localised messaging, IDG Connect also publishes market specific thought leadership papers on behalf of its clients,
and produces research for B2B marketers worldwide. www.idgconnectmarketers.com

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