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The One Thing the Base Oils & Lubricants Supply Chain Need to Rethink About Customer Engagement
Customer engagement in the base oils supply chain no longer begins with a sales conversation. Buyers now research, compare and form opinions digitally long before contacting suppliers, often using search engines and AI tools to filter options. Suppliers that fail to engage clearly and credibly at this early stage risk being excluded before human interaction even begins.
- Engagement now starts during buyer self-research, not at first contact
- Digital visibility and clarity shape trust before any sales conversation
- Human relationships still matter, but they must be earned earlier in the journey
Customer engagement used to be simple.
You picked up the phone, met the buyer, built trust and moved forward. Today, it is not simple at all.
That is because engagement no longer starts when the phone rings. It starts much earlier, in the digital spaces where buyers research, compare and form opinions before they ever speak to a supplier.
This is the one thing the base oils supply chain needs to rethink.
The buying journey has moved upstream
Across B2B markets, buyers are now doing most of their homework well before a supplier ever knows the conversation has begun. McKinsey research shows that buyers want a blend of self-directed digital research and human interaction, not one or the other. They are more likely to stay with suppliers who support this hybrid journey.
This pattern is clearly visible in lubricants. Buyers are forming preferences through websites, search results, peer insight, LinkedIn activity and increasingly through AI-assisted research tools.
If your engagement model still assumes that sales interaction is the starting point, you are already behind.
Visibility has become the first engagement
The supply chain spans producers, blenders, distributors and service partners. Buyers do not experience these as separate layers. They experience one joined-up ecosystem.
Digital visibility is now the first engagement signal. Not availability. Not responsiveness. Visibility.
McKinsey’s B2B Pulse research highlights that strong digital capability is directly linked to commercial performance, particularly where buyers expect to self-educate before engaging sales.
In lubricants, this shift is reinforced by broader industry digitalisation. Lubes n Greases say Industry 4.0 technologies are changing not just how products are made and delivered, but how value is communicated and perceived by customers.
If buyers cannot quickly understand who you help, how you help them and why you are credible, they will move on. They do not wait to be convinced in a meeting.
Engagement is now interpretive, not just interactive
One of the quietest shifts in B2B buying is that engagement has become interpretive.
Buyers are no longer asking suppliers to explain themselves from scratch. They are interpreting suppliers through digital signals long before contact:
- Search visibility and clarity
- Website usefulness and relevance
- Consistency of messaging across channels
- Peer references and social proof
- AI-generated summaries that reward clarity over complexity
AI matters here not as a headline technology, but as a filter. Vague positioning, internal jargon and generic claims do not translate well into AI-driven discovery.
If buyers misunderstand you during self-research, that misunderstanding becomes your first impression.
Relationships still matter, but they are no longer first
This is not an argument against relationships. Trust, credibility and human relevance still matter deeply, particularly in complex lubricant applications.
What has changed is when those relationships begin.
Buyer Revolution data consistently shows that buyers form trust signals before speaking to sales. By the time they engage, they are already asking:
- Do I trust this supplier enough to invest time?
- Do they seem credible in my world?
- Do they understand my challenges?
Human engagement now accelerates the journey rather than starting it.
This is something we explore regularly at Plan Grow Do, particularly in how sales and marketing alignment affects early buyer confidence in the lubricants sector.
A supply chain reality check
For the base oils and lubricants supply chain, this creates a shared responsibility.
- Producers often rely on distributors to engage customers.
- Distributors often rely on upstream brand credibility.
- Sales teams rely on relationships built in a very different buying era.
Buyers do not separate these roles, they assess the supply chain as a whole. If the ecosystem feels unclear, fragmented or outdated, trust erodes quickly.
Customer engagement is no longer something that can be delegated downstream. It accumulates across every visible touchpoint.
The rethink is quieter than you think
This is not about more content, louder marketing or rushing into AI tools.
It is about accepting where engagement now begins.
Customer engagement starts when buyers are solving problems on their own. It is shaped by how clearly your organisation helps them make sense of their world, even when you are not present.
The base oils and lubricants supply chain does not need to abandon relationships, but it may want to think about how to build them earlier.
See more about the changing buyer with our exclusive lubricants focussed Buyer Revolution programme and resources.
Be sure also to check out Selling Lubricants Smarter that takes the best of the Buyer Revolution data and goes on a journey with our lubricants sales professional from crisis to success!
https://www.thebuyerrevolution.com/
https://sellinglubricantssmarter.com/
