INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
For too many companies, business-to-business (B2B) customer engagement is dismally low. In his article B2B’s Win by Building Relationships, Not Selling on Price , author Marco Nink gives the following insight on the importance of building customer relationships: Competing on price is a losing strategy, and Gallup research shows it’s an unnecessary one. The more a B2B company helps its customers perform, the more essential it becomes. MORE
A similar sequence has happened with B2B buying. By 2012, our research shows, nearly 60% of a typical B2B purchasing decision — researching solutions, ranking options, benchmarking pricing, and so on — was happening before the buyer even had a conversation with a supplier. See More Videos > See More Videos > Surely B2B purchasing hasn’t become that bad. Like these companies, B2B suppliers need to focus on making it far easier for customers to buy. MORE
Those forces are dramatically changing the way B2B companies and their customers approach buying and selling, too. Over the past 20 years, information technology and digital channels have changed the way consumers shop for products ranging from cars to homes to electronics. MORE
B2B companies are struggling with a loss of control over the customer experience (CX) today. With their future growth prospects at stake, B2B executives must determine how to improve CX—while ceding more of the experience to their partners. B2B leaders know that customer experience is the gateway to growth. Delivering experiences that produce more B2B sales is another. Selling in the digital age has become more complex than many B2B leaders had anticipated. MORE
Gillian Blease/Getty Images. Knowing which organizations perform the best on any particular dimension used to require subjective surveys or painstaking research. MORE
B2B customers tend to have a lot more money to spend, and may also be willing to pay a higher price for your services. Social media is a powerful marketing tool for individuals and small businesses. MORE
The AIDA model and its variants are the basis for sales funnels at many B2B firms. Sales people have not been replaced by digital, and providing relevant solutions remains key in most B2B buying scenarios. Selling has always been more about the buyer than the seller. MORE
By Tim Sanders Making sales, especially in the B2B environment, is tougher and more complex than ever. If you are involved in B2B sales at all, you would certainly agree with that assertion. MORE
48% of B2B salespeople are afraid of cold calling. Difficult conversations Sales Digital Article MORE
Many B2B CEOs still believe that social media isn’t right for them. The Content Marketing Institute reports that social media marketing can help B2B brands build awareness and showcase their expertise. B2B companies need to take this to heart. MORE
In an ideal B2B world, your happy customers would spread the news about your great products, generating all the well-known benefits of word of mouth. Many B2B products become more useful when most players in the industry adopt them. MORE
Real-time, human support is now one of the most sought-after features for any B2B and B2C website owner, and if it isn’t a given in your industry, I assure you it will be soon! Photo courtesy of Tech in Asia via flickr. MORE
While there’s less buzz around business-to-business markets, these innovations are changing the game in B2B as well, even in old-line industries selling what might be considered commodity products. A growing number of B2B companies are using data and analytics to add services that bring new elements of value to customers, and in some cases new sources of revenue. For a deep dive into the elements, see our related HBR article “ The B2B Elements of Value ”). MORE
According to Gallup , only 29% of B2B customers are engaged with the companies they do business with. Let that sink in. That means 71% of your customers are likely not committed to sticking with your company or, even worse, are actively seeking to move their business elsewhere. This problem is not new. MORE
When referring to interactions between two companies, it’s usually referred to as B2B or B to B. Most people don’t set out to start a business without hoping that it’s going to last. MORE
For B2B companies, the product basket of all their customers is carefully analyzed to interpret details like business sectors, employee’s numbers, address, and the revenues. Over the last several years, AI has become a popular trend for enhancing all areas of business. MORE
The cartoon of business-to-business (B2B) buyers depicts gray-haired executives and purchasing agents in meetings, on the phone and lunching with their vendors. But along with fax machines and long golf games, these features of B2B life have all but disappeared due to the astonishing change in technology over the past two decades. This shift in behavior has several implications for B2B value propositions. First impressions matter as much as ever in B2B markets. MORE
B2B buyers often have made up their minds about a purchase before a sales rep even gets a foot in the door. It’s no wonder, then, that more than 90% of B2B sellers have turned to content marketing to help regain access to buyers in the early stages of the purchase process. MORE
As Deb described STEAM and its role in for/not-for-profit businesses, B2B and B2C, Matt realized that much of his work in his recent deployment to Afghanistan depended on STEAM. STEM to STEAM - the "A" in STEAM stands for Art/Design.and Afghanistan Air Force. MORE
Guest Posts b2b marketing marketing funnel We''ve Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] If you haven''t already done so, update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us. link]. MORE
“Death of a B2B Salesman,” a new report from Forrester Research , lends urgency to the need for companies to rethink and radically transform their sales models by incorporating digital media into their processes. Here’s how B2B sellers should do that. MORE
One of the biggest differences between B2B and B2C worlds is marketing. B2B companies invest to understand their customers as well, but the path they take is very different. In the B2B world there are three typical levels: user, influencer, decision maker and each level may have 1 to 1,000s of people involved and impacted in the buying of services. Domain knowledge — The B2B buyer has the expertise and experience in the offering being considered. MORE
As such, agile management can be extremely beneficial for B2B businesses. Agile project management can require a significant change within a B2B business. You just finished reading How Agile Project Management Can Improve Your B2B Business ! MORE
Disruptive Innovations that have impacted B2B Marketing Disruptive Innovations that have impacted business & B2B Marketing Looking through some of this data raises some interesting thoughts. Especially that some firms just seem to keep being there. The question is what will be the next disruptive technology or application that will change the way we do [.]. ecademy MORE
This may seem reasonable for small business websites or blogs, but when it comes to B2B systems and e-commerce platforms, these errors could lead to huge losses. The customer decides to create a B2B web platform from scratch. MORE
Outbound B2B sales are becoming less and less effective. Meanwhile, 84% of B2B buyers are now starting the purchasing process with a referral, and peer recommendations are influencing more than 90% of all B2B buying decisions. If organizations don’t change their outdated thinking and create effective sales models for today’s digital era, Forrester warns that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020. MORE
The LinkedIn platform is designed with built-in features you can use to promote your brand to B2B audiences. Facebook and YouTube may be more popular with consumers, but for businesses, LinkedIn is the favored social media platform. With 50 percent of Americans who have a college degree using LinkedIn, according to Pew Research Center data , the platform has become an essential tool for recruiters to find qualified workers. MORE
Guest Posts b2b sales b2c sales Sales sales tips small business sales We''ve Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] If you haven''t already done so, update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us. link]. MORE
Since good private label manufacturers only operate B2B (and don’t compete with their customers B2C), they can offer a wide range of products and unique product customization options. Private labeling allow companies to sell branded products manufactured by someone else. MORE
Collaborative innovation is a hot topic in the B2C space, where it overlaps with crowdsourcing, but we see B2B players taking an interest as well. In the B2B space, companies tend to be driven by specific business goals and priorities. MORE
Conversely, only 39% of B2B marketers said that they had one. Content marketing is constantly changing, and you have to readjust your strategies if you want to stay on top of the game. MORE
Curator Posts Afghanistan art B2B B2C climate Corporate culture Deborah Mills-Scofield Design for profit military NATC-A NATO not-for-profit Society STEAM STEM Switch and Shift Understanding MORE
Simply looking online in the direction of cranes for sale , generators and hired construction services to come to a B2B relationship with could slash the cost of your construction, allowing you to extend offices, generate new lots or custom fit current property to your requirements. MORE
” In the B2B world, though, the experience is very different. But B2B customers are mobile, fully engaged in social media, and well educated: 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research before deciding on a purchase. MORE
Like this manufacturer, many business-to-business (B2B) companies have a major opportunity to improve their standing on price. To help companies understand the state of pricing capabilities and how they figure into performance, Bain & Company conducted a global survey of sales leaders, vice presidents of pricing, CEOs, CMOs, and other executives at more than 1,700 B2B companies. Glasshouse Images/Getty Images. MORE
B2B, or the process of marketing and selling product and service offerings to business customers, is experiencing an intensified focus as the availability of new digital data that describes businesses grows. Traditional B2B insight activities have involved such limited data as size of companies as measured by revenue, capitalization or employees, and industry type as formally classified by SIC codes. vincent tsui for hbr. MORE
Please Update Your ManagingCommunities.com RSS Feed Subscription This feed has moved to: [link] I apologize for the trouble. For more details, please read my post on the matter. Thank you. Community Cultivation MORE
It’s a common issue in B2B markets. This is a terrifying development for B2B firms, and especially for their sales and marketing teams. MORE
Marketing any business can be a serious challenge. This is especially true if your business is relatively new. After all, trying to take your business from something that no one knows about to something that has a firmly established customer base can be incredibly difficult. MORE
Tweet. Tweet Photo: Painting Vector/ Resource www.bigstock.com. You have a company website –. but do you, as a B-to-B manufacturing company, also have to have a presence on Facebook, XING, Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus and YouTube? MORE
B2B marketers, on the other hand, have shied away from the idea, instead approaching selling as a rational, numbers-driven process where the best value proposition wins. MORE
Decision making at big B2B companies is often skewed by anecdote and myth: A worried report from the most vocal salesperson about a competitor’s latest move; a customer complaint that happened to be fielded by a senior executive. That’s complicated at any B2B business. Vincent Tsui for HBR. MORE
B2B buyers have slowly been conditioned to expect the same personalized treatment that they get while shopping on Amazon. Only then will B2B sales professionals be able to capitalize on personalization at scale and fully realize how disruptive it can really be. As consumers in this data-driven, algorithmically obsessed world, we’ve come to expect highly personalized experiences that are tailored to our specific needs. MORE
A question I was asked: Is this target definition too vague for my Fishing Line: “Vice presidents of product management or product marketing in B2B organizations that sell complex products and services to risk averse industries.” MORE
B2B Related Topics 
Strategy Driven
JULY 22, 2018
This may seem reasonable for small business websites or blogs, but when it comes to B2B systems and e-commerce platforms, these errors could lead to huge losses. The customer decides to create a B2B web platform from scratch.
Strategy Driven
JULY 28, 2017
As such, agile management can be extremely beneficial for B2B businesses. Agile project management can require a significant change within a B2B business. You just finished reading How Agile Project Management Can Improve Your B2B Business !
Coaching Tip
SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
One of the biggest differences between B2B and B2C worlds is marketing. B2B companies invest to understand their customers as well, but the path they take is very different. In the B2B world there are three typical levels: user, influencer, decision maker and each level may have 1 to 1,000s of people involved and impacted in the buying of services. Domain knowledge — The B2B buyer has the expertise and experience in the offering being considered.
General Leadership
JANUARY 14, 2015
Curator Posts Afghanistan art B2B B2C climate Corporate culture Deborah Mills-Scofield Design for profit military NATC-A NATO not-for-profit Society STEAM STEM Switch and Shift Understanding
Bernd Geropp
MARCH 13, 2012
Tweet. Tweet Photo: Painting Vector/ Resource www.bigstock.com. You have a company website –. but do you, as a B-to-B manufacturing company, also have to have a presence on Facebook, XING, Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus and YouTube?
Women on Business
MAY 30, 2013
Guest Posts b2b sales b2c sales Sales sales tips small business sales We''ve Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] If you haven''t already done so, update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us. link].
Managing Communities
SEPTEMBER 23, 2013
Please Update Your ManagingCommunities.com RSS Feed Subscription This feed has moved to: [link] I apologize for the trouble. For more details, please read my post on the matter. Thank you. Community Cultivation
Harvard Business Review
MAY 10, 2018
While there’s less buzz around business-to-business markets, these innovations are changing the game in B2B as well, even in old-line industries selling what might be considered commodity products. A growing number of B2B companies are using data and analytics to add services that bring new elements of value to customers, and in some cases new sources of revenue. For a deep dive into the elements, see our related HBR article “ The B2B Elements of Value ”).
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 14, 2018
The cartoon of business-to-business (B2B) buyers depicts gray-haired executives and purchasing agents in meetings, on the phone and lunching with their vendors. But along with fax machines and long golf games, these features of B2B life have all but disappeared due to the astonishing change in technology over the past two decades. This shift in behavior has several implications for B2B value propositions. First impressions matter as much as ever in B2B markets.
Harvard Business Review
JUNE 7, 2018
Like this manufacturer, many business-to-business (B2B) companies have a major opportunity to improve their standing on price. To help companies understand the state of pricing capabilities and how they figure into performance, Bain & Company conducted a global survey of sales leaders, vice presidents of pricing, CEOs, CMOs, and other executives at more than 1,700 B2B companies. Glasshouse Images/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 10, 2016
” In the B2B world, though, the experience is very different. But B2B customers are mobile, fully engaged in social media, and well educated: 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research before deciding on a purchase.
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 10, 2016
B2B buyers often have made up their minds about a purchase before a sales rep even gets a foot in the door. It’s no wonder, then, that more than 90% of B2B sellers have turned to content marketing to help regain access to buyers in the early stages of the purchase process.
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 4, 2016
It’s a common issue in B2B markets. This is a terrifying development for B2B firms, and especially for their sales and marketing teams.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 16, 2016
Collaborative innovation is a hot topic in the B2C space, where it overlaps with crowdsourcing, but we see B2B players taking an interest as well. In the B2B space, companies tend to be driven by specific business goals and priorities.
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 24, 2015
Many B2B CEOs still believe that social media isn’t right for them. The Content Marketing Institute reports that social media marketing can help B2B brands build awareness and showcase their expertise. B2B companies need to take this to heart.
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 10, 2018
Gillian Blease/Getty Images. Knowing which organizations perform the best on any particular dimension used to require subjective surveys or painstaking research.
Harvard Business Review
APRIL 2, 2015
B2B marketers, on the other hand, have shied away from the idea, instead approaching selling as a rational, numbers-driven process where the best value proposition wins.
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 5, 2015
The AIDA model and its variants are the basis for sales funnels at many B2B firms. Sales people have not been replaced by digital, and providing relevant solutions remains key in most B2B buying scenarios. Selling has always been more about the buyer than the seller.
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 8, 2016
Outbound B2B sales are becoming less and less effective. Meanwhile, 84% of B2B buyers are now starting the purchasing process with a referral, and peer recommendations are influencing more than 90% of all B2B buying decisions. If organizations don’t change their outdated thinking and create effective sales models for today’s digital era, Forrester warns that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020.
Harvard Business Review
APRIL 17, 2015
“Death of a B2B Salesman,” a new report from Forrester Research , lends urgency to the need for companies to rethink and radically transform their sales models by incorporating digital media into their processes. Here’s how B2B sellers should do that.
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
Decision making at big B2B companies is often skewed by anecdote and myth: A worried report from the most vocal salesperson about a competitor’s latest move; a customer complaint that happened to be fielded by a senior executive. That’s complicated at any B2B business. Vincent Tsui for HBR.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 7, 2017
A similar sequence has happened with B2B buying. By 2012, our research shows, nearly 60% of a typical B2B purchasing decision — researching solutions, ranking options, benchmarking pricing, and so on — was happening before the buyer even had a conversation with a supplier. See More Videos > See More Videos > Surely B2B purchasing hasn’t become that bad. Like these companies, B2B suppliers need to focus on making it far easier for customers to buy.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 18, 2018
B2B companies are struggling with a loss of control over the customer experience (CX) today. With their future growth prospects at stake, B2B executives must determine how to improve CX—while ceding more of the experience to their partners. B2B leaders know that customer experience is the gateway to growth. Delivering experiences that produce more B2B sales is another. Selling in the digital age has become more complex than many B2B leaders had anticipated.
Harvard Business Review
JULY 12, 2017
B2B buyers have slowly been conditioned to expect the same personalized treatment that they get while shopping on Amazon. Only then will B2B sales professionals be able to capitalize on personalization at scale and fully realize how disruptive it can really be. As consumers in this data-driven, algorithmically obsessed world, we’ve come to expect highly personalized experiences that are tailored to our specific needs.
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 6, 2016
According to Gallup , only 29% of B2B customers are engaged with the companies they do business with. Let that sink in. That means 71% of your customers are likely not committed to sticking with your company or, even worse, are actively seeking to move their business elsewhere. This problem is not new.
Kevin Eikenberry
MARCH 13, 2016
By Tim Sanders Making sales, especially in the B2B environment, is tougher and more complex than ever. If you are involved in B2B sales at all, you would certainly agree with that assertion.
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 6, 2016
Those forces are dramatically changing the way B2B companies and their customers approach buying and selling, too. Over the past 20 years, information technology and digital channels have changed the way consumers shop for products ranging from cars to homes to electronics.
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 19, 2018
B2B, or the process of marketing and selling product and service offerings to business customers, is experiencing an intensified focus as the availability of new digital data that describes businesses grows. Traditional B2B insight activities have involved such limited data as size of companies as measured by revenue, capitalization or employees, and industry type as formally classified by SIC codes. vincent tsui for hbr.
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 13, 2015
In an ideal B2B world, your happy customers would spread the news about your great products, generating all the well-known benefits of word of mouth. Many B2B products become more useful when most players in the industry adopt them.
Lead on Purpose
NOVEMBER 23, 2013
For too many companies, business-to-business (B2B) customer engagement is dismally low. In his article B2B’s Win by Building Relationships, Not Selling on Price , author Marco Nink gives the following insight on the importance of building customer relationships: Competing on price is a losing strategy, and Gallup research shows it’s an unnecessary one. The more a B2B company helps its customers perform, the more essential it becomes.
Strategy Driven
MARCH 25, 2019
When referring to interactions between two companies, it’s usually referred to as B2B or B to B. Most people don’t set out to start a business without hoping that it’s going to last.
Mills Scofield
NOVEMBER 5, 2014
As Deb described STEAM and its role in for/not-for-profit businesses, B2B and B2C, Matt realized that much of his work in his recent deployment to Afghanistan depended on STEAM. STEM to STEAM - the "A" in STEAM stands for Art/Design.and Afghanistan Air Force.
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
48% of B2B salespeople are afraid of cold calling. Difficult conversations Sales Digital Article
Strategy Driven
FEBRUARY 6, 2019
For B2B companies, the product basket of all their customers is carefully analyzed to interpret details like business sectors, employee’s numbers, address, and the revenues. Over the last several years, AI has become a popular trend for enhancing all areas of business.
Strategy Driven
JANUARY 31, 2017
Real-time, human support is now one of the most sought-after features for any B2B and B2C website owner, and if it isn’t a given in your industry, I assure you it will be soon! Photo courtesy of Tech in Asia via flickr.
Strategy Driven
APRIL 10, 2019
Since good private label manufacturers only operate B2B (and don’t compete with their customers B2C), they can offer a wide range of products and unique product customization options. Private labeling allow companies to sell branded products manufactured by someone else.
Strategy Driven
NOVEMBER 17, 2018
Marketing any business can be a serious challenge. This is especially true if your business is relatively new. After all, trying to take your business from something that no one knows about to something that has a firmly established customer base can be incredibly difficult.
Strategy Driven
APRIL 18, 2019
Conversely, only 39% of B2B marketers said that they had one. Content marketing is constantly changing, and you have to readjust your strategies if you want to stay on top of the game.
Rapid BI
JANUARY 14, 2012
Disruptive Innovations that have impacted B2B Marketing Disruptive Innovations that have impacted business & B2B Marketing Looking through some of this data raises some interesting thoughts. Especially that some firms just seem to keep being there. The question is what will be the next disruptive technology or application that will change the way we do [.]. ecademy
Strategy Driven
JULY 30, 2018
Simply looking online in the direction of cranes for sale , generators and hired construction services to come to a B2B relationship with could slash the cost of your construction, allowing you to extend offices, generate new lots or custom fit current property to your requirements.
David A Fields
NOVEMBER 26, 2014
A question I was asked: Is this target definition too vague for my Fishing Line: “Vice presidents of product management or product marketing in B2B organizations that sell complex products and services to risk averse industries.”
Strategy Driven
DECEMBER 18, 2017
B2B customers tend to have a lot more money to spend, and may also be willing to pay a higher price for your services. Social media is a powerful marketing tool for individuals and small businesses.
Chart Your Course
NOVEMBER 15, 2018
The LinkedIn platform is designed with built-in features you can use to promote your brand to B2B audiences. Facebook and YouTube may be more popular with consumers, but for businesses, LinkedIn is the favored social media platform. With 50 percent of Americans who have a college degree using LinkedIn, according to Pew Research Center data , the platform has become an essential tool for recruiters to find qualified workers.
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