The B2B sphere - what is it, few know, although everyone who has ever looked at job vacancies at least once read the following words: “A manager is required in the sales department of a large company, at least one year of work experience in the B2B sphere is required, and the salary is high.” And such ads are printed more and more often. What determines the popularity of such employees? Is there really such a capacious and saturated market behind these three mysterious letters?
B2B - what does this mean, what are the features of work in this sector? Why do companies working in this field require exclusively experienced specialists, and the salary here is higher than in other industries? Let's figure it out.
Learning the terminology
B2B - what is it, will help to understand the decoding of the abbreviation. Behind her are the words "business to business", which is translated from English as "business to business."
We can say about B2B that this is an area in which exclusively legal entities work. The buyer further uses the product for their own needs, production or the provision of services to the public.
Can we say about the B2B sector that these are corporate sales? Rather yes than no. The line between them is very blurred, and almost no one separates them.
Work in B2B is very specific, requires special methods in developing marketing activities and conducting the negotiation process. It requires increased attention to the selection of personnel in the sales department.
Is this the market
Want to understand if your company belongs to the B2B sector? Try to analyze the activity on the following points:
the customer buys the product as a raw material;
the client uses the product as a means of production (machine tools, packaging, tools, stationery, cars);
the client uses your services in the production process of his own product (transportation, consulting, staffing, IT, marketing);
- the client is an enterprise and consumes your product for his own needs (construction materials, fuels and lubricants, electricity, furniture, print media).
If at least one of the items relates to your business, it can be argued that the company is working in the field of B2B.
Who is my partner
The B2C and B2B markets are often confused. What is it, what is the fundamental difference? The last abbreviation stands for "Business to Consumer". That is, the partner of the legal entity in this case is the final consumer, a simple person who purchases a product (service) for personal use. Heads and ordinary employees of sales departments must distinguish between these two areas (B2B and B2C). What does this mean, how does it affect the workflow?
In the B2B market, the average contract price is much higher than in the B2C sphere, and buyers are much more picky and competent. In each of the sectors, communication with the consumer takes place according to their own special scheme and require their own, unique approach. These circumstances dictate various methods of motivating sellers, recruiting staff, and even organizing the working day of employees.
Decide and decide
The method of making a decision on the purchase of goods is the main difference between the B2C and B2B markets. What it is and “what it is eaten with” is easier to understand by looking at a simple example.
Imagine that the same person buys a phone, but is in two opposite situations. In the first case, he is a simple buyer, and the phone will be used as a means of personal communication. The decision is made quickly enough, based on reviews in popular magazines, the prestige of the model and ergonomics. The seller has little effect on the selection process, since the communication time is short, and the buyer comes to the point of sale with an already established opinion.
But if the same person acts as the person responsible for the procurement of telephone exchanges at the enterprise, the main factors affecting the selection process will be reliability, guarantee, price of service, the possibility of upgrading or expanding the network in the next few years. In addition, several more employees (IT specialist, supply manager) will participate in the decision. Here the communication between the seller and the buyer takes place at the professional level, negotiations are conducted for at least several days, and the seller can have a significant impact on the final decision.
The above example clearly showed how simple the relationship in the B2C sector is. After analyzing it, we can say about B2B sales that this is a highly intellectual work that requires the manager to have thorough knowledge of his own product and extensive experience in active sales. At the same time, transactions are quite simple in B2C.
One or two
An enterprise can operate both in one market and in two at the same time. For example, travel companies, lawyers, dry cleaners, cleaning agencies, cars, rail or air transportation work with both legal entities and individuals. In their case, sales are divided into two directions for the correct application of sales technology.
There are enterprises that only occupy the B2B market. What is it or who is it? First of all, manufacturers of raw materials, production blanks, industrial equipment. That is, those goods that an ordinary citizen simply does not want to buy, since he will not be able to use them in the future.
B2B and media
All B2B market players sell exclusively professional products. Among the media, these are publications issued with the aim of providing information necessary in the process of work. For example, specialized accounting journals, as well as on management, logistics, medicine, construction and others. As a rule, all of them are aimed at a particular profession or industry.
How do you serve?
Regarding the goods necessary for business, everything is very clear and understandable, but the question arises: B2B services, what is it, what enterprises need? They use the services of carriers, lawyers, doctors, insurers, cleaners, as well as business trainers and consultants, specialized specialists in industries related to the production process. Very often contracts are concluded for the provision of services that are seasonal in nature. For example, cleaning the roof from snow, landscaping.
Choose a seller
It is believed that a good seller “will sell the bald trait”, as well as an excellent leader will be able to quickly organize any team. This is claimed by almost all business trainers and popular benefits for gaining sales skills. But is this the case when we consider selling B2B?
That this is a completely separate genre of work has already been described above. It is quite difficult to work with business and provide services to corporate clients . And increased demands are placed on the manager.
Recruitment experts say about a good seller of B2B, that this person:
possessing high skills of a “universal seller”, that is, knowing and successfully applying technology and psychology of sales;
possessing extensive professional knowledge in a given field (product knowledge) or sufficiently intellectually developed to study it thoroughly as soon as possible.
If we draw an analogy with a game of chess, then a manager selling goods or services of his company to another business should masterfully play long games. In the corporate segment, the sales cycle can be very long, and the seller’s work is not limited to fragmentary, short actions (cold calls, business offers, preparation of meetings and presentations). He must have strategic thinking, think over the game several steps forward and be prepared for unexpected scenarios.
Personnel Management
The right approach to managing a department is one of the key factors for successful sales. As already mentioned, people of a slightly different format work in the B2B sector, and, accordingly, the approach to the leader of such a team should be special. Successful management and motivation experience in other industries cannot be thoughtlessly transferred to this market. For example, in FMCG companies, a manager reports on the number of meetings and calls, his remuneration depends on it. And rightly so, after all, in this sphere of the seller "legs are fed." But when a product is sold to another company, the number of “cold” calls is not decisive, moreover, it is small, since the number of players in the B2B sphere is much smaller. Accordingly, the motivation system should be built in a completely different way.
New direction
It can be argued about B2C and B2B that these are well-established directions worked out over the years. But times are changing, and most likely they will soon be replaced by new markets, such as C2B and C2C. In them, individuals will act as sellers, providing various services.
The population of the planet is growing every year. Almost every resident has available means of communication (telephone, Internet). Contact with another person who owns the right product is not difficult. And entrepreneurs developing the field of information technology only contribute to the emergence of such contacts, creating convenient and safe platforms for communication on the network.
An example of the above is the international online auction e-bay, where anyone can put up for sale the items at his disposal. The organizers of the site thought out an effective system of points and ratings, which helps to find the best seller and secure the deal. Similar sites that are local in nature are open in many countries. And there are resources that facilitate the exchange of things, the organization of joint wholesale purchases. Or you can rent the right items from another person.
In order for the company to receive a confident and stable profit growth, each client needs to organize its own, special approach. Therefore, a thorough analysis of partners, planning of future transactions and analysis of already completed ones are the key points of the successful work of the selling company.