Easy Steps to Improve Your Business to Business Model

July 28, 2014

Easy Steps to Improve Your Business to Business Model

If your B2B company survived the recession, you may be anxious to find ways to improve your business model. After all, if you just barely made it through you’re probably now in need of greater revenues to build your reserves back up, so to speak. It could also be that some of your competitors are actually in that situation and you see an opportunity to overtake them in a big way. Whatever the reason, it’s important you know the following ways you can improve your B2B company.

 

Don’t Discount Social Media

 

A lot of companies have successfully used social media to connect with customers and turn those connections into eventual sales. This form of inbound marketing is only going to grow in popularity as time goes on.

 

However, many in the world of B2B have been slow to get on board. There seems to be an overwhelming hesitation to accept that social media could work in a B2B context. After all, companies aren’t on social media the same way people are, it’s often thought.

 

But key decision makers absolutely are. Whether you’re talking about LinkedIn, Google+, or even Twitter, important people are using social media every day. So, while you may need to tweak some of the conventional methods for grabbing attention, your B2B company cannot afford to ignore what social media has to offer.

 

Also, encouraging your employees to use social media can go a long way too, so long as they understand how to be responsible with it. Each of your employees represents an opportunity to display thought leadership and build your company’s authority within a market. You fail to develop this potential at your own risk.

 

Using Order Fulfillment Software

 

Social media isn’t the only place where B2B companies can learn from the way more traditional businesses do things. Another example would be order fulfillment software. Any company that turns a profit by taking customer orders and sending them product should be using order fulfillment software to enhance their operation.

 

This goes for your B2B company too. If/when your business gets to the size where fulfillment is slowing down because of how many orders are coming in, that’s a pretty good problem to have. However, it’s still a problem. The way to solve it is by using order fulfillment software to automate things while improving customer satisfaction.

 

Up and Cross-Sell

 

Yet another page you should be taking out of the playbook of traditional businesses is adding to each sale you make. No matter what your B2B company sells, you should be pushing for greater volumes every time, whether this means selling more of product A or getting your customer to purchase product B along with it.

 

Of course, there’s a certain finesse that goes into executing these tactics correctly. But companies like Amazon have mastered versions of up and cross-selling to a startling degree. Don’t be afraid to try to replicate their results.

 

Understand Your Customer’s Purchasing Path

 

One area where B2B is distinctly different from traditional businesses is with their customers. Selling to a business is much different than selling to an individual. With the former, you need to have an understanding of their purchasing path. Specifically, you need to know what type of information a company representative will need in order to purchase your product or service. Chances are you’re never dealing directly with the decision-maker. Instead, you need to figure out what the decision makers behind your contact will want to hear in order to pull the trigger. Figure that out, and your company’s bottom line will benefit in a big way.

 

Although B2B businesses have some very unique challenges, they’re far from insurmountable. Follow the above advice and you’ll have less standing between your B2B business and the revenues you want to see.

 

Sources:
https://corporatevisions.com/resources/article-archive/how-to-increase-your-b2b-sales/
https://www.b2bmarketingblog.co.uk/strategies/10-ways-to-improve-your-brand-image/
https://www.vendemore.com/b2b-cross-selling-potential/

 

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