B2C is a Predictor of B2B
By Mick Naughton
May 20, 2021
Table of Contents
I’mof an age where I can remember inB2Bwhenthe internetwasanovelty(“Ijust sent a customer an email!”)and big dataconsisted ofaroom filled with filing cabinets that contained 300years' worthofgreen bar paperpurchase orders inthree-ring binders. My,how times have changed!
It seems in an instant, fax machines gathered dust in mailrooms and ourbinderbudgetshrank precipitously.As technology has forever changed the way we approach business, the use of it between B2C and B2B has not alwaysprogressed at an evenpace.B2C has traditionally blazed the trail,particularly in the use of data around sales and marketing, but also in otherdomainsthat seem in someways more characteristically B2B.Specifically,I want todrill intothreebig areaswhere some of these trends areoccurringin the B2B world:sales/marketing,operations andsupplierevaluation.
Sales&Marketing
This is certainly the areaof highestfocus and visibility.The aggregation of B2C user data over the pastdecadehas been staggering.One of the best quotes from the recent documentary“The Social Dilemma”was,“Ifyou're not paying for the product, thenyou'rethe product.”
B2Bcompanies are increasinglyincorporatingsome ofthese same techniquesinto their playbook.The lead data that gets ingested into our CRMsystemsnow is often coming from intent engines.From a marketing perspective, we are now seeing B2B organizations track and market to individualsversus the traditional B2B routes.I was recently in asalescycle with a large B2B electronic components distribution companyin whichI spent a fair amount of timelooking attheir websiteandsearching the web for details on theirorganization.Within a day their company started showing up in banner ads in my browser.Clearly,they had invested in ad words andwere trying hard to get my attention!
“B2B marketing is more important than B2C. It’s what drives the economy forwards, not justoutwards.”
Tom Gatten, CEO, Growth Intelligence
TraditionalB2Bsales andmarketingtechniques are certainly not going away anytime soon. B2B sales are complex and typically very specific. But if your organizationisn’tworking to incorporate and exploit these new avenues to gather, ingestand parse outopportunities, you are likely losing ground.Zilliant has several solutions that can help yourorganization incorporatethis data into yoursales andmarketing processes,while predicting the likelihood of success with individual customers throughartificial intelligence (AI)andmachine learning (ML).
Explore:Close the strategy-to-execution gap withSales IQ™andCampaign Manager™
Operations
The sales and marketingfunctionsarepretty intuitivein terms of how B2B is following B2C. But operations? I’m sure you’re thinking“Aw,c’mon,operationsarethe domain of B2B. This is where we shine! What can B2C possibly teach us?”Threewords...easeofuse.Who rememberswhen using a PC required a Ph.D. in computer science? If you wanted to build awebsiteyou had to go outandbuy “HTML for Dummies” and learn how to code. Remember whenyour mobile phone was...a phone?As a civilian now everything is intuitive,fastand connected. Mygrandma can transfer money from her bank account to her hairdresser on her phone. If you would have told me15 years ago thatshe would be able to do that in 2021, Iwould have thought she had becomesome kind ofblackopssecret service international arms dealer.
B2B systems need to move fast, act intuitively and be integrated with one another. With the advent ofcloud-native SaaSand high availability APIs,this is becoming a reality.As I work with clients,some of theissueswe hear frequently are around transcription errors when there is double entry work, system slowdownsas backend applications are trying to manage large data sets anddifficultyworkingacross multiple platforms.Zilliant’s platformwas the firstof its kindto move to the cloud andisbuilt on 100% cloud-native architecture. Our investment in REST-basedhigh availabilityAPIshas allowed us to provide the highest service levels in the industryand connectivity into virtually any enterprise application.B2C is all about speed, ease of use and interconnectivity. B2Bneedsto follow suit.
Read more:Zilliant CTO Shams Chauthanion Digital Transformation
Supplier Evaluation
Again,you may ask,“Whatcan B2C tell B2B about evaluating suppliers? We have a team of highly trained professional buyers! We have RFPs that can examinesuppliers'capabilities through a series of detailed questions. They take hours...no...monthstobuild and even longer to evaluate!”
Tools to evaluate suppliers will always be important and professional procurement teams will always be a key component ofany successful B2B organization. But where B2C ispushingtheenvelope isin user experience and crowd-sourced references. An RFP can tell you many details about avendor'scapabilities and they may even provide you with some great (handpicked) references.But ultimately customer experience is what drives satisfaction and if you are not providing it to B2B clients their voice can be heard far and wide.
“The difference between epic and epic failure is customerexperience.”
Peter Bell, marketing director, Adobe
One of the main drivers now of customer experience is your eCommerce presence. B2B clients expect a B2C-like experience, intuitive suggestions,andcontract pricing available online.If theydon’thave a contractprice,they want to be able to negotiate a priceright there and thenand not have to wait for asalespersonto get back to them. Speed andpersonalizationwill be expected. Zilliant has tools that help youdeliverthat experience for your current clients andattractmore prospects.
Read more:The Art ofIntelligent Automated Negotiation
Explore:Increase average order size with Zilliant Cart IQ®
Conclusion
'Things that 10 years ago would have seemed unimaginablearebecoming a reality. Many of these tools have their innovative roots in B2C. Traditionally,it has taken a while for B2B to catch up, but that lagtimeseems to be growing shorter and shorter every year.Building systems and processes that incorporatethe latest in data scienceto drive speed andcustomer experienceis no longer a goal for the future but a requirement of the present.
If you’re interested in how Zilliant can help your company prepare for the future of B2Bsend me an email atmichael.naughton@Zilliant.comorconnect with me on LinkedIn.