Running a B2B (Business-to-Business) company can be challenging. For example, it often requires you to forge long-term relationships with clients, something which B2C companies don’t have to do to the same extent. It also means that you have to establish yourself as an authoritative source right away, in order to encourage clients to work with you in the first place.
With that in mind, here are just some of the ways in which you can ensure your B2B company is a success.
Make sure that you understand your target audience. Targeting your services or products towards businesses rather than individuals can be challenging, which means that you should spend a lot of time beforehand working on refining your target audience/ideal customers. For example, you should be able to discuss:
- What industry they work within, and the kind of products/services they’ll rely on to get their job done
- Their budget and spending habits
- Competitors that they may have worked or partnered with previously, and what you do better than them
- The best time to contact them
When reaching out to potential customers, whether that’s through the phone or over email, make sure you do a little bit of research into their business ahead of time. This means that you can ask the right questions and demonstrate that you have reached out to them for a specific purpose. You should also try to make sure that you greet the call/email recipient by name, as opposed to simply their job title. For the most part, you can find out this information from a company website or LinkedIn.
You can also get to know your target audience a little better by asking for regular feedback. This way, you know exactly what you need to be doing to stay on their good side moving forward. In this case, even negative feedback can be useful, otherwise, you may not be aware of what you are doing wrong.
Know how to market your business. Knowing how to promote your business is often key to ensuring your long-term success, especially in crowded markets. If you’re struggling to wrap your head around different marketing strategies and platforms, don’t worry. You can save yourself a great deal of time and unnecessary stress by partnering with b2b marketing agencies who can take on this work on your behalf. For example, they can help you figure out how to promote your brand on social media while also ensuring that all of your digital content is SEO-optimized.
Automate specific tasks. Knowing which areas of your business to automate can also help to ensure your business is a success, due to the fact that this can help you to increase your output and work as productively as possible. Thanks to technological advancements, you can now automate everything from email management to invoice processing, all of which will help ensure that you stay on track for success.
Automation can also help to increase employee satisfaction rates, due to the fact that it often means their workload is much more manageable. This means that they are far less likely to experience burnout or consider working elsewhere.
Showcase your expertise. As referenced above, one of the biggest challenges associated with running a B2B business is the need to present yourself as an authoritative source/expert in your industry from the outset. Fortunately, there are many different ways in which you can do this, many of which are simply built around sharing your industry knowledge and insight.
For example, you could publish papers or blog posts on trending topics within your industry, providing potential customers with valuable insight that they would not be able to get elsewhere. You could also appear on podcasts, which are a great way to establish brand authority and connect with other industry professionals and experts.
Attending industry events. Attending industry events is another effective way to boost your B2B company’s success. This is because it significantly increases your exposure, whether you’re participating in panels or running live demos of your products and services.
If you’re running a trade stall at these events, remember to go above and beyond when it comes to finding ways to capture the attention of your attendees. Not only will this give them a reason to stop and chat, but it also means that they’ll remember you when heading home that day. There are many different ways in which you can achieve this goal, with 48% of exhibitors stating that an eye-catching stand is the most effective method for attracting attendees.
As this kind of event brings forth an incredibly positive ROI, you should dedicate a significant amount of your budget toward attending this kind of event. Remember, even a few conversions from each session are something to celebrate, and you can increase your success in this area by following up after the event.
Build a strong presence on LinkedIn. As mentioned above, knowing how to market your business is often key to your success, and in the current age, your social media presence is more important than ever. However, when working in the B2B sector, your Instagram and Facebook are less useful than your LinkedIn profile. For example, a recent study found that 82% of B2B social media leads originate from LinkedIn, likely due to the fact that it is perceived as the most ‘professional’ platform.
Again, there are many ways in which you can build a strong presence on LinkedIn, many of which revolve around updating both your personal and company page as often as you can. You should also make sure that you spend some time interacting with other businesses or business owners, such as by commenting on their posts. This can help you develop a stronger working relationship.
Partner with other relevant brands. Partnering with brands that offer services or products that complement your own can also be useful when it comes to running a B2B company. This is because it promotes your brand to a wider audience, who may have already established a baseline of trust with their customers. There are many different ways in which you could go about achieving this goal, such as by posting guest blogs on each other’s websites or hosting giveaways and other similar promotions.
This kind of collaboration will also help you to become more acutely aware of industry trends and challenges, which will make you a more competent business owner overall. Furthermore, it also adds to your network.
Be as confident as possible. Confidence is key in any kind of business/consumer interaction, but this is particularly the case when selling B2B services and products. This is because the customer is spending their company’s money as opposed to their personal funds, which means that spending decisions are more closely analysed. As such, your confidence can go a long way toward encouraging a customer to trust you moving forward.
You can display confidence throughout all of your interactions by speaking clearly, calmly and enthusiastically. You should also make sure that you’re backing up what you are saying with hard evidence. For example, instead of simply saying that you sell the best products in the market, give tangible evidence on what you think is the case.
Final thoughts. In short, there are many steps that you can take in order to ensure your B2B business is a success. This includes being as confident as possible when talking to potential customers and clients, and working with marketing agencies that can help promote your business in the best possible light.
