To B or not 2 B. That is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the pain of outrageous slings and arrows… Doesn’t even sound like the Baird, (No classical education in my shabby past.) but here I am. Naked. Pot belly. Bald. Double chin. Charming as a blow-fly. All person. Too real. Too close. B2B is me. It’s what I do. All day. I dare say it’s what most of us do. And it ain’t rocket science. It’s the most basic of marketing.
The vegie farmer who sells her carrots to the pig farmer who’s bacon she’s buying, so her spouse can whip up a few egg and bacon pies for the next market day…. Is a business to business practitioner. So’s IBM selling ‘data management solutions’ to NAB.
Dumb & basic – people
Not for us B2Bers is the delicate cut and thrust of the competing shelf space or the psycho-graphically targeted TVC. Not for us the complex multi-faceted, statistically accurate market research. For us, it’s often shoe leather. Often drinks with your mates and those they bring along. It’s pressing sweaty hands in crowded conferences. Or making phone calls until your ear hurts, your voice wears thin and your confidence dissolves.
Business to business, on a large or small scale, is just selling to people. All I do is talk to people about their business. ‘How’s it going Johnno? Shit, they’re doing that to us too…’
Your world
Most of us have more to do with this form of marketing than any other. That’s cause we work in a business. Most of the marketers/sales people we meet are in B2B during our working day. And because other humans are better at selling than anything else I’ve heard of, it must remain a people business.
Business to business marketing in this country is often seen as a weird magic to the amateurs. They think it’s complicated. They think it’s about brilliant new ways of contacting customers, of sophisticated systems. Of hi-tech video streamed conferences and wearing just the right suit and being trained to say just the right thing. It’s not. It’s mostly just a hard slog.
Push the barrow, not the envelope
The people who succeed are often not very creative. They get there because they do the hard yards. Most of the successful business to business marketers – the bosses – have almost no redeeming features except the dogged determination to get up every morning and push the machine forward. To contact people. Yes, they may try new things, but to them the bottom line is the bottom line. It’s about sales. And sales are about people and interacting with people.
We are all consumers, especially B2B.
It’s not like we only don the mantle of a consumer when we go home. We consume at the office, the factory. We don’t know that much about each purchase. The fact that you may buy 10,000 widgets every month doesn’t mean you’ve put anymore thought into them than the person in accounts who buys her family 10 Breakfast Bars on her way home.
Customers are rare
The only significant difference, from a behavioral aspect, is numbers. There are usually far fewer customers, so each one counts for a much higher percentage of your turnover. Think about a supplier of auto-parts. How many customers do they have? What, three manufacturers? Ten assemblers? Say four major chains of retailers and a couple of hundred small players who aren’t worth dealing with, but who think they are important too.
Small numbers of decent customers means one thing. You can’t rip-off. You have to develop relationships that work for both parties; you can’t churn through too many customers, or you’ll end up with none. B2B at it’s core is about give and take. About small communities and being a gentleman (lady) instead of a jerk. It’s about doing the right thing.
Small numbers of decent customers means one other thing. They are stuck with you, too. If you come up with a product or deal that’s good, and your prospective customer won’t see you about it, cause they happen to hate your guts, and their boss finds out, they are in big trouble.
What to use
Research
Ask your potential customers what they are looking for. You won’t need huge numbers for accuracy, as it’s possible there are only 10 or 20 players who matter anyway. Recognize they are business people, so don’t take everything they say seriously, especially their comments about whether a new player is needed or whether the pricing has to be so low etc. They will often be manipulating the information they are giving you to suit their own ends. But if you don’t research, you are guaranteed to stuff up.
Segment/Qualify
Target key accounts. Work the large juicy ones. Where you can’t avoid the small fiddly players, make it pleasant and efficient for both of you.
Branding
Corporate branding, (from a cute or important sounding name, logo and business cards to cars and uniforms, ties or a full suit) makes or breaks how you are received. Especially when you are dealing with new people or you are setting up a new division/ enterprise.
In B2B branding goes beyond mere appearances. It comes down to how you talk and whether you seem to give a shit. So keep your human hat on and don’t talk a lot of clichés. Talk real benefits. And have a sense of humor. Who wants to deal with a drip?
Brochures
People will ask you to ‘send something’ before a meeting. Have something to send. Decisions are often made after you’ve left. Leaving a brochure that sells itself well gets your story to the other 3 or 4 people sitting around the boardroom /office kitchen table. Make sure it rings bells with your targets. Try the rough out on your favorite customers. If they don’t say ‘That’s great. It’s exactly how I see you guys.’, change it.
Direct Mail
The weapon of choice for many B2B operations, DM is used extensively, often in dramatic ways. From cards to pizzas, to pens to singing telegrams, I’ve had them all. And the exotic ones do make your morning more fun than just the usual invoices and job applications. Do DM regularly – say every 6-12 weeks to your key contacts. If there’s any merit in your operation, eventually they’ll give you a shot at their account.
Post Office Drops
Millions of P.O. Boxes, almost all of them businesses. $50.00 a thousand to deliver. Do the sums.
Leaflets
Stick them in the Post Office Boxes. You could also post them, hand them out at conferences etc.
Emails
A good email as an opener or after a phone call, can be as effective as other direct mail. A PDF makes a great brochure on their PC. Yes, it doesn’t stay on my desk, cluttering up space and shouting look at me. I can just click it away. …But I can keep it too for months, it’s filed better than most of my other stuff and as they cost very little to send to lots of people, they have to be seen as a damn fine fishing tool.
A decent web site
You’ll be amazed at the number of people who check your site before calling you. We are. (Check out www.starship.com.au.) And it’s fantastic to be able to say – ‘Go to that page – there see? Like that? What color do you want?’ While you’re on the phone to the prospect….
Promotional Pieces
Anything useful that gets their attention and fits your branding. Even pens still work.
Telemarketing
Outbound calls to prospective clients are the key contact maker. But make the scripts original, pleaaaaaase. I hear “How are you today?” And I hang up.
Trade Rags
A major player always goes in their industry trade magazine. But try to do it with the same charm, wit/art direction as you’d do for the public. B2B is the public. They are just at work.
Sales People
Are what most companies spend most of their B2B marketing dollars on. At the end of the day, nothing works like a sales girl/guy in your face asking when you’d like it delivered…
Training
Well trained B2B sales people seem sincere when they are lying, concerned when they couldn’t give a shit and friendly when they’d rather stab you in the back and bottle your blood. I’d like to know who trains them, but I fear it just comes top-down from the board.
Sales Tools
Arm the troops with brochures, flip charts, proposals, power point shows, uniforms, order forms, business cards, cars etc. Almost nothing spent here is a waste of money.
Call Backs
Follow-up sales calls. So few do it. So many opportunities wasted. Not everyone is able to buy at the first visit, for God’s sake.
Drink parties
The promotional weapons of choice for many major companies are the footy tickets, the launches etc. The usual guilt trip, ‘So are you having a nice time? We haven’t seen you guys lately, How’s tricks?’ (Code for ‘I’m paying for that drink. You never ring us anymore. When are we getting back the business?’) Mind you, if you’re at a function run by someone you don’t do much business with, it’s a strong indication to them that you’re considering getting into bed again. … Or don’t go.
PR
Nothing better for your credibility than the occasional article in the right publication. The one you’re reading is a doosy if you target Marketing Managers, GM’s, CEO’s etc.
Bonuses/rebates/bribes
Corruption is alive and kicking in Australia. But instead of being a quick 100 rupee shoved in the hand of a traffic cop in Jackarta, it’s a $1,000 discount/cash-back given to a tractor dealer.
Referrals
If Sally tells Cathy that Maria’s company makes better widgets than John’s, and she’s nicer to deal with, Maria’s got the gig.
What to do
Respect the seller
Miss Professional Marketer, next month/career you too could be flogging phones, computers or ads.
Build the baby
Don’t shove pre-packaged deals on bright people. Have them work with you on what sounds best to them.
Cover them all
Most sales involve several people within companies. You must make sure all of them either like you or their concerns are neutralized by your brochure/sample/deal etc.
Engender Confidence
Confidence is usually conveyed/ created by the person who doesn’t try as hard, only answers the questions asked, knows when to leave and calls casually, at exactly the right time.
Contact Regularly/be nice
If your brand is not a household name, the only way you’ll guarantee confidence is familiarity. Don’t wear your welcome out, but call every month or two and stay pleasant and undemanding. No one wants to be pressured.
Work the numbers
Contact all your target market, and keep it up. In our case a company appoints a new agency every 3-4 years. They take about 4-6 weeks to decide. So if you call, you’ve got (3.5 yrs x 6/52 = approx. 30) or about 1 in 30 chance of getting a hot customer.
Go to them
Visit the factory. You learn so much more. You become part of the family.
Do what you said you would
I know it seems obvious, but so few people keep to their word. If you say you’ll ring on Tuesday, do it.
What to look out for?
Fads
Re-naming anything to make it sound highly pertinent works. Many a dumb board is sold on a silly idea by sharp branding and a fair bit of PR. Does the millennium bug ring any bells? Did any of our major Accounting groups, who should have known better, sell it’s cure?
Lousy Lists
If they are not the right size, not the right industry, not the right person in the company, they are not going to buy. Buy a small sample of the list and test them.
Costs
A salesman who doesn’t get the deals. A brochure that looks like everyone else’s.
Changing the goal posts
An invoice that comes in way over the quote is very bad. So’s changing the brief half-way through the job and expecting the other guy to wear the wasted time. Think things through before-hand, or be prepared to pay.
Why spend your time in B2B?
Business to Business is the most rewarding area of marketing in Australia. Because most of the time you’re dealing with fellow Australians, at close quarters. And I like Australians. They are open, intelligent, funny …..