A New Brew: Harnessing B2C Practices for B2B Success

Let’s explain what we mean: We recently encountered a business situation where a coffee equipment company had developed a next-generation coffeemaker. The manufacturer believed it would help  countless gas stations and convenience stores improve their profit margins through improvements to speed of service, coffee re-ordering, and easier maintenance scheduling. Despite these benefits, the company was failing to meet its sales goals.

Upon further inspection, they were doing the usual bit of B2B marketing – they had a spec sheet that provided details and measurements for their customers, and a pitch that centered on pricing and maintenance. But what they weren’t doing was discussing the in-store experience that allows customers to “customize” their coffee with add-ons. This unique set of features allowed for greater customer satisfaction and deeper loyalty from enjoying their superior cup of coffee – the “magic” that would allow the machine’s purchaser to charge more for this upgraded experience.

It turns out that the company was missing an opportunity to highlight this point of differentiation – and how improving the overall beverage experience for the end-customer, which would help them improve their ticket ring and transactions. By using more of a business to consumer (B2C) mindset when thinking about the end customer, they could tell a story of a transcendent experience, rather than a piece of commercial equipment that would sit in place of the old Bunn-O-Matic.

Today, more than ever, it’s essential for B2B enterprises to adopt a more market/customer/consumer-driven approach if they wish to drive dramatic growth and increase profitable volume.

Here’s why: Every company that is hoping to sell a product or service is in business to do the same thing – provide solutions to their customers, whether they are the end consumer or not. But if a company cannot harness and leverage all of the benefits it provides – to BOTH customers and the end consumer – they will leave money on the table and fail to optimize their total value equation.

That’s why we are staunch advocates of a market-driven approach where B2B companies adopt – and excel at – the best techniques used by many B2C companies. It starts with an understanding of the needs of everyone in a customer’s universe – all the way down to the end customer.

We realize that this is a Herculean task for a lot of time-honored companies that have baked-in processes. This is why a mindset shift is essential – literally Job No. 1 – from top to bottom. There are two notions we find we need to challenge before a company is ready to change its posture:

• “We don’t need marketing.” Many B2B CEOs mistakenly think that, because they are focused on hand-to-hand sales combat, that they don’t need much more than promotional videos, a spec sheet, and great sales materials for their sales team.. These same CEOs feel like they get all of the market research they need directly from their customers. Though this might be true in some limited cases, are they getting the real story? Or more likely, are they getting a partial story, leaving out potential value improvement areas?
• “I have marketing people.”Often, the personnel to whom these CEOs are referring are marketing promotions associates, preparing materials for sales and doing social media and the occasional trade show. But they are not yet prepared to be looking at the market and determining why their products are superior, how they can provide the most value to their customer’s customers, what are the evolving needs of their customers, and what products and services are needed to meet customers’ current and changing need state.

Leveraging B2C market-based thinking can open a whole new world of possibilities for B2B companies willing to embrace a broad and “complete picture” thought process. There is a HUGE opportunity for B2B companies – particularly small and mid-sized companies – who can achieve explosive growth, if they can unlock different need states or solve existing problems for their customers.

What’s brewing at your company? If we can be of assistance to you as you seek to leverage B2C skills to drive growth, please reach out.