Customer Orientation About B2B from B2C Differentiation

Selling to the end users and selling to the businesses are two different processes that follow different approaches. A business to business (b2b) environment is different from business to customer (b2c) environment in a number of ways. As a result, you need to understand how the buyer should be approached; depending upon the environment in which you sell.

Product and customer orientation is the main point of difference between the two environments. On the basis of this, many other points of differences become automatically visible. Learn more about this form the discussion below.

The buyers that exist in a business to business environment are more knowledgeable and may have even better idea than you about the products you sell. As a result, there is no fun in practicing the product oriented approach while marketing your business products and services. On the other hand, the buyers in a business to customer environment have little or no information about the products and services you offer. Their main motive is to compare the prices and find the best one for the product or service they purchase. It is easy to follow a product oriented approach in a b2c environment.

What is the strategy to attract buyers in a business to business environment? The answer is customer oriented approach. The focus is on developing relationships that are based on trust and will last longer. The relation driven approach in a b2b environment is different from the product driven approach followed in a b2c environment.

There is a single stage of purchase in a b2c environment, as the end customers usually don’t involve anyone else in the process of buying. On the other hand, the process of buying is multi-step in a business to business environment. This is because the process involves various people at different levels of a business to take decision about buying a particular product or service. The customer oriented approach in business to business environment helps in creating the brand value for a business on the basis of relationship. On the other hand, branding in b2c is based upon the repeated visits of the customers and kind of image a business generates in the market.

The conclusion is that your sales and marketing approach for both b2b and b2c environments should be planned and executed carefully. Also, the places of marketing for different sets of buyers differ and you must know about the same.