Business to Business

While the materially-driven world tends to focus on the consumer as the driving force behind the economy, the fact is that sales between businesses make up many more transactions than those from a business to a consumer. In fact, there are literally hundreds of businesses which exist only to supply the needs of other business. Commercial mortgage lenders are a good example. They loan money out solely to other businesses, and do not bother with marketing or finding leads within the residential market. Their business connections are more than enough to keep the coffers full every month.

In this series of articles we are going to take a look at some of the different sales techniques that can be used when conducting business to business transactions. We will be providing examples so that the B2B connection can be made in a clear fashion. In many cases, the techniques used will be much the same as those used in the business to consumer sales relationship; the main differences are in the psychology of the marketing techniques.

Just what do we mean by psychology? Well, put simply, businesses are much more difficult to "fool" than consumers. Marketing history is full of examples where techniques exploiting mental weaknesses of a target market proved successful, whether it was selling that market a superfluous product as a "must have" (Furby dolls) or selling an inherently flawed product (the QWERTY keyboard).

Business to business transactions take a lot of the techniques which rely on an uneducated market and throw them right out. Business sales appeal strictly to business needs, and stop there. You won't find a dress manufacturing company buying a slurry mixer, for example, simply because the construction company next door has one. If it's not a part of the business plan, it's not a product a business will be interested in.

Many of the sales techniques in business to business transactions, then, will involve defining those markets where your product will be in demand. Which companies or small businesses are likely to have a need for heat shrink tubing? Who will be on the lookout for the latest online collaboration tools? These are questions that a company needs to answer before engaging in a marketing campaign, and these articles can help lay the foundation which will ultimately result in a successful search.

Once you have compiled a list of leads, of course, you have to figure out what you are going to do with them. You have a reliable steel bender for sale, but what makes yours any more desirable than the next company's? We will take a look at the best ways to pitch your product to your leads.

We will also take a look at some important terms when it comes to business to business marketing of different products. How can a sales pipeline increase your chances of marketing a certain type of drug testing kit? And how do you keep that pipeline full? The answers to these questions can really help you in your search to create the perfect marketing strategies for your products.