We have seen many changes in business processes over the years, especially since the introduction of the World Wide Web. It has perhaps had the single greatest impact on the way business is conducted today. We can now know for a fact that a company cannot survive, or is considered a weak competitor, if it doesn’t have an online presence. All of it’s departments and processes are now handled with the help of computer technology. Adapting to this may be considered as a competitive advantages or a necessity of conducting business in today’s environment.
In a general sense, customers are considered as the end users of the product being offered. However, in reality, customers include all the parties involved with the business in one way or another. For example, customers can include the employees of the organization, suppliers, stockholders and more.
For an organization, a digital presence doesn’t only mean to offer a website which facilitates the end-user, but also to facilitate all of its customers. Businesses doesn’t always have transactions with its end-users on a constant basis. At some point, businesses need to perform a transaction with another business, known as B2B transactions.
In our discussion today, we will be outlining a list of activities which can help a business enhance its B2B sales in the year 2012. Lets check out the list we have compiled for you and your business.
Social Networking:
A study suggests, that in the year 2012, sales executive will not be indulge in cold calls or emails, instead they will create connections using available social networks and then market the products to the customers. This means that a friendly environment will be created and people will be in peace not receiving an average of 6 cold calls per day.
Use of Facebook as Sales Channel:
It is true that Facebook is a social networking site, but in the speech given by Mark Zuckerberg at the f8 developers conference, Mark said: “the next era, the next 5 years, will be about apps and depths of engagement now that everyone has their connections in place.” If we observe closely, there are an increasing number of brands starting to use social networking as a means of marketing and a new sales channel. This will no doubt become an increasing trend through 2012.
High Priority to Customer Engagement:
Customer engagement will see increased importance in the year 2012. The rise of the subscription based business model places an extremely high importance on customer satisfaction, which has a direct impact on the overall performance of the business. Unhappy customers can be engaged and their problems resolved ASAP to create a good impression and also to retain the customer for the upcoming subscription.
Sales & Marketing will come together:
With revolutionary resources available thanks to the web, the sales process of any business has become far more user friendly and now customers themselves are able to dictate the pace of the transaction. Tools like video conferencing, audio chat, and others are eliminating the use of outside sales processes. In the year 2012, it will be seen that sales and marketing will have a close collaboration.
Free Trials will be offered:
It is expected that more companies will be offering free trials of it’s products to it’s customers. The customer today requires a hand on experience of the product first before actually deciding to purchase or talk to the sales rep for the next step. Companies that offer a free trial will have an upper hand as they will expose their products to far more people, thus increasing their chance of conversion.
Conclusion:
There is lot of change happening in business as the processes evolve with the help of technology. In the year 2012, businesses are required to handle the B2B product purchase and sales very carefully. The new era can be called the consumerization of B2B. Buyers and sellers both are looking to involve social networks in their process and businesses need to know that it is the right time to start making a social strategy and create the competitive advantage.
