Customer experience could be proudly named one of the buzz-words of 2018. With high certainty, it is going to stay here. Whether you’re working in business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) company, you should start paying attention to the way you create customer experience immediately, if you haven’t done so yet.
At least 80% of B2B buyers now expect the same buying experience as B2C customers. After all, the business people you’re dealing with at work are the same who are ordering goods from Amazon in their free time. B2C customer experiences have set the tone of CX transformation. All the people, who receive advanced personalized customer treatment, come to work and... very often experience the same old "traditional" system. Instead of an online catalog, they have to download a pdf or even order a paper brochure. Instead of usual "order in three clicks", they have to call. Does it sound familiar?
https://lumoa.me/blog/b2b-customer-experience/
A dedicated sales force plays a key role in business-to-business customer experience management (B2B CXM): the typical sales cycle ranges from three to twelve months, and 91% of participating companies in the ClearAction B2B CXM best practices study said they sell B2B products and services through a dedicated sales force. How do these facts uniquely affect B2B customer experience (CX)?
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/account-teams-b2b-customer-experience-help-help-01977123/
Listening to your customers is a vital skill. That much is obvious.
Your current Voice of the Customer activities may be falling short of the mark and not giving you the insights you suspect are out there. Customer satisfaction surveys might not be giving you the information you expect. Asking too many questions may even have annoyed your customers.
As a B2B company, you are likely to have many touchpoints within your customers – those who purchase your products, those who use them, the decision makers and the influencers. Who to target and how you approach them will vary depending on the objectives you set.
If you are setting up a customer survey for your B2B clients, here are some things we suggest you think about.
https://customerthink.com/b2b-customer-surveys-how-to-nail-them/
Marketing in the B2B world is always tough. Let's face it, the topics can be a bit dry, at least compared to the consumer segment.
So with the year coming to a close, it's a good idea to think about new approaches. What are customers looking for? What will resonate?
To get some answers to these questions, I reached out to various marketing experts. Here's what they had to say:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2018/12/01/b2b-marketing-strategies-for-the-new-year/
When Connie O'Brien became chief marketing officer at U.K.-based Tungsten Network in 2016, the company's awareness was largely limited to Europe. Its marketing was pretty much confined to investor relations.
O'Brien was tasked with building a marketing machine from the ground up.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy-columns/b2b-storytelling-a-modest-budget/311423/
Does Customer Experience matter more for B2C companies (business to consumer) or B2B (business to business)? The answer is they both matter equally. The reason is because people buy from people. B2B buyers are behaving like consumers more than ever before. Though CX methodologies differ, the principles and best practices are similar and it’s important to apply them to B2B and to B2C.
http://customerthink.com/b2b-versus-b2c-which-matters-more-for-cx/
Picture this: in deciding whether to rebuy from your company, the customer’s general manager and purchasing agent are neutral, the end-users are supportive, the safety department gives their approval, but the facilities manager rejects it. Your company loses the sale. Because your team was focused on the end-users and general manager, everything looked like it was on-track for renewal, yet one influencer of the buying decision derailed your relationship and your anticipated revenue. After that happens, it’s difficult to get another chance. It’s best to be aware of all the drivers and factors, and manage them proactively.
https://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/b2b-voice-customer-integrating-decision-influencers-views-01956648#yiAvqLByw3fVvcRC.97/
If your investment in voice-of-the-customer (VoC) is intended to help you grow revenue, then VoC in business-to-business (B2B) situations should represent all of the influencers of buying decisions, As shown in the recent article in Understanding Business-to-Business Purchase Decisions, only a third of B2B companies are identifying and collecting inputs from all of the buying influencers. And still fewer are consolidating the viewpoints to create a holistic picture of reality.
Read more at
https://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/b2b-voice-customer-integrating-decision-influencers-views-01956648https://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/b2b-voice-customer-integrating-decision-influencers-views-01956648/
https://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/how-b2b-ecommerce-marketers-can-use-the-voice-of-the-consumer-to-boost-sales-02133114/
Many B2B organisations are still struggling with the changing balance of power in an age where buyers are more vocal and have the ability to make informed purchase decisions. Customer empowerment has impacted businesses of all sizes, and brand loyalty is always in the balance.
However, leading organisations are finding ways to turn customer empowerment into a competitive advantage. They are gathering and organising voice of customer (VoC) data from multiple sources to build a clear picture of buyer sentiment, intent and requirements. But they are not simply hoarding this data. They are actively using it to leverage insights then devise cohesive sales and marketing strategies aligned with customer needs to deliver better business performance.
Customer expectations change rapidly, and so must the activities used to address them. It’s not easy to keep pace, but with a measured approach it can be achieved. Gathering, analysing and acting on VoC data can underpin a dynamic cycle where buyer actions are managed intelligently to drive tangible, long term business success.
https://www.b2bmarketing.net/en/resources/blog/how-put-voice-customer-work/
