Indian B2B
manufacturers for long have been focused on promoting products rather than
solutions. With the advent of technology the market is fast becoming a buyer’s
domain than SELLERs. The focus of B2B manufacturers, whether in digital
marketing campaigns or participation in exhibitions or cold calling is PRODUCT
oriented. Most of these organizations spend huge amount of time in strategizing
on how to launch products in market and not on learning about customer
requirements.
This article tries
to highlight aspects which are least focused by B2B Organizations and solutions
for the same.
Problem: Number of stakeholders involved in buying
cycle: The biggest different between
B2B and B2C is the number of stakeholders involved in buying decision process.
In B2B scenario people from purchase, quality control, research and quality
assurance are involved, while in B2C its mostly impulsive buying. Most B2B buyers
often conduct prior reference checks happen at all levels. This also lengthens
the sales cycle as B2B manufactures have to ensure all the stakeholders agree
to the solution and it has been documented.
Solution: Develop engagement strategy for
stakeholders: Indian B2B
manufacturers have to develop engagement strategy to solve problems faced by
stakeholders rather than promoting products. Also have to focus on customer
support, since most buying decisions are based on prior reference checks,
having robust customer support can help to help to build word – of – mouth
marketing.
Problem: Informed Buyers: Most buyers are well informed about B2B Manufacturing Company,
before floating enquiry for product. Most buyers often conduct prior research
about the B2B Manufacturer, its clients, range of products and background
reference checks from clients. The sales team is most often unaware about this
research.
Solution: It
is important for sales team to constantly engage with stakeholders, since this
would help them to be a part of the research process and influence buying
decisions. The engagement can work on two simultaneous levels regular
discussion meetings to understand any issues they face in their current
production and content marketing on social media for regular online chats.
Problem: Investing without researching: It has been observed most B2B manufacturers invest
without venturing in research for launching new category of products,
advertising or marketing. Most decisions are based on gut instinct and
experience, which often results in losses. Research for most B2B organizations
is just focusing in Google results, which is often influenced due to SEO.
Solution: Research
has to be conducted from established agencies with proper focus on expected
outcome and what decisions will be taken based on the outcome. There are
different types of research agencies who work on collaborative report to reduce
the cost of research for a single company. This same should be applicable when
venturing for advertising or launching a new office.
Problem: Rise of social search engines: Last 10 years have seen immense growth in social
media, search engine, smart phones and internet. All this has fueled profound
implication on how a company strategizes its marketing and communications.
Internationally most B2B manufacturers have embraced social media, but in
India, they haven’t even begun. For B2B manufacturers, having website and accounts
on Indiamart and Tradeindia is end of the story for digital marketing. And
strategy is focused on getting enquiries for products not on engagement. The
digital transformation resulted in buyers’ market, rather than sellers, now the
buyer decides what they want, how they want, when they want and their terms.
Solution: To
succeed in buyers’ market B2B manufacturers have to research and redefine their
strategy. The strategy should focus on engagement online as well as offline, to
influence the buying decisions. Campaigns can be focused on training the
stakeholders on how to solve issues related to problems arising in production,
product demo sessions, regular newsletters informing on new developments in
technology and research, regular webcasts on social media websites, ensuring
presence in media, etc. Involving customer support team for regular site
visits, not just when the client requires, even when they don’t require helps
to build confidence and trust for word – of – mouth marketing.
Problem: Technology: Indian B2B companies’ dependability technology is
mediocre, except for investment for managing finance through Tally; they hardly
invest to create a robust platform for observing sales trends. When most
companies, especially their clients shifted to SAP or ERP, these companies
hardly spend on implementing technology. The sales team still drafts quotations
using excel or word and keep track on follow – ups using spreadsheet. With
cloud model of CRM the biggest fear of Indian B2B manufacturers is that data
will be hacked or stolen.
Solution:
B2B manufacturers have to venture in technology in all aspects of business
processes. It is a need of the hour for B2B organizations to implement CRM for
managing sales cycle and ERP for other internal departments. Having a robust
technology will help in getting analytics and trend of finance and purchase, while
CRM would offer insights for sales and marketing team. Having cloud model of
CRM is better than having no CRM as tracking of sales data is much easier.
Indian B2B
Manufacturing companies have to invest in business process re – engineering to
re define their vision. Lack of vision has been the biggest drawback for
growth.
