Defining the Customer-Centric B2B Enterprise
Many pundits agree that the B2B and B2C customer experiences have a great deal in common. After all, ultimately, a person is buying something--whether for himself or his company--so has a vested interest in that product or service meeting expectations.
With few exceptions (like financial services) the commonalities diverge when it comes to long-term customer relationships. Sure, some B2C consumers want "relationships" with their favorite brands. They want special offers, unique experiences, in-depth information, and the like. They want their value to be recognized. B2B customers expect that, as well. But they also expect that when a vendor sells them a complex product or service, that provider will stick around long enough to help ensure their (at least initial, if not long-term) success with it.
In the past a common complaint among B2B customers was just that: "Company XYZ just sold us this product, and then disappeared before we were able to use it successfully." Yes, this is a simplification. Customers have to take some responsibility for their success (like goals, metrics, and a roadmap); there are services organizations and value-added resellers to help buyers succeed in implementing and using what they've purchased. But the point is that many B2B customers want a "relationship" with their provider. In other words, they want a partnership with a vendor that's as interested in their success as they are.
Vendors that also want that partnership recognize the value of long-term customer relationships--value like retention, advocacy (referrals, testimonials, and the like), up/cross-sell opportunities, and more.
The challenge often is recognizing a truly customer-centric B2B vendor when you meet them. Some companies are great at talking the talk, but fall short of walking the walk.
What criteria do you look for in a vendor when purchasing a complex B2B product or service? Is it customer references, NPS, retention percentages, reputation in the market? All of the above? What is usually the most important criteria in the final purchase decision?
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Very well said, when it comes down to it you are still selling a product and should think accordingly. No matter if you are selling to an individual or a organization you should look at the relationship you are building and the service the you are providing. You may have more people involved when selling B2B, but the overall concept should be thought of the same way. Take care of the customer and their needs.
The number one differentiator in the B2B world is a superior product functionality coupled with the KYC (Know your customer) approach. Cisco is a good example -- they have top notch products in the industry and at the same time work on customer feedback that helps them improve or adjust the functionality their customers need.
Thanks everyone for your thought-provoking comments. One B2B executive I spoke with today reminded me of the power of referrals and recommentations from advocate customers in prospects' decision making process.
We are a small company that caters to the SMB segment. We have a very good product and we have received numerous compliments from our customers about our customer service and support and we do go out of our way to make sure the customer's other systems and ours are well integrated and will do some customizing if needed. Plus our price is god.
This makes the SMB market sound a lot like the B2C world. What does everybody think? Are there also differences in B2B decision making depending on the size of the customer as well, with SMBs acting more like individual consumers and larger companies having different criteria for customer-centric behavior from their vendors?
I believe this is an important question, for which there is no single right answer. We are now launching a Customer-Centric Audit to help respondents determine the degree of customer-centricity at their company. There are 40 questions across six categories: corporate culture, listening to customers, services delivery, selecting the right metrics, analyzing/reporting the data, and, finally, planning/implementing/monitoring action. All are critical and related.
Neither B2C nor B2B customers are looking for a customer relationship. They are looking for a product, service, solution that satisfies their needs. This can be a short-term, one-off need (I need food now; I know this airplane meal is terrible, but I buy it nevertheless; I need 1000 copies of this brochure printed now; this printer overcharges but I'm doing it nevertheless) or it can be a longer-term need (I keep ordering books on Amazon, not because it's cheaper, but it saves me time and I know they will deliver; I stay with my enterprise software vendor, not because they have the best product, but they will be there when I'm having problems with implementation/user adoption.)
What is the most important criteria in the final purchase decision: it serves my need. What are good indicators of a customer-centric B2B vendor? Probably retention level or in certain cases their Net Promotor Score. At this aggregate level, it's not much different from B2C.
This is an excellent post and raises a very good point. However, I think it approaches the subject from the narrow perspective of vendor engagement with the customers after the sale. Many companies, especially in the Enterprise Software market have solved this by appointing account managers to accompany the customer in the post sales implementation and production processes.
Looking at the broader picture, the strongest indication of a B2B vendor being customer centric, in my opinion, is the availability of a customer feedback initiative and the translation of that feedback into tangible actions that benefit customers and grow the relationship. There are multiple tools to achieve this - various surveys, customer advisory boards and more.
Thanks Everyone for your insight. It seems that trust, not surprisingly, is the common theme.
I believe one additional indicator you would want to consider in most B2B relations would be the 'Share of Wallet'. You could be retaining almost all your customers, but if you are not the primary provider for any, it shows a lack of true understanding of their needs and inability to gain their full trust.
B2B companies have far greater chances of being chosen by buyers if they are known, preferably within the industry their customers are in.
They need to be known as experienced and capable of solving key business problems. Buyers need to minimize risk and as Malcolm rightly says, trust must be earned and preserved.
If the price tag for a solution/service is high so is the risk and visibility within the client's organization. Make sure you do an outstanding job and when things go off track, which they can, fix and learn from them.
I find it a good idea to do satisfaction checks. You simply ask your customer "how are we doing on a scale of 1 to 5."
Listening tours are great ways to go out and chat with your customers too. Your choose a group of accounts and hit the bricks!
I generally check the pulse of the relationship, ask them why they buy, share with them our plans, ask if they will continue to be a reference and/or case study. And finally and most importantly, I ask how we can improve and help them be successful.
To sum up: experience, capability, results and customer feedback. Ongoing connection and confirmation with the customer that the relationship is strong and referenceable (I know the word doesn't exist but it should!).
A supplier could be strong in most of the categories in the poll but still not be customer centric. A supplier has to be customer centric from the perspective of the individuals in the company who are doing the buying. In that respect B2B is very similar to B2C. The key customer centric factors to those individuals are Relationship, Expertise and Trust. If they are happy to rate a supplier highly on those factors it means they think they are customer centric and that they would like to deal with them.
There is no silver bullet single metric answer.