B2B Marketing

Course Code: 20IMG24C1

UNIT-I
Market Opportunity Identification-Analysis and Evaluation, Introduction to
B2B Marketing. Customer Analysis: Purchase process, Buying Teams, Business
Buying and the Individual Manager, the effect of IT on purchase Behaviour.
Customer Relationship Management Strategies for Business Markets:
Relationship theories and variables, Business Marketing as Network Analysis
and Management.
UNIT-II
Assessing Market Opportunities, Environmental changes impacting Supply
Chain Power, Strategic Market Planning: The purpose of strategy, approaches to
strategy, Business Marketing Strategy.
UNIT-III
Products for Business Markets, Managing Business Marketing Channels,
Pricing: Costs, customers and Competitors, Pricing strategy and organization,
Relational Aspects of Business-to-business pricing, Bid pricing, Key Account
Management.
UNIT-IV
Business Marketing Communication: Integrated Communication strategy,
Relationship communication: Direct Marketing, Personal Selling, Relationship
Communication Process, and Coordinating Relationship Communication. B2B
Branding.
Recommended Readings:
1. Ross Brennan, Louise Canning and Raymond McDowell, "Business-to-
Business Marketing", Sage Publications.
2. James. C. Anderson, Business Marketing Management (B2B):
understanding, Creating, and Delivering Value, Pearson Education.
3. Robert Vitale, Business to Business Marketing, Pearson Education.
4. John M. Coe. "The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales and
Marketing", McGraw Hill Education, New Delhi.
5. Dwyer Robert F, Tanner F. John. Business marketing- Connecting Strategy,
Relationships, and learning. McGraw Hill Irwin.
6. Hutt, M.D., and Speh, T.W. Business Marketing Management: B2B, Loose-
Leaf with Mindtap. Boston: Cengage Instructions for External

Market Opportunity Identification-Analysis and Evaluation

Who should conduct a market opportunity analysis?

That answer is, "everyone." All sizes of organizations will benefit from better
understanding the industry in which they’re operating or approaching. Whether
you work in B2B, B2C, government, or non-profit organizations, defining and
analyzing the market will help you make better decisions.
This kind of analysis can help you grow your existing business, pivot into new
markets and opportunities, or expand into the periphery of your current market.
5 Benefits of A Market Opportunity Analysis
1. Make better long-term strategic decisions.
2. Evaluate product or service demand.
3. Identify potential marketing strategies.
4. Uncover areas for further research.
5. Identify and navigate potential roadblocks.
There are many reasons to take the time and examine the full range of options
before forging ahead. Here are five important benefits you’ll get from market
analysis.
1. Make better long-term strategic decisions
Your business is impacted by many external factors. Without taking the time to
examine the current market trends, you’ll be flying blind.
A market opportunity analysis can provide the insight you need to see into the
future. What will the market look like in a year? Five years? 10 years? What
forces are acting on the market today? How is the demographic of your target
audience shifting?
2. Evaluate product or service demand
You may have invented the next Google Glass: a great product with tough,
niche demand. A market assessment will show the potential for selling your
product or service. This analysis will help you evaluate if expanding into a
potential new market is worthwhile for your company.
You may find that there is no existing market for your idea, leading to a “Blue
Ocean Strategy.” “Blue oceans,” explain authors W. Chan Kim and Renee
Mauborgne, “denote all the industries not in existence today — the unknown
market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created
rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both
profitable and rapid.”
While that might be the case, you might also fail to create the market, or need to
spend time and energy educating customers on the value of your new idea.
3. Identify potential marketing strategies
The four P’s of your marketing mix are price, place, product, and promotion.
Through the process of a market opportunity analysis, organizations can gain a
deeper understanding of who their target customers are, what they want, and
how they make their decisions.
After assessing the current market, you’ll be able to price your product
effectively and know which promotion strategies will work best. Are there
partnerships you should pursue? Will direct sales or inbound marketing work
best?
4. Uncover areas for further research
When you start to better understand the market, you may identify even more
new opportunities to explore. As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you
don’t know.” You may discover a new government initiative that encourages
sustainable businesses.
A customer research project may identify a new pain point that you didn’t
realize existed. The benefit of knowing your marketplace really deeply is that
you’ll be ready to leverage any new opportunities that pop up.
5. Identify and navigate potential roadblocks
A SWOT analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
of a potential strategy. Identifying the weaknesses and the threats to your
market opportunity is key to your success. No business idea is perfect. But
knowing where you might run into trouble before you even begin can help you
plan ahead and mitigate those risks.
Examples of Market Opportunity Analysis
Before we get into the step-by-step instructions of how to do your own analysis,
let’s look at the results of two very different case studies. The purpose of both
of these research projects was to identify new opportunities, however, they were
done in two different industries: elderly care options and the automotive
industry.
1. Say Yeah! ElderCare Case Study
Consulting agency Say Yeah! conducted a market opportunity analysis for a
company looking to expand its business model into the elderly care industry.
They started by mapping the customer journey for an adult child caring for their
elderly parent, along with all the decision points they encounter.
By examining market forces — such as government subsidies, the changing
demographics, and all the options older adults have — Say Yeah! was able to
uncover several different options by which ElderCare could increase their
profits.
Notably, they recommended ElderCare expand its referral business to include
retirement homes, in-home care, and other social services.
“Their initial business premise is validated: by shifting the industry to a
subscription-based model, led by an online marketplace, this business could
carve out a significant piece of profit in the elder care industry by providing far
more value to retirement homes at less cost.”
2. Ipsos Business Consulting Automotive Case Study
A global automotive conglomerate was interested in the growing electronic
vehicle (EV) market, specifically three-wheelers in India. Ipsos conducted a
study of the EV market through customer interviews, business model analysis,
and government research. At the end of the study, they provided
recommendations around charging station locations, leasing vs purchasing
options, and other infrastructure requirements.
How To Conduct a Market Opportunity Assessment
1. Identify potential opportunities.
Your first step is to lay out the potential opportunities you want to investigate.
What segment are you hoping to expand into? What type of customer are you
hoping to attract? Are you looking to acquire or partner with another business?
Have current events created a potential opportunity?
Knowing whether you want to expand, pivot, invest, create, or reposition your
offerings will inform the next steps of your market research.
Once you’ve identified market opportunities, you’re ready to start researching
their potential.
2. Understand the customer
In every opportunity, the customer will inform your success. Does this product
meet their needs? Do they have the purchasing power to make this idea
profitable? How do they make their purchasing decisions? The second step in
the analysis is to really, deeply understand your potential customers and their
needs. This research may include any of the following tools:
 Customer interviews
 Customer journey map
 Surveys
 Demographic data
3. Research competitors
Next, you’ll want to understand who all the players in the existing market
are. Competitor research can help you understand how big the market share is,
how existing products are positioned in the market, and how crowded the
market is. Here are some questions you might want to ask:
 What is their value proposition?
 How is their product offering different from ours?
 Who are their partners?
 What do their reviews say about their product or service?
 Are there any gaps we could fill?
 How likely are new competitors?
4. Consider external factors.
External factors are always shaping and changing the marketplace. The
acronym “STEEP” can help us dive into the five main forces we need to be
aware of.
Social
How is culture changing the market? For example, more employees working
from home during the pandemic has opened up an entire sector of the market
that didn’t exist before. Jumping on trends can be a lucrative strategy unless the
trends disappear too quickly.
Technical
What new innovations have influenced the market? Can you apply this
technology in other ways or in new industries?
Economic
What is the current economic climate like? Will you be able to get a loan if
needed? Do your customers have disposable income? How does the market
forecast look for the next year? Five years?
Ecological
What impact does this idea have on the environment? Can you improve the
sustainability of the product or service?
Political
You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that your local government is offering
grants, tax breaks, or other incentives for businesses in your industry.
Alternatively, you may find that there are regulatory roadblocks in your way
that you’ll need to account for in your analysis.
5. Be aware of internal forces.
Finally, dive into your own business’ capabilities. Do you have the skills,
workforce, technology, and financial resources to invest in a new product? If
you’re launching a very innovative product, are you going to be able to hire
people with the necessary skills? What new departments or teams will you need
to create to manage this new opportunity?
Make better decisions with market opportunity analysis.
Not every idea is worth pursuing — but many are. With market opportunity
analysis, you’ll learn which business strategies will help you grow, along with
their potential risks. Don’t launch your next product or service without doing
your homework.

Benefits of Market Opportunity Analysis

Some benefits of conducting a market opportunity analysis include:
1. Helps to identify potential new markets
2. Assists in the development of marketing strategies
3. Provides insights into customer needs and wants
4. Helps to assess the potential for new products or services
5. Can help to reduce the risk of entering a new market

Introduction to B2B Marketing

What Is B2B Marketing?

As the name suggests, business-to-business marketing refers to the marketing of
products or services to other businesses and organizations. It holds several key
distinctions from B2C marketing, which is oriented toward consumers.
In a broad sense, B2B marketing content tends to be more informational and
straightforward than B2C. This is because business purchase decisions, in
comparison to those of consumers, are based more on bottom-line revenue
impact. Return on investment (ROI) is rarely a consideration for the everyday
person—at least in a monetary sense—but it’s a primary focus for corporate
decision makers.
In the modern environment, B2B marketers often sell to buying committees
with various key stakeholders. This makes for a complex and sometimes
challenging landscape, but as data sources become more robust and accurate,
B2B marketers’ ability to map out committees and reach buyers with relevant,
personalized information has greatly improved.
Who is B2B Marketing For?
Any company that sells to other companies. B2B can take many forms:
software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions, security solutions, tools, accessories,
office supplies, you name it. Many organizations fall under both the B2B and
B2C umbrellas.
B2B marketing campaigns are aimed at any individual(s) with control or
influence on purchasing decisions. This can encompass a wide variety of titles
and functions, from entry-level end-users all the way up to the C-suite.
Creating a B2B Marketing Strategy
Competition for customers, and their attention, is high. Building out a B2B
strategy that delivers results requires thoughtful planning, execution, and
management. Here’s a high-level look at the process B2B companies use to
stand out in a crowded marketplace:
Step 1: Develop an Overarching Vision
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This truism remains eternally accurate. Before you start
cranking out ads and content, you’ll want to select specific and measurable
business objectives. Then, you’ll want to establish or adopt a framework for
how your B2B marketing strategy will achieve them. For more insights on
strategy, for both your content and your execution, check out The LinkedIn
Pages Enterprise Playbook.
Step 2: Define Your Market and Buyer Persona
This is an especially vital step for B2B organizations. Whereas B2C goods often
have a wider and more general audience, B2B products and services are usually
marketed to a distinct set of customers with particular challenges and needs.
The more narrowly you can define this audience, the better you’ll be able to
speak to them directly with relevant messaging.
We recommend creating a dossier for your ideal buyer persona. Research
demographics, interview people in your industry, and analyze your best
customers to compile a set of attributes you can match against prospects to
qualify leads.
Step 3: Identify B2B Marketing Tactics and Channels
Once you’ve established solid intel around your target audience, you’ll need to
determine how and where you intend to reach them. The knowledge you’ve
attained through the previous step should help guide this one. You’ll want to
answer questions like these about your ideal customers and prospects:
 Where do they spend their time online?
 What questions are they asking search engines?
 Which social media networks do they prefer?
 How can you fill opportunity gaps that your competitors are leaving
open?
 What industry events do they attend?
Step 4: Create Assets and Run Campaigns
With a plan in place, it’s time to put it into motion. Follow best practices for
each channel you incorporate into your strategy. Critical ingredients in effective
campaigns include a creative approach, useful insights, sophisticated targeting,
and strong calls to action.
Step 5: Measure and Improve
This is the ongoing process that keeps you moving in the right direction. In the
simplest terms, you want to figure out why your high-performing content
performs and why your low-performing content doesn’t. Understand this, and
you’ll more wisely invest your effort and budget. The more vigilant you are
about consulting analytics and applying your learnings, the more likely you are
to continually improve and surpass your goals. Even with a well-researched
foundation, the creation of content and campaigns inherently requires a lot of
guesswork until you have substantive engagement and conversion data to rely
on.
Let your audience dictate your path. Consult metrics to pinpoint the channels,
topics, and media that resonate most, then double-down. Meanwhile, cut or alter
anything that isn’t performing.

B2B Marketing Tactics and Content Formats

Here are a few of the most common B2B marketing tactics and content formats
to consider including in your strategy:
Blogs: A mainstay for almost any content team. Regularly updated blogs
provide organic visibility and drive inbound traffic to your site. Your blog can
house any number of different content types and formats.
Search: SEO best practices change as often as Google’s algorithm (a lot),
making this a tricky space to operate in, but any B2B marketing strategy needs
to account for it. Lately the focus has been shifting away from keywords and
metadata, and more toward searcher intent signals.
Social Media: Both organic and paid should be in the mix. Social networks
allow you to reach and engage prospects where they’re active. B2B buyers
increasingly use these channels to research potential vendors for purchase
decisions.
Whitepapers, eBooks, and infographics: Standalone assets containing
valuable information, these downloadable documents can either be gated
(meaning a user must provide contact information or perform another action to
access) or ungated. Often used as a B2B lead generation tool.
Email: While its effectiveness is waning somewhat in the age of spam filters
and inbox shock, email won’t disappear anytime soon. 
Video: This content type can be applied in several of the previous categories
mentioned here (blogs, social media, emails) but is worth singling out because it
is the driving force behind many successful B2B strategies.
Livestream events and webinars: LinkedIn Live videos get, on average, 7x
more reactions and 24x more comments than native video produced by the same
broadcasters. LinkedIn Live isn’t just great for promoting an event. Take
advantage of this feature for demonstrating expertise, showcasing innovation, or
giving LinkedIn members a behind-the-scenes view into your company’s
culture. 
Case studies and customer testimonials: Establishing credibility is a must for
B2B marketing strategists. Case studies and customer testimonials may not be
the most creative ventures, but they’re crucial nonetheless. 
Podcasts: Podcasting is projected to become even more popular than it already
is. Got a podcast geared toward a professional audience? Thinking about
starting one? Grow your listening audience by marketing your podcast on
LinkedIn. 

Customer Analysis: Purchase process

What is customer analysis?
Customer analysis combines qualitative and quantitative research methods with
the goal of better understanding of your customer base. Knowing what makes
your customers tick means you’ll be able to cater to their specific needs.
It's a tide that lifts all boats: marketing can create campaigns with better
wording, sales can come up with better pitches, product development will know
what features to prioritize, etc.
Customer analysis typically moves through the following stages:
 Identifying who your customers are.
 Discovering their needs and their pain points.
 Grouping customers according to similar traits and behaviors.
 Creating a profile of your ideal customer(s).
Customer analysis can seem like a daunting task. In this post, I'll walk you
through the steps that every company can start with.
1 Structure your existing customer database
The best place to start is with your existing customer database. You are likely
already sitting on a wealth of data, although it might need some structuring in
order to make sense out of it.
The first step in doing this is to divide your customer database into groups with
similar characteristics. This process of dividing up data is called segmentation.
By segmenting your customers, you’ll be able to differentiate between
customers and focus your marketing efforts on specific groups.
Customers are typically segmented into the following categories:
 Demographic: Age (range), gender, income
 Geographic: Location-specific
 Psychographic: Values, beliefs, interests, personality
 Technographic: Based on the device/platform a customer is using, i.e.,
desktop vs. mobile
 Behavioural: Behavioural, habits, frequent actions
 Needs-based: Specific needs for a product/service
  Value-based: Value to the company, typically measured by Customer
Lifetime Value (CLV). This the amount of profit your company is
expected to generate from a single customer over the whole period of
their relationship with you.
 Industry: For B2B, what industry the customer belongs to.
 Business size: Also, for B2B, the number of employees or the revenue
size.
2 Identify your most valuable customers
The next step is to assess who your most valuable customers are.

The Pareto Principle holds true in most companies' customer bases: 80% of
business comes from 20% of customers. It makes sense to first get a crystal-
clear view of these customers before moving on to the other 80%.
You can identify your most valuable customers by taking important customer
metrics and looking for patterns in your database. Do customers with certain
characteristics tend to have a higher average customer lifetime value, for
example?
In a previous post, we discussed the metrics you should be using to measure
retention :
 Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
 Customer Retention Rate
 Repeat Purchase Rate
 Redemption Rate
In another of our blog posts, we discussed effective methods for measuring
loyalty :
 Repurchase Ratio
 Upselling Ratio
 Customer Loyalty Index (CLI)
 Customer engagement numbers
Your customer database also offers other valuable insights. For instance,
demographic information about your customers may not affect product usage,
but knowing their age and backgrounds will be important for how you
communicate with them.
3 Talk to your customers
Data tells only part of the story. To get inside your customers’ heads and
understand their needs, you need to talk to them. This involves reaching out,
scheduling calls or asking them to come to the office. Interviewing is often
paired with focus groups and usability studies.

One-to-one interviews. Interviewing customers in a one-to-one setting gives

them the opportunity to share the emotions driving their purchases, their pain
points and their deepest needs.
Asking the right questions is crucial here. This is where the 5 Whys
technique comes into play: by asking ‘why’ five times, you peel away the layers
of an issue and get to the root cause of a problem.
It's important to realize that people make 95% of their purchasing
decisions based on emotions. To discover the emotional drivers behind
purchases, an interview should feel like a conversation where your customer
feels relaxed and safe enough to trust you with their true thoughts and feelings.
Help Scout provides excellent tips for conducting a customer interview which
include:
 Asking open-ended questions
 Practicing active listening
 Paying attention to body language

Far too often, retailers think that consumer buying is randomized. That certain
products appeal to certain customers and that a purchase either happens or it
doesn’t. They approach product and service marketing in the same way, based
on trial and error. What if there were a distinctive set of steps that most
consumers went through before deciding whether to make a purchase or not?
What if there was a scientific method for determining what goes into the buying
process that could make marketing to a target audience more than a shot in the
dark?
The good news? It does exist. The actual purchase is just one step. In fact, there
are six stages to the consumer buying process, and as a marketer, you can
market to them effectively.
1.Problem Recognition
Put simply, before a purchase can ever take place, the customer must have a
reason to believe that what they want, where they want to be or how they
perceive themselves or a situation is different from where they actually are. The
desire is different from the reality – this presents a problem for the customer.
However, for the marketer, this creates an opportunity. By taking the time to
“create a problem” for the customer, whether they recognize that it exists
already or not, you’re starting the buying process. To do this, start with content
marketing. Share facts and testimonials of what your product or service can
provide. Ask questions to pull the potential customer into the buying process.
Doing this helps a potential customer realize that they have a need that should
be solved.
2. Information Search
Once a problem is recognized, the customer search process begins. They know
there is an issue and they’re looking for a solution. If it’s a new makeup
foundation, they look for foundation; if it’s a new refrigerator with all the
newest technology thrown in, they start looking at refrigerators – it’s fairly
straight forward.
As a marketer, the best way to market to this need is to establish your brand or
the brand of your clients as an industry leader or expert in a specific field.
Methods to consider include becoming a Google Trusted Store or by advertising
partnerships and sponsors prominently on all web materials and collaterals.
Becoming a Google Trusted Store, like CJ Pony Parts – a leading dealer of Ford
Mustang parts – allows you to increase search rankings and to provide a sense
of customer security by displaying your status on your website.
Increasing your credibility markets to the information search process by keeps
you in front of the customer and ahead of the competition.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
Just because you stand out among the competition doesn’t mean a customer will
absolutely purchase your product or service. In fact, now more than ever,
customers want to be sure they’ve done thorough research prior to making a
purchase. Because of this, even though they may be sure of what they want,
they’ll still want to compare other options to ensure their decision is the right
one.
Marketing to this couldn’t be easier. Keep them on your site for the evaluation
of alternatives stage. Leading insurance provider Geico allows customers to
compare rates with other insurance providers all under their own website – even
if the competition can offer a cheaper price. This not only simplifies the
process, it establishes a trusting customer relationship, especially during the
evaluation of alternatives stage.
4. Purchase Decision
Somewhat surprisingly, the purchase decision falls near the middle of the six
stages of the consumer buying process. At this point, the customer has explored
multiple options, they understand pricing and payment options and they are
deciding whether to move forward with the purchase or not. That’s right, at this
point they could still decide to walk away.
This means it’s time to step up the game in the marketing process by providing
a sense of security while reminding customers of why they wanted to make the
purchase in the first time. At this stage, giving as much information relating to
the need that was created in step one along with why your brand, is the best
provider to fulfill this need is essential.
If a customer walks away from the purchase, this is the time to bring them back.
Retargeting or simple email reminders that speak to the need for the product in
question can enforce the purchase decision, even if the opportunity seems lost.
Step four is by far the most important one in the consumer buying process. This
is where profits are either made or lost.
5. Purchase
A need has been created, research has been completed and the customer has
decided to make a purchase. All the stages that lead to a conversion have been
finished. However, this doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing. A consumer could still be
lost. Marketing is just as important during this stage as during the previous.
Marketing to this stage is straightforward: keep it simple. Test your brand’s
purchase process online. Is it complicated? Are there too many steps? Is the
load time too slow? Can a purchase be completed just as simply on a mobile
device as on a desktop computer? Ask these critical questions and make
adjustments. If the purchase process is too difficult, customers, and therefore
revenue, can be easily lost.
6. Post-Purchase Evaluation
Just because a purchase has been made, the process has not ended. In fact,
revenues and customer loyalty can be easily lost. After a purchase is made, it’s
inevitable that the customer must decide whether they are satisfied with the
decision that was made or not. They evaluate.
If a customer feels as though an incorrect decision was made, a return could
take place. This can be mitigated by identifying the source of dissonance, and
offering an exchange that is simple and straightforward. However, even if the
customer is satisfied with his or her decision to make the purchase, whether a
future purchase is made from your brand is still in question. Because of this,
sending follow-up surveys and emails that thank the customer for making a
purchase are critical.
Take the time to understand the six stages of the consumer buying process.
Doing this ensures that your marketing strategy addresses each stage and leads
to higher conversions and long-term customer loyalty.

Having a differentiated and compelling value proposition is critical for winning

new accounts. Top hunters recognize that a strong value proposition by itself is
not enough. As one of the top hunters said, “I am always working to understand
how the customer is going to buy. I focus on figuring out who will be involved
in the decision, how they will make the decision and how everyone will be
involved in the process.” As we spoke with additional top hunters it became
clear that there were two key things that they focused on understanding when
working to win new logos:
1. The Buying Team – the group of people making the buying decision or
the “who” involved with making the decision
2. The Buying Process – the activities that the Buying Team would
undertake when making the decision or “how” the decision would be
made
When it came to understanding the Buying Team, the group worked to
understand the following:
1. The job Focus of the individuals involved with making the decision
2. Each buying team member’s Decision Role:
1. Decision Maker: The person ultimately responsible for making the
buying decision
 2. Influencer: Buying Team Members who influence the buying
decision but do not make it
3. Recommender: Buying Team Members who are tasked with
making a recommendation on the decision
4. Approver: Buying Team Members who are not involved with
making the decision, but need to approve funding for the decision
5. Unknown: Buying Team Members whose role is not clear or
undefined
3. Each buying team member’s Relationship to us:
1. Sponsors Us: Buying Team Members who are willing to take risks
on our behalf
2. Backs Us: Buying Team Members who actively support us, but
only when it is not risky to do so
3. Neutral or Unknown: No clear preference shown
4. Backs Competition: Buying Team Members who actively support
the competition, but only when it is not risky to do so
5. Sponsors Competition: Buying Team Members who are willing to
take risks on the competition’s behalf
Often times, putting this into a visual format can be helpful for determining the
best course of action. Below are visual representations of the buying team,
which can be very helpful in determining our strengths and weaknesses when
approaching a new account.

Business Buying and the Individual Manager

There are intrinsic differences between Business buyers i.e., business-to-

business (B2B) and Individual or final consumers i.e., business-to-consumer
marketing (B2C). The differences are a result of the complex and
interdependent relationships between buyers and sellers relative to their roles in
the supply chain.
Business buying
Business buying is buying products and services by an organisation for end use
purpose. Business buying behaviour refers to the actions of employees of an
organisation to buy products and services for the organisation which includes
the decision-making process of selection of suppliers and bearing post purchase
consequences.
In this market business buyers buy products on large scale either for production
of another product or for their own use. They buy products and add value to the
same for selling to Consumers. For example, raw material (crude oil, steel, etc.),
final products for company use (generators, printing machines, etc.), office
stationery, etc. Due to companies operating on large scale in global markets,
they also utilise services of banks for life insurance of its employees, security
services, legal services, etc. from other organisations which provide such
offerings.
Business buyers tend to buy all the products and services from one seller or few
sellers. This benefits the organisation in many ways.

For Example,
1. It helps in cost reduction,
2. No over storage needed for emergencies,
3. Long term relationship brings effectiveness,
4. Less price fluctuation as contract signed over long period.
The decision making differs from organisation to organisation. Depending on
the size of the organisation, the decisions can be made by different people.
Decisions can be related to Product characteristics, price negotiation, selecting a
supplier, contract/ paperwork. For a small firm which has limited resources and
small production unit, a single person like a Senior Production Manager can
take all the decisions with the help from its staff.
The business should invest in effective promotion campaign to promote its
products. The company representatives should be adequately trained and
supported to do presentations and generate leads. In today’s competitive
environment, each and every organisation is striving to increase its market
share. So, it becomes important that the organisation reaches to Business buyers
and effectively communicates about its products and services.
The marketing team has to proactively reach out to organisations to give
presentations, etc. for the sale of their products. They need to understand the
structure of the organisation to identify the various approval and advising
authorities for effective sales and competitive advantage.
There are two main factors that affect business to business deals –
Organisational factors and Individual and Interpersonal factors of Buying centre
participants
a) Organisational Factors – As an individual has an image, organisations also
have an image. They hold values that influence its style of functioning. These
refer to its structure, formal or informal interaction among departments, etc.
This understanding helps suppliers identify how dealing with one organisation
is different from the other.
b) Individual and Interpersonal factors of Buying centre participants – the
individuals at the buying centre affect the purchase decisions due to many
factors. The participants may exhibit conflict based on rewards, demotion,
expertise, special relationship with other participants, etc. Other characteristics
which business marketers should study include personal goals, professional
experience, life-style, attitudes and opinions, personality traits, etc. Like
consumer buying characteristics, the participants at buying centre are also
influenced by emotions, beliefs, etc.
Consumer buying behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of individuals or
households who buy products for their own consumption.
In the decision-making process the buyer is influenced by many factors for
making the purchase. These could be his product need, financial capacity,
influence of the family members and friends, effective salesmanship, brand
value, etc. This entire process of arriving at a final decision to buy a product
encompasses the Buyer Behaviour. Thus, the Consumer Buying Behaviour
includes physical as well as mental activities in buying and using a product.
A consumer may want to buy a certain product, but he may opt for something
else either because of a recommendation of a friend or a past experience of a
different product from the same manufacturer. We can say that the buying
behaviour is influenced by the cultural, social, personal, and psychological
factors.
The buyers buy products and services for their personal consumption. For
example, soaps, office stationary, bread, etc., which fall under the category of
Fast Moving Consumer Goods. And the other category in this market is Durable
Goods – the products or services utilised over a long period. For example,
Refrigerators, cars, insurance products, banking services, etc.
Not all consumers exhibit the same buying behaviour. The buyer in influenced
by various variables like cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors.
a) Cultural factors – there is culture in every society. Culture forms the ideas,
beliefs, values and behaviour of a person living in a particular region. People
living with each other in an area are influenced by each other. A person brought
up in a Hindu family will have different set of behaviour for buying meat
products as compared to a person raised in a Muslim family.
b) Social factors – Man being a social animal, his behaviour is derived from the
people he lives and interacts with. These also affect his/her thinking and
preferences. These factors are reference groups, family, role and status in the
society.
c) Personal Factors – personal factors include a person’s age, job and income,
lifestyle, personality and self-image.
d) Psychological factors – there are four psychological factors that influence
buying behaviour – motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes.
We can see that the behavior depends on the needs and position of the buyer in
the supply chain. The individual buyers buy products for their own use and
Business buyers mostly products for making another product or their own use in
the organization. The buying in Business buying is more formal and needs.

The Effect of IT on Purchase Behaviour

Often a company leadership faces unending challenges especially when it

comes to the rapid technological changes. Since the emergence of information
technology, company communication with its customers took a turn to an
unknown destination.
Just think back ten years ago or even 5 years, how were businesses reaching
their customers? How were customers reaching them? Compare that to how
communication is passing between the two parties now and who is driving it.
Technology has placed the power in the customers’ hands literally with the
internet enabled smart phone and tablets. Note, that these devices are always
being improved such that the newest version offers more to the consumers,
making the previous one obsolete in as little as six months’ time.
How and why has technology changed the way consumers behave? Here are a
few things that you need to keep in mind as you reinvent your strategies to keep
up with the consumers.
CUSTOMERS ARE CONNECTED
Almost everybody is living two lives, a vibrant online life and a somewhat
boring offline one. We are all connected in one platform or another through our
network of friends. We also own more than one device that keeps us updated.
This means that we thrive on being active and informed online, and ExactTarget
Marketing content verified this from a study they did, whereby 91% of
consumers indicated that access to content across all devices was important.
Information technology advancements fuel the connectivity that brings together
the world as one big community, from the smart phones to super-fast data. This
trend is not about to change because now kids as young as 5 years know how to
operate a smart phone, LinkedIn even lowered its age limit to 13years to
capitalize on the technology adoption rate.
Companies need to meet the consumers where they are and satisfy their
sophisticated needs. If your target market spends more time on Instagram or
Twitter, be present and respond to them on the same platform. Are you doing
enough to leverage technology and handle the informed consumer?
CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS HAVE CHANGED
In the past, as a company you set the times that you were open for business, and
customers had to put up with it or stay without that particular product.
Technology has totally changed that, with the introduction of e-commerce and
mobile phones, customers can access products at anytime. They have raised
expectations on what is acceptable customer service and what is not. As a
business, you have to keep up with the changed consumer behavior or be out of
business.
For example, if a customer wants to purchase something online at night and has
a query, they expect to get instant answers. If they do not they choose another
supplier from the myriad available online who can meet their immediate need.
Consumers now understand the power they have and will use it when not
satisfied with a service. A simple expression of their dissatisfaction on your
social media that is not responded to immediately will ignite uproar from other
customers who were OK with your products and service.
NEW COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
In the past, a company provided customer service through emails –that did not
get prompt responses – and phone calls. These two communication tools had
their own challenges and favored the company more; it was at their discretion
what information to give out.
This age however, is very refreshed. Social media platforms and live chat place
you right in front of your customer; you cannot sacrifice your customer to
maintain your brand position. Actually, when you do not respond to a query,
you damage your brand reputation because that information is accessible to
millions of people.
The upside of these new tools is that you have a wider data collection pool; you
can fast track your research and development by utilizing the big data.
In conclusion, we have seen the growth of technology and its impact on
consumer behavior. We have looked at three ways that consumer behavior has
changed, from connected consumers to changed expectations and new
communication tools use. I believe the statement “Customer is King” has never
been experienced by companies like in this information technology era.
Decreased customer attention
With millions of blog posts and videos posted online every day, there is way too
much content for people to consume.
Put simply; all these content is causing content overload in the lives of billions
of people around the world. There is too much content to consume, too many
emails to reply to and too much to do by the end of the day.
As a result, the attention of your visitors and customers is decreasing. This
means that you have to find a way to grab the attention of your readers quickly,
sell them on your offer and then make it easy for them to buy from you.
According to Entrepreneur, grabbing the attention of your website visitors is the
key to increasing online sales.
How do you do this? It’s easy, start by creating helpful content that stands out
amidst the noise in your niche, write clear copy that sells your offer and then
simplifies the sales or sign-up process to increase your conversion rates.
It’s that simple.
The need for personalization
According to HubSpot, people crave interaction with a person, pieces of content
or software that leave them with the feeling that their preferences and interests
were being taken into account.
It used to take lots of resources to create and sell a course, but that has now
changed. Technology has made it so easy to create digital courses, such that
anyone with a computer and access to the internet can set up a website, create a
course and then start selling it.
With these many products being produced, personalization has become a huge
determinant of the nature of a customer’s experience. According to a study done
by Janrain, around 74% of online consumers feel frustrated with websites when
content (e.g. ads, promotions, offers) appears that has nothing to do with their
interests.
To prevent frustration and increase sales, smart marketers and business owners
are creating personalized experiences for their customers.
First, you need to identify your target market, and then personalize all your
content, products, and resources towards the needs and wants of your
customers.
This makes it easier for customers to make a purchase, and also increases the
likelihood that if you met their particular needs before, they will come to you
again for a purchase or refer you to other people with similar interests and
needs.
The ease of access to info
A few years ago, customers made buying decisions based on news,
advertisements, past experience or referrals from other people.
However, technology has changed this. A report by Econsultancy found out that
61 % of customers use search engines to aid them in product research before
they can make a buying decision.
Simply put, the higher the amount of relevant info about your products a visitor
can find online, the higher their likelihood of purchasing from you.
To excel, marketers and business owners are now focusing on increasing their
online presence through content marketing while improving their reputation by
asking for reviews and ratings from past customers.
They understand that this information will be key in putting them at the
frontline when new customers are researching what to buy and where to buy it.
Brand trust and likability
Gone are the days when customers bought from a business just because there
were no alternatives. Technological advances have made it easier for more
people to launch online businesses for just a few dollars.
As a result, when making a buying decision, many customers will rely on their
level of trust of a brand and how much they like it to decide whether or not they
will buy. According to Rare, 86% of consumers say loyalty is primarily driven
by likability and 83 % of consumers say trust. They have to trust you before
they can buy from you.
To influence customer behavior and make more sales, start by finding ways to
become more trustworthy. This can be done by using content marketing to
improve your online presence and reputation, then improve your trustworthiness
by using social proof.
In a research done by Dimensional Research, it was found out that of the
participants who had seen online reviews, 90% said that positive reviews had
impacted their buying decisions while an astounding 86% said that the same
was true for negative reviews.
As such, you can improve your trustworthiness and likability by getting your
past customers to post reviews, ratings, and testimonials of your products. Add
this to your website, and more visitors will deem you trustworthy enough to buy
from because you’ve proved that other people had trusted you before and were
not disappointed.
Customer expectations have gone up
Technology has made it very easy and cheap to create businesses. This has
resulted in very many businesses offering related products; products that fill
similar needs in the lives of their customers.
As a result of having too many choices, customer expectations have gone
up. According to Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology, too many choices
can prevent customers from making a purchase, and when they do, they will
feel less satisfied with their selection. The decrease in satisfaction can be
attributed to increased expectations which are rarely met.
Customers now want a single product that fulfills all their needs. This means
that one of the biggest determinants of whether they’ll buy from you is the
number of needs that you help your customers meet, and how well you do it.
For example, people used to rely on the news for weather updates; then they
moved online where they could get weather forecasts for the major cities in the
world. But nowadays, customers are looking for a product that will give the
real-time weather updates of any place around the world. This has pressured
businesses in the niche to try and come up with the useful weather forecast app
for people that does more than just tell the weather; they need a platform that
moves with the customer, giving them real-time data from any location as they
need it.
And this is happening across the board in all niches. If you want to survive, you
have to find ways to adapt your products to meet increasing customer
expectations.
The increasing need for ’good’ customer experience
A few years ago, customers could make a purchase regardless of how the
experience made them feel. Most buying decisions were made out of a product
fulfilling their needs and not the customer’s experiences with the business.
That has changed.
According to a Right Now report on customer experience, 89% of consumers
have stopped doing business with a company after experiencing poor customer
service.
Customers have started placing their experience above other factors, such as
brand reputation, and the price of products. If you want to remain profitable and
grow, you need to invest more resources into improving your business’s
customer experience. The company culture can make it possible and the
feedback from employees is cruel to get optimum B2C relations. Each business
needs to implement the best practices for employee questionnaires to identify
issues and fix hidden problems, build on business strengths, and implement
B2C improvements.
Before allowing minor instances of bad customer experience to ruin your
reputation, keep in mind that consumers are 2-times more likely to share their
bad customer service experiences than they are to talk about positive
experiences.

Customer Relationship Management Strategies for Business Markets

Buying customer relationship management (CRM) software will only take you
halfway to the finish line— a clear strategy will take the soft skills of your
customer service teams to the winner’s pedestal.
In this article, we’ll get into why CRM strategy is just as important as any sales,
marketing, and customer service efforts and how to make one that works for
your teams using reliable CRM software.
What is a CRM strategy?
CRM is Customer Relationship Management. A CRM strategy is a company-
wide plan for your business to grow revenues and profit, reduce costs and
enhance customer relationships (putting them first). Many choose to do this
with the help of CRM technology in addition to other marketing strategies and
customer support models.

What can a CRM tool do for your business?

Research shows that while more businesses are implementing CRM systems,
when it comes to achieving business growth the failure rate is startling. One
expert estimates that the CRM failure rate may even be close to 90%.
CRM tools help businesses organize their collections of data into a simple user
face so they can then recognize and communicate with customers in a scalable
manner. This could include any number of important functions beyond storing
contact information, like:
 Logging representative touchpoints with prospects via email, phone calls,
in-person, and voicemail interactions
 Tracking deal stages
 Helping agent productivity
 Finding new customers to win their business
 Serving as a resource for representatives who need more materials to
support their work

Today’s CRM tools can now be used for managing customer service

relationships throughout the entire customer lifecycle, and spanning marketing,
sales, customer service, and digital commerce interactions. Because of this, they
can be the key to unlock a world of potential for businesses seeking to increase
their profits.
7 top CRM strategies to boost your business in 2022
Now that you know what a CRM strategy is and why it’s important, this section
will walk you through how you can create and run one for your organization.
Below are 7 CRM strategies to get the most out of your CRM tool and ensure
CRM implementation is a success.
1. Run a complete audit
The first step is to do a complete audit of your business.
This includes reviewing external and internal processes, studying the market,
analyzing the competition, and conducting a SWOT analysis — an analysis of
your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

monday.com has an easy and intuitive template to build your own competitor
analysis on our open-source CRM.
This step also involves checking whether you have all the resources required to
implement a CRM system, such as available team members for testing the
CRM, and a dedicated training budget.
The time you allot for this audit should also include time to create action items
and a plan for carrying them out to improve your system. Our templates make it
easy to not only record these items, but to also assign owners, track progress,
and communicate on the fly.
2. Outline your sales process
Next, you can map your customer journey by identifying the different pipeline
stages your prospects pass through, and clearly define who is responsible for
what on your sales and marketing teams.
Here’s a sales pipeline template to help you visualize your current business
process from the first customer interaction all the way to customer acquisition.
The flexibility to customize these boards with countless columns allows you to
make the board as detailed as you want. That way, you can filter and sort by the
size of the deal, the timeframe it took to close it, and more.
This template enables you to zoom out and get a bird’s eye view of your
existing sales process so you can understand exactly how a CRM application
would help you optimize sales funnels.
3. Define your CRM goals
Once you’ve dived into your existing processes and data, it’s time to think about
your goals and how you want a CRM system to help you achieve them.
Setting goals ahead of time is a crucial part of your CRM strategy as it keeps
you focused on the features that actually affect your business and its bottom
line.
Define SMART goals for your CRM team before you even think about looking
for new software. SMART is an acronym for:
 Specific
 Measurable
 Achievable
 Relevant
 Time-bound
A few examples of SMART goals might be:
 Achieving 80% customer satisfaction by May 1
 Increasing social media followers by 30% by October 31
 Improving email marketing click rates by 20% by year-end
You can use the sales process you mapped out in the previous strategy to help
inform reasonable KPIs and goals.
4. Leverage data to improve productivity
With a CRM platform, you can consolidate customer data collected from
different departments, such as marketing, sales, and customer service, and let
your team access all data from a single dashboard.
Leveraging CRM data quickly will save your employees time and empower
them to perform their best. In fact, research suggests that data-driven
companies are far more productive and efficient than non-data-driven
companies.
Making data available to all departments involved in the CRM process also
ensures communication is streamlined and made transparent at all times. This
way, the sales team for example never double handles data or waste time asking
customers the same questions twice.
5. Deliver personalized customer experiences
A solid CRM strategy ensures that all your business processes, from marketing
to sales to IT, work together in a systematic and organized way.
This helps you build a better picture of who your potential customer is and what
they need.
And delivering personalized experiences is much easier when you have access
to detailed customer and lead data at your fingertips.
Personalization improves the customer experience. And improved customer
experience drives revenue and customer loyalty.
6. Reduce costs with automation
With a CRM, you can save a whole lot of time and money by automating
repetitive, administrative tasks, such as feeding lead data into your pipeline.
For example, instead of manually typing in data, you can set up your lead
capture forms to automatically sync with your pipeline.
Automating your sales processes will free up additional time for your sales reps.
They can invest this time in nurturing leads and closing more deals, ultimately
reducing your costs.
7. Track campaign performance
Finally, monitor your team’s performance to ensure the CRM solution is
helping them hit their individual targets and meet the larger goals set out by
your CRM strategy.
You can easily track performance with the help of CRM reporting and analytics
features that come built-in with most CRMs.

What Is Network Marketing?

Network marketing is a business model that depends on person-to-person sales by
independent representatives, often working from home. A network marketing
business may require you to build a network of business partners or salespeople
to assist with lead generation and closing sales.
There are many reputable network marketing operations, but some have been
denounced as pyramid schemes. The latter may focus less on sales to consumers
than on recruitment of salespeople who may be required to pay upfront for
expensive starter kits.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Network marketing appeals to people with high energy and strong sales
skills, who can build a profitable business with a modest investment.
 A network marketing business can be a single-tier program, whereby you
sell the products, or multi-tier, where you also recruit additional
salespeople.
 Beware of network marketing companies that create many tiers of
salespeople or require you to purchase expensive products or training
material up-front, make sure to thoroughly research the company before
you join.
How Network Marketing Works
Network marketing is known by a variety of names, including multilevel marketing
(MLM), cellular marketing, affiliate marketing, consumer-direct marketing, referral
marketing, or home-based business franchising.
Companies that follow the network marketing model often create tiers of
salespeople—that is, salespeople are encouraged to recruit their own networks
of salespeople. The creators of a new tier (or "upline") earn commission on their
own sales and on sales made by the people in the tier they created (the
"downline"). In time, a new tier can sprout yet another tier, which contributes
more commission to the person in the top tier as well as the middle tier.
Thus, the earnings of salespeople depend on recruitment as well as product
sales. Those who got in early and are in a top tier make the most.
 
The FCC advises that that single-tier network marketing operations tend to be
more reputable than multi-tier schemes.1
Advantages and Disadvantages of Network Marketing
There is some stigma attached to the networking marketing business, especially
those with multiple tiers, which can be characterized as pyramid schemes—that
is, the salespeople in the top tier can make impressive amounts of money on
commissions from the tiers below them. The people on the lower tiers will earn
much less. The company makes money by selling expensive starter kits to new
recruits.
The appeal of network marketing is that an individual with a lot of energy and
good sales skills can create a profitable business with a modest investment.
A good rule of thumb, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is that an
operation that ensures compensation which is based on actual sales to real
customers tends to be more reputable than multi-tier schemes, in which people
make money based on the number of distributors they recruit.1
Special Considerations
Anyone considering joining a network marketing operation should do their
research before making a decision. Consider these questions:
 Was it pitched as a chance to make money by selling products or by
recruiting others?
 What is the track record of the company's founders?
 Are you personally enthusiastic about the products?
 Are people you know enthusiastic about the products?
 Is the product being promoted effectively?
 Do you foresee a relatively fast pathway to profits or a long-time treading
water?
Is Network Marketing a Pyramid Scheme?
While network and multi-level marketing programs have been accused of being
pyramid schemes, there are some important differences. While those who are
able to recruit more members into the program are often able to enjoy greater
residual commissions, network marketing is a legitimate and legal business
structure that offers real products and services sold to customers.
Will I Make Money by Joining a Network Marketing Program?
It is certainly possible, although not probable. Some people do enjoy great
success at network marketing, largely due to their ability to recruit more
members to the network. There are two main revenue sources: selling products,
and commissions from sales made by team members downline. The more
people there are downline from you, the more money you will accrue - the
larger the team you can recruit, the more money you can make.
Most people who join legitimate network marketing programs make little or no
money. People may actually lose money. Some may become involved in an
illegal pyramid scheme and not realize that they have joined a fraudulent
venture, and can lose everything they invest. Do your research and ask around
before diving in.
What Are Some Examples of Network Marketing Programs?
Several MLM programs exist such as Tupperware, Avon products, Rodan +
Fields, Amway, Herbalife, Mary Kay, among several others.

BUSINESS MARKETING

Business marketing is the marketing of products to organizations for the direct

use of the product in the production of another product, for use in the general
daily operations of the organization, or for reselling the product to other
businesses or the final consumer. Marketing goods and services to businesses
and organizations, while sharing some similarities with consumer markets, is
different in many ways. The nature and characteristics of the business market,
the types of consumers, the different buying situations that occur in businesses
and organizations, who is involved in the decision-making process and the
business-to-business buying process all differ significantly from the consumer
market. These differences often make the normal purchasing process more
involved and complex.
NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BUSINESS MARKET
The first obvious difference is that there are significantly fewer customers in the
business market than in the consumer market. These customers also buy in
significantly larger quantities (e.g., tires by the thousands) and the prices of
some of their single item purchases far exceed those of an individual consumer
(e.g., millions of dollars for a new bridge). Finally, business customers in the
same industry often tend to be located in a concentrated geographic region. For
example, the Silicon Valley in California has a high concentration of firms in
the high-tech industry.
The nature of the demand for products differs from consumer demand because it
is often derived from consumer demand. A derived demand means that the
demand for original equipment leather seat covers installed in new cars depends
on the demand for the models of automobiles that use those seat covers. They
have a more inelastic demand curve because the demand for the seat covers
depends on the consumer demand for the automobiles, not on the price of the
seat covers. Another factor influenced by derived demand is that it may cause
large fluctuations in the demand for the seat covers. If the demand for the
automobiles drops, it may have a small effect on the sales figures of the auto
manufacturer, but if this particular contract represents a large share of the seat
cover vendor's production, that vendor could suffer a significant loss of revenue.
Finally, the products and the buying process may differ from the consumer
market to varying degrees. While some products purchased in the business
market are the same or very similar to the products bought by consumers (e.g.,
office supplies), the buying process may be much more involved because of
negotiated contract and unique or customized needs. Product specifications,
price, quantity, service requirements, length of the contract, and delivery
schedules are just a few of the terms that may need to be negotiated. On the
other hand, many of the products are very complex and often custom-made to
agreed-upon specifications. The complexity of the buying process is further
complicated because a given purchase will need to satisfy a number of different
individuals and departments within the company. Because of these factors, the
buying decisions in businesses and organizations are often determined by a
group of individuals known as the buying center, which is discussed later in this
entry.

TYPES OF CONSUMERS
The business market consists of many different organizations involved in many
different primary activities, but they generally fall into four major types:
1. Manufacturers —Manufacturers produce products to be sold at a profit.
They buy products and services that are directly used in the products they
produce or are consumed in the general operations of the firm.
2. Trade —Trade includes organizations that purchase finished goods and
resell them at a profit or use products and services for the general
operations of the firm. Wholesalers and retailers are included in this type
of business customer.
3. Government —Federal, state, and local governments represent the largest
single business or organizational market. Collectively they spend trillions
of dollars for services and products needed for governmental operations
and to provide citizens with the products and services needed for their
general welfare.
4. Institutions —Institutions are those organizations whose primary
activities and goals are charitable, educational, community, or
nonbusiness in nature. They include both public (such as libraries) and
private (some hospitals) institutions, which may be nonprofit (charitable
organizations) or profit (some nursing homes) oriented.

TYPES OF BUYING SITUATIONS

There are three major types of buying situations, each requiring a different
buying approach. The straight rebuys are routine purchases of standard products
from an existing vendor without modifying specifications or without
renegotiating new terms. Little effort, beyond a short performance review, is
necessary.
On the other hand, modified rebuys occur when the product is not purchased on
a regular basis, when there is a change in the specification of the product, when
there is dissatisfaction with the current vendor, or if a new vendor offers better
terms. Modified rebuys may involve new product specifications, additional
evaluation of vendors, or renegotiation of contracts.
The third buying situation is a new task buy. This situation normally involves
purchases made by a business for the first time The buying process needs to
start from scratch and will probably be an extended problem-solving endeavor.
One of the early decisions will be whether the firm wants to purchase the
product from a vendor, lease the product, or produce the product in-house.
These decisions and the actual purchase decisions are often the responsibility of
a buying center.

THE BUYING CENTER

Because of the size, importance, complexity, and commitment involved in a
business buying decision, often a committee called the buying center is formed.
The buying center is responsible for deciding how best to acquire the products
and services needed to operate the business. The individuals included in the
buying center can differ from one buying decision to another, but may involve
representatives from the purchasing, finance/accounting, and engineering
departments, as well as the departments that will use the product, and an
executive from management. The members of any given buying center
committee could play one or more of the following roles:
 Gatekeeper —The individual responsible for the flow of information to
the other members of the buying center
 User(s) —The member(s) most likely to use or be responsible for the use
of the product
 Influencer(s) —The individual(s) who will influence(s) the decision but
may not necessarily use the product
 Decider(s) —The member(s) who make(s) the final decision
 Purchaser —The member who negotiates the actual purchase

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS BUYING PROCESS

The typical process that is followed by the buying center to analyze the needs
and develop solutions to meet those is:
1. Recognize or anticipate and clearly define a need
2. Determine and evaluate alternative solutions
1. Straight rebuy
2. Modified rebuy
3. New task buys
3. Select a course of action and develop product specification
4. Select a vendor
1. Identification of potential vendors
2. Evaluation of vendors—solicitation and analysis of proposals
3. Select a vendor
5. Negotiate a contract
6. Review performance