Business to Business
Selling
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What is B2B Selling?
Creatively joining your company’s capabilities with
your customer’s needs
Different situations call for different levels of relationship
and the sales force needs to be configured, recruited,
trained, and compensated to accomplish the appropriate
form of relationship
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B2B Selling is:
A natural function
More time consuming
More relational between buyer and
seller
Stakes are greater in terms of “value”
of sale
3
Boundary Personnel
The seller is important to the organization’s “value image”
Combined, sellers and buyers are the “Boundary
Personnel”
Boundary personnel serve as the liaison with other key
organizations–they can be a major asset in the buyer-
seller relationship
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Characteristics of
B2B Selling
Repeated, ongoing relationships
Solution-oriented, total system effort
Long time-period before selling effort
pays off
Continuous adjustment of needs
Creativity of seller in problem solving
often demanded by buyer
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Characteristics of
B2B Selling:
Repeated, ongoing relationships
Relationship between seller and buying
center is a series of dyadic interactions
One-on-one meetings or interactions
between stakeholders of buying center
and seller or other individuals in the
selling organization’s value chain
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Characteristics of
B2B Selling:
Solution-oriented, total system effort
Customers buy solutions, not
technologies or core products
Seller and selling organization must understand
› Needs of customer
› Different motivating elements between
members of buying center
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Characteristics of
B2B Selling:
Long time-period before sale pays off
In business-to-business selling, the
outcome of the sales effort may not be
known for months (or years!)
Use development period to reinforce value
offering relative to competitive offerings
o Reduce customer’s perceptions of risk through
reinforcement of offering’s total value
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Characteristics of
B2B Selling:
Continuous adjustment of needs
Be flexible and responsive to changes in
customer needs
Customer needs evolve as they learn
more about seller’s offering & how it
can be applied to their needs
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Characteristics of B2B Selling:
Creativity demanded of seller by buyer
In B2B, customization of offering to
specific needs of customer is expected
esp. by large customers
Approaching each customer’s problem
in such a way that the customer
perceives the offering unique
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The Role of Sales in a
Modern Organization
Successful relationships between
customer and seller involve:
Mutual Respect
Trust
Authenticity
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The Role of Sales in a
Modern Organization
Levels of relationship and intricacy:
Discrete Exchange
Interaction is of short duration
Differentiating an undifferentiated product
Ownership of relationship is at individual level ,
often fostered by seller.
Multiple Transactions
Individual transactions merge into relational
exchange
Collaboration/Partnering
Strategic in nature
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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Exhibit 12-6
Order Taker Takes orders, ensures correct and timely delivery of offering.
Major effort in the “place” marketing mix variable.
Persuader/ Proactive role in relationship. Informs customers about
offerings and ongoing updates. Attempts to convince
Sustainer
customer of value of offering, though the focus is still on
needs of selling organization.
Motivator/ Focuses on the needs of the customer organization,
potentially creating unique customer solutions by matching
Problem Solver
supplier capabilities with customer needs. Considered a
resource by the customer.
Relationship/ Build and maintain partnership with all elements of the
customer buying center. Supplier/customer relationship is
Value Creator
mutually inspiring and stimulating. Both parties recognize
an equity in the other’s success.
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Other Types of Seller Roles
Missionary Sellers Task Oriented
• Generic term for individuals who perform many merchandising tasks, customer education, problem solving,
etc.
• Usually compensated by salary rather than commission.
Field Marketers Market Developers
• Specific term for individuals who, in b2b marketing, are responsible for market development efforts,
particularly related to translation & customer education.
• FMDs usually fit the relationship/value creator role.
• Different titles are often given to these individuals, depending on industry. A few examples:
• Customer engineers, Product evangelists, Market development specialists & so on
Post-Sale Customer Service – Reinforce Purchase Decision
• Effective customer service can reinforce the purchase decision & create superior value for a customer
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Missionary Selling - Examples
Systems Specialists
Technical organizations like IBM and Xerox rely on systems specialists to be
missionary sellers. Systems specialists work with customers to solve problems that
are technical or operational in nature. In the process of solving problems, the
salespeople provide information about technical products that offer solutions. For
example, a technical specialist helping a company to reduce shipping time for its
products might recommend a software program that streamlines the dispatch process.
Pharmaceutical detailers are indirect salespeople. They do not attempt to pitch their
products to doctors, but simply provide them with informational pamphlets and samples
containing the product details physicians need to determine if they should prescribe the
drugs to their patients. Pharmaceutical detailers must also be knowledgeable about the
drugs themselves, and must be able to answer doctors' questions about them.
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The Selling Structures
Direct Sales
Force
Distributors
Any
Manufacturer’s
Combination
Representatives
of The Three
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Distributors and
Representatives
Distributors Representatives
Similarities
Independent entrepreneurs
Selling Organizations
Differences
Distributors buy and stock inventory. Reps do not buy the products they sell and rarely carry
inventory.
Distributors resell at prices of their own Reps sell at prices dictated by manufacturers.
choosing.
Distributors also sell competing products Reps will handle complementary products but not
competing lines
Distributors handle 50 to 100 different product Reps handle five to eight product lines and have
lines and only provide customer with catalog extensive knowledge.
information
Direct Salesforce
Salesmanship is the art of successfully
persuading prospects or customers to buy
products or services from which they can
derive suitable benefits.
Sales call
Selling Compensation
Straight Straight Combination
Commission Salary Plans
Repeat efforts
Management has Frequently used
necessary to
greater control form of
sustain customer
over sales force compensation
purchases
Salary portion
contributes to
Rewards are
Creates stability needs of
short-term
management
control
Appropriate when
Sellers focus on
sellers provide Commission
those who have
design & encourages higher
frequent
engineering sales
purchases
assistance
Inappropriate
Does not tie Commission is
during new
financial rewards paid as it is
product
to sales results earned
introductions
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