In the past 60 months, our Fargo Moorhead marketing agency has worked on marketing campaigns for 400 businesses. Through the process of helping them plan, design and execute their marketing plans, we have learned valuable business-to-business (B2B) revelations that help us think differently than when we launched Absolute Marketing Group in April 2006. Many of the B2B revelations we learned are strictly confidential as they have been transformed into proprietary advantages for our company. However, there are eight revelations that we can pass along.
B2B Revelation #1: Learn from the Mistakes and Triumphs of Others.
It’s more efficient to read journal articles, text books, blogs and other resources to learn about best practices and worst failures. If you learn only from what happens to your business, you’ll be wasting a lot of time and be very limited in your thinking.
B2B Revelation #2: The Big Picture is More Important than Small Details.
Small details are important, but not at the expense of deteriorating the big picture. If there’s no big picture, there’s no chance to develop and grow the small details that we’ve come to enjoy. If everyone is staring at the small details, who’s staring at the big picture? The answer: your competition. The big picture helps focus long-term strategic thinking, assessment and action.
B2B Revelation #3: If You Never Bite Off More Than You Can Chew, You’ll Never Be Able to Swallow Anything.
It’s more of a risk not to go outside your comfort zone. How will you find out what you can actually do? What if you’ve got a collective hidden talent for a new service? Experiment with new services by trying it on your own company or with close client partners. Take on ambitious projects that rip the stitches out of your capacity.
B2B Revelation #4: There’s a High Probability that Your Client will Leave You Tomorrow
There’s strong competition in most industries. You must constantly provide value to the client, or they will leave swiftly as there’s a better perceived alternative to the solution your company is providing. If you’re working in the B2B sector, there’s a chance that your client will no longer need your services due to mergers, failure or partnership changes. B2B companies must constantly be prospecting for new business to combat the attrition.
B2B Revelation #5: Rethink to Revitalize Efficiency
Just because you did it one way at your last job, doesn’t mean it’s the most efficient thing to do at your new company. You’ve got new team member work styles, new customers and new vendors – so, rethinking every process is necessary to attain efficiency with your current situation.
B2B Revelation #6: Every Client Relationship is a Thrill Ride
There are challenges with every client, no matter the size, budget or industry. Expect a roller coaster. Only by anticipating the inevitability of the ups and downs can you embrace the adrenaline rush and enjoy the ride.
B2B Revelation #7: Collaboration is Critical
Companies that can collaborate with clients, vendors and employees gain advantages because they’ve got more intellectual resources and synergy. Collaboration is not easy. There’s many different personalities and motivating factors involved that make it more challenging to create a win-win-win solution.
B2B Revelation #8: Challenge Your Employees or Expect Low Performance
We’ve heard from multiple business owners that challenging their team members is critical to success. Career paths cannot be dead ends. If a career path is deemed a dead end by an employee, the job search is on and work effort is diminished to minimal.
We hope you find these eight items informative and useful. If you’re looking to start or expand a company, feel free to contact MacDalton Berns, Marketing Advisor, at 218-284-1111 for an introductory appointment. No obligation, just conversation.