Delivering A Positive B2B Customer Experience

Friday 16 November, 2012

by Michael Haynes

Today's business environment is characterised by tough economic conditions, increased competition and more informed and demanding customers. As a result, all businesses need to raise the bar with respect to the customer experience they provide in order to stay competititive.

When CEOs hear the term 'customer experience', some may regard it as 'touchy feely' stuff applicable only to the likes of hotels, restaurants, and airlines. However, customer experience is extremely important in a business to business (B2B) context. B2B markets have several unique characteristics which necessitate that delivering excellent customer experience must be a key priority.

1. Most B2B companies have a small number of customers accounting for a large portion of their revenue. In some instances, a single or a few customers determine not only the success but also the very existence of the business. Therefore, your company must deliver an excellent customer experience or risk these customers taking their business elsewhere.
   
2. In B2B there is often little difference among the products and services being offered. After all, you are talking about providing either as raw materials or parts to create a final product or providing services to other businesses. Hence, business customers will have a number of suppliers to choose from.
   
3. The products and services supplied are often critical to business customers providing their offerings to their end users. By delivering a positive customer experience, your company will instill trust and confidence in your customers that you provide them the quality and reliability that is essential to the survival and success of their business.

Providing a positive customer experience will create a number of benefits including:

• Increased customer loyalty and spend
  
  
  • Business customers will spend more from you and sometimes even exclusively
    
  • Studies conducted by global consultancies such as Forrester Research have found that B2B organisations that have effectively used customer insight to develop and improve customer experience received significant increases in revenues
    
• Increased word of mouth
  
  
  • Referrals and recommendations are now an important part of the B2B buying decision process. (Studies indicate that 60% of B2B buyers will engage with a peer before making a decision.)
    
  • Hence delivering a positive customer experience will help generate the referrals and recommendations to help generate new business
    
• Lower customer service costs
  
  
  • Due to less complaints, rework, 'customer fixes' required

It is important to realise that delivering a positive customer experience is not something that is important to and applicable solely to the 'usual' industries, such as manufacturing, technology and telecommunications, which have call centres and customer service departments. Knowledge based industries such as professional service firms (PSF) must also closely examine and provide superior customer experience.
Like all other business customers, Professional service clients are becoming increasingly demanding. They are expecting their service providers to deliver high value through:

• Customised services
  
• Thought leadership
  
• Multi-channel communications

All of which are provided in a manner suited to their requirements that will ultimately enable the PSF to make better decisions as well as enhance their capabilities.

Creating a positive B2B customer experience 

In order to create a positive B2B customer experience, companies must do the following:

1. Identify your target customers
   
   You should only be targeting those customers that are aligned with your company's capabilities, product / service offering and strategic intent.
   
2. Understand your customers' needs
   
   Have a very detailed understanding of your business customers' objectives, priorities, requirements and preferences - not just in terms of the products and services required but also where and how they want to interact with your company.
   
   As this is B2B, you must understand the buying decision criteria and requirements of decision-makers and influencers, as they are the ones who will make the decision as to which suppliers they will use.
   
   These insights can be obtained through the use of effective engagement techniques such as establishing Customer Advisory Councils with a select group of customers as well as conducting Strategic Customer Discussions with a cross section of your customer base.
   
3. Define the relationship
   
   Determine how you can provide additional value to your business customers that help them achieve their objectives and solve key problems. Consider offering 'value-adds' such as service level agreements, training, reporting, upgrades, self service options.
   
4. Deliver a tailored B2B customer experience
   
   Modify your business operations such that your customers are getting the desired products and services, using easy and hassle free processes and channels (e.g. face-to-face, phone, online) that they require.
   
5. Revisit and revise regularly
   
   Your customers' priorities and needs will change. Therefore it is important that you obtain their feedback regularly (at least annually) so that you are aware of their changing requirements. This will help ensure that you are always providing the experience that they require.
   
   Again, engagement approaches such as Customer Advisory Councils and Strategic Customer Discussions will help your company keep up to date with your customer's requirements.

By undertaking the steps above, your company will deliver a great customer experience to their business customers. This can prove to be a source of significant competitive advantage, as you are able to be faster and more responsive to customers.

Getting started

Begin to take action by:

• Gather members of your management team, look at the business and ask some key questions, such as:
  
  
  • Who are your key customers?
    
  • What do you know about their objectives, issues and requirements?
    
  • In what ways, could an improved customer experience help them get more value from doing business with you?
    
• Determine which customers you could speak with to gain further insights as well as trial some ideas with.

Delivering a positive B2B customer experience is not easy and requires hard work. However in this business environment, it is not a nice to have, but critical to the existence as well as growth and success of your business.


Source:ceoonline.com