Business-to-business (B2B) refers to transactions between businesses, such as those between a manufacturer and wholesaler or a wholesaler and retailer, rather than between a company and individual consumer. B2B companies represent a significant part of the economy, particularly in firms with 500 or more employees, where it is estimated that as many as 72% primarily serve other businesses. The overall volume of B2B transactions is much higher than that of business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.
One of the main differences between B2B and B2C transactions lies in the nature of the parties involved. B2B transactions occur between businesses, such as a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer. In contrast, B2C transactions involve a company selling products or services directly to individual consumers.
Another distinction can be found in the decision-making process. B2B transactions often involve a buying committee responsible for product selection and decision-making, which may include business and technical decision-makers, as well as influencers. Large purchases might require a request for proposal (RFP), where prospective vendors submit detailed proposals outlining their products, contractual terms, and pricing. On the other hand, B2C transactions typically involve individual consumers making decisions based on personal preferences and needs.
To create effective B2B marketing strategies, businesses should focus on a combination of tactics.
Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.
CRM integration connects your CRM software with other tools, creating a unified system for all your customer data and business processes.
Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.
Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.
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Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
Marketo is a marketing automation platform used by B2B marketers to manage lead generation, nurturing, email marketing, and analytics.
A Call for Proposal (CFP) is a document that solicits proposals, often through a bidding process, for a specific project or service.
Sales acceleration refers to strategies and technologies designed to speed up the sales cycle, enabling reps to close more deals, faster.
Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.
Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.
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An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.
Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.
A sales dashboard is a visual tool that centralizes and displays key sales data, metrics, and KPIs to help teams track performance and goals.
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Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.
A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.
A sales lead is a potential customer—an individual or organization that has shown interest in your company's products or services.
Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.
Sales and marketing analytics involves measuring and analyzing performance data to maximize effectiveness and optimize return on investment (ROI).
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Sales enablement content refers to the materials and tools that empower your sales team to engage prospects and close deals more efficiently.
A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.
Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.
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Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.
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Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
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Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.
Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.
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Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.
Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.
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Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost a business spends to gain a new customer. It includes all sales and marketing expenses.
Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.
Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.
Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.
GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.
“No Spam” is a commitment to sending only relevant, solicited messages. It means avoiding bulk, unwanted emails to respect the recipient's inbox.
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Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
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Email marketing is a digital strategy where businesses send targeted emails to prospects and customers to build relationships and drive sales.
Account-Based Sales (ABS) is a focused B2B strategy where sales and marketing teams treat high-value accounts as individual markets of one.
Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
Data enrichment is the process of enhancing raw data by adding missing information from other sources, making it more complete and actionable.
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Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
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Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.
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Sales coaching is a process where managers help reps improve their skills and performance through personalized feedback, training, and guidance.
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Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.
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Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.
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De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.
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Technographics is data that outlines a company’s technology stack, helping B2B teams identify prospects based on the software and hardware they use.
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