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When responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) in both the public and the private sector, suppliers’ access to buyers is often restricted due to law and informal rules of engagement. The authors term these buyers ‘barricaded buyers’. Despite having limited access to these individuals, suppliers can still increase their competitiveness and selection likelihood when selling to barricaded buyers.
B2B buyers are not longer “information seekers” but have become “super experts”. This Harvard Business Review article explains how B2B sellers need to align their selling approach to the buyer who is increasingly independent and highly informed. Smart sellers will find a solution that is consistent yet customized.
This session of Marketing in Uncertain Times Town Hall focuses on skills, tips, and tools you can use to thrive in our new remote environment and stay engaged and build rapport when you can’t be face-to-face. Hear from expert panelists Jip Inglis, Ascension Growth & Innovation Strategies, Steve Hurley and Matt Leary, Solutions Insights, Inc. with moderator/ISBM Executive Director, Lynn Yanyo. A replay of the event is available.
B2B firms are increasingly shifting to offer service solutions as competitive and commoditization threats increase. However, much of these shifts to service-oriented offerings have generated mixed results. The authors investigate this problem as a governance problem and highlight that the different phases of solutions development (experimentation, integration, and evolution) expose actors to various governance tensions.
It is widely believed that a B2B relationship disruption, which refers to the change of the salesperson in a customer relationship with another salesperson within the same firm, results in negative consequences such as a loss of customer knowledge, diminished interpersonal trust, and increased uncertainty. However, some B2B relationship disruptions also have positive effects that countervails some of the negative effects of disruptions. Results of this study indicate that relationship disruption can decrease resale value by 28.8% but it can also revitalize the relationship and increase new sales revenue by 52.2%.
What works for selling in times of economic expansion is not what works for selling in times of crisis. In addition, between 25% and 50% of the sales professionals in US companies never had to sell during an economic downturn… and thus, ready experience on dealing with selling in crisis is not abundant. This Harvard Business Review article on leading sales teams through uncertain times describes three principles that were useful during the 2001 crisis.
Many B2B manufacturers have moved from their previously successful product-centric strategies to more service-oriented business models. Yet despite their substantial investments in services, firms fail to understand the performance ramifications of these offerings. With a longitudinal data set of 227 B2B manufacturers listed in the S&P 1500 index, this study disentangles the simultaneous effects of financial-based mechanisms that link the service ratio (i.e., share of a firm’s revenue generated from selling services) to firm value.
During turbulent times when you’re not sure what to do, it helps to remember that this won’t last forever. Step back from the anxiety with action. Gather your data and your teams and prepare to come out on the other side in a stronger position. ISBM B2B Pulse brings you timely (timeless) advice from Director Emeritus, Dr. Gary Lilien. In his article ‘Winning Strategies fro B2B Marketers Facing Tough (Or Even Easy) TImes’, Gary Lilien describes three actions that firms will likely take to come out of this crisis healthier than before.
In this chapter, an introduction to service-dominant (S-D) logic is provided and used as a platform to explain how firms can use this logic to develop strategies that provide them competitive advantage. A brief review of the foundational premises of S-D logic and the expanded view of resources upon which S-D logic is grounded is provided. This is used to discuss how firms can develop strategies centered on developing value propositions that offer service flows rather than tangible goods. This strategy is enhanced by an understanding of the service ecosystem the firm operates within and how to sense and respond in this system. Finally the importance of conversation and dialogue with other members of the service ecosystem is discussed.
This chapter focuses on the topic of the coordination of marketing and sales activities in B2B organizations. It first provides a brief historical overview of the topic, including the recurring prescriptive advice that has been offered to practitioners and why this advice seems to have limited usefulness. This chapter then reviews some common delineations of marketing and sales activities in companies and their implications: both groups have inherent interdependencies and necessary differences. It concludes with a discussion of what some B2B companies have done to improve coordination between their marketing and sales functions, as well as some suggestions for further research.
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