Is your organization B2B, B2C, or B2B2C? The way you interact with your clients, the way you define success, and the technology you use all tie into the business model that defines your company. 

How, why, and where your company purchases raw materials or the channels you use to market your products, all tie into your business model. More importantly, your customers are directly correlated to the business model. 

Business models are the blueprint for building a successful company. While the definition of a business model varies from company to company, along with the process, everyone can agree that they are necessary in order to thrive. At a glance, the terms may seem complex and complicated. To understand B2B2C, we’ll break each business model down into simple definitions and discuss the framework of them all. 

What’s B2B?

B2B is short for business to business. It is a business model where companies provide solutions and services to other businesses. B2B companies expand from across many industries. Some include high-tech, manufacturing, and online marketing places such as Alibaba or Amazon Business.

What’s B2C?

B2C is short for business to consumer. That means, businesses sell directly to their customers. Although B2C is traditionally seen as galleria shopping or eating at restaurants, marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon disrupt in-person shopping. These businesses enable consumers to shop from their personal devices often at a lower rate than in-person stores. 

What’s B2B2C?

B2B2C model includes both B2B with B2C, with eCommerce at the core. According to BigCommerce.com, “As the name implies, it’s a business model where Company 1 sells their product or service in partnership with Company 2 to an end-customer. Unlike when you white-label a product, the end-customer understands that they are buying a product or using a service from Company 1.” Uber Eats, for example, sells its delivery service to a restaurant in effort to sell its delivery service to customers. 

Marketing Initiatives

Of course, B2B, B2C, and B2B2C all differ in marketing strategies and sales processes, but they all have a common goal, to sell. Connecting with customers, building and maintaining relationships with customers (or partners) is key for all business models to be successful. 

B2B, B2C, and B2B2C marketing are all very unique, too. B2B’s marketing strategy objectives are to appeal to the challenges of decision-makers for their organization. It seeks to make their target’s company their customer rather than the individual themselves. 

B2C marketing targets individuals through their needs, wants, and interests. B2C marketing seeks to obtain the individuals they are marketing to, like their customers, by way of entertaining ads or  emotional tugging ads on a variety of channels. 

Things to Consider

Evolving into (or fine-tuning) a successful B2B2C company can be challenging. Most focus on having the right team in place to ensure your company is efficient and profitable, which is obviously vital. Equally important is the technology used to support these goals. One option to consider is Commerce Cloud by Salesforce®, a reliable, effective, and customizable eCommerce platform. With Commerce Cloud, both companies can collectively gather information, promote, and share insights on campaigns. It combines the framework of both B2B2C and targets consumers in a way that benefits their common customer – all while automating and streamlining processes to support and augment your team. 

AdVic’s dedicated B2B/B2C/B2B2C Commerce Team is ready to listen to your needs and learn your business processes to see if we are a good fit to help. If so, we’ll apply our knowledge and passion to help you drive revenue. Let’s devise a plan to kick-start your revenue today!

Related Resources: 

B2B Customer Experiences By People, Built For People

B2B Marketing Tips You Have Not Thought Of

The ABC’s of B2B Commerce

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Ad Victoriam Solutions (AdVic), a Salesforce Partner, is excited to announce that we have been accepted into the Salesforce Commerce Partner Program. With a vast amount of experience in the rest of the Salesforce® ecosystem, we are thrilled to continue to work with Salesforce and help grow Digital Commerce opportunities in 2021 and beyond. 

The global eCommerce market is expected to hit $18.89 trillion by 2027 and we want to make sure your company is not left behind. 

At AdVic, we like to be on the forefront of technology and innovation. By partnering with Salesforce, we are enabled to do so. Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) has a proven record to power eCommerce brands and predict the scalability and future success of your business.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (formerly Demandware) has a long history of being the market leader when it comes to Direct to Consumer, taking the old-world clunky solutions and blasting past them becoming the dominant force in the eCommerce world. 

Salesforce’s leading B2C eCommerce solution maximizes conversions across all digital channels — online, mobile, social, and more. The digital commerce platform simplifies the way brands create, launch, and maintain multiple sites by using a single system to manage all customer engagement channels.

Through personalization powered by next-gen AI, SFCC also gives you the power to create unique experiences tailored to each customer. B2C eCommerce software even extends into the store, maximizing conversions by providing sales associates and shoppers with access to online inventory via mobile app.

Many companies today are struggling with meeting customer desires and are especially challenged by legacy systems, and the disconnection between sales channels. Reaching buyers where they want to make the sale can happen with a fully integrated eCommerce platform and the AdVic Commerce Team is standing by to guide you through the process. Contact us today!

Related Articles and Resources:

Sales is Not a ‘Churn and Burn,’ It’s a Partnership

Turn Sales Into Selling Machines, CRMs, AI, and More

AdVic Customer Success Stories

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As the world evolves in the way we buy and sell, now more than ever is the time for sales teams to focus on relationships and genuinely understanding the needs of our customers in order to fulfill their needs, and provide them with solutions to help expand their businesses.

To that end, in a recent AdVic “Salesforce Simplified” podcast, Diane Helbig, Chief Improvement Catalyzer at Helbig Enterprises, explained – among other things – the importance of sales teams engaging with prospects to gain accurate insight into their needs, along with the parallels that come with relationship development and business growth. 

What are sales managers getting right and wrong these days?

“What they are getting right is that they understand that sales is about relationships and that it’s important for their salespeople to be out having conversations with people who may or may not be prospects. The ones that are doing it right also understand that continuing to nurture those relationships is really important. It’s just not hunt and kill. It’s hunt, kill, nurture, because more business comes from those relationships.

“I would say the ones who are doing it wrong are the ones who are expecting their salespeople to behave in ways that are unnatural for that salesperson. That they’re saying, ‘Do it my way. It worked for mem so do this,’ and that behavior isn’t right for that salesperson, and so they try. They struggle. They don’t succeed. They leave. And there’s that revolving door thing in the sales department that actually negatively impacts the company on a huge level. I mean, outside of the cost of that, there’s a reputation cost that goes along with it.”

Bottom line:

• Understand the importance of building and maintaining relationships.
• From existing relationships comes opportunity for growth in new relationships.
• Allow flexibility; salespeople should have the flexibility to communicate with prospects in a way that they are comfortable.
• Not allowing individuality can negatively impact business.

What are your top tips for struggling companies to help them increase their sales productivity and bring those deals to a close?

“I think my biggest tip is listen more than you speak, ask really meaningful questions, and make sure you get answers to them. I think a lot of times the reason why salespeople aren’t able to close is because they might ask a somewhat uncomfortable question like about the budget. And when the prospect doesn’t answer it, they move on instead of really going to that topic and understanding that… The salesperson has to know the answers to all of the questions in order to be able to propose accurately, so make sure that you’re asking the questions. And if the prospect is uncomfortable answering it, ask them why. This is about a relationship. You’re allowed to say, ‘Could you help me understand why this is a subject that you don’t feel comfortable talking about or that you don’t feel comfortable sharing with me? Because in order for me to determine whether I can help you or not, I need to know the answer to this.’”

Bottom line:

• Listen to understand.
• Ask necessary and ‘hard’ questions to correctly understand customer needs.

Has the way companies hire salespeople changed in recent years?

“That’s such an interesting question. A lot of companies are looking for those people who understand it’s not one and done. It’s not churn and burn. That their job is not to be slick and eloquent and persuasive. That their job really is to partner with the prospect to problem solve. And that it is about the relationship and that’s what sets the company in the best possible light. They are looking for a different kind of salesperson and thank goodness because it’s more effective.”

Bottom line:

Companies have come to the realization that salespeople should:

• Understand the importance of long-lasting relationships.
• Know that sales is a relationship that has potential to grow and multiply.

What’s the next big thing in the world of sales? What are you talking to your clients about? 

“This may sound a little strange, but from everything I’m seeing, the trend is going toward getting very individually connected with clients, whether you sell B2B or B2C, really getting in there and learning as much as you can about them, about what they need as it relates to what you do, but also what they need as it doesn’t relate to what you do, and being that partner with their client.

“Being a problem solver for the client on a greater scale makes that relationship deeper, more sustainable and longer term, and it opens up a lot more opportunity than the way sales has been in the past with getting the business and then moving on.”

Bottom line:

• Customize client interactions; know who you are selling to. 
• Provide solutions to your clients.

Reach Diane Helbig via the Helbig Enterprizes website.

Related Resource:

Podcast: Turn Sales In Selling Machines, CRMs, AI, and More 

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