Do you Really Know your B2B Customer?

Knowing your B2B client as back of your hand is very important to protect your business interest & grow with the account. Knowing pulse of your B2B client can lead to major business gains. Company, Peoples, Policies & external factors are the four broad heads of information which you must keep track of. Creating & tracking customer profile is critical to your business management.

Basavaraj Angadi

Many a times we are taken off guard by certain development in client organization. This change can happen in any of the four broad categories  ( Company, People, Policies & External Factors). This change can have major business consequences. Understanding & keeping track of your B2B client will enable you to manage any change to protect your business interest. It’s important to update the relevant information regularly & keep all stakeholders in your organization updated about the same. Creating a customer profile & regularly updating all relevant information would keep you in control of your own business with client.

What is B2B customer?

B2B Customers are organizations who are buying your product or services for their own consumption or as ingredient to their own product or services they offer to their clients.

What information we should collect and track?

You need to keep yourself updated with all latest information in following four categories for your B2B client

  1. Company – Everything about clients business
    • Location – Single, Multiple
    • Major Customers, competitors
    • Current Financial Situation
    • Major business pain areas – Profiability, Quality, Cost, Growth, Productivity, Resources etc
    • Marketing campaigns/ads
  2. People ( Major stakeholders in the organization)
    • Key Decision Makers – Decision making authority
    • Key Influencers – Who may not be decision maker, but he can influence the decision
    • Gate Keeper – Person in-charge of a process but may not take any decision nor influence the process
    • Buyer – Person involved in releasing PO
    • User – Who uses your product or service in the organization
    • Others – Other employees who may not be involved with your product or service but still important ( Finance / HR / Legal)
    • Maintaining healthy relationship with all stakeholders is very important.
  3. Processes – these are guideline
    • Purchase Policy – Exclusive supplier arrangement, Multiple suppliers, reverse auctions, tenders, online bidding etc.
    • Payment terms – LC, Days of Credit, cheque, Online etc. (Good to get feedback from other supplier in terms of payment behavior)
    • Quality policy – all products and services need to meet the specified quality standards
    • Ethics Policy
    • Supplier onboarding process
  4. External Factors – Factors which are not in control of client organization but are very critical for client’s organization like
    • Govt Regulations – BSVI pollution norms for automobiles, TRAI guidelines etc
    • Exchange rate – Heavy dependence of your client on imports / exports
    • Litigations – Legal complications
    • Mergers & acquisitions
    • Strikes
    • Industry news and updates

What is the relevance of all the information of customer

Keeping yourself updated about all relevant information about client is important as it has direct impact on your current & future business prospect with client.

Great! So what do I do next?

  • Make list of all accounts which have contributed to 80% of your revenue
  • Put down information about your customers in all four categories mentioned. Try to collect information you already don’t have
  • Keep regular frequency ( 3 /6/12 Months) of reviewing all the information about your client, find out the gaps which we don’t know & try to find it out
  • Make plan to mitigate risk against major changes at your client organization which are going to impact your business

About Author

Basavaraj Angadi

Basavaraj has about 2 decades of experience in sales and marketing. He works closely with corporates, SMEs & Startups enabling them to grow and expand their business.

Business Strategy, Business Development, Product development, Project management, Key account management  & businesses with OEMs & government enterprises are his areas of expertise.

He is fitness enthusiast, passionate about running & hiking.

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