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How to sell to the Internet's millions of B2B customers by Kevin Nunley Mostly we hear about B2C. Those are businesses that sell directly to consumers. If you offer sunglasses online, you are in the B2C business. But what if you sell to other businesses? You are a B2B or business-to-business. B2B sites account for most of the sales on the Internet, as much as 80% of the Web's revenues. Michelle's web site offers low-cost toner cartridges for a specific printer used by hundreds of trucking firms. While trucking managers could surf the Net or call big office supply warehouses in search of their printer supplies, they know they can log onto Michelle's site and get exactly what they need. The cartridge will arrive in two days, shipped free, and at a price nobody they know about can touch. The trucking firm saves money and, most importantly, saves time and hassle. The manager's office helper can order a box of cartridges the moment he notices reports printing out fuzzily. Michelle's story illustrates what works so well about online B2B. Unlike consumers who have very similar needs--don't we all need a new pair of sunglasses from time to time- businesses have very specialized demands. Successful B2B's narrow their focus to offer the perfect specialized solution for a particular industry's very specialized needs. Imagine the one gizmo or service that would make your job easier, make your business run smoother, and free you up to do other more enjoyable things. If a B2B appeared offering you that miracle thing, perfectly designed to solve your problem, you might mortgage the car to get it. This is what makes B2B so powerful. Businesses can get very specialized solutions fast and affordably, solutions that may be very hard or impossible to find elsewhere. And a manager won't think twice about paying a big fat fee if your product or service solves a pressing problem or saves them part of the cost of doing business. So how do you market your B2B business or solution to potential customers? This is where we discover the real beauty of B2B. Instead of having to market to everyone (like Coke or General Motors), your B2B can zero in on only those businesses that are likely to crave what you sell. You don't have millions of potential customers, you just have a few dozen, hundreds, or thousands. This group has plenty of spending cash to keep you profiting for decades to come. They are also small enough to make for easy targeted marketing. Promote your B2B site to business customers by advertising in print media that target that industry. My favorites are industry trade publications. Place ads in them and try to get editors to cover your story. People who read the business section of your big daily newspaper may not give a hoot about your new die cutting process, but Die Cutter Monthly will make it a front page revolution. And you will be reaching just the business people who could use your innovation and are able and willing to write a nice check for it. Negotiate banner space on noncompeting web sites that attract a lot of people from your target industry. Banner rates are super low right now. Use direct mail. Postcards are very hot right now. They don't carry the tainted letter worry. Your offer and message jump right out of the stack of mail without your prospect having to open an envelope. Postage is also much cheaper. Your mailing list can come from a list broker (see SRDS.com) or from your Yellow Pages. My secretary sends a steady stream of postcards to local businesses who could use our writing service. Think about the one or two industries your business can sell to. What
media do their managers pay attention to? What conventions do they go
to? What do the people who write the checks do when they relax? The answers
to these questions will help you discover the best places to market your
B2B offers.
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