B2B CRM: The Concept, Advantages, and Time-Tested Strategies

"B2B companies should always know the needs of their customers, what they want, and what services they would like to get. B2B CRM stores all the necessary information" writes Sergey Lypchenko who is a technical writer at Cleveroad company. Read the full blog:

B2B sales require more solid experience and skills than B2C sales. The purchasing process in B2B may be much longer, more complex, and the B2B approach involves more people. Unlike B2C, sales in B2B are weighed and thought-out since business works with other business. 

That is why B2B companies need to think through a strategy to improve customer experience and multiply revenue. B2B CRM (customer relationship management) is a tool that may help to achieve it.

This article will cover all advantages of B2B CRM, what it is, and also you will find top-notch B2B CRM strategies. Stay tuned! 

B2B CRM: more about it

It is not an easy task to manage relationships in the B2B area, so B2B CRM makes it possible to optimize and improve this process. First, due to B2B CRM, companies can understand what their customers need. CRM also helps build a strategy including sales, marketing, and customer data. All touchpoints between a service provider and customer are determined by the CRM system. 

In fact, CRM in B2B fields helps build the right strategy towards customers’ needs, fulfil all these needs on time during the sales process, as well as collect all necessary data to improve customer service. 

B2B CRM collects data about customers from all communication channels like chats, calls, emails, and then this data is analyzed. Such data may include different requests, reports, issues, and so on. And the sales department then can access all this information and use it for the benefit of the company and customer. 

And the final purpose the company needs to achieve is to provide a customer with high-quality services to increase customer loyalty and trust in your brand. If everything is done properly, a customer will be satisfied and they will use your services again and again. 

Of course, to achieve a successful result, a company needs to work hard. Since their customer is also a company that has many requirements that should be met in a proper way. So it is rather complicated to identify what customer needs today. And you cannot fulfil it without B2B CRM. 

B2B CRM advantages

CRM is the most helpful for the sales department, sales and requirements managers use it to work with customers’ demands. However, other departments like marketing department can also make use of it. Let’s check out all the strong sides of B2B CRM. 

Simple contact management

Spreadsheets are more convenient than paper records, of course. However, when your business grows, the number of customers increases, simple spreadsheets are not already enough. It is highly important to manage customer base, so CRM helps perform it efficiently. Specialists can analyze the data, prioritize it, set reminders about calls and meetings, and so on. Each detail about a customer can be drawn immediately if necessary. 

Improved customer experience

Selling a product is only half the battle. It is necessary to make sure that the customer is satisfied, so the service provider should build relations with a customer from the very beginning. Because the sales process may take even a few months or a year. Thus, a customer gets a personalized experience due to the efficient use of CRM. Next time, they will likely get back to your services. 

Accurate estimations

All financial data in CRM is updated timely, and a company sends real estimations to its customers. It makes sure that customers won’t receive out-to-date information and they will be able to plan their budget wisely. 

Marketing campaigns

If your company offers various products, you should launch a marketing campaign for each type of product, since the target audience varies as well. B2B CRM makes it possible to launch marketing campaigns that can be automated and each of them will be reached the right audience. The company’s specialists will look for potential customers and use targeted advertising to attract them. 

Reporting and analytics

You have launched a marketing campaign, but now you need to find out how successful this campaign was. Whether a campaign gives a return on investment (ROI), or analyze when the next sales will be done, and so on. Analytics and reporting make it possible for sales managers to assess what actions were correct, what was done right, and what was done wrong, etc. CRM system displays all results on a special dashboard where specialists see all results with metrics and reports. 

As a result, the CRM system is especially important for B2B companies since they can make the right priorities, learn their audience, and provide customers with required services. Apart from this, the communication process becomes easier and workflow is also improved. 

Strategies of B2B CRM to keep up with

You should know how to satisfy the demands of your customers and increase the trust of your brand These 5 tips will help you follow the right road and manage fitting customer relationships. 

Determine what your customers want

B2B companies should always know the needs of their customers, what they want, and what services they would like to get. B2B CRM stores all the necessary information. 

When sales representatives start communicating with potential customers, they ask them how they found a company, why they did it and what requirements they have. Then all this information is noted down in CRM, where it is analyzed. Then specialists can easily get back to this info and find out all the needs of customers. 

Focus on companies

Since B2B companies work with other companies, not with individual customers, as B2C companies do, it is recommended to find more corporate customers and capture their attention. 

For example, B2B companies may launch training and some other events to explain how their product works, what benefits it has, and so on. And it is necessary to invite representatives of the customer to show them that you are interested in a long-term cooperation. 

Don’t ignore feedbacks

If you know what customers need, they will be satisfied. If they are satisfied, they succeed in their business. And it is important for your B2B company is to ask for feedback. 

For a start, you can send them a short questionnaire with a few questions regarding the quality of your services, what they would like to add, and so on. 

Look through all feedbacks accurately, it will give an understanding of what you are doing right (or wrong).  In turn, customers will see that you are concerned and you want to improve the quality of your services. 

Add the necessary content

B2B customers often want to find detailed information regarding services they plan to use, so good content on your website is a must-have thing. 

As a rule, B2B companies have a Blog page where interesting articles and posts may be found. Also, the FAQ page includes answers to the most popular questions. Customers would appreciate it. 

Keep track of customer success

Don’t forget that a successful sale is not the end. It would be better to check how customers use your product a few months or weeks later, and the CRM system makes it possible to monitor all these indicators. 

Monitor the frequency of product usages, and you will find out the level of product popularity. 

That is everything you need to know if you want to build reliable cooperation with B2B customers. B2B CRM is important, so you need to use a high-quality system. You can buy a ready-made B2B CRM, however, it often has limited functionality and your B2B company may need some specific features. Therefore, you’d better invest in custom CRM development and build a system that will meet all your business requirements. 

Just remember a simple truth: satisfied customers are loyal customers. May the success be with you!

 

(Sergey Lypchenko is a technical writer at Cleveroad company with an objective to develop first-rate and competitive software for its customers. Lypchenko defines himself as a man with a mission is to provide people with interesting material about innovations in the world of IT.) 

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)