No such thing as B2B

Anil Raj, mobile industry heavy-hitter (and a new client in an exciting venture) hates the term B2B. He’s sold at the highest levels of the mobile industry (as Head of Ericsson India for instance) and is convinced that businesses don’t buy from businesses…When Anil or one of his salespeople close a deal, it’s never a case of one massive corporation buying from another. It’s one person deciding to trust another. For Anil, it’s 80% heart and 20% head. If the buyer feels that the salesperson is 100% emotionally committed to the buyer’s success — that he’ll fight his own organisation to force it to deliver for the buyer — he’ll make the facts support the deal.

It’s a good way to think about it. So maybe B2B marketing is all about creating an environment that earns this face-to-face engagement and supports the salesperson’s efforts to establish commitment.

Whatever we call it, business marketing needs to be oriented around this person-to-person interaction — the moment when the deal is won or lost.