Managing B2B Market Channel
Partners
Chapter SEVEN
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
• At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain the main issues in designing a suitable distribution
channel
• Describe the advantages of different types of distribution
system
Introduction
• Channels of distribution are the means and ways by which products get from
the producer to the final consumer or industrial users.
• The main goal is to make goods available to the users.
• B2B and B2C Channels
• Distribution channel
• Direct - face-to-face interaction or online
• Indirect - intermediary
Direct Channel
• It involves selling directly from the manufacturer or producer to the enduser or to the customer without any intermediaries.
• Commonly used in B2B, where the products being sold are highly
specialized, require technical expertise, or are purchased in large
quantities.
• It allows better control over the quality and enables more personalized
service.
• It requires a significant investment and a deep understanding of the target
market.
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Distributors
Independent/Manufacturer
Reps
• Have their own salesforce;
• May represent one manufacturer, several non-competing
manufacturers or several competing manufacturers;
• Take ownership of the products and are responsible for
storing, promoting, and selling them.
• Work on behalf of manufacturers to sell their products
• Do not take title to the goods or carry inventory;
• Sell complimentary products from non-competing
manufacturers;
• Are paid for performance/
Independent Representatives vs. Direct Sale - Costs
B2B e-commerce
• It is a channel that lets business sell products and services to other
businesses over the internet.
• B2B ecommerce is one of the fastest-growing channel
• Estimated market value at over $12 trillion
• 13% of total B2B sales in the USA.
• The benefits include the ability to reach a wider audience and the ability to
sell products more efficiently.
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Some examples of B2B ecommerce
• Amazon Business
• Alibaba
• AliExpress
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BUSINESS TO BUSINESS MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter EIGHT
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
• Describe the difference between B2B vs. B2C marketing
communications
• Describe the factors that impact the marketing communications mix
• Understand personal selling and social selling and how each can
be used to build strong relationships with customers
Introduction
B2B vs. B2C Marketing
Communications
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Advertising In B2B
• Advertising is a paid, non-personal form of communication through the mass
media to inform, persuade or influence the behavior of the target audience.
• Advertising supports and supplements personal selling.
• The key difference between B2C and B2B is the target audience.
• Modes of advertisement: Print, Broadcast, Digital, and Outdoor.
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Role of Advertising in B2B
• Create a favourable climate for personal selling.
• Reach inaccessible buying influences.
• Reach unknown buying influences.
•
•
•
•
•
Generate leads for salespeople.
Supplement field sales communications.
Inform channel intermediaries.
Stimulate derived demand.
Provide an economical promotional mix.
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Sales Promotion
• Sales promotions are intended to create a short-term increase in sales
• It Is a push strategy and less widely used in B2B than B2C
• It involves offering incentives or rewards to encourage customers, middlemen, or the
sales team to buy or promote a product or service.
• Categories of Sales Promotion
• Aimed at the sales team: sales contests, bonuses, and incentives.
• Aimed at middlemen: trade allowances, discounts, and cooperative advertising.
• Aimed at the customer: discounts, free samples, and loyalty programs
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Trade-Show
• Trade show events where businesses showcase their products, services, and capabilities
to potential customers, partners, and other stakeholders.
• Through the trade show:
• An effective selling message can be delivered
to a relatively large audience
• New products can be introduced to a mass
audience.
• Customers can get hands-on experience with
the product.
• Potential customers can be identified
Trade-Show Objectives
• Activities relating directly to making sales:
• Generating leads
• Identifying potential customers
• Handling customer problems
• Creating actual sales
• Providing information
• Non-sales benefits of exhibitions
• Building corporate image
• Gathering competitive intelligence
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Personal Selling
• Personal selling refers to interpersonal communication between buyers and
sellers to initiate, develop, and enhance customer relationships.
•
•
•
•
More credible and has more impact
Better timing of message delivery
Affords the flexibility of communicating
Allows a sale to be closed.
• High cost to reach each member of the audience.
Functions of Personal Selling
• Personal selling also serves several other important functions, including:
• Information Gathering
• Relationship Building
• Customer Education
• Market Research
• Customer Service
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Social Selling
• Social selling is using social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture
buyers.
• It is when salespeople use social media to interact directly with their prospects.
• …utilizing the relationships, connections and insights available in social channels
to facilitate a better experience in both buying and selling”
Why should businesses care about social selling?
1. Social selling is effective strategy.
• Social selling leaders create 45% more opportunities
• Salespeople who use social selling are 51% more likely to reach sales quotas.
• 78% of businesses that use social selling outsell businesses that don’t use.
• 81% of buyers are more likely to engage
2. Helps salespeople build real relationships
• Relationship-building have shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic
3. Social selling is already a
popular trend among
customers.
❖ 81% of Instagram users are researching
products and services on the platform.
❖ 18.3% of American Facebook users made a
purchase via Facebook in 2020.
❖ 70% of YouTube users have bought a brand’s
product after seeing it on YouTube.
❖ 96% of B2B content marketers use LinkedIn for
organic marketing.
Competitors are already using.
4. Competitors are already
using social selling.
Benefits of Social Selling
• Increases brand visibility
• Generates high-quality leads
• Boosts web traffic
• Benefits employees
• Creates shorter sales cycles
• Forms deeper connections with clients
Which platform is considered the best for
building B2B relationships?
• Widely used by business owners,
professional service providers, marketers,
sales reps and executives.
• 10 million C-level executives as of 2023
• 277% more effective for lead generation
than any other social media platform
• More than 80% of all B2B leads
generated from social media come from
LinkedIn
Social Selling Index Score
Establish Your Professional Brand
Find The Right People
https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi
Engage With Insights
Build Relationships
Thank You
Final Exam
Chapter 3 -8
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