Customer loyalty is nothing other than getting consumers to be true to our brand. What is evident in that they frequently buy our products or services and that they are prescribers? In other words, loyal customers speak well of our products and services, and recommend them to other consumers.
Characteristics of B2B customer loyalty
The common characteristics of attracting business to business clients are, mainly, the following:
- Sales are on a large scale, except for cases such as the provision of a professional service. In any case, the invoicing involved is high.
- Customers, in this case other companies, demand efficiency and have different requirements. Even the legal type.
- They are in the search to solve specific needs, not desires.
- B2B customer loyalty are generally medium or long term.
- Decision making goes through different levels of signatures. What makes the process more rational and that deprive economic criteria.
Some key aspects of loyalty in B2B environments
It is a necessary condition to have exhaustive knowledge of the client.
This knowledge should be as much of the key people as of the company as a whole. In B2B it is transcendental to record the traceability of the entire relationship with a client. That is, to have the means that allow a record of any contact in the channel that is used. Always, identifying the person behind it (to which area it belongs, position it performs, subject matter, agreements, etc.).
Coordination of the sales force
The centralization of the relationship with the customer is a key element, since it requires a joint approach of the client at the level of the company. This, both commercially and relationally. The purpose is to have a “unique” relationship, which is difficult in companies with a wide range of products or services. In this case, it is natural that different interlocutors arise for the same client. This work will be successful with a good coordination of the sales force.
Relationship or value link with people on the client’s side
This is a fundamental element to cultivate the relationship with the client; and it is a key factor in purchasing decisions. It is clear that these purchasing decisions, in a B2B environment, mainly respond to rational and economic criteria. On the other hand, we cannot leave aside the weight it has in a decision, the link with the people responsible for them.
Pillars of the B2B loyalty strategy
Rationality is one of the essential characteristics in the B2B environment. In this sense, we must design apart from the strategies, the pillars that allow a continuous and safe action in the process of loyalty.
