What is B2C? A guide for sales professionals

Just ten years ago, few people aspired to a career in sales. Our mental image of a sales professional is a ruthless, sweaty, fast-talking person, someone who uses tricks and sweet talk to close a sale.

Today, more than three billion people are connected to the Internet. On a global scale, the emphasis is increasingly on value-based sales-And more and more people are looking to sell their careers. Search terms such as "What is B2C?", "What is CRM?" and dozens of other questions flood Google every day.

The confusion ends with this post - you'll know what B2C is and why it's important for sales professionals to understand it. Familiarizing yourself with B2C and how it differs from B2B is essential to the success of your career. Ready to get started? Let's get started.

In a nutshell: what is B2C?

B2C stands for business-to-consumer.

Investopedia defines B2C as "a business or transactions conducted directly between a company and consumers who are the end-users of your products or services. " 

To fully understand B2C, it's imperative to compare it with B2B or business-to-business. Simply put, B2B transactions take place between two companies, while B2C refers to transactions between companies and end consumers. Where B2B offers services to other companies to improve their operations, B2C responds directly to consumer needs with its products.

Article by Sandeep Krishnamurthy published by Inc.com and Wikipedia Divide the B2C space into five categories:

What are B2C sales?

In the B2C sales model, companies prospect and sell to individual consumers. B2C companies and sales professionals sell products such as food options, cars and other consumer staples.

B2C vs B2B: key differences in the sales process

B2C sales are quick, consisting of a few specific touches and a continuous presence. B2B sales are a longer sales process that can take months to years of presence, nurturing and engagement. In the B2C space, the emphasis is on speeding up all transactions.

While the same can be said for B2B companies, the nature of the products and the prospects don't always call for fast transactions. In fact, taking your time in the sales funnel can offer larger contracts to B2B sales professionals.

B2C sales decisions are usually made by one or two people. A whole company department, often in collaboration with consultants, may be involved in the decision to buy a B2B product.

B2C sales throw a wide net to attract and qualify leads, while it's imperative that B2B sales professionals target sales prospecting and lead qualification. When it comes to knowing where to obtain and generate leads, B2B and B2C companies cross paths on many platforms.

HubSpot reports that 41% from B2B companies and 67% from B2C companies have acquired a customer via the social networking site Facebook.

Prices for B2C products are relatively lower than those for B2B products. B2B sales can reach millions of dollars, and are generally executed on long contracts. However, B2C sales account for a large proportion of total sales.

According to eMarketer, Global B2C e-commerce sales reach $15 billionThis steady growth is mainly driven by emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific.

• Variety of offers and purchasing processes

B2C transactions are clearly detailed and straightforward. Product offers are generally mass-produced and therefore uniform in nature. B2B offers are highly customizable, and the nature of the purchasing process is complex on a case-by-case basis.

Case study: Coca-Cola

Emotional banking in B2C sales and marketing

For B2C products like food, home and car, it's not so much what it can do for me, but how it makes me feel. That's why emotion-driven and emotion-triggered marketing campaigns are rampant in the B2C space.

From social media to network TV ads, advertising and marketing decision-makers are spending more of their budgets on campaigns based on this attribute.

Dr Peter Noel Murray of Psychology Today's Inside the Consumer Mind went on to say: "Emotions are the main reason why consumers prefer branded products. After all, many of the products we buy are available as generic brands and in stores with the same ingredients and at cheaper prices. Why have we decided to pay more for brand-name products?

Yes, these efforts and resources are not wasted. B2C giant Coca-Cola is the world's biggest spender on marketing. Ad Age Datacenter reports that in 2013, the company succeeded in 3.3 billion in advertising Globally, the company's CEO, Muhtar Kent, said it would increase its media spending and brand-building initiative by around $1 billion next year.

Most of Coca-Cola's resources are devoted to creating and promoting campaigns aimed at arousing certain emotions, far removed from its product: a hyper-sweetened caffeinated beverage long criticized for its harmful effects on health. The world's third best-performing brand, behind technology giants Apple and Google.

Skills for B2C sales professionals

B2C sales professionals target large, diverse markets - anyone can be a customer. It's very difficult to collect a set of behaviors and characteristics specific to a potential customer, lest you run the risk of cutting off your market. It's imperative for a B2C sales professional to be able to turn problems and issues into opportunities.

As with any sales position, all low sales B2C jobs require great communication skills, the ability to take criticism and rejection, strong multitasking, results-oriented skills and a natural inclination to mix with people. .

A Study of budding minds revealed, "English communication skills combined with awareness and extraversion show the strongest correlation with success for (sales) professionals."

With Google's effort to help small local businesses By bringing operations online, the rules of the game for B2C sales professionals are developing at a good pace.

Becoming fully familiar with B2C and the processes in this space is crucial to sales success. In future articles, we'll cover more detailed topics within B2C and B2B. For now, we've got a ton of useful information on the Tenfold Internal sales blog-From tips and skill development guides to opinion pieces on inside sales trends and issues.

Now we want to ask you: where are your strengths? B2C or B2B?

Let's talk about it in the comments below!