4 Key Differences between B2B and B2C

Written By Ted Grigg

Here are 4 differences between B2B and B2C direct marketing environments.

1. Telesales are used more in BtoB new business acquisition -- especially lead generation as part of the channel mix. Marketers have complete freedom to access this powerful medium because businesses do business by phone and current law does not restrict its use as it does in B2C.

2. Lead and sale cost allowables tend to offer more flexibility in B2B because the average sales are often much higher than for B2C.

3. The contact quantities for B2B are lower. This increases the need for sophisticated CRM. While still critical in B2C, B2B sales cycles are often much longer .

4. The database requirements make B2B direct response extremely complex. You are still selling to individuals, but the buying decisions are heavily influenced by multiple individuals who are tied together under a corporate umbrella. Keeping up with file changes makes sloppy database discipline a sales killer. One could argue that poor database discipline hurts both B2B and B2C. But I consider B2B more complex in this regard.

There are other differences and even more similarities between these two segments. But these come to mind as the most important differences from a strategic perspective.

For example, I do not see a big difference in the need for solid benefits in the messaging that are tied to emotional appeals for both categories. After all, business people are still people both at work and at home.

What other differences have I missed here?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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