Anyone in the marketing industry is familiar with the buzz words B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Client).
Today, I want to talk about a new concept that I feel is necessary and I hope is budding – B2P(Business to People).
No matter what business or industry you’re in, you must be working with people. Your services and products are consumed by humans who need and want them. Your client is always human.
Even if you’re selling to other businesses there is a person, a real human being, at the other end. You never deal with a virtual entity called “The client” or “The client company”, you’re probably dealing with Mr. Smith who buys your products or with Mrs. Jones who is your contact person at the Client Company or business.
The current terms in existence, B2C and B2B are very limited. They suggest that once the deal is done, you’ve sold your product or finished giving your service, the business cycle ends. As most professionals in any industry know – that is far from the truth.
You need to sell more. You need your clients to return and you need them to recommend you to other, new clients.
Therefore, a paradigm shift is in order. Marketing professionals and CEOs have to keep in mind the human factor. They have to stop thinking in virtual terms of “client” and “business” and start humanizing the way they do business. Once you remember this, you will see that your focus needs to shift from hard sales and marketing promotions to human communication.
In this day and age when information is abundant and communication is made easy and direct around the globe people who want to reach you directly, even if you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, are likely to be able to do so. You might as well establish a rapport and mean it!
Whether you’re handling client communication on your own in your small business or whether you have whole department for marketing and sales doing the work for you, remember you are doing business with People, for People.
