A B2C sales definition is relatively easy to formulate: a business that sells most of its goods or services to consumers is engaged in B2C sales. In a sense, B2C sales are more complex than B2B sales.
The target market is often far larger and more diverse, making it more difficult to formulate effective marketing and sales strategies. In B2B sales, the sales process is longer with more decision-makers participating. But it’s also far easier to research individual customers, gauging their needs and gaining a clear picture of the information they’d need to make a purchasing decision.
In B2C sales, the sales cycle is shorter, but that also means you have less time to engage your customers. You know far less about them as individuals. Instead, you must determine how your products address your ideal customers’ wants and needs. Often, people who don’t quite match that profile will share similar motivations, and you’ll be able to win some of them over along the way.
B2C Engagement: Winning Over Individuals
Generating B2C customer engagement is the golden thread that runs through every stage of the marketing and sales process. You want people to notice what you offer, like it, and build a relationship with your business. Like all relationships, it can’t be one-sided and consistency is key. Beginning with your marketing messages, customers will develop an impression of “who” your brand is, and every interaction should confirm that impression.
For example, you may want customers to see your business as friendly, caring, and helpful. In that case, everything from your website to your email newsletters and customer service must reinforce those impressions.
Most challenging of all, each of your customers wants to be seen as an individual and be valued accordingly. That requires a little help from technology and a willingness to engage in person. Some customers may be happy to navigate purchases on their own. But research shows that up to 83 percent of them will need some help from a live person before committing.
B2C Sales Tips
Know Your Customers and Identify With Their Needs
Even after identifying your target markets, it can be difficult to identify with people in remote selling. To help you connect with your customers, your first step is to humanise them. Think about the type of people who would buy your products and why they would support your business.
Some businesses even build “personas” complete with all the personal circumstances, hopes, fears, and aspirations your ideal customers would have. This helps your marketers, designers, and salespeople to understand and empathise with the people who make up your target market.
Personalise and Empathise
As you get to know customers, either through their behaviour in your store or through direct communication, you can begin to personalise in greater detail. Some of this can be automated. For example, if you view a product on Amazon’s website, it will show you linked or similar products.
E-commerce stores often make recommendations based on buyer behaviour – and if people sign up for your newsletter, you can tailor the information they receive based on their customer profiles. At the same time, be empathetic. Although people like the personal touch, they don’t want to be bombarded with sales pitches.
Personalisation becomes even more important in direct interactions with customers. As a seller, it’s your task to make recommendations that add value to individual experiences. Use any data you may have from previous interactions. Ask open-ended questions to clarify their needs and pain points. Determine how you can help them before you try to sell anything to them.
Focus on Individual Customer Benefits
Customers don’t want to hear about how wonderful your business or its products are. What they want to know is how your business can help them. Lead with the benefits, matching them to what you know about each prospective customer’s needs or wants. At its most successful, the meaning of B2C sales should imply guiding customers to make choices that are right for them.
For example, upselling and cross-selling are common tactics, but they should only be employed if they will benefit your customers. If your recommendations add value to their experiences, they’ll be open to coming back for more in future. If they don’t, they’ll soon find out – and they won’t support your business again unless they absolutely have to.
Follow Up With Relationship Building
Gaining new customers is resource-intensive – keeping them needn’t be. Relationship-building includes following up to see whether customers are satisfied with their purchases, being available if they need after-sales service, and incentivising repeat purchases and referrals.
While this might sound like a lot of things to do, some of it can be automated. Although most customers know an automated follow-up when they see one, they’ll be happy to know that their opinions matter to you. The data you gather from their responses will be valuable, and if some of your customers raise concerns, you have an opportunity to address them.
You can also build relationships through outbound selling – but do this with caution and an intimate knowledge of your customers. For example, if an apparel seller notices that certain customers always snap up the latest products from a specific designer brand, you can notify them whenever new designs are in stock.
Outsourced Sales and Customer Service Solutions for B2C Sellers
RSVP can help you with all your inbound and outbound B2C sales needs. Not sure what your sales plan should look like or struggling to sell with your existing one? Our strategists will help you to develop, implement, and fine-tune it. But that’s not all.
Whether your business is small or large, scaling the human side of selling to meet your and your customers’ needs can be difficult. Many of your customers will shop outside of business hours, and you may be selling products across countries and time zones. Our team of sales specialists can handle this on your behalf, feeding back all the information you need to know your customers as well as if you were dealing with them yourself.
Major brands trust us to develop outsourced sales solutions on their behalf – but we’ve also helped multiple startups and smaller businesses grow their sales and fast-track their progress. Contact us today and let’s get to know one another! We’ll be proud to be part of your success.