Key Issues in B2B Marketing and a Need to Develop Appropriate Theories and Models

'Traditional marketing in the business-to-business environment requires very different strategies from those campaigns directed towards the consumer market.' (ExtraVision, n.d., p. 1) 'Consumer competition can be a lot fiercer, with customer loyalty a constant battle.? (ExtraVision, n.d., p.1)

Most of the needs experienced by the business to business (B-B) market are those which help them fulfill the needs of their own customers –“derived demand” (“B2B Market”, 2015). All businesses need resources and infrastructures in order to provide services and products for their customers (Grewal, p. 210).

Various organizations operate in an increasingly complicated industry - more than a few different products, ample of business process and clients ranging from retailers to small business, service providers, exporters, and independent shops. The organization has identified increasingly the evolving trend in consumers and responds

In order to gather knowledge about the topic and create a basis for the forthcoming empirical research and analysis, a critical literature review has been conducted. The literature focuses on the theory of a sales plan, the B2B selling process and the diffusion of innovation. The results of the literature analysis will provide the answer to sub-question 1: "Which characteristics does the literature reveal on the development of a B2B sales plan?".

In the B2B domain the fastest way to improve your sales number is to build great relationships with your customers. Relationships help discern when the industry a large number of established players in the market, customers are always asking for price-cut and the industry is quite mature with widespread adoption of products.

The car manufacturer would deal directly with a tire manufacturer to get their product. The different supply channels in this situation would travel from the car manufacturer to the tire manufacturer to the raw supplies dealers. An example of a business to consumer model would include an individual looking to book a flight and hotel in Las Vegas. The supply channels would typically travel through a variety of more channels compared to the B2B model that include the individual, the online store, the airline, the airline staff, the hotel and hotel staff. Another key difference between B2C and B2B has to do with properly integrating technology characteristics. B2B needs to be integrated to their business partner 's software for adequate re-supply of inventory, billing and other elements. This is an aspect that the B2C does not have to deal with since the customer will return to them out of loyalty and satisfaction versus convenience. Using once again an example with a car manufacturer and a tire manufacturer, Mars Auto signs a deal with Firestone tires. Mars Auto must accurately communicate to Firestone in order for Firestone to know exactly how many vehicles are going to need tires delivered for the upcoming weeks, months and years. Firestone will also have to account for the tires received and charge the company accordingly, so the integration of the billing and payments can be transferred back and forth effectively

It has a complex and longer purchasing process, and the order can be repetitive and stable. It is focus on relationship management, and B2B need to keep that chain of command in mind. It has higher risk than B2C, because the investment sums are much higher. Purchasing the wrong product or service, the wrong quantity, the wrong quality or agreeing to unfavourable payment terms may put an entire business at risk. Since there are more people involved in the decision making process and technical details may have to be discussed in length, the decision-making process for B2B products is usually much longer than in B2C. Companies seek long term relationships as any experiment with a different brand will have impacts

The authors mention about topology for few chapters, which included the four dimension of sales complexity, nature of sales, four types of buyers in the late chapters in which those topics was a basic for marketer but still, the author give an details explanations’ for the topics, and conclude it with the new views of the marketing now. It was addresses marketing to consumer’s internal needs rather than basic demographics.

It also contains valuable information for readers who are seeking to understand an issue, solve a problem or make a decision.

to have good strategic development. Since these purchases are the main source of their business products, risk will need to be minimal.

Branding is a tool to make the goods of one producer different from another producer (Keller, 2003). Carroll (2008) asserts that branding is a sign of quality, and it is helpful to increase

There are various stages a buyer goes through while buying commodities and so discussing each process is important. This process represents a number of stages and these stages are undergone by that the purchaser before actually making the final purchase decision. The consumer buyer decision process is similar to the business/organisational buyer decision process . The integral part being that the purchase is generally of value in monetary terms .It is understood that the consumer/business will take time To judge their options.

When we, at Edfora, set out to design B2B products such as SchoolPAT and HelloApp, the first question to be asked was - “How designing a B2B product should be different from designing a B2C product?”. Ideally, there should be no difference except the targeted user. All the differences in designing a product for the users inside an organization arise out of the differences in the nature of a B2B user vis-à-vis B2C user. Few of them can be listed as below:

IDC survey reports that 3 out of 4 B2B buyers used social media to communicate with peers before making purchasing decisions.

Long before now has branding been considered as one of the peripheral aspects of business. Manufacturers, investors and other key players focused on the product without paying much attention to the consumer. But as the business landscape got tougher, marketing became not just an integral part of business but one of the fundamental principles of success.