Part 1: What’s in a Name? A Lot! The Importance of Knowing Your B2B Customers

How well do you really know your customers? In a B2C (business-to-consumer) environment, it is very rare to know your customers since the focus on each interaction is generally on resolving one issue or ticket at a time. Often, the very first contact the company ever has with a customer in that environment may be through a call center, where they have a simple request like asking for an update on their order.

A B2B (business-to-business) environment is the other way around. It’s more complex because there are multiple contacts within each business, but it shouldn’t be more complicated. There had been a sales process that the company was involved in and there is already a great deal known about the company, its support department, and the customers it serves.

So, when a contact calls about a support issue, you want a B2B customer support software that makes relevant information available to the support agent so they don’t have to ask the contact for basic information the company already has. In other words, you want your customer contact to feel like you know them.

Knowing your customer should feel a lot like knowing a good friend—finishing each other’s sentences, anticipating their hot buttons and preventing them from happening, being in tune with trends in their industry and how they might impact the support department, for a few examples.

Why is this all important? Several reasons:

• Every contact within the client company is an individual person. Make them feel like it! When all of the support team contacts are happy, so is the client. And it reaches out to the support they provide to their B2B clients.

• Establishing trust at all levels of your client’s organization goes a long way in solidifying a long-term relationship with them and building customer loyalty. As the company grows you will be able to take advantage of upselling opportunities because you will be taking a consultative approach and viewed by the client as a trusted business partner.

• Make each interaction relevant and real. In this way, you can turn an issue into a training opportunity on how to use various features within your B2B support software platform and where to find self-help resources in the Knowledge Base.

Now that we’ve explored the importance of knowing your existing customers, in Part 2 we’ll talk about getting to know your prospective (or future) customers.

About the Author: Dylan Wilkerson is a business development representative at TeamSupport. He has a passion for live music and sports. When he’s not rockin’ or dabbling in Texas country, he is spending time with his family. Dylan’s cat, Tubby, is the official mascot of the TeamSupport marketing team.