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This CX Mini Masterclass provides an overview of what makes experience management unique for organizations in the business to business space. Show host and customer experience expert, Julia Ahlfeldt, explains the fundamentals of B2B CX, how this differs from B2C experience management and what approaches are applicable to both. If you are keen for a snappy summary of B2B CX, then this episode is for you.
A growing focus on B2B CX
Episode 49 covered how the field of CX is growing and evolving, specifically with regards to the evolution of customer success teams and the role that these teams play in customer experience. The rise of the Customer Success function is rooted in the unique needs of CX within the B2B world, which is an important topic in and of itself.
It’s generally accepted that CX gained traction in the B2C world first, but as B2B companies start focusing on customer experience, we need to understand how customer experience management might differ within this context.
B2B Customer Experience: Key Differences and Considerations
The core fundamentals of CX management are 90-95% the same
whether you are talking about B2C or B2B, save for a couple of differences.
These differences are also the basis of key considerations for how to manage
B2B CX:
- The customer is not an individual, but rather a community of stakeholders – The biggest difference is that in the B2B space, companies aren’t dealing with an individual as their customer, but rather a group of stakeholders within the customer’s organization. To effectively manage the relationship, supplier organizations need to understand the wants, needs and drivers of all of their key customer stakeholders, recognizing that these will probably differ from individual to individual. Be wary of an over-emphasis on the needs of the customer’s decision-maker (e.g. the CEO). This person might be key for sign-off at the time of customer acquisition, but they might be removed from the relationship for the rest of the enterprise-level journey. Other stakeholders could become influential voices in re-purchase decisions. So it’s worth the time and effort to do a little stakeholder mapping on B2B customers.
- Fewer, but more complex, relationships – While B2B customer relationships might be more high maintenance given the number of stakeholders, the good news is that most B2B business models have a smaller customer base. These relationships are also likely to be deeper and more complex, hence the rise of Customer Success teams to help manage these relationships. If your customer base runs in the hundreds or thousands, not millions, it will change the way that you define experiences, communicate with your customers and solicit feedback. What works in the B2C world, might not be applicable in B2B, but the depth of the relationship opens up a new world of possibilities for experience management.
- B2B customer organizations are ultimately serving another customer, so pressures move backwards through the value chain – In B2C CX, the buck stops with the consumer. In the B2B world, enterprise product and service providers need to understand the wants and needs of the end consumer, as well as how these play out in terms of supporting B2B customers to deliver experiences to their customers. Whatever their customers want will inform what they ask of their suppliers.
Leveraging best practices from B2C
What learnings can CX practitioners leverage from the world of B2C CX? The short answer is pretty much everything, as long as the approach is tweaked for the context of the 3 key differences mentioned above. Beyond that, it’s generally good practice to treat individual B2B customer stakeholders in the same way that a brand would treat any end consumer. B2B stakeholders are consumers in their own right. We know that consumer expectations are on the rise, and individual stakeholders within a business are unlikely to check these expectations at the parking lot when they go into work. If you want to deliver a great B2B customer experience, this starts with the individual experience for each of your stakeholders.
Transcript
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Welcome to Decoding the Customer, a podcast about customer experience and how to realize customer-centric change in today’s dynamic business world. I’m Julia Ahlfeldt, Certified Customer Experience Professional Business Advisor and host of this program. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you’re new to the show, welcome.
If you’re a returning listener, thanks, and it’s great to have you back. This episode is part of my CX Mini Masterclass series here on Decoding the Customer. These weekly episodes are published each Thursday and designed to be punchy, bite-size overviews of key customer experience concepts, and ideas for how you can help your organization thrive through customer centricity. Whether you’re new to the field of customer experience, are preparing for the CCXP exam, or are seasoned professional looking to brush up on a few basics, this series will help you improve your knowledge, skills, and performance to stand out as a CX professional.
And if you’re keen to do some more intensive online training in the field of customer experience, stay tuned at the end of this episode for an exclusive listener discount code from our show sponsor, CX University. This is episode 51. During the months of July and August, the show has been focusing on topics related to change, both managing customer-centered change within organizations, as well as some of the macro changes that are happening in the field of customer experience. I’ve had the opportunity to bring in some great guest speakers during the last couple of episodes, but I’m closing out the month of August with an episode from me.
In episode 49, I explained how the field of customer experience is growing and evolving, specifically with regards to the evolution of customer success teams and the role that these teams play in overall customer experience. The rise of customer success as a function is rooted in the unique needs of customer experience management within the context of B2B business. But after publishing that episode, I realized that I hadn’t yet done a deep dive into the world of B2B customer experience, which is a pretty important topic in and of itself. It’s widely accepted that customer experience gained traction in the B2C world first.
But as B2B companies start focusing on customer experience, we need to understand how customer experience management might differ within this context. So in this episode, I’m going to explain what makes customer experience unique in the B2B world. Some key considerations for organizations that are delivering experiences to other businesses, and I’m going to cover how we can leverage what we already know about B2C CX. If you’re keen for a quick and snappy overview of the basics of customer experience in the business to business realm, then stay tuned.
As always, if you’re out and about while listening to this episode, and here’s something that you’d like to remember later, don’t worry about writing it down. You can find an overview of the key concepts that we’ve covered today in the show notes for this episode, which are on my website, juliaahlfeldt.com or decodingthecustomer.com. So let’s dive right into the heart of this topic. What makes customer experience management unique for organizations that offer products and services to companies rather than to consumers?
I think that the fundamentals of customer experience management are 90 to 95 percent the same, whether you’re talking about B2C or B2B, save for a couple of differences that I’m going to share with you right now. The biggest difference is that in the B2B space, you aren’t dealing with an individual as your customer. You’re dealing with a community of stakeholders within your customer’s organization. This is almost like dealing with a customer who has multiple personalities.
To effectively manage the relationship in a B2B context, you need to understand the wants, needs, and drivers of all of your customer stakeholders, recognizing that these are probably going to differ from person to person. Often, product and service providers will focus too much on the needs of the customer’s decision maker, someone like the CEO, since this person is key for sign off at the time of customer acquisition, but they might be removed from the relationship for the rest of the customer journey. Multiple stakeholders will be part of the journey, and some of these people will become influential voices in things like repurchase decisions. For these reasons, it’s worth the time and effort to do a little bit of stakeholder mapping on B2B customers before you map the journey or define your strategy for relationship management.
That might sound like a complicated undertaking, but there are likely to be similarities with stakeholder dynamics among a given B2B customer base. These insights might form part of a customer profile and can be used to customize experiences for particular segments. And while B2B customer relationships might be more high maintenance, given the number of stakeholders, the good news is that most B2B business models have a smaller customer base. Which takes me to my second key difference between B2B and B2C, the depth and breadth of customer relationships.
Companies offering products and services to other companies are likely to have a smaller number of customers, but these relationships are also likely to be deeper and more complex, hence the rise of customer success teams to help manage these relationships. If your customer base runs in the hundreds or thousands, not millions, it will definitely change the way that you define experiences, communicate with your customers, and solicit feedback. This is an important consideration for customer experience professionals. By way of one small example, a CX team might opt for face-to-face interviews or focus groups rather than surveys.
In episode 45, Stephanie Thum talked about bringing B2B customers into the business to help craft and refine experiences. The depth of B2B relationships means that enterprise level customers might be willing to get more involved. And this opens up a whole new world of possibilities for experience management, things that you couldn’t dream of doing in the B2C world. The third major difference between B2B and B2C customer experience is that in the business to business world, customer organizations are ultimately serving another customer.
So their enterprise suppliers need to think about how those expectations and pressures move backwards through the value chain. This obviously isn’t an issue in the business to consumer customer experience world. Because the buck stops with the consumer. But in B2B, by contrast, understanding your customer’s customer is really important, as it enables you to provide better support and experiences to your customer.
For example, if speed and turnaround time are important to the end consumer, a B2B product and service provider can expect that their enterprise customer will want to do everything they can to facilitate quick and easy processing. And they’ll be looking to their suppliers to help them do this. Essentially, we can kind of think of this as two layers of customer in the B2B world, which just adds a little bit of an extra level of complexity. So what learnings can we leverage from the world of B2C customer experience?
The world of customer experience management that’s been around for just a little longer. The short answer is pretty much everything, as long as we tweak it for the context of the three differences that I’ve just described. In addition to this, I always suggest that product and service providers carefully consider the experiences of each of their business customer stakeholders. These stakeholders are consumers in their own right.
We know that consumer expectations are on the rise across the board. And individual business stakeholders within your customer’s organization are unlikely to check these experiences at the parking lot before they go into work. If you want to deliver a great B2B customer experience, this starts with the individual experience of each of your stakeholders. Thanks so much for listening today.
If you’re enjoying the show, please share the program with others who might be interested, or head on over to iTunes and rate the podcast. This helps others find the show. I’ll be back next Thursday with an interview episode, and there will be more mini masterclasses to follow each Thursday in September. Be sure to tune in or subscribe to the show for updates when new episodes go live.
Are you keen to do some more intensive online training in the field of customer experience? If so, I’d encourage you to check out CX University. They offer a broad array of e-learning options that you can access anywhere and anytime. Their offering includes practice tests for the CCXP exam, and they’re a customer experience professional association accredited resource and training provider, meaning that their materials have been reviewed and vetted by the association for alignment to the six core competencies that are in the exam.
And what’s better is that all this is available on a flexible monthly subscription plan, meaning that you don’t have to fork over hundreds of dollars to get started. As of the time of publishing this episode, plans including CX courses and practice exam questions start at just $75 per month. And listeners of the podcast can use the discount code podcast10 to get 10% off the first month subscription and help support the show. I’ll be back next Thursday.
If you’d like to get in touch in the meantime, you can send me an email, tweet, or LinkedIn message. My handle is at Julia Ahlfeldt and my full contact details are also listed on my website, juliaahlfeldt.com or decodingthecustomer.com.
Want to keep learning about CX?
If you’d like to checkout more of these CX Mini Masterclasses or listen to my longer format CX expert interviews, check out the full listing of episodes for this CX podcast.
And if you are looking to super-charge your CX skills and continue learning, be sure to check out CX University. They have a great array of CXPA accredited training resources available on a flexible monthly subscription plan. Use the code PODCAST10 to get 10% off your first month’s subscription and support this podcast.
Decoding the Customer is a series of customer experience podcasts created and produced by Julia Ahlfeldt, CCXP. Julia is a customer experience strategist, speaker and business advisor. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and one of the top experts in customer experience management. To find out more about how Julia can help your business achieve its CX goals, check out her customer experience advisory consulting services (including B2B CX strategy) or get in touch via email.
