Imagine you are on vacation. Such a nice thought!
Here, you have two options. One, to go like a wanderer and two, to chalk out a plan before you set out on your journey. You need a map, an itinerary, mode of travel, travel and stay bookings, etc. First of all, you finalize your destination.
A business objective is a destination where your business needs to reach. When you define clear business objectives, you can decide the path, the milestones, and the mode of reaching the destination. A good business strategy is the foundation of your B2B business.
The year 2021 saw a magnificent growth in the B2B business. Moreover, the B2B market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 18.7 percent from 2021 to 2028.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a change in consumer preferences for online shopping, several B2B businesses have started thinking of reconsidering their business strategy. Due to this, it becomes imperative to set the right goals for your business. That’s where a lucid business plan comes into the picture.
It is rightly said that “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” So, we have got you covered with the following business development goals and objectives that will help you set the right goals for your B2B business.
Enhance The Experience Of The Customers
Usually, the top management of a business is always in favor of process advancements as it results in cost reduction and a rise in the bottom line. With an online shift in the ordering needs, the business needs to create several operational efficiencies. These operational efficiencies include offering automated order status updates, getting better data on customers, minimizing delivery times, controlling catalog visibility, setting pricing tiers, and many more.
Automation not only streamlines the business operations but also enhances the overall experience of the consumers. Thus, it helps you to reach your business objectives effortlessly.
Case Study: Starbucks creates efficiencies for customers through a custom ordering experience. They facilitated efficiency through their loyalty program that not only offers a variety of discounts but also encourages repeat visits. This approach has rewarded Starbucks with 48 percent of people using their loyalty apps regularly.
Differentiation And Personalization
Nowadays, the B2B market is drenched with similar products and services. The only way to differentiate your business from others is by creating a B2B eCommerce website that offers them the appropriate information that helps them to make informed purchases.
In exchange, you will get to know about their buying preferences. You can use this data to upgrade your business processes and pick out fundamental metrics. Therefore, this objective assists the business in differentiating their customers and creating personalized marketing campaigns.
Increase In The Number Of Orders
Customers are the focal point of any business strategy. Keeping the customers happy and repeat purchases from them should be the ideal goals of the businesses, which ultimately contribute to the growth of the organization.
Like B2C buyers, the B2B buyers have also increased the usage of mobile phones for product research. In reality, more than 68 percent of B2B customers prefer to research a particular product online. Therefore, it is necessary to drive engagement wherever they are if you want to meet the needs of your customers.
The B2B consumer makes his purchase decision even before reaching out to the sales representative of the organization. So, an automated eCommerce platform is the best solution to increase the number of orders.
Diminish The Order Management Costs And Repurpose Staff
Several businesses tend to forget that there are many eyes on a manual order. It also becomes easy to forget how much you are spending on order fulfillment and manual entries. There are a handful of people for each task, such as entering the order, processing it, initiating the payment, and order shipping. This increases the manpower and also the costs.
Streamlining and automating the process through the B2B eCommerce platform will help reduce order management costs and surplus staff.
Eradicate Errors In Order Management
Many businesses face errors in their order management due to the manual handling of the processes. Some of the common causes of errors in order are communication gaps, product data inconsistencies, re-entering orders, lack of inventory visibility, and manual business rules.
You can use this as a primary business objective that will help you set the right goal for your B2B business.
Case Study: ViewSource Technology Group aims to reduce order errors experienced by the leading manufacturer of metal wire products. The manufacturer realized that they had 53 retail customers who sold distinct parts of the catalog at different prices. This process is highly expensive and error-prone to their business. With the help of ViewSource, they automated their Product Inventory Management (PIM) system.
Enhance The Efficiencies Of Marketing Operations
The B2B marketing operational inefficiency does not have an immediate impact on the revenue-based performance targets. But, physical tasks that would have been otherwise automated are a waste of time and budget for the marketeers.
In other words, B2B businesses are spending much of their time in scrubbing, formatting, uploading, or lead deduplication. However, they can utilize the same time in creating real value for the business like creating high-value content, optimizing the lead sources, and enhancing account-based marketing plans.
Hence, enhancement of the marketing operation efficiencies should be one of the business objectives of the B2B businesses.
Channelize Growth
Channelizing growth refers to the adoption of tools, targets, and strategies to concentrate on the revenue pipeline and achieve the capabilities of closed-loop performance optimization. You can go through the following steps to expand these channels:
- Collaboration between different departments like sales, marketing, leadership, customer success, and product teams is significant to set strategic channel targets.
- Allocate funds for acquiring new customers and customer retention campaigns.
- Assign a budget for lead generation efforts within each category at every step of the marketing funnel.
- Measure and optimize active campaigns continuously.
Channelizing growth is the fundamental objective of every B2B business.
Acquire Referral Sales
Referral sales are the result of offering exceptional services to the customers and they should be included in every business plan. Several businesses do not have a systematic process of asking for referrals. But, you should have one as it is a prerequisite for any business.
The process of asking for referrals and testimonials is natural if you have delivered excellent services in the past. An automated referral system would work wonders to ease out the entire process, thereby generating more leads and growth for the business.
Increase In Revenue From Social Media Interactions
Social media interactions work as a thought leader in the industry. If you publish good marketing content, it is measured by likes, shares, and tweets. These measures spread your goals beyond your network and generate more followers and connections for your business.
The maximum social media interactions generate more leads and results in an increase in the business revenue. It is one of the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound) objectives of the business that would assist in the right goal setup for any business.
Raise Brand Awareness
Last but not the least, every B2B business should focus on increasing brand awareness. In simple words, your business should be visible whenever your customers are looking for a solution to their problem. Devising an integrated marketing tactic such as engaging with your customers in a trade show, meeting, conferences, and various other platforms is the best solution.
This business objective will take you one step closer to your B2B business goals.
Key Takeaways
Now, you must have come to know about all the business development goals and objectives a B2B business needs to address. If your B2B business fails to embrace any of the objectives, you must reconsider your business approach.
A company’s future is equally important, just like its day-to-day functions. Whatever B2B eCommerce solution you select, it should have the capability to scale with you and your business needs cost-effectively. It should also implement technological support that helps the business to evolve with time.
