SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




B2C Customer Support Wisdom Doesn't Apply to B2B Best Practices

Customer Support Software Featured Articles

B2C Customer Support Wisdom Doesn't Apply to B2B Best Practices

 
January 16, 2015

Share
Tweet
  By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor
 


There are times when it seems every piece of advice written for guidance in customer support scenarios seems to exist for the business-to-consumer (B2C) realm. Companies engaging in business-to-business (B2B) support – where each transaction is often worth a lot more than in the B2C world – must adapt business-to-consumer conventional wisdom to their own business, and much of it simply doesn’t apply.


Some B2B companies may even find themselves purchasing customer support software designed for  consumer business, in which case they’re often paying for features they don’t need, or not getting features they do need. While the ultimate goal is the same for both B2B and B2C – provide answers to a customer’s questions and solutions to any problems – the methodologies can be very different, according to a recent blog post by customer support software solutions provider TeamSupport, and the customers fewer, but larger.

“As a general rule of thumb, issues in the B2B space tend to be more complex and have more back and forth communication than issues in the B2C space,” wrote company CEO Robert Johnson in the blog. “Our research shows that the first contact resolution (FCR) rate for B2B customers tends to be lower than for B2C which is due to the more complex issues generated in a B2B environment.  As a result of this, the FCR metric is not as critical in the B2B space since customers are often quite technically savvy and know they are contacting their vendor about complex issues that may not be easy to solve.”

Johnson also notes that the natures of the B2C and B2B processes mean companies are getting to know their customers in very different ways. Because B2B purchases tend to be large, there is an extended sales process up front. By the time a customer actually becomes a customer, the company knows him or her fairly well and has a lot of data to support the transaction. This isn’t the case in a B2C transaction, where customers typically start as a nameless phone call, or as an even more distant presence in a brick and mortar store.

“Often in B2B environments companies will end up with good relationships, and sometimes even personal friendships, with their customers,” wrote Johnson. “This doesn’t happen often in the B2C space and is one of the great things about selling to businesses.”

When it comes to customer support software, however, one of the biggest implications is that while B2C relationships typically involve one company to one person, B2B transactions could involve several people at the client company. For this reason, it’s critical to ensure that the customer support solution tracks all interactions carefully to avoid duplicating effort or handing out conflicting information to different people.

“Support agents should have access to all the tickets created by anyone at a customer company so they can both be informed and understand recurring and/or concurrent issues,” wrote Johnson.

It’s a critical pivot point for a B2B company setting out to evaluate customer support solutions. Adapting an essentially B2C product to a B2B process could be setting up the contact center for failure before it has even begun. 




Edited by Alisen Downey
Customer Support Software Homepage





Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy