5 rules for B2B success

The economic downturn is rapidly and drastically changing consumers' perceived needs and spending behaviours. Customers are seeking more value for their hard-earned money and pursuing creative ways to stretch their dwindling budgets. In turn, under the pressure of unprecedented revenue losses, many companies are nervously attempting to cut operating costs and remain competitive by slashing prices, reducing staff levels, and trimming inventories. But is this the right way to ensure long-term success? Will this allow businesses to take advantage of better conditions when the economy rebounds? If businesses want to prevent further defections and retain their customer base at a time when they are competing for an ever shrinking pool of money, being deeply attuned to the needs and satisfaction of their customers is an integral part of strategic operatives. Customer satisfaction plays a pivotal role in decisions about where to spend the next pound or Euro. Here are five rules we suggest you look at to ensure success… 1. Get the fundamentals right
With the ever-increasing rate of technological change, companies are more inclined to continually offer bigger, improved, feature-rich products or services, convinced that the latest and greatest will put their customer over the moon. Often times this is done at the expense of getting core service/product delivery done correctly and to client specifications. Providing product/service on time -- to specifications -- will win the hearts and minds of your customers every time, over giving them more than they want (or need) half the time. 2. Don't assume customers speak your language
Companies of any size have their own unique process and develop their own nomenclature and acronyms over time, to the point that many of them compile formal dictionaries of terms for internal use. Your customer may adopt some of this language, giving the appearance of being insiders to your company. Remember, they are customers. Their understanding of your company's world is different than yours, if for no other reason than they are outside it, not inside. They have only partial knowledge at best. Make sure communication is clear, concise, and complete. It is hard to over-communicate with a business customer. 3. Ask for the business
Everyone wants to be valued -- even the business customer. Make sure they understand that you want their business, and when you get it, tell them you are grateful for it, and will value it always. One company, a multi-national industry leader, instructs its sales force to close every customer interaction by always asking for the business and thanking the customer for their business. This simple forthright request shows that every customer is important to your company. Gratitude is a great relationship builder that benefits everyone. 4. Be proactive when things go wrong
A business relationship with any volume to it is going to occasionally turn up problems. When you notice problems before your clients, alert them as soon as possible -- particularly if they have a customer who is likely to complain when the problem surfaces publicly. When you reach out for your client, do so with a ready set of potential solutions that don’t involve more work for them to correct the situation for themselves or their customer. Make their service recovery easy. 5. Ask your customer for their feedback
You and your customer are in this together. Your success (or failure) is mutual. Help your customer help you by asking them for their insights and candid feedback on your performance on a regular basis, in order to make your company a better provider for the customer. Not only does this recognise their feedback as valuable, it creates psychological investment on their part. In the coming months, businesses will need to continue making tough decisions to cut operating costs and remain profitable. In these difficult times, it is tempting for them to slip into survival mode and focus on the short-term which is indeed important, particularly with the economy in crisis, but not at the expense of the long term.

The best way for businesses to survive and thrive is to understand and pro-actively respond to the constantly evolving needs of its customers. Better customer insight and information is always valuable to a business, but even more so in a downturn when customer needs and behaviours are changing drastically.

Sheri Teodoru is the CEO of CFI Group.