The SES San Jose forum last year had many lessons but one of the sessions that stood out was the “The Buyer Sphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns“. The learning from these sessions were key in understanding the influences that affect B2B buyer decisions. » Read more: B2B Buyer Behavior – What drives it

I came across this article recently and was impressed by the common-sense tips on how to approach and engage other businesses in China as part of your Asian B2B selling strategy.

Tips that stand out include :

- Ensuring that you have a strategy in mind. Are you in China for the long-haul or is this a tread-softly approach where you want to understand the viability of setting up business in China or are you just in this for the short-term? Each objective requires a different approach. » Read more: 10 Tips on B2B selling in China

The B2B selling process is long-drawn and ranges from a few months to a few years. It’s no surprise then, that businesses should focus on leads that are highly relevant. Sometimes, a lead from a Fortune 500 company may not be the right one simply because they’re very price sensitive or their purchase is a straight re-buy or there’s a lack of fit between your products and their needs.

So, it’s essential to qualify the nature of the lead to a point where you know the urgency of the business need, the budgets involved, the participants in the buying process and finally, the time of decision-making.

Here  are 6 parameters that are required to be predefined in order to completely qualify a lead and take it into the next step of your prospecting process. » Read more: B2B Lead Qualification – 6 Critical Criteria

B2B firms operate differently from B2C firms. They have fewer (but larger) customers, the products sold are in a semi-finished form, the sales cycle is lengthier and product pricing usually is much higher.

One aspect of marketing that B2C firms have been using effectively has been social media. In contrast, B2B businesses are struggling with the question of social media in their marketing plans. rightly so, it is a different but challenging medium.  Well, here are some tips on how B2Bs can use social media today.

» Read more: 4 Step process for B2B firms to use social media

B2B purchases differ from B2C purchases in many ways even though they both meet a need. B2B buying varies in the sense that a company has policies and purchasing processes in place that decide the order in which the buying decision is made.

For B2B marketers, it’s important to understand the characteristics of B2B buying behavior (including the purchasing process as well as the influencers involved) in order to create effective marketing programs to reach the buyers. » Read more: Understanding B2B Buyer Behavior