Pitching a B2B v/s a B2C product
Dipak Sisodiya
4 replies
We are planning to launch a collaboration product which is essentially an SDK but is also available as a stand-alone extension for end users.
The SDK is majorly targeted for businesses to integrate into their own websites. I am a single-person sales team who has to juggle between these two offerings, what would be an ideal approach? Focus on Businesses or Masses.
We do not have a path for revenue when it comes to the extension.
Replies
Steven Birchall@stevenbirchall
Vouch
There's a few factors at play here, firstly who is your product better suited to? You've already identified the SDK is more of a business product, but what about the extension? Does it require the user to have their own site? Does it require them to implement custom code, etc?
If it's going to be too difficult for people to get to the 'aha' moment without some sort of assistance, then it's possibly better not to target that group for now, after all you are only 1 person.
Secondly how are you going to get out to the market? B2C can be difficult to get reach without paying for ads, etc. Of course it can be done, require a lot of work. For businesses, you can worse case reach out to people on LinkedIn or cold call to try and start those conversations for minimal cost.
Thirdly are you setup for Consumers to just find you and get going on their own? Even if it's just the basics like self-serve registration, password retrieval, etc, these are all things users will expect.
Finally, how cost prohibitive is it each time someone sets up the extension or installs the SDK? If its minimal, this isn't an issue, however if there is a decent cost per user, again it may not make it worthwhile to let consumers just do their own thing for now as you will get your fair share of tyre kickers. (Good SaaS activation rates are around 40%)
Depending on your answers should indicate if your product leans one way or another. From that, pick the one you're leaning towards for now and just focus on that. Remember, you can always pivot if it doesn't work or expand later on, but in the early days, focus is important as you can't do everything well.
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@stevenbirchall Thank you so much for your detailed answer, this helped a lot.
For the extension, I would say working with the extension is the easy part, our assumption is that the challenge lies in the user using the extension on a daily basis. For the SDK currently I am doing a lot of cold emails, calls and linkedin reachouts. The conversion is obviously poor, but seems to be the only way forward.
There is no cost associated with the installation of the extension nor does it cost anything server side, the usage from SDK is also on pay per use basis.
Pitching a B2B product isn't just about pushing its features and benefits, it is an art in itself. It requires an understanding of the needs of the customer, stressing areas of commonality as well as recognition of what makes them unique. The best approach to take when pitching a B2B product is similar to that used by Tony Robbins – finding out what the customer truly desires from their purchase and then making that desire become reality.
On the other hand, selling a B2C product relies more on catchy phrases and visual representations that evoke emotion for the consumer. Regardless of approach, however, knowledge of the market and surrounding landscape is key to any successful pitch, crafting words in such a way that resonates with any potential buyer.
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@alekswatch Thank you for the reply, following up, would it be wise to create, say, demo videos on top of a e-commerce website when pitching to an e-commerce business? Or would it make sense to create something of a generic video which can be shipped to many at times.
When you or tony robbins say "finding our what the customer wants", how do we go about it? Should a lot of linkedin reachout help?