{"id":5351,"date":"2014-03-15T21:33:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T21:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=5351"},"modified":"2014-12-20T17:36:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T17:36:18","slug":"forget-b2b-or-b2c-and-focus-on-bwb-or-bwc-instead-guest-post-via-blichtenwalner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/forget-b2b-or-b2c-and-focus-on-bwb-or-bwc-instead-guest-post-via-blichtenwalner\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget B2B or B2C and Focus on BwB or BwC Instead ~guest post via @BLichtenwalner"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"bwb-bwc\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The terms \u201cBusiness to Business\u201d (B2B) and \u201cBusiness to Consumer\u201d (B2C) are\u00a0outdated<\/a>. These terms imply your business is doing something to a customer. That may be how business was conducted decades ago, but it\u2019s always been better \u2013 and is now necessary \u2013 to conduct business\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0your customer. Business to a customer is a transaction. Business\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0a customer is a\u00a0relationship<\/a>.Whether your customer is a business or a consumer, they prefer a relationship over a transaction.<\/p>\n

Transaction<\/h2>\n

The transaction tone of B2B and B2C says, \u201cwe\u2019re happy to sell you anything\u201d. This transaction perspective suggests everything is a negotiation with terms and conditions. It means you\u2019re happy with a win-lose deal as long as you win. When customers need something new, they can expect another transaction. The tone does not imply you\u2019re in a relationship to win, together and to support each other.<\/p>\n

Relationship<\/h2>\n

Instead, when you frame your model as BwB or BwC you focus on working with your customers. If you deliver business with a business you\u2019re in it together. If consumers hear you\u2019re service is delivered with them, they expect a continuous relationship. You\u2019re framing the channel as a relationship in which you\u00a0serve<\/em>\u00a0your stakeholders.\u00a0A small change? Sure. But framing your business as BwB or BwC puts you in the right mindset to build lasting relationships rather than finite transactions.<\/p>\n

Sure, nobody\u2019s going to blame you if you maintain the status quo and continue to talk about your B2B or B2C channel.<\/strong>\u00a0But then again, you\u2019re not out to maintain the status quo if you read\u00a0this blog<\/a>. If you want to emphasize your focus on serving stakeholders through a relationship rather than a mere transaction, it\u2019s time to talk BwB and BwC, instead.<\/p>\n

Question: Will you start using BwB and BwC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Lichtenwalner\u00a0is the author of\u00a0Paradigm Flip: Leading People, Teams, and Organizations Beyond the Social Media Revolution<\/a>. He blogs at\u00a0ModernServantLeader.com<\/a>\u00a0and is found on Twitter at\u00a0@BLichtenwalner<\/a>. Ben\u2019s mission is to advocate servant leadership\u00a0awareness, adoption and action. He has a unique perspective on social media as a\u00a0tool<\/a>\u00a0for greater leadership influence and writes often on the topic.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The terms \u201cBusiness to Business\u201d (B2B) and \u201cBusiness to Consumer\u201d (B2C) are\u00a0outdated. These terms imply your business is doing something to a customer. That may be how business was conducted decades ago, but it\u2019s always been better \u2013 and is now necessary \u2013 to conduct business\u00a0with\u00a0your customer. Business to a customer is a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[1370,22,358,480,3],"class_list":["post-5351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin","tag-ronr","tag-b2b","tag-relationships","tag-return-on-relationship","tag-ted-rubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5351"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5381,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5351\/revisions\/5381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}