An introduction to B2B hardships. Ten ways B2B customers reject offers.

In a business-to-business one single close can be the starting point for a profitable startup. However, the first close is far less likely to happen, when comparing to a business-to-customer. I'll now present the main issues for a B2B technological startup in Colombia.

When talking about B2B, we must be aware that value propositions are evaluated by a customer who's really a single director or a group of executives, whose success relies on bringing on more revenue to the company. What software can generally do to increase ROI is allow for more productivity (or some at all).  Please comment if you have further suggestions on how can software help companies. One may argue that competitivity is different and it may also increase ROI. Let's keep simple, plain and easy appropriate content for any CEO.

We all know competition is fierce. With the recent free trade agreements, colombian companies are more enticed than ever to act anew and try to keep the pace with foreign "first world" companies, establishing a customer base in Colombia. Some of these companies are asian, american or german, where productivity software and best practices are the rule and not the exception.

Before colombian companies get eaten by more productive counterparts and we start seeing protests as their sign of management paralysis, in this blog series I'll be discussing a set of techniques used by colombian companies to avoid acting and keep sit in an evolving economy. 

Let me be clear. I'm not stating that entrepreneurs should not be aware of the market needs, or that any faulty product or service should be considered by companies. Entrepreneurs need to offer high value material, with the best possible quality standards, while exhibiting the best attitude towards agreement, without blaming others for their own misconceptions or mistakes. I'll write on this later on. For now, I'll start with the powerful side, the one with some financial stability,  the buyer, the mid sized or large company, able to sky-rocket tech innovation by acquiring what they need and want. In the end, this is teamwork  and risk should be shared, or we'll be all doomed.

The techniques are

1. The "No one is entitled here" technique.

2. The "You do it to fit my chances" technique.

3. The "I can do it by myself" technique.

4. The "We're buying a Cisco solution" technique.

5. The "There would be too much work" technique.

6. The "We're in the middle of a project" technique.

7. The "Let's wait for the next year's budget planning" technique.

8. The "We'll discuss it in our next meeting" technique.

9. The "I know another like this one" technique.

10. Other common to any buying process.


I'm open to comments! If you want to know more about me, please visit andresacostaescobar.blogspot.com.