Table of Contents
According to one analysis, the global B2B eCommerce market size was $18,665.95 billion in 2023, and it is expected to reach $57,578.97 billion by 2030 with an amazing CAGR of 18.2%. Given that, no doubt, B2B businesses are big and are growing rapidly with the help of new technologies in place.
In this condition, it is crucial for B2B businesses to form and maintain healthy relationships with their customers to sustain business growth. Here, B2B CRM software comes into play. 99% of B2B businesses use CRM to retain their customers. However, some of them may be unable to tell the difference between B2B and B2C CRM.
This blog addresses the vital questions that some B2B companies might have, such as ‘What is B2B CRM software?’, ‘What is the difference between B2B CRM and B2C CRM?’, ‘What is the main purpose of B2B CRM tools?’, ‘What is the role of B2B CRM software in sales and marketing processes?’ and ‘What can B2B systems do for B2B businesses?’.
Excited to know more? Then, let’s dive in!
» What is B2B CRM Software?
The full form of B2B CRM is business-to-business customer relationship management. B2B CRM software solutions are cloud-hosted systems that help B2B businesses create, manage, and maintain long-lasting relationships with their customers where these customers are other businesses.
B2B CRM systems incorporate many eye-catching features and capabilities that not only allow B2B businesses to manage customer relationships efficiently but also let companies perform vital business-oriented processes.
For example, B2B businesses can customize the software to meet their unique business requirements using the customization features. They can also automate repetitive sales and marketing-related operations to facilitate sales and marketing teams.
What’s more, B2B CRM tools have intuitive interfaces, which makes them easily usable and adaptable with minimum effort. This is an essential feature for non-technical or less-technical employees since it helps them find their way around B2B CRM.
» What is The Main Purpose of B2B CRM Tools?
The main purpose of B2B customer relationship management software solutions is to assist B2B businesses in smoothly passing high-quality leads through sales pipelines from the moment leads are captured to the final deal closing.
B2B CRM software allows businesses to attract potential B2B buyers with tailored messages, customized content, attention-grabbing marketing emails, and more. Once the potential customer is found, the solutions enable businesses to track and manage that lead on a detailed level so that businesses know when and where to contact the lead and send them to the next stage of the sales funnel.
You might be thinking that this is what any typical CRM software does. Then, the next section is indeed for you.
» What is The Difference Between B2B CRM and B2C CRM?
B2B CRM and B2C CRM are different in many ways, such as stages in the sales cycle, number of leads, deal sizes, ease of use, etc. Let’s have a closer look at them:
› Difference by Stages in The Sales Cycle
Compared to the B2C sales cycles, B2B sales cycles are longer and contain more stages. On the other hand, B2C sales cycles contain fewer stages and need immediate attention. B2B sales cycles may last for several months.
› Difference by Number of Leads
B2C CRM generates more leads than B2B CRM solutions. This makes managing leads difficult for businesses since they are coming from multiple channels. Sometimes, the same leads contact businesses from different channels. This also makes filtering leads hard.
As for B2B CRM software, they generate less leads. Since they are fewer, they are easy to manage, and sales teams can give their undivided attention to each lead.
› Difference by Deal Sizes
There is a huge difference in the size of B2B and B2C business deals. B2C deals are small in size and focus more on repeat business. Hence, B2C CRM focuses on advanced analytical abilities to accurately analyze customer data and get crucial insights into B2B buyers’ trends and choices.
On the other hand, B2B business deals are bigger in size. They may provide higher ROI in single orders. Hence, B2B CRM focuses more on lead management and sales cycle since they are longer and need more attention.
› Difference by Ease of Use
B2B CRM software solutions are slightly more intricate than B2C CRM in terms of ease of use. B2B CRM needs to manage more stages of sales cycles, which include operating multiple channels and sales pipelines with meticulous systems. As for B2C CRMs, they have shorter sales cycles and pipelines, which are easily manageable with less effort.
› Difference by Repeat Buyers
The number of repeat buyers is higher in B2C businesses than in B2B businesses. Hence, tracking and managing each of them on a personal level might be challenging. B2B has fewer repeat buyers, which makes providing one-on-one services easy. Businesses can track and manage every repeat buyer on a meticulous level to maintain long-lasting business relations.
» What is The Role of B2B CRM Software in Sales Processes?
The role of B2B CRM software in the sales processes is very important. The system comes into play at the early stage of the sales cycle, even before the potential customers have yet to contact salespeople.
B2B CRM tools collect and analyze data from multiple sources to find high-quality B2B leads that have a higher chance of conversions. They also ensure that less promising leads stay out of sales pipelines so that the sales team can focus and contact the right potential B2B buyers.
B2B CRM software solutions also provide tools and features like customer analytics and workflow automation, so after finding quality leads, sales reps can effectively nurture them until they are ready to convert.
» What is The Role of B2B CRM Software in Marketing Processes?
B2B CRM software plays a pivotal role in marketing processes, but before we go over it, let’s understand why marketing is important for B2B companies.
Marketing is essential for B2B businesses because it helps companies identify and cater to their B2B buyers' particular requirements. Additionally, 66% of B2B businesses agree that marketing adds value to their sales pipelines.
Given that, B2B CRM tools are crucial for marketing processes because they are equipped with advanced marketing features. Using these features, B2B companies can efficiently perform marketing-oriented processes to fulfill B2B customers’ unique needs and contribute to sales pipelines.
Moreover, marketing teams can leverage B2B CRM tools to strategize, design, create, and run effective and personalized marketing campaigns. Through these campaigns, B2B CRM collects crucial data that helps marketing and sales teams predict specific B2B customer needs to address them proactively.
» 7 Must-have Features of B2B Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
B2B CRM software is a cloud-ready system that includes many top-class features. B2B businesses can leverage these features and explore new growth opportunities to take their business to a new level. Here are 7 must-have features of B2B CRM tools that you should be aware of:
1. Lead Management
Lead management tools are one of the best must-have B2B CRM features. They allow B2B companies to capture high-priority B2B leads and store them in lead databases to manage and maintain them efficiently. Moreover, companies can automate lead management operations and increase income. One research found that 92% of B2B businesses that have automated their lead management activities experienced a 10% income growth in just a half year.
2. Marketing Automation
B2B CRM software solutions come with many built-in marketing automation features. Companies can use these features to flawlessly automate their B2B marketing-oriented processes. For example, they can create and set up rule-based triggers for sending marketing text messages and emails.
Professional Tip: Strategize and execute an account-based marketing (ABM) technique to get a higher return on investment (ROI). ABM can generate 208% more income for marketing efforts.
3. Sales Pipeline Management
B2B CRM tools are equipped with top-notch sales pipeline management tools. Businesses can efficiently create customized sales pipelines for higher visibility. Sales teams can keep an eye on these pipelines to make sure they contact the prospects at the right moment to increase the chances of conversions.
4. Centralized Customer Database
The centralized customer database is one of the top must-have features of B2B CRM systems. Using these amazing features, B2B companies ensure that diverse departmental teams can access customer data from anywhere, anytime.
For example, if your sales rep is traveling and needs to access some customers’ information immediately, he/she can log in to a centralized customer database and get the required information on the go using B2B CRM software.
Professional Tip: Customize your B2B CRM system to store and manage crucial B2B customer data efficiently so that sales reps can easily track and analyze customer data to gain vital insights. Sales reps who use CRM software can outperform their colleagues and achieve 41% higher sales targets.
5. Customization
Customization is another must-have feature of B2B CRM software. It empowers B2B businesses to tailor the B2B customer relationship management (CRM) tools in a specific way to fulfill their core B2B requirements.
For example, suppose you want to edit and change a field name from ‘ABC’ to ‘XYZ‘ in the customer database, or you want to add a new field. You can do that only if your CRM has customization capabilities.
6. Reporting and Analytics
Reporting and analytics are some of the top-level features of B2B CRM solutions. Businesses can leverage analytical abilities to analyze crucial B2B business data. After that, they can use advanced reporting functionalities to transform the analysis results into modern-looking yet easy-to-digest data reports so that businesses can gain valuable insights and make data-driven business decisions.
7. Third-party Integrations
Integration support with third-party tools is also one of the must-have features of top B2B CRM software tools. Using these features, B2B companies can integrate any third-party app with their B2B CRM system flawlessly. This means businesses can access and use that integrated app’s functionalities directly from the CRM environment to skip the unwanted back and forth between apps.
Professional Tip: Integrate leading digital channels with your B2B CRM systems to increase customer engagement and interaction rate. One report forecasted that 80% of B2B sales interactions between sellers and shoppers will take place in digital channels by 2025.
» What Can B2B CRM Software Do For B2B Businesses?
Almost every B2B CRM software offers comprehensive features to manage overall B2B business efficiently. Businesses can do many wonderful things using these fascinating features. Let’s explore the 7 fantastic things among them that B2B CRM systems can do for B2B businesses. They are as given below:
1. B2B CRM Systems can Bring Better Visibility to B2B Sales Pipelines
One of the many amazing things that a B2B CRM system can do for any B2B company is that it can provide better visibility over their sales pipelines. Businesses can know the exact status of B2B leads in the sales pipelines using top sales pipeline management features. This helps sales reps determine the right moment to connect with the prospects instead of just shooting in the dark. It may increase the chances of conversions.
2. B2B CRM Software can Generate and Collect Quality B2B Leads
According to one study, the average B2B sales win rate is below 5%. Hence, it is understandable how crucial it is for B2B businesses to get high-quality leads. Top-class B2B CRM tools offer amazing features, like online forms and survey tools, that allow businesses to generate and collect high-priority B2B leads efficiently. This means businesses can provide their sales teams with leads that are probably ready to convert and boost conversion rates.
3. B2B CRM Systems can Score and Qualify B2B Leads Efficiently
Scoring and qualifying B2B leads refer to the process of arranging and organizing B2B leads in a specific order based on the level of their conversion readiness. This means that a lead that is foremost ready to convert will be on top, and a lead that is least ready to convert will be at the bottom of the pipeline. B2B CRM software is equipped with powerful tools that enable businesses to score and qualify B2B leads efficiently.
4. B2B CRM Tools can Nurture Quality B2B Leads Effectively
As mentioned above, leads that are less ready to convert will be at the bottom of the sales pipeline. So, what happens to these B2B leads? These leads will be nurtured till they become ready to convert. B2B CRM software systems provide many amazing marketing features that allow B2B companies to nurture quality B2B leads.
For example, businesses can leverage email marketing tools to nurture leads through effective email marketing campaigns and ready them to make bigger deals. One study from Adobe found that leads that are well-nurtured make 47% bigger deals compared to non-nurtured leads.
5. B2B CRM Software can Manage Quotes and Invoices
Many B2B CRM systems have built-in quotes and invoice management features. B2B businesses can use these top-class features to efficiently design, create, send, and manage quotes and invoices. Businesses can easily and quickly create quotes using pre-defined templates and send them to leads after the initial discussion is finished. Additionally, businesses can directly transform the approved quotes into invoices whenever required.
6. B2B CRM Tools can Provide Mobile-accessible Content
According to one report, 40% of B2B shoppers like mobile-responsive content. Hence, B2B companies must offer mobile-optimized content to their prospects and customers. B2B customer relationship management software tools are amazing cloud-hosted systems that can help businesses produce mobile-first content. B2B buyers can easily access and go through the content using their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
7. B2B CRM Software can Handle Post-sales Activities
Generating high-quality B2B leads, nurturing them, and having one-time sales might not be enough to grow B2B businesses. One needs to provide excellent post-sales services as well in order to forge and maintain long-lasting customer relationships. B2B CRM systems offer many outstanding features that enable businesses to handle their post-sales activities efficiently.
For example, B2B companies can use the live chat features of B2B CRMs to deliver convenient customer support and enhance customer satisfaction rates.
» Wrap Up
Building, managing, and maintaining healthy customer relationships is paramount to thrive in any business, and the B2B industry is no different. It is crucial for B2B companies to deeply understand current market trends and customer behavior to fulfill B2B buyers’ constantly evolving requirements.
One of the best ways to do that is by leveraging B2B CRM software. These CRM solutions incorporate many top-class features, such as B2B lead management, sales pipeline management, and centralized customer databases.
These features not only help B2B companies efficiently manage customer relationships but also enable them to do awesome things, like providing a holistic view of the sales pipeline to bring better visibility and collecting high-quality B2B leads.
» Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) What are The Big Challenges Faced by B2B Businesses in Maintaining Customer Relationships?
The following are some of the biggest challenges faced by B2B businesses in maintaining customer relationships: Go through this blog post deliberately, and you may overcome these challenges easily.
- Regulatory Adherence
- Critical Transactions
- Numerous Decision Makers
- Longer Sales Cycles
- Intricate System
- Fewer Leads
2) What are The Best Strategies For Improving B2B CRM Software?
Below are some of the best strategies to improve B2B CRM software:
- ABM (Account-based Marketing)
- Enriched Personalization
- Digital Channels Integrations
- Improved Customer Service
- Robust Reporting and Analytics
3) How to Choose The Best B2B CRM Software?
There are many top-rated B2B CRM systems available worldwide. All of them offer amazing features and functionalities. Hence, choosing the right one that fulfills your unique B2B business requirements might be tricky. There are some factors that you should keep in mind while selecting the B2B CRM, and you may find your desired solution. These facets are:
- Specific Business Requirements
- Intuitive User Interface
- Essential Features Availability
- Convenient Customer Support
- Robust Security
- Integration Support
- Mobile Responsiveness
- Regular Software Updates
4) What is The B2B Selling Process?
When it comes to the B2B selling process, most businesses follow typical B2B sales stages. They are:
5) Which are The Best B2B CRM Software Systems?
The following are some of the best B2B CRM software that may assist B2B companies in elevating their business:
