Business-to-business (B2B), also called B-to-B, is a transaction between businesses, such as companies, rather than between a company and individual consumer.
A B2B incentive program is an idea of giving clients an incentive to do business with you. Such a plan is required to motivate clients and improve your business relation. The client possibly gets rewarded for performing well by elevating sales. Incentives could be of different kinds, such as rebates, discounted or free products, etc., which motivate clients to perform even better. This program helps in keeping back the clients and building a loyal customer base.
The strategies:-
Few strategies need to get followed while offering a b2b incentive:
- Gain their trust and be transparent:
B2B programs get mainly focused on building relationships, unlike B2C. Hence, the first and foremost thing you need to be successful in your incentive reward programs is transparency. You should provide all the requisite pieces of information to your clients. It helps them to decide whether they want to join the program or not. Assure them that their hard work will get valued, how and when they will get rewarded, and how this reward will benefit them. In this way, you can gain their trust as well, and the ability to build long term customer relationships is one of the most critical CRM loyalty solutions.
- Offer your customised B2B incentive programs:
Always keep in mind your clients are also running their own companies, and every client has a different kind of business approach and own challenges and goals. Hence, the needs of clients might differ from one another.
Customizing programs for such clients is a simple solution to this problem. A customized reward plan can get offered to the client that accommodates their requisitions. Studies have shown that most clients always have a high expectation of having a personalized plan specific to them. A well researched customized plan specific to a client is always highly appreciated by them.
- Give attractive incentives:
If you give your clients attractive incentives, i.e., the kind of incentives they are looking for, they are bound to return to you again and again and continue working with you. Incentives can get offered in the following forms:
- Discounts
- Rebates
- Cash Bonuses
- Gift packages.
Taking care of every small thing like this may bring a lot more business and help you build a loyal client base
- Find out what other competitors are offering:
Research and analysis get highly required before starting any venture. The same is applicable for B2B incentives. There may be other companies around you who are offering better rewards. However, researching other companies’ affiliate terms is easy as most companies disclose their terms on their websites. You can easily visit their website and study their terms. After analyzing, you may consider offering higher rewards or percentages. It is crucial to sustain in the competitive market.
- Introduce the clients to your program to make them familiar:
An efficient way to make clients familiar with your program is to organize a seminar and present all the necessary information before them. It will help the clients to know your program better. This opportunity can get used to pass on the offered incentives, benefits and try to persuade them. This process will help the clients understand the process better and result in better transparency between you and the client and will ultimately lead to a better relationship.
- Create a progressive tier rewards strategy:
When you are dealing with different clients, some clients have a higher level of business than others; this gives you a chance to get good returns. Having a tier-wise reward system can help you. You need to rank your clients and offer them incentives accordingly. It will motivate the clients to get better, and guess who will get benefitted in the long run? Yes, it’s you. It can get executed like this- at first, all clients can start at the necessary level of the program, but with their contribution eventually, they will go high up in the ladder.
- Make your incentive plan accessible:
Sometimes, a B2B incentive program turns out to be unsuccessful because it becomes complicated or inconvenient, even occasionally confusing. This problem should get solved at once by making it easy for the client. If the process is complicated and full of hassles, it becomes difficult for them to redeem their rewards, ultimately creating a negative impact on incentive programs. To make this a hassle-free process, there is a simple solution, i.e., developing a mobile application or by making a secure and straightforward website dedicatedly for the clients where they can access all of their activities and rewards received by them. They should also be able to redeem their rewards quickly.
- Regular follow-ups:
What is the only way out to give clients constant support and improve your services? FEEDBACK is the word. Once you have managed to clients in your program, it should be your responsibility to keep a regular follow-up and get their input. It always creates a positive impact on your company and will improve the customer service experience. Your constant follow-up and taking client’s valuable feedback encourages them to keep on working with you. Solving their issues regularly will you give them a chance of improvement every day. If required, newly developed incentive programs can be introduced that match the client’s expectations and serve them better.
Are you willing to start offering B2B incentive programs? Here’s a tip for you, offering a robust B2B incentive program is the best way of persuading clients. You could be the only business that rewards them for doing business with you. The above strategies and tips are going to help you in starting a successful B2B incentive program that is beneficial for both your client and you. Take help from the previously mentioned tips, and see the results by yourself. Take your business to a whole another level.
