We all love “windows into the future” so we can see things before they are going to happen…unfortunately they don’t come along very often, if at all. But sometimes when the window presents itself, we are so busy finding reasons why this won’t ever work we miss the window.
I believe this is the case for many B2B (Business to Business) companies today. I get to speak to B2B leaders a lot…hundreds each year to be more exact. And while some put on their “possibility hats” and start to envision what I am trying to share with them, many don’t. In fact, they spend a lot of their time telling me why this won’t work in their industry, for their company, for themselves…they are missing the “window into the future.”
Here’s a “Window into the Future” for anyone in a B2B business…B2C is doing things now that you will be doing in the not too distant future.
When you look at some of the cool things going on and being tried in B2C, you can translate this into B2B…if you are looking at possibilities instead of reasons why it won’t work. For example, B2C is starting to “live or die” based on the “Experience” they deliver to their customers that set them apart from their commodity competitors. This is only going to increase…dramatically…over the next several years and beyond. If you are in a B2B business…it is already happening in your world and you can watch what is happening with B2C and see what you might want to try and develop your approach. Customer experiences are not limited to B2C but there are more transactions and thus opportunities to learn from their mass of transactions, as compared to the number in a typical B2B company.
So check your windows, get them cleaned because there are lots of great examples for translating what B2C companies are doing into what you, as a B2B company, will be doing in the near future. With the fast pace of business in the “Internet Revolution” it will pass you by quickly if you aren’t watching.
