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In the corporate marketplace, communication is the backbone of an exceptional business-to-business (B2B) customer experience. After all, you need a positive back-and-forth between your company and theirs in order to close a deal.
However, the fine line between staying in touch and becoming overbearing can make or break your relationship with potential clients. In particular, small businesses often struggle to find the right balance—especially when resources are tight and every customer counts.
So let’s talk communication! In this article, we’ll explore how to foster meaningful, intentional communication with your B2B clients in a way that builds trust, nurtures relationships, and creates loyal customers… without crossing into “pushy” territory. Plus, we’ll show you how to assess your overall B2B customer experience to get the most out of your efforts.
Before your business can walk the walk for your clients, you have to talk the talk. Once you have a potential client on the line, regular communication should be a huge priority, especially when it comes to the B2B customer experience. This stage is all about establishing trust by showing clients that working with you will be a pleasant experience. After all, if you choose to work together, you’ll be interacting a lot.
Good communication is also beneficial for a number of other reasons:
While most people’s first instinct for establishing good communication is to communicate more, sometimes this isn’t the whole answer. Too much talk—particularly sales talk—can come across as demanding or overbearing. Your B2B clients don’t want to be bullied into paying for offerings they don’t want or need. And they will certainly think twice about whether to work with you at all.
With this in mind, the question changes slightly. How do you maintain communication with clients without it becoming “too much”? While there are plenty of other reasons why your clients might feel overwhelmed or frustrated, you don’t want your B2B customer experience to feel that way. The three main ways people describe poor communication—when it’s not “there is none”—are as follows: excessive, irrelevant, and/or unproductive.
What does that mean in a B2B setting? Here are some common pitfalls, along with strategies to avoid them:
Unnecessary Updates
Although they like to know what’s going on, clients often don’t appreciate by-the-minute notifications about things that don’t need their input. Streamlined communications with added value work better than cluttering their inbox.
How to Avoid It: Space out your touchpoints and ensure communication aligns with your client’s pace. Ask for feedback to understand when your clients want to hear from you.
Sales-Heavy Messaging
As stated, a constant sales pitch tends to push more clients away than draw them in, especially if they’re already working with you. Strategies that balance sales efforts with relationship-building yield the best results.
How to Avoid It: Ensure each message has real value outside of the sales pitch–and, occasionally, no sales pitch at all. Try a “give, give, ask” approach.
Lack of Personalization
On top of these other issues, if messages feel more like generic, one-size-fits-all memos, clients might start feeling like just another number. Businesses that make every message meaningful see much better success, especially in the long run.
How to Avoid It: Make your messages relevant to individual clients with automation and genuine human interaction. Be intentional with every opportunity.
Of course, avoiding common mistakes is one thing—but how do you actively create a positive B2B customer experience through communication? Let’s explore five strategies that are sure to increase your chances for success.
Reach out before clients encounter problems. For example, send updates about product changes, maintenance schedules, or upcoming trends that could affect their industry. Additionally, offer regular check-ins to discuss progress, identify challenges, or review goals—but keep them concise and meaningful. Nobody wants an extra meeting that could have been an email.
At the beginning of your partnership, establish communication preferences right away—even if you have to make adjustments later. How often do they expect updates? What are their preferred communication channels? What type of information do they value most? Stick to this agreed-upon structure to enhance the B2B customer experience, build trust, and avoid overwhelm.
There are plenty of great technologies out there that can help you with communications—so use them! For example, CRM tools can help you track client interactions, preferences, and timelines in one place. This, combined with marketing automation, can help ensure that every message is timely and relevant to their specific situation. You can even use automatic email personalization to give it that extra-special touch. This allows you to make communication organized, strategic, and valuable while leaving room for personal outreach when needed.
It’s worthwhile to ask your clients how they feel about what’s happening. After all, unless you give them a chance to tell you, how can you know if they’re satisfied with their B2B customer experience? Encourage open communication between contacts by creating opportunities for feedback, such as surveys or follow-up calls after key milestones. Then, when you do receive feedback, respond promptly to client concerns. This will demonstrate to them that their voice matters—and will prevent minor issues from spiraling into disasters later on.
Remember, client education can serve multiple objectives—including training, thought-leading, and relationship-building. It’s certainly worth everyone’s time to share resources. Send blog posts, industry news, or whitepapers that solve problems or address industry trends. You can even do this without pushing a product at the end of the email. Furthermore, if you host webinars or Q&A sessions, this can position your business as an industry leader and reinforce your credibility. This works great as a long-term strategy for client retention and repeat business.
Now that you have your B2B customer experience dialed in, how do you know if it’s working? There are a number of key metrics that can indicate an increase in success based on communication strategies:
Once you start implementing these strategies, give your company—and your team—time to incorporate them into everyday operations. Then grab your calculators and get to work comparing those numbers. Like with everything else, optimization can take time. Take careful note at regular intervals and aggregate your data in order to get a clear picture of what works and what doesn’t.
Of course, the most direct way to determine the effectiveness of your B2B customer experience is to ask your clients what they think. Their feedback will tell you right away whether they found your communication style effective or overbearing, helpful or pushy, positive or aggressive. In short, are your clients responding positively to your outreach?
If you want to assess your B2B customer experience, try our CX on Demand program. This small-business solution enables people like you to deploy mystery shoppers and customer surveys to get an objective look at your operations. Plus, you get access to a nationwide network of expert evaluators, anytime you like—all at an affordable rate.
Here are a few other benefits of using CustomerOptix for your evaluation needs:
This is the ultimate tool for small-business success. You’ll get actionable, data-driven feedback on your business so you can make strategies for real improvement. Zero in on areas that need improvement—and find out what clients consider to be a highlight of their experience.
See how it works and try it out today. Your customers will thank you.
Effective communication is all about quality over quantity, especially in B2B customer experience. By focusing on relevance, personalization, and timing, you can strengthen relationships without making clients feel pressured. Remember: the goal is to be a helpful partner they can rely on—not an additional source of stress.
When done right, using the strategies outlined above, your communication can be a powerful tool for your business. Foster trust, deepen loyalty, and distinguish yourself from competitors with positive, productive interactions. Then measure success through engagement metrics, sales data, and client feedback. Undoubtedly, refining your communication strategy will make your B2B relationships thrive.
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