What is a corporate client? Sales to corporate clients. The main ways to find corporate clients

The main difference between corporate sales and retail sales is that such transactions are concluded not with one person, but with an entire company. For this reason, a lot of time often passes from the moment of first contact to the signing of a full-fledged contract. What techniques will help reduce waiting times and increase corporate sales? How to interest new large clients and retain existing partners? Let's talk about this in our article.

To date corporate sales, which have fundamental differences from retail, are one of the most promising areas for business development. They are based on the use of labor-intensive methods of working with partners, as well as providing customers with loyal conditions for purchasing goods or services and further service support.

Successful cooperation with client enterprises, which requires certain skills and abilities, is considered to be the highest art in the sale of goods. There are no sales consultants in this area, but there are corporate sales managers. Trade relationships with enterprises often involve expensive, complex products, as well as goods that are purchased in large quantities for further distribution and sale.

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The profitability of corporate sales is often lower than retail sales, but this indicator is in many cases compensated by large volumes of orders.

Sales to corporate clients: problems, risks, success factors

Who is corporate sales for?

It is quite difficult to unequivocally answer the question - who is a corporate client? However, we can identify the main criteria for which buyers can be classified in this category.

A corporate client is a legal entity.
However, it is fundamentally wrong to consider all legal entities as corporate clients, because in this case the corporate sales department will not be able to cope with the flow of buyers. So, only large customers that have the status of a legal entity are classified as corporate.
But it is also not possible to determine what volume of purchase a client must make in order to become a corporate member. Much is determined by the buyer’s solvency (he can order a large batch of goods, but remain in debt), its location and other factors.

How to search for clients who start corporate sales

As a rule, a company that has only recently appeared on the market is little known among buyers. The task of attracting large clients comes to the fore, because its successful solution will provide the company with a stable position among its competitors. There are several ways achieve this goal, and the task of the corporate sales manager is to study each of them .

Electronic trading platforms.

Regular analysis of electronic trading platforms and other similar resources is an excellent opportunity to find new promising clients. Using a special program, corporate sales specialists monitor and track any changes in information on specific websites.

Thematic exhibitions.

Such events are interesting to both clients and customers. The main task of the corporate sales department after the thematic exposition is to competently analyze the information from business cards potential buyers, which they leave for communication. Similar work can be done using exhibition catalogs containing contact details of many companies.

Well-organized advertising.

A carefully thought-out advertising campaign, which is carried out by the corporate sales department, can significantly expand the circle of large buyers of the enterprise. May be effective different kinds campaigns to promote products: using television, the Internet or radio, street advertising, etc. The advantages of electronic options lie in the ability to continuously monitor their effectiveness and quickly make any changes. Large clients can publish advertisements and contact information in online catalogues, newspapers, magazines, directories, etc.

Base corporate clients.

A start-up company rarely has its own significant information about possible partners, but such a resource can always be purchased from competing enterprises. In the course of further activities, a competent manager will organize the maintenance of his database of potential buyers, which will be an excellent help in the development of corporate sales.

Corporate values that many managers underestimate

What are the features of corporate sales?

Methods of working with corporate clients differ significantly from forms of interaction with individuals. Let's consider the main features of sales to large clients.

We can safely say that the flow media advertising today is aimed at the average person, but not at managers and executives of large companies. How can you ensure that your proposal is heard by your target audience? There are two main methods - write or call. In other words, in order to increase the level of corporate sales of services and goods, you need to organize telemarketing (a system of “cold” calls) and mailings to potential partners.
Several representatives from both the customer and the seller of goods or service provider take part in a transaction between enterprises. Therefore, the head of corporate sales must correctly distribute powers between the employees of his department. This approach will allow him to control the work of managers and will significantly increase the efficiency of the final result.
A huge advantage for any company will be the use of original corporate sales methods. After all, the main difficulty is not even to find a large buyer, but to make him a regular customer of the company. To do this, it is important to make an excellent impression on representatives of the customer company, make a memorable presentation, and offer unique terms of cooperation.

4 channels through which corporate sales can be carried out

Channel 1. Passive sales

To process such requests, many companies have an inbound sales channel. Calls from interested clients are sent to a single number at the central office. Such requests are handled by employees who specialize exclusively in inbound sales.

This product sales channel is the least expensive, because it does not involve carrying out activities to find buyers. The work of a corporate sales specialist is significantly simplified by the fact that the caller already has a need for the goods or services of the supplier company. For this reason, the salary of employees in such a department is usually much lower than in the direct sales department.

The experience of Europe's largest companies suggests that the share of passive sales in a company's assets largely depends on brand awareness and can reach 50%. In fact, such an indicator of consumer confidence gives the company the opportunity to weaken the levers of price competition and pay attention to methods of improving product quality. You can optimize the cost of attracting new customers by reducing the share of direct sales and increasing the effectiveness of incoming requests.

Channel 2. Corporate sales to large clients

Trade divisions and offices of many large customers (including federal companies) are distributed throughout the country. In most cases, clients of this level centrally select a supplier of goods and services and use package solutions that match the characteristics of their business, the volume of products consumed and other criteria. As an example, let's take a company that has a network of sales units in different regions of Russia. The issue of choosing a supplier will be decided at the head office, say, in the capital, and not in the city where one of the stores is located.

Typically, interaction with partners of this level is entrusted to managers of the corporate sales department from the very beginning. highly qualified, great experience similar work and excellent communication skills. Equally important is the willingness to travel and knowledge of all technical aspects of the transaction. Main function corporate sales specialist is to provide the so-called “single window”, that is, the client’s ability to resolve any issue without contacting other persons. This format of conducting corporate business sales becomes as comfortable as possible for a large customer.

Channel 3. Corporate sales via the Internet

This channel is ideal for clients who do not need lengthy consultations with a corporate sales specialist. They already have a need for a product or service, but for communication they prefer to use the Internet rather than a telephone line. We can safely say that this direction of corporate sales is the most promising today.

Channel 4. Service sales to corporate clients

Specialists from the service sales department provide personal service to existing customers, provide them with the most up-to-date information about the company’s products and help them choose those that best suit the customer’s needs. Today, package solutions are increasingly being developed for large partners, combining several types of services at once. Such offers are beneficial, for example, for representatives of the service sector, restaurant and hotel businesses, etc.

Using the service corporate sales channel, you can special costs increase the profitability of existing clients. Let's look at a practical example. The company that provides services telephone communication and the Internet, a client appeared - flower shop, located in the city center. After a while, the owner opens new ones outlets in other areas. Thanks to continuous communication with the customer, the corporate sales specialist knows about the expansion of his business and offers him an advantageous package of services. As a result, the company connects all retail outlets to one provider, unites them into a network, implements a cloud PBX and provides a single telephone number. Among other things, on the recommendation of a personal specialist, the entrepreneur organized a new line of business - the online sale of flowers. This example is clear evidence of how the effective work of a corporate sales manager makes cooperation more profitable for both the service provider and the customer.

Please take into account that experts do not recommend using outsourcing companies to organize corporate sales services. Practice shows that the cost of such services per new client is unreasonably high. In addition, the qualification level of third-party specialists is significantly lower than that of full-time corporate sales managers. Therefore, the desire to save money can lead to a decrease in the quality of service and loss of customers. Certain difficulties may arise when training the staff of an outsourcing company, as well as when monitoring the effectiveness of their work.

Corporate training: step-by-step instructions for implementation

How to properly sell to corporate clients

Undoubtedly, to make a successful start in the field of corporate sales, you need to have a clear plan of action. Where to begin? We recommend you 9 simple steps.

Determine your target audience. To do this, you need to identify which companies have a need for your goods or services and which officials in them make decisions regarding large orders. Make a list of businesses that might become your customers.

Don't waste your time on random people, instead focus your attention on those who may be interested in purchasing your products or services. For example, a company that specializes in wholesale veterinary drugs, you should look for clients among the owners subsidiary farms, breed nurseries, etc.

2. Make initial contact calls with potential clients. At this stage, your task is to check the list compiled earlier. It’s better to do this personally, because you will have to use the answers you receive in the future when making important decisions.

3. Prepare a list competitive advantages that you can offer to the client. It can be:

features of the appearance and configuration of the goods;
profitable terms delivery;
attractive price of the product;
quality service maintenance etc.

4. Compose rough plan conversation with a potential customer, carefully consider the options for possible objections and your responses to them.

5. Conduct a series of trainings for employees of the corporate sales department of your company. The most effective exercises are in the form role playing games, when one specialist acts as a buyer, the other as a seller. Work through all possible objections and responses to them. It is better to conduct training regularly; the optimal time for this is the beginning of the working day. This approach will provide a corporate sales specialist with excellent motivation.

6. If in retail trade Since you almost always communicate with the end buyer, in transactions between enterprises it is much more difficult to get a personal meeting with the person making the purchasing decisions. Take this problem into account and think about ways to resolve it.

7. Next, move on to action - start calling, making appointments, making deals. Check to see if your firm's corporate sales managers have plans for face-to-face contacts and phone calls for each business day.

8. Conduct daily meetings with employees of the corporate sales department, discuss and analyze those negotiations and meetings that have already taken place, and work on mistakes. During planning meetings, add new objections to your list and, together with specialists, think through answers to them.

9. Find out what difficulties corporate sales managers most often encounter in the process of work, and write down ways to overcome them. Special forums on Internet marketing or consultations with a professional trainer in this field can help with this.

Secrets of successful sales: 6 principles for the success of major transactions

9 Tips for Taking Corporate Sales to Close

Tip 1. When you first contact a potential customer, pay attention to every detail.

If we're talking about about correspondence by e-mail, respond to potential buyers as quickly as possible. Develop an informative email signature that includes your company name, an active link to its website, and your contact information. It is important that during correspondence your contact details are always visible to the client.

Tip 2. Start your first conversation correctly.

Let's say an interested client calls your company. How should a corporate sales specialist structure a conversation so that a potential buyer becomes real?

During the first minutes of the dialogue, you need to tell the client about the main advantages of cooperation with your company, because the desire to make a purchase will appear at the moment when he realizes its undoubted benefits. Use specific data, facts and figures.

Compare the two sentences. Which one seems more convincing to you?

"Book your accommodation contextual advertising in our company, and your site will quickly gain popularity among clients" or
“Order the placement of contextual advertising from our specialists, and within a couple of hours after the ad is released, new customers will come to your website.”

The second option, without any doubt, will be more effective in a conversation with a potential customer.

Tip 3. Pay close attention appearance corporate sales specialist.

As practice shows, the external attractiveness of specialists contributes to successful business with large clients. According to experts, directors of large companies are more willing to make purchases from young and attractive female corporate sales managers.

Today it no longer surprises anyone that even in those areas that are traditionally considered male ( car business, equipment trade), women demonstrate fairly successful performance in the sale of goods and are often among the leaders. Therefore, today many managers without any hesitation accept women into the corporate sales team.

Tip 4. Talk about price last.

An important technique that experienced corporate sales professionals use when working with incoming calls is to bring the potential client into conversation and find out their details for follow-up communication. The simplest way to do this - inform that information about the availability of goods needs to be clarified at the warehouse, and offer to call him back within an hour or two.

This approach will not only replenish the company’s potential client base, but also determine the needs of the caller and continue the corporate sales process by developing a profitable commercial offer.

During the conversation, the manager must write down everything that he promises to the buyer (find out about the availability of the product in the warehouse and its delivery options, clarify information about the properties of the product, etc.), and fulfill these obligations as quickly as possible. In corporate sales, ignoring the client's needs is detrimental to the transaction - such an attitude undermines trust in the selling company.

Remember that the functioning of your company's corporate sales department in directory mode is unacceptable. When a client asks about the cost of a product or service, you cannot simply name the amount and end the dialogue. The manager must inform the potential buyer of the price range and continue the conversation according to a pre-prepared script in order to obtain the caller's contact information. In some cases, it is necessary to schedule clarification and sales meetings.

Tip 5. Find out from what sources the client learned about your company.

To improve efficiency advertising campaign firm, it is necessary to monitor the work of all acquisition channels and calculate approximate cost searching for a buyer for each of them. Therefore, corporate sales managers, when receiving a call from a potential client, clarify from what sources he learned about the company or its product (service). This technique allows you to gain valuable information about which advertising methods for your business work most effectively.

Tip 6. Offer bonuses.

Such bonuses and gifts are often not directly related to the goods or services being sold, but they are valued by representatives of the buying company who make decisions and encourage them to continue cooperation. Corporate sales specialists call this technique a “legal bribe.” For example, when concluding a contract for the provision of services, clients receive certificates for visiting a spa salon as a gift.

Don't forget that people make decisions in corporate sales, so to work together successfully, you need to influence their emotions.

Tip 7. Use a sales funnel.

This analytical tool helps the manager to properly organize his work, and the manager to monitor the activities of the corporate sales department in general and each specialist in particular. In each area of business, the structure of the “sales funnel” has some features, but approximately its contents are as follows:

work with outgoing and incoming calls, first communication with a potential buyer;
identifying the needs of interested clients;
holding a meeting, presentation of goods or services;
conclusion of an agreement;
payment control.

To determine the strengths and weak sides mechanism for selling your product in a particular company, it is necessary to analyze how many potential customers the company loses at each stage of the sales funnel.

If a company's corporate sales department consists of six or more managers, it is recommended to organize its work according to the principle of a specialized conveyor. What does it mean? Many managers notice that each specialist has strengths and weaknesses in product sales techniques. One, for example, brilliantly conducts meetings and presentations, but feels insecure when making calls. To ensure the highest possible percentage of successful transactions, it is important to distribute responsibilities between managers so that each of them can prove themselves with the best side. Joint, well-coordinated work will greatly increase the efficiency of the corporate sales department.

Many companies use a CRM system that contains up-to-date information for each potential client and automatically notify specialists about the transition to the next stage of the sales funnel. If the company has not yet implemented a CRM system, you can use Excel tables or visual sales funnels made, for example, from stickers, for accounting. Such materials are placed at the workplace of each manager and allow him to control the implementation process, moving the sticker from one stage to another.

Tip 8. Increase your conversion.

Each department working with partners should strive to turn the sales funnel into a cylinder when the number of potential clients does not differ significantly from the number of those with whom the deal is concluded. To do this you need:

control the conversion rate (the ratio of the number of real (those who paid for the product or service) and potential buyers) when moving to each new stage of sales;
qualify the flow of incoming calls;
increase the level of professionalism of specialists in this area.

If the corporate sales department does not have a system for monitoring performance discipline (for example, a CRM system), then there is a risk of losing a significant part of them, even with a large incoming flow of applications from potential clients. To avoid this, you need to create a clear scheme for selling products, in which the key actions of employees will be strictly recorded.

For transactions with significant potential, it is reasonable to involve the best sales specialists who can effectively “work through” the key persons of the customer company.

Tip 9. Offer a truly high-quality product/service.

The most important rule for success in corporate sales is the consistently high quality of the product you deliver to your customers. If you follow this principle, you will very soon notice how word of mouth marketing tools (recommendations, reviews) begin to work to increase your company’s profits. After all, every review from a grateful client is an important page in the company’s success story; such a positive reaction from the customer demonstrates all the benefits of cooperation with you.

Remember that in the B2B market, information travels at lightning speed, and if facts about poor product quality or failure to fulfill obligations become public, successful corporate sales can be forgotten.

Expert opinion

Corporate sales plan: write down your actions

Evgeny Kharitonov,

Director of Sales at Mabe, Moscow

There are different methods for planning B2B sales. Let's consider two main methods.

"Planning from the Top" which is based on the company’s real sales statistics for the past year and projected market growth indicators for next year. For example, you assume that next year sales in your segment will be 20% higher, and your company is progressing 10% faster than the market. To calculate the plan for the current period, it is enough to increase the sales volume of the previous year by 30%.
"Planning from below". For example, you work with two dozen corporate buyers, have information about each of them and can make forecasts regarding the state of their affairs and prospects for the next year. When making a plan, you need to guess which customers will buy more than last year and which customers will buy less. Then summarize the forecasted indicators and get an overall picture for the year. Using a similar principle, you can draw up plans not only for clients, but also for product groups, equipment models and other criteria.

By making plans for both methods and comparing the data obtained, you can evaluate their correctness. If the numbers are significantly different, you made a mistake somewhere.

What problems accompany corporate sales and how to solve them

Problem 1. It is not the corporate sales specialist who interacts with the client, but the entire company.

The success of each significant contract depends not only on the employees of the relevant department, but also on the back office workers and project managers who are directly involved in the production of goods or the provision of services. How to coordinate the actions of staff so that a major transaction is successful?

Possible Solution

Any accounting system provides the “Delegation of Authority” function, which allows you to break a task into several stages, distribute them among specialists, set a deadline and monitor the result.

Problem 2. Duration of work on one transaction.

The longer it takes to complete a corporate sale, the more likely it is that it will ultimately fail. As for regular deliveries to large customers, they are often carried out over several years. At the same time, the average duration of work of a corresponding specialist in one company does not exceed two years. How to make your relationship with regular customers did not suffer after the dismissal of their personal manager?

Possible Solution

Make sure that your company maintains and regularly updates a complete customer database, containing not only the names of the purchasing companies, but also information about all contact persons, an archive of negotiations and all materials that accompany contracts.

Problem 3. Lots of documents to complete one transaction.

These are not only financial documents (acts, invoices, etc.), but also preliminary agreements, commercial proposals, various approvals, which can be very useful, for example, if a controversial situation arises.

Possible Solution

By organizing storage and prompt access to all data on a specific operation or a specific client, using templates, a corporate sales manager can generate standard documents in a matter of seconds and send them to print.

Problem 4. Finding large customers is not easy.

The target audience of companies that work in the field of corporate sales is mainly represented by middle and senior managers. How can you offer them your product or service with a modest advertising budget?

Possible Solution

Today one of the most effective ways is telemarketing. IN various systems Accounting has a special section where managers enter information about potential clients. Such a tool will allow you to quickly establish the process of attracting corporate buyers.

Lost profits in sales: why companies lose profits

Don’t force things, move smoothly from one stage of the transaction to another.
Remember that if a client does not make large purchases now, with the right approach he can become promising in the future.
Continuously analyze the progress and results of your work with partners in corporate sales.
Always find out the goals that the customer’s company sets for itself when starting cooperation with you. This approach to business will provide you with a significant advantage over your competitors.
Often the cause of failure major transactions customer objections become the same - for example, unfavorable delivery conditions or high prices for goods. This may indicate the need to change some aspects of your work or your company’s overall strategy for interacting with partners. Take the time to discuss your situation with your corporate sales manager.
Take every opportunity to establish a trusting relationship with a representative of the client company. If your first contact took place over the phone, you should not start a personal meeting as if you had never communicated before. Remember the remarkable details of your telephone conversation and, if necessary, remind your interlocutor about them. Thanks to this tactic, the responsible person of the buying company will treat you not as an ordinary distributor, but as “an interesting person with whom we have already discussed some details of the interaction.”
Pay maximum attention, but don't focus on one potential client. Of course, you can have 33 meetings with a possible partner and ultimately close the deal. However, this is not always advisable, because in the same period of time it would be possible to make more profitable corporate sales to other companies.
Do not make a presentation during the first meeting. You can offer products or services to your company after you have received information about the client’s company and its needs.
The situation with the demonstration is different. It can be started much earlier in order to stimulate buyer interest in the product at the early stages of the sales cycle.
If you have such an opportunity, visit your partner’s production.
Invite your client to visit your office more often.
Bring to the customer's attention video or multimedia materials about your company, the goods it produces or the services it provides.
You should not burden the buyer with excessive information, or bore him with a lot of advertising materials, reports and graphs. Practice shows that an abundance of information that is not directly related to the matter can prevent a partner from making a positive decision.
During a meeting with potential client Make notes that will help you later when preparing a commercial proposal. A distributor who used a crumpled piece of paper instead of a notepad during a meeting and did not make a single sensible note on it is unlikely to inspire confidence in his partner. What proposal can he prepare based on such notes?
To make the client feel comfortable during negotiations regarding corporate sales, indicate the cost of your goods or services already at the conversation stage.
When studying the activities of a partner company, do not trust media information too much, because it is not always reliable. Newspaper articles and television programs can help prepare for a conversation, but cannot replace it.
From the very beginning of negotiations, try to establish interpersonal relationships with partners. During a meeting with a representative of a client company, make it clear that you are personally interested in working with him.
Find out who makes purchasing decisions at the client's company. These could be specific officials or a special committee; try to give them a presentation of your company’s product.
Think in advance about whether there are any significant differences between you and the customer’s representative (for example, age difference, fundamental differences in views, etc.) that may prevent you from communicating on equal terms? In some cases, it is advisable to invite your colleague to the presentation, with whom it will be easier for your partner to find a common language. These leverage tactics lead to successful corporate sales deals resulting from negotiations.
From the very beginning of contacts, try to establish relationships with the management of the partner company and those individuals who have a decisive voice in the procurement decision-making process. Be bold, give a bright presentation to the directors of the company and tell them about the benefits of working with you.
To ensure that clients are satisfied with your work together, always fulfill your obligations.
Be prepared to respond to potential partners' objections. Often quite natural comments and questions from customers perplex the distributor if he is not sufficiently informed.

Overcoming objections in sales: how to deal with dissatisfied customers

Expert opinion

A company can retain corporate clients in several ways

Andrey Putilov,

Head of the Corporate Clients Department at SKB Kontur

Make sure that large customers can always count on your help in any situation. To do this, assign a personal corporate sales manager to each such client, who knows all the nuances of transactions from the very beginning of interaction. Indicate the contact information of such a specialist directly in the cooperation agreement. You cannot allow employees of a company that is your major customer to endlessly end up on answering machine and wait a long time for a call back.

When interacting with large clients, it is better to involve patient employees who can prove themselves not only as “hunters”, but also as “farmers”. What does it mean? The task of a corporate sales specialist is to make working together as comfortable as possible for the customer, and here they come to the rescue personal qualities, which are much more significant than those acquired during the learning process. To build a long-term relationship, it is important to be patient, attentive to details, and stress-resistant.

For successful interaction between the parties, adhere to the principle of specialization. How do we do this? Some managers of the corporate sales department in our company are responsible for the oil and gas sector, others for retail, and others are involved in logistics and transport enterprises.

Do not burden one specialist with an excessive number of clients. For example, many software vendors saddle one corporate sales manager with handling hundreds of clients, thereby making a serious mistake that can be detrimental to the business. As a result, even the most organized employee cannot cope with such a volume of responsibilities, because finding an individual approach and understanding all technological processes so many clients is simply unrealistic.

In general, the number of companies that can be brought under the responsibility of one is determined by the product. It is advisable to assign a personal manager to one enterprise if we are talking about a complex product or service that requires daily communication. But on average, as practice shows, in many companies one specialist is trusted to collaborate with 10-50 organizations.

It is important to provide quality work and sufficient attention to all large clients, regardless of the amount of profit they bring to the company.

A fairly common mistake made by many companies in the field of corporate sales is that they carry out high-quality work only with those enterprises that are the largest consumers of goods or services. The remaining clients are served on a residual basis. In this case, it is important to understand that it is the lack of attention on your part that may be the reason that the buyer purchases little and does not strive to expand interaction.

Continuously improve your products or services to best meet the needs of your largest partners. Our company, for example, has developed a service with which employees of client companies will be able to reconcile data with their counterparties before sending declarations to the tax authorities. While in small enterprises this work is easy to do manually, in giant corporations it is problematic to reconcile hundreds of thousands of records without using a special service. Therefore, our development is extremely relevant for such corporate partners.

Invite large clients to participate in experiments.

If in the mass sector experiments with new products or prices in a particular region are allowed, then in the corporate segment different rules apply. Here, one client is a separate corporate sales territory. It is permissible to conduct any experiments with the consent of the buyer and with his active participation.

Information about experts

Evgeny Kharitonov - Director of the sales department of the Mabe company (Moscow), which is registered in Russia under the name “Balam”. The company's specialization is wholesale household appliances, and the main clients are large regional enterprises.

Andrey Putilov has extensive experience in restructuring business processes for the implementation of ERP systems both in domestic companies and in international ones (Microsoft). Today he is the head of the corporate sales department at SKB Kontur, which specializes in business software development. The company, whose main office is located in Yekaterinburg, has branches and representative offices in more than 30 Russian cities. The company's staff of 3,000 employees serves more than 1 million clients, including such giants as Aeroflot, MTS, Megafon, Russian Railways, RUSAL, Rosneft, Auchan, Metro.

Any business aimed at developing and generating constant and growing income must build long-term relationships with its clients. And if individuals are actually one-time purchasers of a product or service, then corporate clients are able to bring profit to the company for a long time. The loyalty of this category of clients depends on many factors, and primarily on the competence of the personnel who work with them.

Corporate clients

Corporate clients are various firms and enterprises that purchase goods and services for internal consumption. Such consumers order batches of goods or a range of services.

Unlike wholesale buyers, whose goal is to maximize profit from the difference between the price of purchase and sale to the final consumer, corporate clients are focused on long-term cooperation and receiving a particular service for a long time. Their domestic consumption is stable or growing depending on the health of their business. A few large clients can provide a company with income for years.

Retail consumers and corporate clients are guided by different motivations when choosing a product or service.

If a person is influenced primarily by the emotional component, then company management is looking for benefits for their business.

A retail buyer will pay attention to positive emotions, compliance with fashion, or follow the advice of those closest to him when making a purchase. The corporate client develops a number of criteria for selecting a product or service:

Price. Enterprises and organizations almost every day receive many offers from potential suppliers, with different price ranges. At the same time it's too low price, blatant dumping of competitors is more likely to scare away such a client than to attract him.
Quality. Not only the final product must be of high quality, but also the proposal itself and support of the transaction at all stages. Therefore, the most qualified and competent employees should work with corporate clients.
Functionality. The technical characteristics of goods and the timing of services are also important for this consumer. When a need arises for a particular product, suppliers draw up matrices that the proposed product or service must comply with. In addition, the opinions of employees who will directly work with materials or use equipment are also taken into account.
Benefit. When considering commercial offers from different suppliers of the same product or service, companies are guided by the impact on the final result of the work of the entire company. It does not matter whether it is the purchase of office supplies or the supply of raw materials for production.
Term. Time is the most important resource in any business. The less time it takes to conclude a contract, supply a product, or provide a service, the more benefits the corporate consumer will receive.
Information. When choosing between different offers, such a customer does not have to spend too much effort to obtain all the useful information about the intended delivery. The offer must include the maximum quantity technical characteristics, price ranges for goods or services, conditions for their purchase.

To attract retail and corporate clients, different techniques and approaches are used; working with companies takes more time, but can ultimately bring best result. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between these two types of sales.

It is unacceptable for the same sales manager to work with both customer segments.

Even in a small company, you can assign a separate employee who will work with corporate clients. His responsibilities will include not only concluding a deal, but also planning a strategy for attracting new clients, analyzing information about competitors, and developing specific proposals for the needs of each company.

Types of corporate clients

Before developing a universal strategy for interaction with corporate consumers, it is necessary to understand the logic of decision-making by the management of a potential client. To do this, it is customary to segment all legal entities depending on the size of the business.

Small businesses are considered the most loyal and unpretentious. These are small firms and entrepreneurs. The decision-making logic of such buyers is close to that of ordinary people, and the main factor influencing the transaction is the price. The qualitative characteristics of close or similar proposals are practically not taken into account. However financial resources Such clients are limited, and a small company can easily become a one-time buyer.

It is easy to work with such business entities, since they do not have a strict hierarchical system, and the business owner is available for communication and acceptance of proposals. Such consumers may not pay attention to minor shortcomings at the stage of concluding a transaction if they are satisfied with the conditions.

Representatives of medium-sized businesses already have a hierarchical structure in decision-making and have their own permanent suppliers of goods and services. The price factor is not decisive. Proposals are considered from several perspectives. However, interpersonal relationships can play a key role here. Offering flexible terms, several options, etc. will help you differentiate yourself from your competitors and attract a medium-sized company as a potential client. Such clients have a more difficult time switching from one seller to another, but they have larger purchase volumes than small businesses and are more likely to regular customers.

Large corporations are the most difficult to attract. They have already established supply channels and have concluded long-term contracts. The structure of such companies is characterized by a complex hierarchy, and it is difficult to reach a manager who is authorized to make decisions on the purchase of goods or services. Many specialists take part in transactions with large clients, as part of their duties. Working with such consumers requires a lot of time. When making decisions, such clients rely on logic and benefits for their business. But they have high consumer potential and several large corporate clients are able to provide profit to the supplier company for a long time.

A separate area when working with corporate clients should be highlighted government agencies or a business with a state share. Such companies purchase goods and services on a competitive basis. You can attract them as clients by submitting the most profitable application that meets the conditions of the tender. When choosing a supplier in state-owned companies, the price factor has a significant influence.

Working with corporate clients

Information and analysis play a key role in building a system of cooperation with corporate clients. Before sending an offer to potential consumers, it is necessary to study their needs, obtain information about employees authorized to make purchasing decisions, and analyze the current financial condition and customer development potential.

It is also necessary to analyze and update information on the company’s current clients. Their needs may change, and failure to respond to such changes in a timely manner will result in the client eventually looking for another supplier.

In addition, it is necessary to study in detail the offers of competitors and pay maximum attention to them. Make your offer unique. The complexity of sales also plays an important role in building relationships with corporate consumers.

For example, a company that offers not only the supply of equipment, but also favorable conditions for warranty and post-warranty service will receive an advantage over its competitors.

It is best to promote your goods or services by placing advertising information in various specialized publications, participating in thematic exhibitions, and holding presentations on the territory of a potential or current client.

When working with corporate clients, building a feedback system is also important.

Periodic meetings at the level of company executives, conducting surveys to find out the current needs of the client, introducing the practice of introductory seminars and presentations - all this helps to collect the necessary information about the consumer.

Attracting corporate clients is a lengthy and sometimes costly process. But unlike retail (one-time) consumers, the supply of goods and services to companies allows them to count on making a profit over a long period of time. In order to interest a potential corporate client, he needs to provide maximum information about the product, offer a range of services, and show the possible benefits of the acquisition.

Employees working with corporate clients must have the highest possible qualifications and competence. It is necessary to differentiate between concluding transactions with legal entities and individuals, since sales to these groups of clients differ in methods and influencing factors.

Corporate clients are organizations that purchase large quantities of goods or services.
Such cooperation is important for sustainable development; attracting and retaining clients requires an individual approach and awareness of the direction of their activities.

In a broad sense, these include legal entities purchasing specific goods or services.

To find them and successfully work with them, special strategies are created.

Successfully attracting corporate clients is the key to business stability in difficult market conditions.

Let's start in order - let's look at the differences between such cooperation.

Qualities required to work with corporate clients

Corporate clients are legal entities that purchase specific goods or services in large quantities.

To find such customers and make them permanent, special loyalty programs are being developed.

To attract corporate clients in 2017, as before, special departments are being created.

Large-scale cooperation with the company becomes a source of income for years and even decades.

That's why so much attention is paid to finding corporate clients.

responsibility;
composure;
punctuality;
professionalism.

Interestingly, when working with corporate clients, punctuality is important.

The counterparty company strives to use time with maximum benefit, so it is important that goods and services are provided on time.

Important: If a problem arises, it should be resolved as quickly as possible.

Subsequently, the company representative will not have to clarify the details, and there will be no unnecessary loss of time or.

Working with legal entities and individuals: what are the differences?

In fact, working with corporate clients and individuals are two completely different areas.

Therefore, a specific approach is required in each case. If when working with an individual you need to offer a product to only one person, then when collaborating with a company you need to present its beneficial aspects to the whole organization.

Let's look at the audience differences in comparison.

Search for clients. To find private clients, funds are used mass media- television, newspapers. To convey the offer of services or goods to company managers, they use mailings or cold calls. Letters allow you to talk in detail about your services. Telemarketing is designed to help you get to know your potential clients and their preferences.
Making a deal. When working with an organization, much more paperwork is required than when selling to an individual. The package may include a form, a deed of intent, an agreement, and so on.
Participants in the transaction. If, when servicing a private person, a transaction is concluded with him or his representative, then for a corporate transaction several people are involved from each party, including. To properly execute an operation, it is important to clearly delineate the powers of employees.
Deal time. From the beginning of cooperation until the final result is achieved in a situation with corporate clients, a year or even more may pass. There are cases when during this time the employees responsible for paperwork are replaced, for example, due to. It is important for the counterparty to maintain information about the client base, including the contact details of all responsible persons.

Due to such global differences, attracting and working with corporate clients requires a completely different approach.

This affects all areas - from search to retention of service buyers.

The main ways to find corporate clients

Finding clients in the form of legal entities means providing the company with stable profits.

However, their search differs from the search for individual buyers.

This issue is especially acute for companies that opened in 2017 and are just starting their activities.

Let's dig deeper and look at the basic techniques for finding clients.

Monitoring of Internet sites. This method is in first place in the ranking. Managers familiarize themselves with the content of various Internet resources to find potential buyers. The advantage of this technique is that the search for clients is not limited to a specific region.
Carrying out advertising company. As a rule, it is entrusted to the corporate clients department. May be involved outdoor advertising, media, internet. Preference is given periodicals, in which large companies leave requests for cooperation and their contact information.
Visiting thematic exhibitions or viewing catalogs. At exhibitions, managers meet with potential clients. Directories may also contain contact information for a potential customer base, which should be processed in a timely manner.
Familiarization with information in directories of enterprises and organizations. Such collections are published both at the federal and regional levels. In them, enterprises are collected by industry. Such a database will be a good assistant in finding corporate clients.

A controversial method, which sometimes still brings good results, is the use of word of mouth.

Reviews, recommendations, etc. differ among employees and partners.

Although information received in this manner should be treated with caution, such information may be useful.

Secrets of attracting large companies to cooperate

In order to continue business development in 2017, we need to continue working on attracting corporate clients.

Important: two key factors that influence method development: the level of interest in commercial offer and availability of financial resources.

Sounds complicated? Let's move on to specific techniques on how to find and retain customers.

A smart proposal. When making decisions, the management of the organization is guided not by emotions, but by logic and rationality. Promotional offer in 2017 should be compiled accordingly. The text should be short and informative at the same time.
Individual approach. This point plays a critical role in retaining corporate clients. It is worth developing a separate cooperation plan for each company. Flexible pricing, selection of service packages, discounts and bonuses, and notification of new offers will help you create a loyalty program. It is worth paying attention to establishing personal contact, which corporate events help with.
Studying the activities of a corporate client. A clear understanding of the company’s needs and the direction of its activities (after all, their production requires completely different costs) will help adapt the offer to its needs and make it as profitable as possible. It is enough to know, which will allow you to verify the reliability of the counterparty.

Summarize. Corporate clients are legal entities that purchase large quantities of products.

Working with corporate clients and working with individuals have significant differences. These are two different areas of activity, and serving corporate clients requires a special approach.

If in the B2C sector the customer is one person, then the corporate client belongs to the B2B sector - this is a whole company, and the product needs to be sold not to one person, but to a large organization.

There are several descriptions of corporate clients, for example, I. Rybkin in his book “Active Search for Corporate Clients” writes the following: “The difference in the search for corporate clients and individuals is due to the presence of different interests in completing a transaction. The latter have only one interest - personal. The client - an individual - always pays his money. In work with legal entities Several interests are always involved: - the interests of the organization related to making a profit; - the interest of people participating in the implementation of contracts; - interest of competing organizations. Therefore, concluding an agreement with a corporate client is influenced by many different interests and factors. Their mutual influences must be taken into account. At the same time, we should not exclude the option that our potential client could be a private entrepreneur or the direct owner of a company, here on the one hand the work is simplified, and we work with this client as with a retail one, but we also must not forget that he pursues the interests of the company."

A. Barysheva in her work identifies three important differences between corporate clients and retail clients:

“The main task of a corporate client is to make the work of their organization more efficient (profitable, productive, competitive, etc.). At the same time, all procurement decisions are made by ordinary people with ordinary human needs (work less, get more, stand out in the eyes of their superiors, grow professionally, make their own work comfortable, etc.). Therefore, it is more difficult to work with a corporate client. Good selling requires us to understand not only the personal interests of the individual with whom we are negotiating, but also the interests of the organization that he represents. If we sell coconuts to wholesalers, we must be sure that they can sell them to the Eskimos at a profit. This approach requires us to collect detailed information about the client's business.

Since the needs of the organization are directly or indirectly related to economic indicators, concluding contracts with corporate clients is more logical than emotional. This provides more opportunities for the use of logical argumentation and specific numerical indicators. In order to take advantage of these benefits, we need to better understand the client's business.

A corporate client’s company is a living organism where various interests intertwine, interact and compete. It is very important that the decision to conclude a deal is usually made not at the negotiating table between the direct customer and the seller, but precisely in the absence of the sales manager: at a meeting, in an informal conversation at the dinner table, in a smoking room. In order to involve all decision makers on our issue, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the client's business.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to study the business of a corporate client. I would like to make a reservation that everything depends on the size of the transaction and the service that the company offers.”

S. Minnet in his book “BtoB Marketing” points to a more rational approach of corporate clients: “Corporate purchasing is carried out within organizations, while the behavior of individual consumers when purchasing products and services of interest to them is based solely on their personal considerations or on considerations which are produced by very small and informal groups such as a family or a married couple. Consumers of technology-driven products are likely to ask themselves, “Will this product perform as promised?”, while consumers of fashion-driven products are likely to ask, “Does this product deliver on the specifications?” my lifestyle, and to what extent will it convey these features to the people whose opinion is important to me?” Often they want to compare (even at a minimal level) the product they are interested in with similar products from competing companies, in terms of these objective criteria.

The difference with technology products is obvious: corporate buyers very often set precise and explicit criteria for the quality of the product they are interested in before making a purchase.” This is not a complete list of the differences between a corporate and retail client.

As a summary, we can say that a corporate customer is one person or group that satisfies the needs of an organization by purchasing or ordering something, while spending the company's money and having to account for it. Where, in addition to the interests of the company, there are interpersonal relationships and interests.

This client is interesting for a long-term period of time. His satisfaction is the main goal of any company.

So, the B2B market has a number of fundamental differences from consumer market, which has a significant impact on the promotion strategies and tools used in this area. Target Audience c are organizations, not individuals.

Accordingly, we can highlight a number of features inherent to corporate clients and the B2B market as a whole:

There are relatively few corporate clients in contrast to the end consumer market. Often, a manufacturing company may have only 2 or 3 clients, since the products it produces are quite specific and are applicable only in a certain industry (for example, in the capital goods market). In such a situation, the loss of even one client can have catastrophic consequences for the manufacturer in terms of business development opportunities. Thus, the importance of each individual corporate client is much higher than in the consumer market.

In the institutional market, the purchasing decision-making process is significantly different. A fairly large number of people take part in the purchasing process - company management, purchasing managers, marketing specialists, employees of production and financial departments, etc. Consequently, the purchase decision-making process becomes much longer and multi-stage, and also requires compliance with sufficient large quantity formalities and approvals.

Corporate clients tend to purchase products in batches rather than individual units. Here we are talking about procurement, not purchases. Consequently, purchasing on the B2B market has a higher degree of risk for the buyer, since we are talking about a fairly large investment.

Corporate clients usually have a fairly high degree of competence regarding the chosen product, which imposes certain requirements, firstly, on the quality of information in the sales company’s representative materials - booklets, product catalogs, advertising messages, and secondly, on the characteristics of the company’s sales staff, who must have high professionalism.

Corporate clients are not inclined to change suppliers frequently. If a company has managed to ensure that the client’s needs are met efficiently and competently, he will turn to it again. This is due, on the one hand, to the desire of clients to simplify the procurement procedure - repeated purchases take much less time, since the process has already been established, on the other hand, the degree of risk for the client organization when purchasing from the same already proven supplier is reduced. Thus, establishing contact with a potential client in the B2B market is almost always focused on the long term.

In the end-consumer market, the situation of choosing a brand is often impulsive and depends on the influence of third-party factors, the effect of which is difficult to predict.

However, consistency in the choice of supplier among corporate clients can create certain obstacles when a company enters the market, since it is difficult to convince organizations to buy from you if they already have a supplier with whom there are no complaints.

Demand in the B2B market is often dependent on demand in the end consumer market. Growing demand for certain goods in the consumer market leads to an increase in demand for raw materials and materials for the production of these products in the enterprise market.

The development of the B2B market is linear and associated with the development of technology, while the development of the consumer market is cyclical and determined primarily by fashion.

Relatively small budget for Marketing communications. Major investments in the B2B sector are made in technology improvement and R&D.

However, these features of corporate clients cannot be considered universal. The market for organizations is heterogeneous. The characteristics of a corporate client are determined by the field of activity, the scale of the organization, the properties of the product/service offered, and the communication policy of the client company.

In order for a company to survive and develop safely in tough market conditions, it needs a sufficient number of customers.

Of course, it is very good when there are many regular retail customers, but the main profit for the company comes from corporate clients.

Definition of the concept

Corporate clients are usually called legal entities, organizations or enterprises that purchase goods or services from a company on a large scale, in several copies.

For most commercial companies They are the main component of the business.

The explanatory dictionary of the Russian language interprets the word “corporate” as “narrow group, limited to a narrow circle.” Consequently, we are talking about a dedicated group of partners, which cannot be numerous and requires special approaches to interact with it.

The main task of any company is to attract and subsequently retain a corporate client, striving to make him permanent. For this purpose, specially developed programs, techniques, and methods of working with them are used. Enterprises have special employees who specialize in various methods of attracting profitable partners.

As a rule, the issue of attracting corporate clients is relevant for a new, newly opened enterprise that is known to few people.

Exists several proven search methods corporate clients:

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Ways to attract and retain

After the database of potential corporate clients of the company has been compiled, the continuous operation with her to promote the company’s products and services on the market. The manager and his assistants develops a unique strategy to attract and retain corporate clients. It can be expressed in a special program, methodology, set of techniques, etc. It should be noted that attracting large clients is not an easy task, and each company makes a lot of efforts to interest profitable partners to the maximum extent and prevent them from leaving for competitors.

In order to successfully attract corporate clients to cooperation, you should initially proceed from important criteria for working with them: the degree of interest in the product/service and the availability of financial capabilities of the company or entrepreneur. Depending on these conditions, original ways to attract and retain corporate clients should be developed.

Let's look at some of them:

If the retail buyer has only a personal interest in the transaction, then legal entities have to take into account: the interests of the organization related to making a profit, the interests of the people conducting the negotiations, as well as the interests of competing organizations. From this it becomes clear that many factors influence the conclusion of an agreement with a corporate client. The exception is situations when a corporate client is represented by one person - an individual entrepreneur.

As a rule, the key criteria for choosing a particular supplier of goods or services are: warranty High Quality products and services, business reputation companies on the market, the competence of employees who interact directly with corporate clients. In addition, knowledge of the rules is necessary business etiquette, manifestation of politeness, openness and goodwill in communication. An important condition will be the observance of punctuality in solving problems, prompt fulfillment of undertaken obligations, since a serious client values his time and the desire to resolve any difficult situation in the shortest possible time.

Organizing the work of the corporate department for working with corporate clients

For effective organization of work With corporate clients, just searching and attracting them is not enough; it is also important to competently organize work with large partners. For these purposes, every reputable enterprise has a special structure called the “corporate department for working with corporate clients.” Managers working with corporate clients work there - professionals in their field.

It should be noted that the methods of working with individuals and corporate clients are certainly different. Unlike retail buyers, corporate clients are offered all sorts of loyal conditions for the sale of goods and services, as well as subsequent after-sales service.

Main tasks corporate department are:

searching for and attracting large companies to cooperation;
comprehensive work with corporate clients, ensuring large supplies of products;
retaining regular customers and prolonging commercial relations with them;
high financial return for the enterprise for each concluded contract.

It is known that all corporate partners are legal entities, but not all legal entities can make large purchases. The corporate department is only interested in clients who provide high sales volumes for the company, so the requirement of high selectivity when searching for a partner is most relevant here.

Traditionally, a difficult question is: at what sales volume can a corporate client be considered profitable for the company? Here there is a dependence not only on volume, but also on a number of other factors: the client’s solvency, his geographical distance, domestic policy his company, etc.

In general, all clients of the corporate department are divided into the following groups:

Features in the banking sector

Any bank is interested in working effectively with corporate clients, since servicing them involves receiving good dividends. Large clients have the opportunity to obtain personal lines of credit and insurance, apply, maintain accounts, can count on bank guarantees and take part in salary projects.

To become corporate client of the bank, a legal entity enters into an agreement with a bank and receives a package of banking products and services on personal terms. Typically, newly opened banks offer the lowest rates and attractive loan products, but clients often doubt their reliability and prefer financial business sharks.

Among the bank's operating methods with corporate clients it is worth highlighting: big choice services and their affordable cost, fast execution of transactions and their full support, assistance in preparing documentation, professional advice in the field of finance.

The nuances of working in the hotel industry

Currently, the business tourism market is actively developing, so hotels are focused on cooperation with corporate clients interested in holding high level meetings, negotiations, conferences, banquets, etc. According to experts, it is corporate clients that provide hotels with up to 50% of total income.

Working with such clients is certainly different from interacting with private visitors. The corporate department of a hotel is required to competently maintain databases, analyze customer needs, individual approach to each of them, and establish long-term partnerships with legal entities.

When working with corporate clients in hotel business flexible is important price policy, offering each client a package of various services focused on his individual needs, strict compliance with the terms of agreements. When conducting business events, all personnel are required to work competently and in a coordinated manner and to comply with the required quality standards.

Interaction with corporate clients and establishing effective cooperation with them requires maximum concentration and responsibility from the entire staff of the company. It should be understood that business contacts with corporate clients are not ordinary one-time transactions, but an opportunity to organize long-term and cost-effective cooperation. Therefore, specialists must use their professionalism, business qualities and original techniques for finding, attracting and retaining corporate business partners.

An example of mutually beneficial cooperation between Megafon and its corporate clients is presented in the following video:

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