What is the difference between B2B and B2C cold calling?

It is a common misconception that cold calling is only used as a marketing technique for B2C companies. Contrary to popular belief, cold calling is quite successful for B2B businesses as well. 

The relevance and importance of cold calling have increased so much more as remote working teams have become the norm everywhere. Also, with the new software and technical interventions, the process of cold calling has been far easier and effective than it was earlier. 

But if you are unaware of the key differences between B2B and B2C cold calling, then achieving your set goals might prove to be difficult for you.

What is cold calling?

Cold calling refers to the process of calling possible clients or customers to achieve a successful sale or prospect. The word cold means that the call receivers are usually people who have not approached the business about the services or products, meaning they are completely unaware and have no interest. 

Winning over such customers and generating leads is known to be a difficult task. As a result, rather than calling completely unaware clients or companies, targeted calls are made. Numbers of possible customers are generated from screening through databases. The aim is to call an individual or a business that fulfilled the characteristics of previous clients or has been searching for the service or products earlier. 

It could also be that the customers or organizations have previously interacted with the service-providing company in one way or the other. Meaning they might have accepted a free trial or have signed up for a discount or survey or anything. Calling such individuals or groups is referred to as warm calling. 

Cold calling is no doubt difficult, which is why marketing programs are trying to get in touch with possible customers that will successfully open a dialogue. The company could gain some information about the customer’s requirements and initiate a better sales pitch.

Differences between B2B cold calling and B2C cold calling?

B2B refers to companies that produce goods or services for other businesses or organizations. Thus the end-user of their offerings is a company of business in itself. On the other hand, a B2C company produces goods and services for individual end-users. 

A B2B business would be making calls to other companies or organizations, while a B2C business would be calling up individuals. Depending on these differences, the traits of the call will change. 

Traits of B2C sales call 

• B2C calls are solely focused on the products or services. It all depends on how the call is opened, and the caller has to account for the success or failure of the call.
• There is a large inventory of customer numbers that a cold caller can dial up. The market is large and vast, thus increasing the chances of success.
• The calls have to be made whenever a new service or product has been launched. This means that the calls have to be repeated in short cycles every time when the buying process has been completed.
• The reason behind the purchase of an individual customer is quite erratic. It could be either that they were in a good mood, they required the service or that they had enough money to spare at the time of purchase. 

Traits of B2B sales call 

• There is more scope in B2B sales calls to know the person’s requirements on the other end of the call. This information gives more scope to develop a sales pitch. 
• Such calls are driven by the relationship between the two parties, which has developed over time. 
• The calls are made to the targeted marked groups, which are far smaller in number when compared to the B2C call market. 
• The leads generated can be used for the next sale as well. 
• The buying decisions are rational and made by a group of people. The aim is to see that the buying decision adds value to the business. 

Also read: Importance of cold calling

Why is cold calling more successful for B2B than B2C?

When you go through the traits mentioned earlier and the differences between B2B and B2C sale calling, it becomes clear that B2B cold calling is more likely to produce successful results. 

Recently up to half of the sales teams have transitioned their sales programs to achieve contactless sales. This means that the service provider is not meeting the end-user face to face. B2B companies are better equipped to deploy their resources to utilize the benefits of these trends. 

But this isn’t the real reason why B2B cold calling is more successful in B2C ones!

The real deciding factor is that in B2C cold calling, the salesperson knows little to nothing about the person they are talking to. This gives them little opportunity to build a personal sales pitch that would improve the chances of a purchase. It is near impossible to guess the problems they are facing and thus suggest them suitable solutions. 

In contrast, they try to sell the person based on their emotions and capitalize the impulse buying behavior. It is not always possible to capitalize on this impulse. It all depends on the mood and emotions invoked through the calls. Thus it results are largely a hit or a miss. 

Conclusion

In B2C calling, there is no perfect time to call an individual; they might be busy with their professional life or taking some time off. It is difficult to approach them at a time when they are ready to talk to a stranger. 

In contrast, B2B cold calling is based on rationale and wants to achieve a solution assessed by fixed standards. Thus the expectations of such clients are easy to understand and also remain fixed.  It is, therefore, easier to know what such clients want and satisfy it with available products or services.