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Question About Selling To Companies

by Long Beach Nathan
9 replies
I'm marketing a product on social media which I'm an affiliate for to businesses, and I had been targeting medium to large size companies.

I've only been working on this one for the last few days, and recently something occurred to me: All this time, I had assumed that the person managing the social media account would be the same one clicking through and making the purchase. Now I fear this may usually not be the case, at least with the larger companies. So therefore, I wouldn't make the affiliate commission because someone else on a different PC would make the actual purchase later, instead of the person working the social media account.

Please chime in if you know about how most businesses work in this regard. I believe maybe some smaller type businesses may in fact use one person to manage social accounts and also make purchases for the company (though I'm thinking the decision to make the purchase would likely come from somewhere else), but I'd imagine the chances of this would diminish with larger sized companies. What about "medium sized" businesses? Would I have a chance to make a sale?
#companies #question #selling
  • Profile picture of the author AceOfShirts
    If the company is big enough to have a Marketing Department then I would think the Marketing Dept Manager would make the buying decision. It probably also depends on the price of what you are selling and if they need approval for a purchase that large. Also, does the person have access to the business PayPal account or company credit card.

    It seems your best bet is to ask the person to share the link to your review or post about the product to the person in charge of purchasing.
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  • Profile picture of the author rocknitish
    A friend's startup was recently approached by an interested buyer, which spurred me to write up some thoughts on M&A in hopes that they could be useful to other entrepreneurs. For those that do not know my background, I have both sold a startup and managed multiple tech deals as an investment banker at Broadview (now Jefferies). Here is my take, for what that is worth, on some basic questions people might have:

    How do I get the price up?
    What do I tell my team?
    What is the process like?
    The buyer is asking for a lot of sensitive information up front, what do I do?
    The buyer has asked me to sign a no-shop agreement, what do I do?
    What advisors do I need?
    Any tips for negotiation?
    Who are my likely buyers?
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  • Profile picture of the author kilgore
    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    All this time, I had assumed that the person managing the social media account would be the same one clicking through and making the purchase. Now I fear this may usually not be the case, at least with the larger companies. So therefore, I wouldn't make the affiliate commission because someone else on a different PC would make the actual purchase later, instead of the person working the social media account.
    I think your fears are very well founded. Even in small companies it's generally the case that relatively few people are able to complete purchases. Which makes sense, right? If you were to hire a bunch of people to help run your business would you give them all authority to spend your money?

    Based on what you said, I think that you might have trouble with an affiliate marketing strategy. That said, if I were you, I wouldn't be wasting my time asking the WF what other peoples' policies are. Instead, I'd call a few of the type of companies I was targeting, ask for their procurement or purchasing department and ask them what their policies are. People in those departments aren't particularly hard to reach and I find that most people in large companies are glad to spend 10 minutes talking to a stranger about their jobs.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

      I'd call a few of the type of companies I was targeting, ask for their procurement or purchasing department and ask them what their policies are. People in those departments aren't particularly hard to reach and I find that most people in large companies are glad to spend 10 minutes talking to a stranger about their jobs.
      ^^This.

      Particularly with medium to large size companies, there are many layers of decision makers as well as autonomous departments that may have independent purchasing authority. Your stand-alone social media marketing campaign can only go so far; other communication channels including online/offline direct marketing needs to be integrated for peeling away management hierarchies.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    I've only been working on this one for the last few days, and recently something occurred to me: All this time, I had assumed that the person managing the social media account would be the same one clicking through and making the purchase. Now I fear this may usually not be the case, at least with the larger companies. So therefore, I wouldn't make the affiliate commission because someone else on a different PC would make the actual purchase later, instead of the person working the social media account.
    Nathan, if you're going to sell to businesses, you'll need to look like a professional yourself. That means having your own dedicated website to which you refer all contact. In other words, make them come to your site first, and then on to the product page.

    That way, it won't matter which department actually makes the purchase.


    Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author Long Beach Nathan
    Thanks to those who answered.

    I'll have to think about all this. Frank thanks, but as soon as anyone goes through a site's affiliate link and ends up on the product page, they would probably just make some note of the company name and never visit the site an another PC. But I appreciate your suggestion.

    I think it's probably best if I concentrate on marketing to sole proprietorships/small businesses which likely to employ a handful of people. It will probably make things much simpler.
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    • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
      Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

      Frank thanks, but as soon as anyone goes through a site's affiliate link and ends up on the product page, they would probably just make some note of the company name and never visit the site an another PC. But I appreciate your suggestion..
      Just handing out a generic affiliate link isn't the best way to sell to businesses. You need to control how they purchase. To them, you have to be seen as the route to the product - so you tell them what URL to use, i.e. one that redirects via your site.


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      • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
        Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

        Nathan, if you're going to sell to businesses, you'll need to look like a professional yourself. That means having your own dedicated website to which you refer all contact. In other words, make them come to your site first, and then on to the product page.

        That way, it won't matter which department actually makes the purchase.


        Frank
        Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

        Just handing out a generic affiliate link isn't the best way to sell to businesses. You need to control how they purchase. To them, you have to be seen as the route to the product - so you tell them what URL to use, i.e. one that redirects via your site.


        .
        Nathan, you should not be so quick to dismiss this advice.

        The only way your business builds value is if it creates its own identity, personality and impact on those you are marketing to.

        If you approach it as the invisible middleman, then you give prospects every reason to cut you out whenever they can - either intentionally or unintentionally.

        Make them see the value in going through you, and you solve that problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pilgrim_Warrior
    Nathan, don't know if this is going to even come close to what you are attempting to accomplish but...have you considered this...

    Google search on "Creative B2B Social Media Marketing Ideas" with the quotes. I just tried it and took a cursory look at one of the urls with an article on 'how to' and got 9,330 hits back on the serp.

    Have a read at it; here's the intro to the article:

    "Social media tools such as Twitter and blogs (it's frequently forgotten that blogs are social media) are fast becoming standard B2B marketing examples. However, the truth is that marketers are not leveraging social media to its full potential to create/uplift a brand, reputation, or authority for their products or their companies.

    Here are five key B2B marketing examples of how marketers can leverage social media."

    Hope that helps some!
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