Most small business marketing experience and understanding comes from large corporations selling their products or services to consumers. This is B2C, or business to consumer marketing. After all, we are all bombarded by this type of B2C direct marketing everyday by American Express, Capital One, and Verizon, etc…Telling us what we need or want.

Ninety-nine percent of all companies and individuals market their products and services based on this big business form of B2C marketing. Why, because it is what we have all been exposed too and then we mimic it and apply to our own small business marketing situation rightly or wrongly. However, when you are attempting to sell to other businesses consultative products or services this is definitely the wrong approach.

The marketing approach that big corporations employ in selling to consumers, we refer to as capabilities and capacities. They say we have this capability or this capacity to __________, fill in the blank. What does this mean? It means that most people cannot wait to tell you what they can do for you. Even though they don’t even know, what it is you really need and they don’t care, they just want you to buy what they are selling.

Most business-to-business marketing and selling approaches are also, either capability/capacity, or a derivative called information selling, which is let me educate on why you should buy from me. I’m smart and I know what you need, therefore you’re not, that is why I know best and you should buy from me.

While often described as consultative, because it seeks to educate prospective customers about their problems and the solutions they can provide. Neither of these approaches comes close to addressing the heart of small business marketing. Learn the simple selling truth, the reason someone actually buys from one-person verses another is based on building relationships not the product or service they sell.