Start doing online business using B2B Portals in Six Steps
By Nowshade Kabir ©Rusbiz.com
I registered with a B2B site but what’s next?
This is a question many first time users of B2B marketplaces ask themselves.
A few expect that the registration itself will bring them a number of new customers.
In some cases this might by true! Especially, if you are a seller of some much
coveted items. But for rest of us, things are a little trickier! A large B2B
marketplace has a lot of suppliers of similar products, who are vying for the
attention of potential customers. To establish your company as a favored one
among them is not an easy task! However, a little planning and thorough follow
up of some basic guidelines improve your chance of getting noticed by buyers
significantly.
Below, I outlined some of the basic steps that you should take once you seriously
decide to market your products using B2B marketplaces.
1 Write a nice profile
When a prospective client sees your trade lead ad or your product on the marketplace
and feels interested, the first thing he does is - checks your company profile
out. That’s where the buyer gets his initial information about your company.
If you have a virtually blank profile with a very little information on your
company, doubtful that the potential client will even bother to make a request
for quote. That’s why you should spend a little time on writing a nice
company profile. Here are some aspects that you should emphasize on while writing
your company profile.
Start your profile with something noteworthy about your company. This could
be the distinct quality that sets your business apart from your competition.
Describe your present customer base, target market and any new products or projects
that you are planning to come up with.
Write a bit about your company history. When the company was incorporated? What
is the business form?
If you have something to boast about, do it! If you feel that your sales figures
are impressive, why not mention them.
Be brief! The profile should not be more than five paragraphs. You don’t
want your buyers to get bored!
2 Include your logoon your Storefront page
If you would like to separate your company from many other similar vendors,
you have to think seriously about creating a brand for your company. Brand is
the distinctive pattern of your business operation. It portrays the nature of
your service or product, your uniqueness in comparison to others etc. A nice
looking logo is a key to branding your company. Customers will remember your
company name better if you have a great logo to go with.
3 Add products to your storefront
It is important to have your main products, products that are your primary sale
generators, added to your storefront. Products with nice picture and well descriptions
capture buyers attention more than any thing else. After all the reason that
the buyers are on your page is to look for the products that they need.
4 Make nice pictures of your products
Nothing can turn off a prospective buyer than a hazy or blur picture of the
product that he intends to buy from you. If your competitor’s product
with exactly same features has nicer picture, guess who has a better chance
to get the business? Spend some money and take professional pictures of your
products. Make sure that you followed all the instructions of the Portal before
uploading the pictures.
5 Post your products for sale on the marketplace
Product visibility is the name of the game! Don’t confine yourself just
by adding products to E-catalog and your Storefront. Post products for sale
on the E-marketplace.
There are numbers of great advantages of posting products on E-marketplaces:
Frequent browsers of marketplace can see your products
Buyers can compare your products with others on marketplace
Buyers can take an immediate buying decision and make an instant Purchase Order.
6 Post trade leads
For many not-so-savvy users of B2B sites it's a bit complicated to make buys
and sales through marketplaces. They prefer to get trade leads from the site
and make contacts with buyers or sellers by fax, phone or just emails. Posting
trade leads is a great marketing method to tap new territories. Don’t
be disappointed if you do not get immediate feedbacks. Repeat trade leads at
least once in a month. Since normally a portal constantly acquires new members,
in order to expose the leads to bigger audience, it is worthwhile to post trade
leads frequently.
