For Marketers, especially those in B2B, social media should mean one thing to you…Circle of Influence.  Why Facebook?  Why Twitter?  Why LinkedIn?  Circle of Influence.  Why should you get your mom and friends on your company’s social media network when they have no intention of buying product from you?  Circle of Influence. 

I think you know where I’m going here.  Everyone in your company’s social network has their own network of people they know.  By focusing on non-business related social connections for your business, you are exponentially increasing the indirect contacts that may want to do business with you. 

Look at it this way.  We have talked in the past about ‘decreasing the confidence gap’ that exists between your company and your potential customers.  It’s important to be able to back up claims you make on the marketing side with hard data and case studies.  But this is important when you already have your prospect’s attention. 

One why to gain a prospect’s attention is to give them a warm, fuzzy feeling about you; and a good way to create that warm, fuzzy is to let them know that you are accepted on a personal level by someone that your prospect knows and values as a genuine relationship. 

So, you can plainly see how going after non-business social relationships can ultimately lead to growth of your Circle of Influence, and thus become a catalyst in building a bridge across the initial confidence gap.

Now go make some friends!

1. When was the last time your company purchased any of the following products or services? - list them out and provide time frames
2. Please select all of the products your company buys in a given year - list out all products and services to choose from
3. How many times per year does your company buy these products or services? - Give choices of a couple of months, 6 months, a year, more than a year.
4. How much does your company spend on these products and services in a given year? - Give choices of less than 10k, 25-50k, 50-100k, 100-250k, 250k+, or whatever scale fits your business.

Creating an e-business summary

As we have discovered, an e-business truly does touch every department within a company. And a truly integrated e-business has optimized both its human and technology resources.

From forming a strategic business plan that incorporates traditional business practices with e-business solutions, to conducting a risk analysis and disaster recovery plan, ABC has many steps to take before it can be tagged a successful e-business. It must first develop a marketing strategy and ask itself fundamental questions regarding its operational success factors.

ABC must also create a financial plan that looks at past performance as well as future trends. E-business involves reducing operational costs as well as increasing sales. Finally, ABC must work to make its e-business solution work for the customer. The customer must ultimately benefit from the efficiencies that ABC and its business partners will gain from a well-strategized and implemented e-business campaign.

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Risk analysis and Disaster recovery

Along with the financial plan, ABC should incorporate a thorough legal study and a thorough risk analysis. These aspects cannot be overlooked, as they are the biggest defense an e-business company can have to protect its assets. ABC should first analyze its privacy and service commitment statements. There are important laws and regulations that explain how data is to be collected, stored and shared. ABC should be aware of the many resources available to an organization that explain and keep up-to-date on new laws and regulations.

ABC should also conduct a thorough analysis of its infrastructure. During this analysis there should be considerable time devoted to uncovering any weaknesses in either information storage procedures or the processes used to keep the website up and running in the event of a natural disaster. This is also known as a disaster recovery plan. And like any plan there needs to be documentation drawn out that highlights the weaknesses. Then a disaster recovery team can be assembled. There can be several teams for each area of recovery, but each team should have a leader. The team leaders are responsible for determining the problem, the root cause of the problem, finding a resolution to the problem and finally responding to the problem and fixing it. This scenario should be conducted prior to any ‘real’ disaster so that there is documentation available when the time comes.

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Reducing costs

Financial considerations should be given towards reducing the costs of operating the business. Even though most companies use the Internet to increase their marketing presence, there are many ways to lower operating costs by using the Internet and the technology advancements that the Internet offers. One way of doing this is to lower transactional costs. When customers self-service their accounts, they free up the customer service department’s time and the Sales departments time. This allows them to spend more time procuring additional sales. Further, EDI and XML transactions can be instituted to allow computers to ‘talk’ to one another and therefore alleviate human interaction and human costs. 

Another way to lower costs is to offer information online. This will decrease paper, ink, storage and management costs in the physical realm. Along these same lines, a company could reduce costs by offering online invoices. Companies routinely lose or misplace their invoices. Having an electronic version to send them will decrease time and delivery costs. Using e-mail to communicate with the customer and other business partners will reduce phone-call cost, but it will also serve as an electronic backup in case of further disputes. Also, when a company uses online suppliers to procure their goods, much of the ‘fat’ has been taken out of the equation and costs are typically lower by doing so. One way to buy online is through bidding sites. These sites can offer a company the raw materials it needs to operate, but it can also offer the machinery it needs as well.

Recruiting employees online can save costs as well. Doing research online can reduce the time it takes to come up with an answer. Another great advantage the Internet has in reducing costs is training employees or customers via the Web. Quarterly sales meetings can be conducted via the Web without the added time and expense of traveling. Plus, Webinars can be conducted to train users on using an e-commerce site or educating suppliers on the services offered by ABC in an effort to encourage them to push their products through ABC. These are many ways that the Internet can reduce overall company costs. These elements should be included in a thorough financial and accounting plan.

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