B2B and B2C sales – are their paths convergent or divergent?

Are the boundaries between B2B and B2C sales blurring or are they moving farther apart? There are some signs that B2B is getting nearer to B2C:

#1 Consumerisation of IT makes B2B selling and buying more human and humane

#2 Millennials are injecting much more personality in B2B selling and buying.

#3 Sales isn’t controlling the sales process and have lost the information advantage they had over the buyer – just like in B2C – where the information asymmetry was’nt that much or that important. However, there’s more than what meets the eye.

Here’s how B2B has moved further apart:
#1 With the traditional funnel breaking up, everyone can agree that B2B Sales process complexity has increased exponentially. One can argue that more e-commerce sales in B2C has decreased sales complexity there.

#2 Need for smarter and higher-skilled sales has increased faster in B2B than B2C. Skill and salary differential between top B2B vs B2C salespersons has increased drastically.

#3 While website, chat-bots, and content are important, nothing can still make sales happen in B2B more effectively than the human touch – the research, the chase and the closure! As a smart B2B seller – you need to mimic some B2C buyer sales for sure – but your focus and unit of sales investment has to be the salesperson not the tech!