B2B or, in full, Business to Business. This is the terminology that has been used for years for the type of market we operate in. It is a terminology that I have never really enjoyed using.
Business to Business. What is that actually supposed to represent? The ideology that businesses deal with, or sell to, other businesses.
However, last time I checked businesses revolve around people. Sure, there have been massive leaps forward in artificial technology. We only need look to our phone of evidence of this. Google, without notification, will send me an alert towards the end of a typical business day to tell me the travel time home. Very clever.
But businesses do not do business with other businesses even in our online world. Businesses are not empty shells. Businesses are made up of people. And it is the people within the businesses that choose to do business with each other.
So I have adopted a new abbreviation for this; PRT. People, Relationships, Trust.
In our industry for two businesses to work together it starts with people. People agreeing to meet to achieve some form of outcome. After several engagements, a Relationship can often develop between these people. That is not to say they become fantastic friends by any means. It can quite simply mean a Business Relationship.
Then, from there, Trust begins to form between these people. And from this point onwards successful business relationships are often formed for mutual benefit.
However, without people there is no start point, or no sustainable outcome. Businesses do not form relationships with other businesses. They can form a legal partnership of some sort represented by a mutually agreed document, but a business does not maintain a relationship with another business. It is the people within the business that maintain the relationship. It is the people within the business that develop trust for one another.
And trust leads to a sustainable, mutually beneficial business relationship.
Whilst the abbreviation B2B has been used for years, in my opinion it is misleading. For our business, we don’t operate in the B2B market. We operate in the PRT market. We deal with people, whom we build a relationship with and are fortunate enough to have mutual trust. This is what makes us successful.
PRT – People, Relationships, Trust
Three small letters make a massive difference.
Author – Craig Birchall