B2B: what it is, what it means and examples of B2B companies
How business between companies works and what changes when your customer is another company
**B2B (short for business to business) is the business model in which a company sells its products or services to other companies rather than to end consumers.**
For example, a packaging manufacturer that sells to food brands, an advertising agency or accounting software for small businesses. Its customer is another organization.
What does B2B mean?
B2B is the acronym for business to business. The “2” is read as to, meaning that one party sells “to” the other.
Other common acronyms are formed the same way:
| Acronym | Full form | Who sells to whom | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B | Business to business | A business sells to another business | A wholesaler that sells to stores |
| B2C | Business to consumer | A business sells to consumers | An online clothing store |
| B2B2C | Business to business to consumer | A business sells to another business, which sells to the consumer | A brand that sells through a supermarket |
| B2G | Business to government | A business sells to the government | A construction company that wins a public tender |
| C2C | Consumer to consumer | One individual sells to another | A website for buying and selling second-hand goods |
The same company can work in several models at once, such as a manufacturer that sells to distributors and also through its own online store.
What is a B2B company?
A B2B company is one whose customers are other companies, professionals or organizations. These are the most common types:
| Type | What it sells | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturers | Raw materials, parts or machinery | A car parts factory |
| Wholesalers and distributors | Products in large quantities | An office supplies distributor |
| Software companies (SaaS) | Cloud-based software by subscription | A CRM or an email marketing platform |
| Professional services | Expertise and specialized work | A tax advisory firm or a consultancy |
| Agencies | Marketing and communication services | A design or advertising agency |
Many of the best-known brands also have a B2B side. For example, the big tech companies sell cloud services to other businesses, in addition to their consumer products.
Differences between B2B and B2C
Selling to a company is nothing like selling to an individual:
| Aspect | B2B | B2C |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides | Several people: the user, their manager, purchasing, management | One person or a family |
| Sales cycle | Long: weeks or months | Short: minutes or days |
| Reason for buying | Rational: savings, profitability, efficiency | More emotional and immediate |
| Amount | High, often with a budget and a contract | Lower |
| Relationship | Long-term, with renewals | More one-off |
| Number of customers | Fewer, higher-value customers | Many customers |
How do you sell in B2B?
Since the decision takes a long time and is made by several people, B2B sales usually follow these stages:
- Attract interested contacts with useful content, events, ads or a lead magnet such as a downloadable guide.
- Qualify those contacts to find out which ones are closest to buying. We explain it in the post on lead scoring.
- Nurture them with relevant information until they are ready, which is known as lead nurturing.
- Present a proposal tailored to their case, with demos, success stories and pricing.
- Close the deal and look after the relationship to win renewals and referrals.
For the largest accounts, many companies use account based marketing (ABM), which treats each client company as a market of its own.
If you want the strategies in detail, check out our guide to B2B marketing.
Do you sell to other businesses?
Support your potential customers throughout the buying cycle with Mailrelay’s newsletters and segmentation.
Email marketing in B2B
Email is one of the channels that best suits B2B sales, because it accompanies the customer through a long buying cycle without the need for constant calls. These are its most common uses:
- Professional newsletter with industry news, guides and success stories, so your brand is top of mind when the customer decides.
- Automated sequences after a download or a demo, with step-by-step information.
- Prospecting or cold outreach, with personalized messages to companies that match your ideal customer. In Spain, it requires compliance with the GDPR and the LSSI.
- Loyalty with renewal reminders, training and content to help customers get more out of your product.
In B2B, the sender should be a recognizable person or team, and the message should be specific: what problem you solve and what next step you propose.
How Mailrelay helps you
With Mailrelay you can segment your contacts by company, industry or job title with custom fields, and send each group the content it is interested in.
You create your newsletters with the drag-and-drop editor and send yourself a test before each send. Then you can see the opens and clicks of each campaign in the statistics.
The free account lets you send up to 80,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts, with chat, ticket and phone support.
Grow your B2B business with email
Up to 80,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts with the free account, with chat, ticket and phone support.
Frequently asked questions about B2B
What is B2B? It is the business model in which a company sells its products or services to other companies rather than to end consumers.
What does B2B stand for? It means selling from one company to another. It is short for business to business.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C? In B2B the customer is a business, and in B2C it is a consumer. B2B sales usually have a longer cycle, more decision-makers and higher amounts.
What is a B2B company? It is a company whose customers are other companies or organizations, such as a manufacturer, a wholesaler, a consultancy or a software company.
What is B2B2C? It is the model in which a company sells to another company, which then brings the product to the end consumer. For example, a brand that sells through a supermarket.