{"id":73865,"date":"2023-08-30T20:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T20:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glosario\/b2b\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T01:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T01:00:46","slug":"b2b","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/b2b\/","title":{"rendered":"B2B"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

**B2B (short for business to business<\/em>) is the business model in which a company sells its products or services to other companies rather than to end consumers.**<\/p>\n\n

For example, a packaging manufacturer that sells to food brands, an advertising agency or accounting software for small businesses. Its customer is another organization.<\/p>\n\n

What does B2B mean?<\/h2>\n\n

B2B is the acronym for business to business<\/em>. The \u201c2\u201d is read as to<\/em>, meaning that one party sells \u201cto\u201d the other.<\/p>\n\n

Other common acronyms are formed the same way:<\/p>\n\n

Acronym<\/th>Full form<\/th>Who sells to whom<\/th>Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
B2B<\/td>Business to business<\/td>A business sells to another business<\/td>A wholesaler that sells to stores<\/td><\/tr>
B2C<\/a><\/td>Business to consumer<\/td>A business sells to consumers<\/td>An online clothing store<\/td><\/tr>
B2B2C<\/td>Business to business to consumer<\/td>A business sells to another business, which sells to the consumer<\/td>A brand that sells through a supermarket<\/td><\/tr>
B2G<\/td>Business to government<\/td>A business sells to the government<\/td>A construction company that wins a public tender<\/td><\/tr>
C2C<\/td>Consumer to consumer<\/td>One individual sells to another<\/td>A website for buying and selling second-hand goods<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

What is a B2B company?<\/h2>\n\n

A B2B company is one whose customers are other companies, professionals or organizations. These are the most common types:<\/p>\n\n

Type<\/th>What it sells<\/th>Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Manufacturers<\/td>Raw materials, parts or machinery<\/td>A car parts factory<\/td><\/tr>
Wholesalers and distributors<\/td>Products in large quantities<\/td>An office supplies distributor<\/td><\/tr>
Software companies (SaaS)<\/td>Cloud-based software by subscription<\/td>A CRM or an email marketing platform<\/td><\/tr>
Professional services<\/td>Expertise and specialized work<\/td>A tax advisory firm or a consultancy<\/td><\/tr>
Agencies<\/td>Marketing and communication services<\/td>A design or advertising agency<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

Differences between B2B and B2C<\/h2>\n\n

Selling to a company is nothing like selling to an individual:<\/p>\n\n

Aspect<\/th>B2B<\/th>B2C<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Who decides<\/td>Several people: the user, their manager, purchasing, management<\/td>One person or a family<\/td><\/tr>
Sales cycle<\/td>Long: weeks or months<\/td>Short: minutes or days<\/td><\/tr>
Reason for buying<\/td>Rational: savings, profitability, efficiency<\/td>More emotional and immediate<\/td><\/tr>
Amount<\/td>High, often with a budget and a contract<\/td>Lower<\/td><\/tr>
Relationship<\/td>Long-term, with renewals<\/td>More one-off<\/td><\/tr>
Number of customers<\/td>Fewer, higher-value customers<\/td>Many customers<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n
\"B2B<\/figure>\n\n

How do you sell in B2B?<\/h2>\n\n

Since the decision takes a long time and is made by several people, B2B sales usually follow these stages:<\/p>\n\n

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  1. Attract interested contacts<\/strong> with useful content, events, ads or a lead magnet<\/a> such as a downloadable guide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Qualify<\/strong> those contacts to find out which ones are closest to buying. We explain it in the post on lead scoring<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Nurture them<\/strong> with relevant information until they are ready, which is known as lead nurturing<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Present a proposal<\/strong> tailored to their case, with demos, success stories and pricing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Close the deal and look after the relationship<\/strong> to win renewals and referrals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    For the largest accounts, many companies use account based marketing (ABM)<\/a>, which treats each client company as a market of its own.<\/p>\n\n

    If you want the strategies in detail, check out our guide to B2B marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

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    Do you sell to other businesses?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Support your potential customers throughout the buying cycle with Mailrelay’s newsletters and segmentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

    Email marketing in B2B<\/h2>\n\n

    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:<\/p>\n\n