Chlo?'s 3 Things: B2B eCommerce / Mobile Commerce / Time

Hello!

Hope you've had a great week.

This week I got to attend eCom Collab Club? ?? London for the very first time - WOW! That is one powerful networking group. I suspect I shall be there again.

So... here are this week's 3 things:

1. B2B eCommerce ?? so hot right now
2. Mobile Commerce ?? what's the future look like?
3. Time ?? The Value of Time

Here we go:

Thing 1: B2B eCommerce ?? so hot right now

We all know it's a hot topic right now, a MUCH bigger market than DTC, and it seems the boom is finally appearing.

(I wrote my book B2B eCommerce MasterPlan in 2017… a little ahead of the curve!!! Still totally relevant - get a copy now !)

A part of me is always thinking about B2B eCommerce, but more than normal at the moment as this week I've been booked for one last appearance this conference season.

I'm going to be delivering a keynote at eComm Live's BOLD B2B: ECOMM SUMMIT in November (details & tickets here ) all about what's coming in the B2B space.

New Content

Prepping for it is rather exciting - as it's a completely new slide deck…?

I rarely give the same presentation twice, but usually there are riffs that get repeated - topics and sequences of slides that get recycled because the point is still so releveant.

BUT I haven't done a B2B specific keynote in a while… so it's a real treat to get to start one from scratch.

As per usual though I've still got too many ideas to fit in the 45 minutes…?

So whatever makes it onto the stage on the 6th November is going to be brand new, and (dare I say it) top notch.

The bit I'm mulling on the most is… do I focus on DTC selling wholesale, or traditional B2B business opening up an eCommerce sales channel? Or… both…

?? Answers on a postcard please.

Thing 2: Mobile Commerce ?? what's the future look like?

Confession time... I screwed up at eComm Collab Club... I should have taken my notebook onto the stage - because the answers during the panel were so good I really wanted to be taking notes.

Kudos to Murat Kaya ? , Alexandra Lervy , Stela Braje and Ram P. for bringing their expertise, Nathan Lomax (obv) for asking great qs, AND most of all to the 2 retailers Grace Fodor and Marina George for sharing excellent retailer insights.

So... what were the takeaways?

caveat - this is based on what I can remember...which probably makes it better??

?? It's ALL about the customer

How are they using your mobile channels? What are they using it for? How does that interplay with your other channels?

This is no place for assumptions - look at the data, and ask the questions.

?? We need to think differently

Just like "online retail" was never going to be a replacement for physical stores or mail order catalogues, "mobile commerce" is never going to be a replacement for a desktop site, or mail order catalogues, or physical stores, or any other sales channel.

Instead, you've got to work out how your customers are using the channels - and follow suit, make it easy for them.

?? It's not about the tech, it's about what you do with it

Do we really need to keep saying that?

?? Don't App too early

Add an app when you can see the benefits it will bring you and the customers, not before.

?? What did I miss?! Comments please!

And thanks SHOPLINE EMEA for the invite & the photos!

Thing 3: Time ?? The Value of Time

The longer you’re in business the better you have to get at taking proactive control of how you spend your time.

Making sure you're spending it on the activities that drive the results, rather than just ‘busy-work’ to make you feel like you’re achieving something.

For example, sales calls.

As you launch a new business any sales call is a worthwhile sales call.

You're basically still in research mode so calls with people who won't buy, shouldn't buy, and who you can't convince to buy but should are super useful for clarifying messages, target segments etc.

But as you work all that out there's a lot of work going into WHO should we be having calls with?

Ideally that happens proactively, but often it's in reaction to “I’m fully booked”.

Either way, the aim is to make the calls you have (the time you spend) more valuable by filtering the prospects before they get as far as that call.

Is that no longer fashionable?

At the moment I'm getting a lot of people messaging me asking for “a chat” - the majority of whom are seeing the call as the first step in the vetting process.

Because clearly, they've done very little vetting of me before getting in touch.

And they're not asking any questions in the messages to help segment.

A lot seem to think I'm an agency owner - one look at my LinkedIn profile and you'll see I haven't been an agency owner since 2017.

More importantly, I'm not (and have never been) a website-building agency which a LOT seem to think I am.

Why do I think this is bad? - for them, not me!

• Calls with individuals are a highly inefficient way to do basic target profiling.
• I bet if they took 1 day off the calls, they could massively improve their outreach targeting
• “Let's jump on a call to find out more about each other” is a really shit call to action. Unless you’re an extrovert with nothing better to do - that's just not appealing. It's too much commitment for too little potential reward.?

The contrast with AI is mad…

On the one hand, we're looking to use AI to make our businesses more efficient.

On the other “just get calls booked, with anyone” is using up time in the least useful way possible.

Great! AI can find us 100s of targets an hour and automatically email them… but if our message is so vague and unenticing as “let's chat” then… well AI is going to defeat humanity.

Is it a sign of economic problems?

Over the years, when I'm struggling for sales I've been guilty of falling into the “get a call, any call” trap.

Desperation can make us do stupid, and wrong things, so…. is that why the “please can we chat” emails are on the rise? Because the economic dip means more companies are desperate for sales, and are just going for anything rather than the right thing?

?? What do you think - comments please?! (and feel free to do some Friday ranting about the worst sales email you've recently received.

That's it for this week

I'd love to engage with your comments, so please do add your thoughts below.

Have a great weekend everyone!