Miss Meet

WHY B2B IS MORE P2P

Are you selling a product, service or experience? Here’s why you should focus on the latter, says Miss Meet.

The B2B space is certainly an exciting one. Here, individuals from the same sector come together to share ideas and explore how they can strengthen each other’s business proposition.

Without the B2B model, industry value chains would fall apart. Therefore, it is hugely critical that there is a means for different role players to engage with each other because this is the glue that holds an industry together.

Much like an event, B2B industries are the behind-the-scenes production team that makes it all happen. From informing regulation and legislation to establishing associations and standards that ensure there is a benchmark we are working towards, B2B is at the heart of every sector.

But what binds B2B industries together?

Common objectives around specific goods, services and operational aspects of an industry are key in this, but the way in which various representatives and decision-makers gather doesn’t just happen all of its own accord. For this to happen, relationships and the dynamic that exists between each of these role players are crucial.

NETWORKING, NETWORKING, NETWORKING

I cannot emphasise the importance of networking within the B2B space enough. For industries like the business events sector, we often end up mingling with the competition, but without healthy competition in any market, we cannot gauge our own performance. Fair pricing goes out the window, and a market in which there is a monopoly is never healthy. And believe me, there is enough of the pie to go around that we don’t need to worry about scuppering others’ opportunities!

Relationships within the B2B space always have and always will define how an industry flourishes – the more robust this dynamic, the easier it is for us to solve problems together and openly discuss specific challenges. Indeed, I am convinced that the strength of our local B2B industry is what got us through the worst of the pandemic. During this exceptionally challenging time, we collaborated like never before. This saw us hosting webinars, organising forums and demonstrating our mettle with proof-of-concept events. Today, we are standing together stronger than ever. Surely, this serves as a testament to the relationships we have forged over the years.

When anyone tells you that they are part of the B2B space, what they really mean is that they are part of a people-to-people industry.