EOC Week 4: B-to-B vs Consumer Marketing

The GE company has been around for a long time. They have been filling peoples houses with many essential products needed in everyday life. GE just doesn't stop at household products to sell, but they are a big company in the diesel locomotives. They know there is a difference between Business to Business Marketing and Consumer Marketing. "At a general level, marketing medical imaging technology or diesel locomotives to business customers is like selling refrigerators to final buyers. It requires a deep-down understanding of customer needs and customer-driven marketing strategies that create superior customer value." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, page 158) When buying a refrigerator, a consumer doesn't take a longtime to make a decision, do a little shopping, compare and make the decision which company will keep their food cold and fresh. That's not how it works in the business to business marketing; making a decision takes time. For GE who is a big player in the diesel locomotive, they have to make sure that their product is far superior than their competitors, without a superior product no one will want to do business with them. "The real challenge is to win buyers’ business by building day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out partnerships with them based on superior products and close collaboration." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, page 158) The business' that look at GE for diesel locomotives are going to look at all the statistics that this engine is capable of. They want to know every single little detail to horsepower, emissions reports, fuel economy, price, and reliability. GE needs to make sure to keep their business associates happy so they can continue to work, if something were to go wrong or their products start to slip, that could cost the company millions of dollars. "In its business markets, rather than selling to large numbers of small buyers, GE sells to a few very large buyers. Whereas it might be disappointing when a refrigerator buyer chooses a competing brand, losing a single sale to a large business customer can mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in business."(Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, page 158)