24-year-old me:
“This gold pixie dust face cleanser is great, but there’s just one problem.”
Skincare promoter at a mall outside of Vegas:
“What is that?”
24-year-old me:
“I am not a consumer. So, naturally I would not buy this.”
Skincare promoter at a mall outside of Vegas:
Dear Skincare Promoter, if you are reading this, I have had better quotes since then! Besides the emotional intelligence faux pas, the statement “I am not a consumer” is factually wrong. I am a consumer every time I make the simplest purchase like gas or a 1970s bamboo bracelet.
The entire economy, including all B2B companies, is powered by consumers. A billing software company, like BQE, sells to architects who sell to real estate developers who sell to consumers. What if the real estate developers sell to businesses not individuals? Ok… Those businesses ultimately sell to consumers. Without someone in the economy willing to buy something and not make a profit, companies would not exist because they could not make a profit.
B2B product marketers can sell effectively to other businesses when they explain how the needs of the consumer at the end of the value chain are being met. This is easy to say for a company like Review Concierge, whose doctor clients directly serve patients. It becomes more abstract for companies like BQE above who have to travel far through the B2B galaxy to reach the end consumer. Still, it never hurts to apply wishful thinking and imagine reaching all the way through. You may just come up with some creative product marketing ideas.