when they search for and acquire the goods and services they want — and they’ll be loyal to suppliers that go above and beyond merely providing a better billing experience.
In other words, loyalty boils down to making it easier for commercial clients to operate their organizations.
“They want access to invoice and payment information when and how they need it,” and they don’t want to spend an inordinate amount of money to acquire it.
Cunningham emphasized that facilitating back-and-forth contacts between businesses — especially, boosting openness between the parties — may be an effective method to develop trust.
“If you’re a supplier and you’re not making it easy for a B2B customer to do business with you, then you’re not meeting their needs… and you’re putting relationships at risk,” Cunningham said. Tailored AR projects, he continued, might include vendors giving longer periods as necessary.
“This could be 60- or 90-day terms,” he noted, “and offering those terms,” along with greater credit lines, “to the right customers will encourage them to purchase more with you, and assist them with their cash flow to provide their own customers with larger credit lines.” Accurate payment processing can also help clients clear up credit limits more rapidly.
All of this, according to Cunningham, requires a mentality shift, which means suppliers must embrace technology that allows consumers to apply for credit lines and be authorized in real time — and, once granted, begin purchasing immediately.
