Benefits of a B2B Partner Supporting B2C Operations

Do you want to focus on core business growth and development strategies without detracting from customer experience? Perhaps you’re considering outsourcing customer-facing operations to enable this focus but are concerned about the potential risks.

Ingram Micro Lifecycle works behind the scenes of some of the biggest consumer-facing brands. We support day-to-day activities, delivering a seamless experience for the customer with high NPS and satisfaction. Through our range of solutions, our customers can look to the future, free from becoming stuck in operational tasks.

Below, we explain the benefits of outsourcing and how you can work to ensure a smooth handover, maximizing the potential of your partner relationship.

Why should you outsource?

Having a B2B partner working invisibly in the background, sometimes unaware to your customers, is quite normal. It enables the customer-facing brand to focus on core strategies, away from operational quagmire. You can do what you’re good at, while the partner relieves the pressure by doing what they’re good at. Your business gets time and resources back to target development areas for future growth, planning for the future rather than on today's problems. With too much time spent firefighting, your business may become complacent and plateau.

The right partner will have the agility and experience to deliver new opportunities that you wouldn’t have without training or development in new areas. Additional services will be open to you that your current resources, staff, and infrastructure can't support. Some examples of these include recommerce or product customization.

Look for a partner with robust engineering capabilities to provide innovative solutions for your customers, keeping you competitive. This diversification will strengthen your offering, improve your service and deliverables, and grow your customer base.

Examples

Here are some common examples of B2B partnerships operating to support B2C services.

Car insurance

The insurance provider doesn’t perform car repairs themselves. The insurer has reliable partners they communicate with to perform recoveries and engineering or mechanical services.

Technology trade-in

The front-facing brand a consumer trades in with isn’t necessarily receiving the technology for processing. This white-label solution typically has a partner in the background with the technical know-how to suitably assess and repair technology for sale on the secondary market.

Travel agents and package holiday bookings

Booking through a travel agent or a package holiday provider means the consumer doesn’t need to make multiple arrangements. Everything is organized through one source. It doesn’t mean the travel agent is flying the plane, however, but they have a B2B relationship in place to ensure a smooth trip for the holidaymaker.

Characteristics of a good partner

Outsourcing can be risky, but with the right partner, it’ll make you stronger, not weaker. Look for a partner who’s aligned with your business objectives. Pay particular attention to their industry expertise and technological capabilities. What do their client testimonials say about them? What does their track record look like? It’s also increasingly important to analyze sustainability initiatives and look for partnerships that boost your credibility, rather than detract.

A seamless handover

Handing your customers over to your partner must be a seamless experience for them. Failing to do so increases the risks of damaging their trust and confidence in your brand. To ensure high customer satisfaction, the transition from your brand to your partner’s brand needs to be as smooth as possible.
Sometimes, your customer’s fears or concerns may be heightened, or they may be more conscious of the process. This can be the case if handling an expensive or data-bearing device for example, in warranty claims or trade-ins. If personal data is involved then there’s a higher risk for you should anything go wrong with data wiping or security.

Ensuring a smooth transition

Customer-facing handlers within your chosen partner should always be trained to understand your brand. This includes using your tone of voice in any communications and adhering to your brand guidelines. Regular cadence between the two teams ensures any updates to your brand are communicated and acted upon swiftly. Make sure you have stringent documentation that portrays and explains expectations for tone of voice and brand guidelines. These should be discussed with the partner from the beginning so handlers can adhere to them.

You may introduce your partner to your customers as part of the handover process. The partner doesn’t need to be completely invisible to ensure your customers know what to expect as part of the full service offering you provide.

If the partner communicates on your behalf, retaining some of their branding rather than fully adopting yours, the customer is more likely to trust them. The customer will recognize that they’ve been chosen and trusted by you, and in turn, will be more accepting that this is above board and part of the process.

It won’t cause concern or surprise the customer if they know to expect communication from your chosen partner. Consider dual branding to illustrate your trust in the partnership.

Consider outsourcing to a 3PL that can provide multiple services or a complete end-to-end service. This will keep as many functions as possible together, under one roof, rather than dividing the process. This will improve communication and efficiency, plus reduce the number of partners that your customer has to be handed to.

Follow our tips above to find a partner best suited to your operations.

Get focused today

Outsourcing parts of your operations that aren’t core to your business strategy and objectives alleviates the pressure of trying to do everything all the time. You’ll gain much-needed resources like time and staff to focus on innovating and keeping your business competitive.

Ingram Micro Lifecycle provides complete end-to-end solutions for technology across returns management, repair and refurbishment, and recommerce. We support businesses globally to enable a circular economy for IT, mobility technology, and high-end consumer electronics.

Reach out to our team of experts to discuss how we can streamline your consumer-facing operations.