Is it possible to switch from B2B to B2C?
I have a startup called https://www.monitup.com that offers employee productivity measurement and AI recommendations.
As such, it directly addresses B2B. The B2B side is quite difficult, it requires a team for sales and marketing, support, development, but I am a solo founder.
I created a new landing page to appeal to B2C: https://timetracking.monitup.com
We measure your personal productivity and offer you artificial intelligence-generated recommendations to increase your productivity.
I'm actually technically doing the same thing but trying to tout it like B2C.
The TimeTracking side seems to get more attention than MonitUp.
I have $300 MRR yet and it's coming from MonitUp ie B2B.
How can I better launch the B2C side? How can I reach more people?
Am I going right?
Yes, it is possible for a business to switch from a B2B (business-to-business) model to a B2C (business-to-consumer) model, but it will require significant changes in the way the business operates.
Like what things need to change?
In the B2B model, the company buys this product for the employees and login to the panel and looks at the data of the employees.
In the B2C model, people will buy for themselves and login to the panel and see their own data.
What changes do I need to make? I just prepared a separate launch page.
I personally dislike B2C with a passion. Pay less, more needy, and churn.
I would stick to B2B, stop working on features, and spend a month selling. Get on LinkedIn, connect directly with CEOs (not HR). I've found CEO's are more willing to take a meeting with me since a lot of people stay away from selling to them.
I know sales is hard but I think developers need to give themselves more credit at sales. At the end of the day you are just two people talking trying to find a solution to a problem.
Hey Faruk,
Your issue with B2B seems to be that think you require a team to do marketing etc?
You'll be needing to do a lot more marketing to launch B2C.
B2B is easier to reach for solofounders - you can literally reach out via LinkedIn/Email/Telephone and pitch them directly (no spend except your time).
Hey Chris,
I quit my job 3 months ago and spent the last month full time focused on selling.
Meanwhile, I started using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and I am trying to reach many people from here.
I can share a figure like this:
In the last two weeks, I've sent a total of 545 connection requests, 340 have not yet accepted, 205 have accepted and I have sent the second message.
7 of them said they don't need it, 4 seemed to be interested, but I couldn't get a response after the 3rd message except for 1 of them. We came to the point where we decided to do a demo with 1 of 6 licenses from Turkey, but I couldn't get an answer.
I could be doing something wrong.
Hey Faruk,
So, the vast majority of people in any business's target audience isn't actively looking to buy the solution it sells.
And finding these 'active buyers' is incredibly difficult - it's like finding a needle in a haystack. And paying for advertising to reach them is prohibitively expensive these days.
As a result, the majority of any business's marketing and sales efforts land in front of those who aren't actively looking to buy right now.
And, if that message pitches them a product, they're just going to ignore it because they just aren't looking to buy.
This is the situation you currently find yourself in - pitching a product to people who aren't looking to buy right now. This is why your results aren't what you hope for.
You can keep trying to find these active buyers through volume and hitting up as many people as possible but it's not the most effective strategy. It can work, lots of businesses do it (I've done it for most of my nearly 20 year career), but it's not the best solution for a solopreneur.
Instead, a far more effective strategy is to create a message that appeals to and persuades those you are already reaching - those not in the market YET.
I explain what I feel is the best strategy to do this on my website (complete with case studies of businesses from large enterprises to small solofounder startups) - www.thebluntmethod.com
Hope that helps.
Let me know if you have any questions
Best
Chris
Chris,
It's hard to get answers from people :( The right ones can get a lot of mail and messages a day. Sometimes I can't reply.
It is very difficult to find people who are genuinely interested and in need. However, I have no choice but to keep trying.
Thanks for sharing your website, I'll look into it.
Hey Faruk,
That's because they aren't actively looking to buy the solution you're selling right now. Of course they're going to ignore you.
B2C will still need marketing, but a different kind.
You’ll also need a more polished software.
Typically it’s easier to generate money from B2C because their problems are attach to monetary costs.
Hey Jammmer,
Is it possible for the same product to successfully appeal to B2C and B2B at the same time?
All I do right now is try things, about the product, about the market, about selling.
For example; To promote my product, I couldn't write much comments under posts on Twitter or Linkedin with MontUp because my target audience is CEOs and bosses, but since I appeal to B2C with TimeTracking, I can easily comment under any productivity post and promote my product.
So TimeTracking is currently getting more traffic than MonitUp.
B2C is easier to promote because your target audience is much easier to reach, but I haven't been able to sell yet. It doesn't matter if I can't sell it.
My understanding is B2C is normally considered much harder than B2B.
Hey Iain,
Actually, when I started this business, my aim was; It was about not being dependent on a full-time job and being free. I wanted to work where I wanted, when I wanted, and where I wanted.
However, I realized that B2B business is a team effort and the solo founder cannot do it alone. A one-man business with a monthly income of $10K - $15K seems possible in B2C.
I think it is difficult to achieve the same figures in B2B without a team.
What do you think?
Many people do B2B work alone. And many do way more than $10k a month B2B.
You seem to think it's easier to convince someone to spend their money than it is to spend their employers money. It's generally harder to convince someone to spend their own money than someone elses.
Yes you are right.
I had a sales meeting today and we talked about 1K license. It would be really cool to sell that many licenses at once.
However, it would be so sad to lose so many licenses at once.
I think they both have their own different challenges, it's best to try and see.
$300 MRR is 100 customers at $3. Let's say with a 1% conversion rate; it's 10K reach.
Which one is easier?
In any case, it'll require sales and marketing, support, development. To me following the b2b route sounds better. Increase the MRR, seek investment, grow the team, buy the lambo. 🚀
Hey Anıl,
The problem is; my biggest customer found me and the selling process was pretty easy because they were eager and ready to buy from the first time they contacted me.
I quit my job 3 months ago and now I spend a lot more time selling, doing a lot more, but making almost no sales.
I'm always trying different things.
Even Lambo's dream is great :)
Hey Faruk. Who does your product serve best? Define your audience below.
Hey Fırat,
On the B2B side: Companies with 11 to 500 employees, who spend time in front of the computer and care about their productivity.
On the B2C side: individual people who want to spend their time more productively.
And companies and people using the Windows OS.
We don't have Mac OS support yet :(
I mean yes you can try the B2C route though it is much easier to sell B2B companies as they have a financial incentive. For your B2B site, I would do a very short case study with some numbers. X Company used your product and gained Y amount of employee time which reflects the $XXXXXXX value gained over in a few clicks. Sell the outcome.
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Hello Ozan,
Thank you very much for your detailed comments. Actually, there are many things I want to write, but I will prefer to write only one.
How about doing something on sales and marketing together?
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Ok, a general chat would be great. Thanks.