There’s no doubt about it – your business life and actions are directly linked to your personality. So, it stands to reason that if you have a business mindset, you’ll be more successful in business than someone with more relaxed, democratic business attitudes. What does this mean? Quite simply, a business mindset is essentially a way of thinking that recognizes the primacy of the business element in your overall well-being. By contrast, a person with a more relaxed mindset tends to view business problems from an emotional perspective and tends to blame everything – including themselves.
The difference is this… A business mindset recognizes that b2b (business to business) interactions are critical to each other. A b2b relationship is the basis for all business transactions and therefore requires that we work very hard to cultivate good relationships with each other. Failure to do so can result in one another quitting, one another moving to a new city/state, and one another filing for personal bankruptcy.
As mentioned earlier, a business mindset understands that the customer is king or queen of the market. In fact, your customers hold almost every power in how effectively and efficiently your business operates. For this reason, it’s essential that you engage customers in thought and conversation. It’s also important that you support and encourage good customer value. Otherwise, you’ll discover that switching costs are an after effect of poor customer satisfaction!
Moving on, if you are to conduct business-to-business effectively, you must realize the importance of taking care of your finances. This includes understanding how to manage your budget in such a manner that your company doesn’t become dependent on outside funding sources. Many business owners tend to conduct business-to-business transactions – particularly in the case of e-commerce – through credit cards and/or debit cards, which incur substantial financial risks and switching costs. The use of cheque accounts, a.k.a. “debit cards”, can be much safer and can help minimize or eliminate switching costs associated with cash and check transactions.
Another area where most businesses fail to reap the benefits of their relationships with suppliers is their failure to understand the value of good supplier relationships. Good suppliers can be the difference between getting the products you need and getting inferior products. Moreover, good suppliers can help boost your businesses revenue by extending the life of your products and/or services and/or improving your products and service offerings. On the other hand, bad suppliers can cause your businesses to go into a black hole that is difficult to recover from. Again, the key to success with suppliers is understanding and supporting good supplier relationships.
Finally, financial services businesses (and any business-to-business transaction, for that matter) are better served by leveraging e-commerce capabilities, because they provide a platform that allows business owners and managers to make faster, more informed decisions. In this case, by “e-commerce” we mean software solutions that enhance business decision-making. For example, third-party software tools can provide access to various suppliers, facilitate inventory management, offer payment options, and even provide sales and order processing capabilities through an Internet connection. Ultimately, businesses should seek a comprehensive solution that allows them to rapidly respond to their customers, enhance their profit margins, and strengthen their business partnerships.