Question

Topic: Branding

Advantages/disadvantages Of B To B Multi Branding

Posted by mking on 5/29/2017 at 7:43 PM ET 250 Points
We are operating in a service category of business to business marketing, and are faced with an acquisition of a key competitor with significant differentiators. We have chosen to market them separately, (wholly owned subsidiary), with some blending of products to fill gaps. Besides the usual challenges we are trying to determine the appropriate degree of separation. Example: company A sells product to company B, who accepts shipment from A, marks up, resells, pays A, and reimburses B sales force, versus Company B sales force sells Company A product, A ships direct to 3rd party client and pays commission to company B sales force. Or somewhere in between. What are the legal or other pitfalls and are there Case Studies published that address the many issues associated with this type of endeavor.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 5/30/2017 at 11:20 AM Accepted
    I actually faced a situation just like this with a client of mine. I know what we did and what decisions we made, but we will never know if we made the best possible decision.

    What I would suggest -- and this is how we started -- is that you spend some time with sales managers and sales reps from both companies and see what they think would work best. You will probably be surprised at how well they are able to put themselves in the other's shoes and come up with novel approaches.

    After you've heard what they have to say, make your decision and implement. You probably won't ever know if you made the right decision. Just move on to other challenges and try not to re-think old decisions.

    Side benefit: Both sales organizations will at least know that you valued their input. (In our case the client had the outside consultants conduct the various interviews, so the sales teams felt the process was truly objective -- not just a way to whitewash the ultimate decision.)
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on 6/19/2017 at 5:02 PM Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs
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