You have listed your company on highly-rated B2B trade portals for agriculture. But strangely, the number of enquiries never meets your expectations. Whatever few enquiries you get, do not convert into sales. It seems as if all efforts are reduced to zero. You should not worry. You are not the only one facing the sting. To turn the tables, quickly skim through the article that outlines the pitfalls and the ways to fix them
You have listed your company on highly-rated B2B trade portals for agriculture. But strangely, the number of enquiries never meets your expectations. Whatever few enquiries you get, do not convert into sales. It seems as if all efforts are reduced to zero. You should not worry. You are not the only one facing the sting. To turn the tables, quickly skim through the article that outlines the pitfalls and the ways to fix them.
It would be holding a candle to the sun to harp about the thumping impact that B2B e-marketplaces have had on the agriculture sector in India. Today, it's not enough to be only registered with business portals. You should capitalize on the opportunities available on such platforms. If you think that listing your company on a number of business portals and shelling out a few random details in the form of a classified ad will get you buyers' calls, you need to reassess the strategy. In the past when the competition was not so tough, this would have returned favors but not now. This is the time to come out of age and get a step ahead. Here's the roadmap to do it.
Know Your Business Needs & Set Realistic Goals
Like any other business, agricultural trade involves a supply chain with several nodal points including producers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers. As a part of the agro-industry, you will be occupying one of these nodal points. Your company may be big or small; you may be dealing in hundreds of products or just one commodity; you may be targeting global buyers or just those in locality -- if you clearly identify your business needs and set realistic goals, it would be a right first step in selecting a B2B portal to register your company.
Case to Consider
If you are a small-scale potato supplier with limited infrastructural and logistics capabilities, your priority target would be local buyers. With this clarity, you would know that choosing a B2B portal with a broader base of local buyers can be more productive.
Register on Active B2B Marketplaces
Being a part of the bandwagon and aimlessly sprinkling your company details on every other B2B platform that claims a huge seller and buyer base can be a futile exercise. While your preliminary Google search, you may be spoilt for choices as there is an overwhelming number of B2B Portals facilitating the trade of agro products but how many of them are worth registering with is the key question. Before you are wooed by the "Lakhs of Leads" claims and make up your mind to set up an account, just check whether the platform is alive or not. How many fresh entries, news, press alerts or any other trace of ongoing activity are present? Check it!
Case to Consider
You are a start-up agro trader dealing in all kinds of grains, cereals, vegetables and what not. Enthusiastically, you set up your account on a B2B Marketplace for Agriculture. Few weeks pass by, months start ticking away and eventually you realize that the portal has been dormant all the while as the operator closed it long time back. What's the lesson learned? Keep a track on the ongoing activities on the portal and register only if you find it moving with the pace of agriculture industry.
Access to Verified Leads
Planting "fake" buyers on the portal is one of the common marketing gimmicks by portal operators. You will never get a response from these so-called "leads" but that will keep your interest maintained in that particular B2B platform. Measure the relevance of a platform not with leads but "Verified Leads" that they claim to offer you. It's a way to ensure that your efforts are not wasted in tracking and nurturing leads that will never convert.
Case to Consider
You create an account on a B2B portal that boasts of connecting thousands of agro products buyers and sellers. Within hours, you find scores of buyers posting enquiries for your products. You track them and contact them. You repeat this again and again, but to no avail. This may be a blatant case where you are fooled with planted enquiries. Beware!
The Range of Features
There is a great variance in the marketing capabilities that different B2B portals provide to registered suppliers. One allows small classified posting; the other allows display of attractive images, and some other comes with the facility to directly chat with potential leads. To gain maximum exposure and establish a quick connection with prospects, you should stay on those e-marketplaces that empower you with the widest range of features.
Case to Consider
A buyer stumbles upon your classified ad on a B2B trade portal . He jots down your contact details to contact you later on. At the same time, he finds another supplier on a Portal that lets him enter into a real-time chat with the supplier. He immediately contacts! This is an opportunity lost for you. A small example with a big impact!
The "cases to consider" presented here are based on what the industry insiders, the real stakeholders, the agro traders like you share with me. I hope this limited information would be helpful to you in making the right decisions.
