The potential market of buying/selling business to business is huge as there are many different types of business each requiring many different elements in order to help it run. Businesses are categorised into three main types of organisations:
1. Institutional Organisations -E.g. Not-for-profit
2. Government Organisations - E.g. Education/ Transport
3. Commercial Organisations - E.g. Distributors/ Retailers
Each different type of organisation (and the businesses within it) will require a different approach to marketing itself to another business. Behind one consumer transaction there are many business to business transactions therefore applying the appropriate approach to marketing may land a business a sustained contract in a long line of suppliers and retailer where there business will repeatedly be required. However this also means that there is a lot of competition and that efforts must be made to be competitive yet efficient.
Kotler recognises the differences in consumer markets and industrail or business to business marketing. The main method of a business marketing to another is through personal selling, often taking the form of a sales person pitching the relevant information to the other business. This method is used less in consumer marketing as it would mean only reaching a limited amount of people when, in comparison, advertising could reach a much wider audience. Furthermore, where consumers are able to buy on impulse companies can not afford to do that due to it's high risk nature, most companies adopt a purchasing policy that involves many stages. Therefore the decisions of a business will usually affect the business it is buying/selling from/to in the long term.
