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B2C / B2B with Sugar (Accounts ? Contacts ? Both ?)

Frédéric Rinaldi

Hello guys,

I want to know how you handle, with Sugar, your customers that have a B2C AND B2B business.

At first, we decided to use the ACCOUNT's module to handle the customer (could be a B2B so core fields or B2C so additionnal fields for first name last name etc.) ; that way, we stay easy with core features like opportunities or cases management that are linked to the account etc.

Of course, we faced minor limitations (for instance with the outlook core plugin).

But today, with the Sugar Market solution, the contact becomes a key module and the synchronization processes are centered on this module (and the Leads one).

So on one hand, Account is the central part for Sugar and, on the other hand Contact is the central part for Sugar Market (or other Marketing automation solution).

How do you handle that ?

You duplicate the info (for the B2C) and create an Account AND a Contact ?

You use the Contact for B2C and Account/Contact for B2B so you have to customize you CRM to manage both for Cases, Opportunities etc.?

You "trick" the marketing automation tool by override the core api to query the "correct" module according to your business model ? Other way I don't think about ?

Any feedback is welcome.

Fred

Parents

  • Most has already been said but I'd be interested in knowing the business area? Some can make use of an "account". I'm thinking about insurance, banking etc. where the account can represent the household and gather contacts that have no direct contractual relationship. 

    As a general rule, the account is the one that pays. Companies for B2B, physical persons for B2C. So I tend to prefer "account" to "company/organisation". 

    And in the case of Sugar, duplicating the info from the contact to the account (and keeping it synced) is probably the best solution to remain consistent and make it easy to interface with other apps (Connect, Market...). Other CRM systems have that built-in, but this comes with its own set of limitations so Sugar offers nice flexibility :)

    Finally, marketing campaigns should address people (=contacts) not companies, although ABM uses company info/score/history to segment/personnalise further. So you're better off with keeping both levels, and syncing your "pseudo account" with the contact details. 

    Hope this helps!

    Damien Pochon

    CRM & Digital consultant @ ITS4U Group

Reply

  • Most has already been said but I'd be interested in knowing the business area? Some can make use of an "account". I'm thinking about insurance, banking etc. where the account can represent the household and gather contacts that have no direct contractual relationship. 

    As a general rule, the account is the one that pays. Companies for B2B, physical persons for B2C. So I tend to prefer "account" to "company/organisation". 

    And in the case of Sugar, duplicating the info from the contact to the account (and keeping it synced) is probably the best solution to remain consistent and make it easy to interface with other apps (Connect, Market...). Other CRM systems have that built-in, but this comes with its own set of limitations so Sugar offers nice flexibility :)

    Finally, marketing campaigns should address people (=contacts) not companies, although ABM uses company info/score/history to segment/personnalise further. So you're better off with keeping both levels, and syncing your "pseudo account" with the contact details. 

    Hope this helps!

    Damien Pochon

    CRM & Digital consultant @ ITS4U Group

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