- B2B Marketing
- Insights from the training room, by CEO John Kim
- A serialized column.
COLUMNS
✍️ Columns · Series
Insights from B2B, AI and the training room — 142 articles
All columns
Building a slide app with AI / Nanumai
While preparing a session for a large company’s IT affiliate this week, I hit an unexpected wall: security policy barred not only outside laptops but even USB drives from the premises. The instructor…
2026-11-02👁 0♥ 0
Making Slide Decks with AI — How to Build a System So You Stop Redoing Every Deck
For a long time, there were only two ways to make teaching materials: build them yourself slide by slide, or hand them to an AI slide generator. I've tried both. Building them yourself takes time
2026-08-12👁 0♥ 0
First meetings now happen between AI agents — a fifth category is coming to B2B
These days I often hear that sales reps can’t get through on the phone like they used to. But the strange part comes next. Once an inquiry does arrive, the contact at the other company already knows our product
2026-08-12👁 0♥ 0
Channel management strategy: turning distributors and partners into allies
Why do partners push competitors’ products harder? Anyone in B2B sales has run into this at least once. Our product is clearly in the distributor’s lineup, yet in the field…
2026-08-09👁 0♥ 0
“What if I make a change and get blamed?” — B2B buyers’ risk aversion and how to address it
Purchasing Managers Choose 'Safe,' Not 'Best'. If you work in B2B sales, you've probably had this experience: the product specs were great, the price was competitive, the demo was a success, and yet…
2026-07-11👁 0♥ 0
What Sets Great AI Users Apart Isn't Prompting — It's Knowing How to Delegate
A post recently went viral on social media. It comes from someone who runs in-house AI training at a large corporation, and the gist is this: “Executives in their 40s and 50s are surprisingly good at using AI. Meanwhile, those in their 2…
2026-07-03👁 0♥ 0
Escaping grunt work in the AI era: how vibe coding unified scattered platforms in 2 weeks
For almost two weeks, I've spent every hour outside lecture prep and teaching on vibe coding. Until recently, I did the same thing every time I turned on my PC. Training ran on the Nanum Campus LMS site (KRW 550,000 (≈ US$410) a month …
2026-07-02👁 0♥ 0
How to design B2B lead scoring — what sales really wants from an MQL
Why do marketing and sales always clash? "The leads marketing hands over are useless." "Sales never properly follows up on the leads we pass along." In B2B companies…
2026-06-15👁 0♥ 0
Weekly Reports, Meeting Minutes, Client Emails: Build a Routine That Saves Office Workers 2 Hours a Day by Delegating to AI
A hands-on guide to winning back 2 hours a day from repetitive document work with AI Look at a typical workday and you’ll find 40 minutes on weekly reports , 30 minutes on meeting minutes , and … on customer emails …
2026-04-10👁 0♥ 0
Choosing the right paid AI plan: ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro vs Gemini Advanced, compared for value
Choosing the Right Paid AI Plan: ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro vs Gemini Advanced, a Full Value Comparison. Why consider a paid plan? Free A…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
AI Now Creates Images, Video and Voice: What Is Multimodal AI?
What Is Multimodal AI? — The Era of Creating Images, Voice, and Video Beyond Text. Multimodal AI is AI that handles multiple types of data, such as text, images, voice, and video, at the same time…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Build Your Own AI Work Assistant: The Complete Guide to Custom GPTs & Claude Projects
Build your own AI work assistant: a complete guide to custom GPTs in ChatGPT and Claude Projects. For every recurring task, you re-explain the same context and ask for the same tone and style…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
What does it mean when AI “learns”? Machine learning basics for working professionals
What does it mean when AI “learns”? Machine learning basics for working professionals 🎯 Goal of this guide Follow this guide to the end and you’ll come away with three things. Machine lear…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
10 prompt templates for B2B sales reps: cold emails, proposals and post-meeting recaps
10 prompt templates for B2B sales reps: why you need them. In B2B sales, research shows that writing a single cold email takes an average of 38 minutes, and drafting a proposal takes 2–3 hours …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
What are AI “parameters” and “tokens”? The numbers behind AI performance
What Are AI Model 'Parameters' and 'Tokens'? Understanding AI Performance Through Numbers. What you'll learn in this guide: What parameters are and why bigger numbers cost more; what tokens are…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Intro to Prompt Engineering: 5 Core Principles for Getting the Answers You Want from AI
Intro to prompt engineering: 5 core principles for getting the answers you want from AI. Have you ever asked an AI chatbot a question and gotten an off-target answer? The problem isn’t the AI, …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
The Art of Assigning Roles: Why Giving AI a 'Persona' Changes the Results
The art of assigning roles: why giving AI a “persona” changes the output. Asking AI a plain question and asking it after assigning an expert role produce completely different results…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
OpenAI, Anthropic and Google API keys, from setup to your first call: a practical guide for non-developers
Introduction: Why call the API directly? Chatting on the ChatGPT website and calling the API directly are two very different ways of using it. Aspect Web chat (Before)…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
AI model sizes compared: GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama… what’s the difference, and which should you use?
Comparing AI model sizes: GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama — a practical selection guide Dozens of new AI models keep appearing, yet **"which model fits my work …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
How to set up a workspace to compare ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini side by side
How to set up a workspace to compare ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini side by side If you want to use AI at work but aren’t sure which AI fits your tasks best…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
From signing up for Claude to the value of the USD 200 Pro plan: a complete setup guide
From signing up for Claude to the value of the US$200 Pro plan: a complete setup guide Why Claude? — What to know before you start Since 2024, in the generative AI market, Anthrop…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Having AI Analyze Your Data: How to Write Prompts That Pull Insights from Uploaded Excel and CSV Files
The Age of AI Data Analysis: Why You Should Learn It Now In the past, analyzing even a single set of sales data meant building Excel pivot tables, writing VLOOKUP formulas, and drawing charts by hand. …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini Chrome extensions & shortcuts: a setup guide to double your work speed
Introduction: why your AI tool setup determines how fast you work Most professionals use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini by opening a new browser tab and typing in the URL every time…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Why does AI hallucinate? The limits of generative AI and how to use it well
What Is an AI Hallucination? An AI hallucination is when generative AI confidently produces information that looks factual but is actually wrong. For example…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Get the most out of AI on mobile: from installing smartphone AI apps to setting up voice chat and photo analysis
Get the most out of AI on mobile: from installing smartphone AI apps to setting up voice chat and photo analysis With AI in your hand on the go, you can draft emails and prepare for meetings without sitting at a desk …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
From Gemini sign-up to Google Workspace integration: a setup guide for office workers
From Gemini sign-up to Google Workspace integration: a setup guide for office workers. This guide walks office workers who have never used Google Gemini through sign-up → initial setup → …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
What is an AI agent? The key difference between chatbots and agents, explained
What is an AI agent? A simple guide to how agents differ from chatbots Introduction: Why AI agents matter now Until 2024, we used chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Perplexity, NotebookLM, and Sider: a setup guide to 3 AI assistants for work
Setup guide for 3 AI work assistants: Perplexity · NotebookLM · Sider A McKinsey study found that workers spend an average of 2.5 hours a day on research…
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Connecting AI Bots to Slack, Teams, and Notion: A Setup Guide to AI Integration by Collaboration Tool
Connecting AI bots to Slack, Teams, and Notion: an AI integration setup guide for each collaboration tool Hand off repetitive questions, meeting-note summaries, and data lookups to AI and you can save an average of 4 …
2026-04-05👁 0♥ 0
How does AI write? A simple guide to how generative AI works
How does AI write? Generative AI, explained simply You use generative AI every day, but have you ever wondered, “How does this actually work?” Principles…
2026-04-04👁 0♥ 0
From ChatGPT Signup to Paid Subscription: A Complete 10-Minute Setup Guide
From ChatGPT sign-up to paid subscription: a complete 10-minute setup guide. A step-by-step, hands-on guide for B2B sales reps and other professionals. Follow it and you’ll go from creating an account → free trial → paid …
2026-04-04👁 0♥ 0
What is AI? A complete guide to the AI basics every professional should know
What is AI? The AI basics every professional should know A hands-on guide to AI fundamentals for office workers and B2B sales reps. Follow it to the end and you’ll be able to join AI-related meetings …
2026-04-04👁 0♥ 0
LLM, GPT, generative AI… confusing AI terms explained in one place
LLM, GPT, generative AI… a one-stop guide to confusing AI terms Ever frozen in a meeting when someone asked, “Can’t we just use RAG for that?” Follow this guide to learn 30 key AI …
2026-04-04👁 0♥ 0
Will AI take my job? What office workers should — and shouldn’t — worry about
Will AI take my job? What workers should — and shouldn’t — worry about "You won’t lose your job to AI. You’ll lose it to someone who uses AI." — Kai-Fu Lee, …
2026-04-04👁 0♥ 0
43 AI web apps, built in a month and a half
I’m not a developer. I majored in English literature and have worked in international marketing and as a corporate instructor. My only brush with anything like code was DOS, BASIC, and HTML in the early-to-mid 1990s.
2026-03-29👁 0♥ 0
Building RAG as a one-person company — how I handed 15 years of knowledge to AI in 3 days
Prologue: that phone call “Mr. Kim, could you dig up the materials from the training you gave at Hyundai Wia five years ago? The B2B sales scenario analysis you used back then was really
2026-03-26👁 0♥ 0
Nothing left after training ends? Now you keep the 'tools'
Hello, this is John Kim, CEO of Nanum Consulting. Here’s an honest question: are your employees applying what they learned in your last training on the job? Most corporate training is “
2026-02-25👁 0♥ 0
How to become a corporate instructor: where to start
“Could I become a corporate instructor?” Honest advice for aspiring instructors from a corporate instructor with 15 years’ experience If you work at a company, you have probably imagined at least once
2026-01-02👁 0♥ 0
Defending Korea’s economic sovereignty: a strategic response to unilateral US demands
Did you know that South Korea now faces its biggest economic crisis since the country was founded? The terms the US put forward in the Korea–US tariff talks go beyond a simple unequal treaty
2025-09-17👁 0♥ 0
A Cultural History of Resistance, from a Gen X Guy Who Can’t Stand Trot Music
I was born in 1974 in Daegu and am 52 this year by Korean age reckoning. A fan of Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Hae-chul, in the mid-1990s I played keyboards in a small army band, performing at officers’ drinking part
2025-08-21👁 0♥ 0
Digital transformation: the moment you fear change, the market leaves you behind
The door to new opportunity opens only for ‘those who move first’ In April 2021, Hyosung FMS’s ‘automated recurring payment system (CMS)’ was
2025-08-15👁 0♥ 0
COVID kids: a new generation beyond digital natives
Witnessing a quiet revolution. In a recent online design thinking workshop with trainees in their mid-20s, I noticed something interesting. Even in breakout rooms of 5–6 people
2025-08-13👁 0♥ 0
B2B marketing: why strategy should differ by industry
Ultra-expensive equipment · commodity materials · SaaS: completely different rules of the game B2B marketing goes beyond simply selling products to companies; it is about how you build relationships with customers
2025-08-11👁 0♥ 0
The courage to start from scratch
I still remember taking my first step 13 years ago with the dream of becoming a corporate instructor. In fancy marketing terms, it was ‘acquiring target prospects through crawling,’ but in reality it was
2025-08-09👁 0♥ 0
Content is the best decoy
“You’ll keep sending us materials that aren’t in the workbook, even after the training is over?” “Then I’d better hand over my business card.” “Every month, by email…
2025-07-07👁 0♥ 0
AI is not magic – falling behind starts with a misconception
As AI tools go mainstream, many people have the illusion that they’re holding Harry Potter’s magic wand. A single prompt produces a report, and an image
2025-05-20👁 0♥ 0
Is procurement managers’ real pain just 'hassle'?
In B2B marketing and sales training, we often talk about buyers’ ‘typical pain points.’ “High prices, slow delivery, poor service
2025-05-16👁 0♥ 0
[New course] Semiconductors made easy: just the essentials
What if we compared the semiconductor industry to restaurants? An IDM is a ‘full-service restaurant’ that creates the recipes, buys the groceries, cooks, and even serves the food, while a chip
2025-05-14👁 0♥ 0
Proof of my existence: the essence of business
Proof of existence: the essence of business. “Why should I be here?” is the most fundamental question every company must ask itself. Simply
2025-05-07👁 0♥ 0
Why Did Trump Take Aim at His Own Allies?
Illustration · John Kim Former President Trump declared a tariff war, vowing to “punish China.” But the guns were actually aimed at Korea,
2025-04-05👁 0♥ 0
The Day I Found My Book at Kyobo Book Centre: “B2B Marketing Design”
Today, I visited Kyobo Book Centre in Daejeon — my first trip to a bookstore since the book came out. A scene I had long imagined, ‘my book
2025-03-30👁 0♥ 0
<B2B Marketing Design> Webtoon
I’m John Kim, the author, and I drew this promotional webtoon myself. :) [ Book info ] ⦁ Title: ‘B2B Marketing Design – 10 Steps
2025-03-27👁 0♥ 0
🚀 Out now: “B2B Marketing Design – Mastering the 10-Step Process”!
Are you approaching B2B sales and marketing systematically? Many companies do B2B sales and marketing, yet many managers still ask themselves: “
2025-03-17👁 0♥ 0
Rice bowls and chopsticks: dining cultures in three East Asian countries
At dinner time in my childhood, the family gathered around the table and began to eat. With one hand I held a warm bowl of rice, dunked the rice deep into the kimchi stew, and brought it to my mouth
2024-11-06👁 0♥ 0
October revenue drop in the corporate training market: a sign of economic uncertainty?
“It’s happening again this year, the ‘October mystery’…” A friend who started a corporate training agency three years ago said with a sigh
2024-09-25👁 0♥ 0
The Two Faces of B2B Branding: 'Intel' and 'Mercedes-Benz'
B2B brands, especially those tied to components or materials, may not catch consumers’ eye, but their impact is far greater than most people assume. These
2024-09-25👁 0♥ 0
A musical journey by time machine: ’90s Japanese pop and 2020s K-pop
It feels like only yesterday that I was lost in Japanese music crackling through the static in a car. In 1990, as a first-year high school student, I was in my father’s parked
2024-06-30👁 0♥ 0
Epilogue: 'B2B customers are like combining robots'
Over the past two years of teaching and consulting, I have written pieces on ‘B2B marketing and sales’ whenever I could. Sometimes I stopped for months, using being busy as an excuse. As time
2024-02-17👁 0♥ 0
B2B Sales Presentation / 6W2H
When I open the case I take to on-site sessions, I think back to 20-some years ago, when I was posted overseas, meeting customers every day and giving sales presentations. Back then
2024-02-17👁 0♥ 0
Using AI in B2B digital marketing
AI is being used in B2B digital marketing in many ways, helping companies run their marketing strategies more efficiently and effectively
2024-02-16👁 0♥ 0
B2B Digital Marketing Framework / Process, Tools, Strategy, and Tactics
Let me walk through the slides I wrote on the ‘B2B Digital Marketing Framework’ one by one. ① The products and services you need to sell B2B digital
2024-02-16👁 0♥ 0
B2B digital marketing #1
1) What B2B digital marketing is B2B digital marketing means using digital channels to promote and sell products or services that address a client’s needs and problems
2024-02-15👁 0♥ 0
B2B Sales Information Systems
A B2B sales information system is an IT system designed to support sales activities. It automates the sales process, manages customer data, and tracks sales opportunities
2024-02-15👁 0♥ 0
Switching costs #2
2) Types and examples of switching costs Switching costs are the costs or hassle a customer faces when moving from one product or service to another,
2024-02-15👁 0♥ 0
Switching costs #1
1) What switching costs mean This goes back about 16 to 17 years, to the mid-2000s, when I was selling Korean-made tools to semiconductor foundries such as TSMC and UMC in Taiwan. Specifically,
2024-02-14👁 0♥ 0
The loyalty ladder #2
② Customer types on the ‘loyalty ladder’ This figure illustrates the ‘loyalty ladder’, which shows the stages of customer loyalty in a B2B business setting
2024-02-13👁 0♥ 0
The loyalty ladder #1
In B2B, ‘customer loyalty’ is a customer’s tendency to keep choosing a company’s products or services and to buy from it again. It goes beyond simple repeat purchases
2024-02-12👁 0♥ 0
B2B Vendor & Customer Matching #2
② Classify and Connect Benefits by DMU Let’s build a flowchart showing the interaction between vendor and client. Each decision-making unit (DMU) and the decision-making process (
2024-02-12👁 0♥ 0
B2B vendor & customer matching #1
① DMP and DMU In B2B business, DMP and DMU are key concepts describing the purchasing decision process and the people involved in it. DMP is Decisio
2024-02-12👁 0♥ 0
B2B Order #4 / ⓑ Types of buyer benefits
If your product or service is clearly and visibly different from the competition, your sales reps can easily explain that difference and win customers over. When a company’s sales
2024-02-10👁 0♥ 0
B2B Order #3
Buyer Benefit example: insulated windows for Japanese hot spring inns ④ Buyer Benefit in B2B marketing ⓐ What Buyer Benefit means To give one example
2024-02-10👁 0♥ 0
B2B Order #2
③ Conflict between sales and production management: company-wide, 'sales' and 'production management' should ideally balance their authority and priorities, but
2024-02-10👁 0♥ 0
B2B Order #1
Do you often use the word 'order' in everyday life? In the dictionary, Order means 'sequence', '
2024-02-10👁 0♥ 0
Key Points of B2B Customer Management: 'Selection' and 'Decision'
In B2B account management, 'selection' and 'decision' are tied to building long-term relationships with customers, providing customized solutions, expanding business opportunities, risk management, and brand
2024-02-08👁 0♥ 0
How to build a B2B value proposition #4
3) VWE (Value Word Equation) / Example 2 [Example 2] Someone is preparing to launch a startup with an innovative automotive fuel additive. This fuel additive
2024-02-08👁 0♥ 0
How to build a B2B value proposition #3
3) VWE (Value Word Equation) / Example 1 The 'Tangible (touchable, physical, material)'
2024-02-02👁 0♥ 0
How to build a B2B value proposition #2
2) Finding insights your customers don’t see 'Design Thinking' — have you heard of it? Design Thinking (Des
2024-02-01👁 0♥ 0
B2B value proposition method #1
1) Should you match a competitor’s discount when a client asks for it? In B2B, a value proposition is what your products and services offer clients
2024-02-01👁 0♥ 0
Factors that affect B2B vendors #6
3) The client’s contact person: in B2B, the traits and tendencies of the client’s contact person clearly affect the vendor. From starting the relationship to closing deals and growing the account
2024-01-22👁 0♥ 0
Factors that influence B2B vendors #5
2) Client Organization Anyone who has done marketing or sales to corporate customers often says: "Company A’s corporate culture fits ours well, and it matches my own style and
2024-01-21👁 0♥ 0
Factors that affect B2B vendors #4 / ⑥ Competitive intensity
Peter Drucker, the Austrian-born American management scholar who created the concept of 'marketing' and is known as the teacher of economists and the father of the postmodern corporation,
2024-01-12👁 0♥ 0
Factors that affect B2B vendors #3 / ⑤ Political environment and regulation
⑤ Political environment and regulation Businesses are shaped by many factors. Among them, shifts in the domestic and international political climate affect interest rates, exchange rates, tariffs, trade agreements
2024-01-12👁 0♥ 0
Factors that affect B2B vendors #2 / 1) Environment ③ Interest costs ④ Technology change cycles
③ Interest Expense Have you heard of a company called 'Doosan Infracore'? Founded in 1937 under Japanese colonial rule, it supplied military equipment to the Japanese army as 'Joseon Machinery Works (朝鮮機械製作所
2023-12-17👁 0♥ 0
Factors that influence B2B vendors #1 / 1) Environment ① Economic outlook ② The client’s market position
B2B sales and marketing to corporate customers and B2G sales and marketing to government customers often see dramatic swings in fortune as the political and economic climate shifts.
2023-12-14👁 0♥ 0
How B2B corporate customers organize their buying
To sell a product or service to corporate customers, you first need to shortlist candidate clients, set priorities, and then identify the department and the person in charge of that work at each target client.
2023-12-12👁 0♥ 0
The B2B Purchasing Process
If you’re new to B2B, marketing and sales can feel confusing: which client companies, departments and people to target, and when, how and what to propose and prepare
2023-11-26👁 0♥ 0
B2B salespeople and sales reps
When I did my MBA about ten years ago, schools offered general marketing courses, but it was hard to study B2B marketing and B2B sales in any depth.
2023-11-26👁 0♥ 0
Characteristics of B2B customers
B2B (Business to Business) customers differ from B2C (Business to Consumer) customers in many ways. B2C customers are individuals, and the product
2023-11-04👁 0♥ 0
3 Types of B2B Purchases: Straight Rebuy, Modified Rebuy and Custom Products
The biggest difference between B2B marketing and the B2C marketing most people know is that the customer is an organization, not an individual. Even now, across industries and niches around the world,
2023-11-01👁 0♥ 0
Customers want to see your future!
Key criteria for B2B sales and marketing / Capa. & TRM Have you heard the term 'Capa.' (capacity)? For example, "Assistant Manager Kim
2023-10-29👁 0♥ 0
What to do when 'defects' occur
Key criteria for B2B sales and marketing In 1998, back at university after military service, I was selling accessories such as copper and silver rings and bracelets brought to Korea from Tibet and Nepal at Wawa(
2023-10-26👁 0♥ 0
The magic key: references
Key criteria in B2B sales and marketing Have you heard the term 'reference check'? Anyone who has worked in an office
2023-10-23👁 0♥ 0
Lead time, 納期, delivery
When you negotiate with manufacturers' clients, certain issues always come up. 'Price', 'payment terms', and 'delivery date' are the classic examples
2023-10-16👁 0♥ 0
Back to Basics: 'Quality'
Key criteria in B2B marketing: quality? Integrity! <Illustration by the author> B2C businesses that sell products and services to consumers also treat quality as
2023-10-13👁 0♥ 0
Does the price always have to be low?
Pricing strategy and price proposals tied to the total value of a B2B offering. It's always a dilemma. Should you go in as cheap as possible, or go in high? If you only offer a low price
2023-10-07👁 0♥ 0
Only negotiating on price? (Business negotiation strategies by viewpoint)
Have you ever worked in B2B sales? It’s very different from negotiating one-on-one. Let me think back to my own experience. A senior colleague on the sales team
2023-10-05👁 0♥ 0
Good cop, bad cop (a classic, basic negotiation tactic)
In 1993, when I was 20, a Korean movie called 'Two Cops' became a huge hit. It starred Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon. Back then, a traffic violation meant a ticket worth just
2023-10-04👁 0♥ 0
The business cards of salespeople and entrepreneurs
This happened when I was working as a salesperson at a small company. To meet a client's contact, a salesperson absolutely needs a 'business card,' right? My title was assistant manager, and
2023-10-03👁 0♥ 0
What Is a 'Lemon'?
Do you remember your first car? I recently said goodbye to Nibari, my All-New Carnival and companion through thick and thin for nine years, and welcomed a Palisade in its place. Now
2023-10-03👁 0♥ 0
New Car Sales and Loss Aversion
In 1989, as a ninth grader on a school trip, I spent the night in a run-down inn with about ten classmates crammed into one room. Then one friend suddenly introduced a card game called 'poker'
2023-05-12👁 0♥ 0
Stock manipulation and the prisoner’s dilemma
Starting in mid-2022, the share prices of 'Seoul Gas' and 'Samchully' began to rise steadily. These city gas suppliers, because of the war in Ukraine
2023-05-03👁 0♥ 0
2 basic negotiation methods
I have two sons: the older one is 40 years younger than me and the younger one 47. Let me start with a negotiation tactic my older son, now in third grade, uses a lot. An elementary schooler
2023-04-28👁 0♥ 0
Negotiation basics I learned from my 3-year-old son
To me, “negotiating power” is the practical “combat skill” a well-conditioned soldier learns once equipped with armor and weapons that suit them
2023-04-05👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell industrial laptops!
I had a lecture that afternoon, so I slept in, had breakfast, and was scrolling through the YouTube recommendations on my phone over coffee when something caught my eye.
2023-03-23👁 0♥ 0
Wielding “gapjil” wisely in B2B distribution
Gap and eul are the first (甲) and second (乙) of the ten Heavenly Stems. In a contract, the party holding the upper hand is called “Gap” and the other party “Eul”, and
2023-03-22👁 0♥ 0
Is ChatGPT a smart Roman slave?
Information about ChatGPT is pouring in these days. New updates arrive before we can digest the last ones, and every day is a scramble just to keep up.
2023-03-19👁 0♥ 0
What’s the difference between an M/S and an SOW?
“ M/S, MS, Market Share ” If you work in sales, you hear these terms all the time, so they’re probably very familiar
2023-03-19👁 0♥ 0
B2B distributor functions, part 2: serving the “end customer”
What if corporate customers or consumers bought directly from manufacturers? Could they easily buy the products they want, in the form, quantity and price they want? What’s more
2023-03-12👁 0♥ 0
B2B distributor functions, part 1: for 'manufacturers'
When a distributor loses its own unique and special function within a distribution channel, it loses its “reason for existing”, the justification for taking a share of the profit in the middle of the distribution process. Manufacturers
2023-03-06👁 0♥ 0
What is B2B distribution?
In 1999, I went backpacking in China. I took the train to Golmud (格尔木) in Qinghai’s Tibetan autonomous prefecture, then spent several days traveling on to Lhasa (拉薩), the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region
2023-03-05👁 0♥ 0
3 common B2B distribution methods
What’s the best way to distribute B2B products? Say you’ve developed an industrial B2B product. Let’s work out together how to take it to market.
2023-03-01👁 0♥ 0
5 differences between B2B and B2C
I started in marketing and sales in China in 2002, and until early 2012 I worked mainly in B2B marketing and sales targeting overseas customers. What I remember most from my time in the field
2023-02-26👁 0♥ 0
Positioning map of major communities by orientation
Social media use tends to split neatly by age group. The apps widely used across all ages are “KakaoTalk,” “YouTube,”
2023-02-21👁 0♥ 0
B2B brand stories
Do B2B industrial goods such as materials, machinery, equipment, and parts need a brand too? They hardly advertise to the general public, so is a brand really necessary? If so, why?
2023-02-19👁 0♥ 0
How to segment your existing customers
As I write this in December 2022, the JTBC drama “Reborn Rich” keeps climbing in popularity. Among its many characters, the founder of Sunyang Group
2022-12-20👁 0♥ 0
Approaching the B2B market (4/4)
⑤ Buyer Personal Characteristics ⓑ Buyer Motivation When are you most motivated to buy? Rather than “purchase motivation,” you might say you get “hyped up&
2022-12-18👁 0♥ 0
How to Approach the B2B Market 3/4
⑤ The buyer’s personal characteristics ⓐ Similarity between buyer and seller “Similarity between buyer and seller” is what I’m watching most closely in the B2B market these days. For over ten years
2022-11-24👁 0♥ 0
Approaching the B2B market 2/4
③ Purchasing method ⓐ Purchasing department: your counterpart, whether it’s called the purchasing team, purchasing department, buyer or procurement. In other words, the other side of the table. We say “purchasing department,” but
2022-11-23👁 0♥ 0
How to Approach the B2B Market 1/4
How can you enter the B2B market? Is there an easier, more systematic way in? Without asking senior colleagues or digging through your company’s sales and marketing history
2022-11-17👁 0♥ 0
Key points of B2B market segmentation
Have you heard of STP? It is the most “fundamental” concept in marketing. For more than 10 years, I have taught marketing to startup founders who were preparing to launch or had just launched their businesses, and marketing
2022-11-16👁 0♥ 0
Macro-Environment Analysis: PESTEL
Sales and marketing roles involve a lot of different tasks. “ Planning skills ” matter a great deal. Every year in late autumn, when it is time to prepare next year’s business plan
2022-11-13👁 0♥ 0
Gerber baby food and Patricia Moore
Have you heard of Nestlé’s “Gerber baby food,” launched in 1928 and the most famous baby food in the world? Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ll know the baby face that symbolizes Gerber
2022-11-13👁 0♥ 0
Haier washing machines tailored for rural China
In 2008, while I was posted in Taiwan as an expatriate, the Lehman collapse and the US subprime mortgage crisis set off a massive financial crisis. In Hsinchu, Taiwan, home to TSMC
2022-11-12👁 0♥ 0
Transparent display refrigerator
This happened ten years ago, while I was taking master’s courses in the Korea University MBA program. It was a demanding program with classes every evening after work, and one day a researcher from S Electronics
2022-11-10👁 0♥ 0
Pet food made with 'bass'
Around 2015, I served as a judge at a university startup competition. A team of third-year students from one university came in with a startup idea that was genuinely novel at the time
2022-11-08👁 0♥ 0
Playground ride + pump = PlayPump
Have you heard of the PlayPump? It’s the go-to example of empathy in design thinking.
2022-11-05👁 0♥ 0
Wooden blocks and ball-pit balls for indoor play cafés
In marketing, empathy for the customer can’t be overstated. In 12 years of teaching startup marketing, I’ve met thousands of first-time founders who tend to think only from their own point of view,
2022-11-04👁 0♥ 0
What is B2G marketing?
What is B2G marketing? B2G stands for Business to Government, meaning marketing aimed at the government. It is not simply selling computers or desks to the government
2022-11-04👁 0♥ 0
The B2B salesperson is a 'doctor'
Episode 9 of SBS’s “One Dollar Lawyer” (airing since September 2022) centers on a used-car dealer. The actor, born in 1984 and known in the industry for looking older than his age,
2022-11-03👁 0♥ 0
B2B customers are 'amoebas'
In 2019, I led a full-day “B2B marketing” session for international dealers of a large company, D. I asked them: "B2
2022-11-02👁 0♥ 0
The Ukraine war: analysis and outlook
<Ukraine battlefield map, 12 Mar > The war in Ukraine: where is it heading? Since Russia launched missile strikes on major Ukrainian cities on 24 Feb, it
2022-03-14👁 0♥ 0
Why sales aren’t working
(4) Case study: locker key bundles ① Why sales weren’t coming in Eight years ago, I was teaching a marketing class in Busan. About the B2B marketing value proposition
2022-03-12👁 0♥ 0
The latest on international affairs and the business environment
Today I'd like to talk about the rapidly changing international situation and its impact on the business environment. Since last October, Russia has deployed more than 130,000 troops along the Ukrainian border, and on February 2
2022-03-12👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell a “duvet cover”! Sorting out sales messages, the decider and the value chain
① Sorting Out Your Sales Messages This happened to me about three years ago while I was mentoring startups in Daegu. As I recall, the founder was a woman in her 50s, and she
2022-03-05👁 0♥ 0
Selling Semiconductor Equipment ① B2B Value Proposition and Solution (2/2)
In a B2B value proposition, the supplier’s account manager plays a key role. For a truly important key account, for example, an assistant manager on the supplier’s sales team
2022-03-02👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell semiconductor equipment.
② B2B value proposition and solution 1/2 Earlier, we looked at finding the buying center’s pain points and proposing a solution, the &ls
2022-03-01👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell semiconductor equipment. ① The buying center and pain points
Illustration by the author / Semiconductor equipment B2C marketing: what is its core? Stimulating consumer desire, even for things people don’t need right away,
2022-02-28👁 0♥ 0
What is a 'persona'?
Illustration by the author / Persona ⓐ Hoshino Resorts case <Figure 5. Hoshino Resorts> To help explain personas, let’s look at a resort in Japan
2022-02-25👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell a boiler! ② What is a persona?
Illustration by the author / Persona The word ‘persona’, which means mask in Greek, has become essential in modern marketing
2022-02-25👁 0♥ 0
Let’s sell boilers! ① How to segment the B2B market
Imagine you’ve quit your current job and, for reasons beyond your control, applied for a sales position at a boiler company. In the interview, the owner
2022-02-25👁 0♥ 0
B2C, B2B, or B2G marketing? / A look at the main types of business transactions
Illustration by the author 1) What is B2C marketing? Business to Consumer: as the name says, it means marketing aimed at everyday consumers. Cons
2022-02-25👁 0♥ 0
Prologue: “B2B Customers Are Combiner Robots”
Hand-drawn book cover Every year, I make myself the same promise: "This year, I’m going to write a book! No matter what." So I started with “B2B Customers Are a Combining Robot (working title)”
2022-02-25👁 0♥ 0
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What does this column cover?
Columns and serialized writing by CEO John Kim, with insights from B2B marketing, practical AI, sales, and the corporate training field.
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A regular series of practical know-how for corporate training managers.
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