B2B versus B2C mode
One radio button that changes the vocabulary, pipeline stages, list columns and temperature labels across the whole CRM so it fits how you actually sell.
Before you start
- Two minutes. There is no external setup, no keys, no DNS. Just flip a toggle.
- An honest answer to the question: are your customers businesses or consumers? If you serve both (e.g. a training company that sells to companies for corporate training and to individuals for evening classes), pick the mode that matches the majority - you can revisit later.
Step 1: Change the mode
- Go to Settings > Company.
- Find the Business type row.
- Pick either B2B (selling to businesses: trades, agencies, services) or B2C (selling to consumers: tours, retail, hospitality).
- Click Save company.
- Refresh any open CRM tab. The vocabulary, columns and stages update immediately.
What actually changes when you flip the mode
Contacts list columns
| Column | B2B shows | B2C shows |
|---|
| Primary label | Business name | Contact name |
| Sub-label | Contact name | Email |
| Third column | Industry / niche | City |
| Fourth column | Employee count band | Total spend |
Existing data in every field is preserved. Only which fields display in the default table view changes.
Pipeline stages
Default pipeline stages differ, on the basis that a consumer buys in one meeting and a business takes six weeks.
- B2B default stages: New → Discovery → Proposal sent → Negotiation → Contract out → Won / Lost.
- B2C default stages: New enquiry → Quoted → Deposit taken → Booked → Delivered → Reviewed.
If you have already customised pipeline stages, they are preserved. The mode flip only affects the defaults shown to new companies.
Temperature labels
- B2B: Ice cold, Cold, Warm, Hot, Deal in flight.
- B2C: Browsing, Interested, Deposit ready, Booked, Repeat buyer.
Page vocabulary
Text throughout the CRM adjusts:
- B2B says Add company, Assign account manager, Deal size, Sales cycle.
- B2C says Add customer, Assign host, Booking value, Turnaround time.
Buttons, tab labels, empty-state messages, dashboard KPI titles - all switch. Nothing in the URL or the database schema changes, so the switch is safe and reversible.
Side by side: what a tour operator (B2C) sees versus what an agency (B2B) sees
Dashboard KPIs
| Position | B2C tour operator | B2B agency |
|---|
| 1st tile | Bookings this week | Meetings booked this week |
| 2nd tile | Average booking value | Average deal size |
| 3rd tile | Deposit taken vs quoted | Proposals out |
| 4th tile | Repeat customer rate | Win rate last 90 days |
Contact detail page
| Section | B2C tour operator | B2B agency |
|---|
| Header | "Sarah Jones - Bristol" | "Acme Ltd - Alex Smith (CTO)" |
| Left column | Booking history, dietary notes, party size | Company size, industry, decision-maker map |
| Timeline | Enquiry - Quote - Deposit - Booking - Trip - Review | Discovery - Proposal - Negotiation - Contract - Kickoff |
Automations that pre-load
- B2C ships with automations: Deposit paid → send confirmation email, Trip in 7 days → send prep guide, Trip finished → send review request.
- B2B ships with automations: Proposal sent → task follow-up in 3 days, No reply in 14 days → break-up email, Contract signed → kickoff invite.
How to test it works
- Note the current label on the Contacts page top button (should say Add company or Add customer).
- Flip the mode in Settings > Company.
- Refresh the Contacts page. The button label should have changed.
- Go to Pipeline. The default stage labels for a newly-created deal should reflect the new mode.
- Flip back. Everything reverts. No data is lost either way.
Common problems
- I flipped the mode but the labels have not changed
- Browser cached the old vocabulary. Hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R). Or you were viewing a page that had already been rendered in the old mode before you saved.
- My existing pipeline stages disappeared
- They have not - they are still in the database, and any deals in them are still there. Only the default stage set for new deals changes with the mode. Your custom stages remain in the pipeline settings under Settings > Pipeline > Stages.
- The wrong vocabulary showed up mid-demo in front of a customer
- Take a screenshot and email andrew@validusmedia.com. Vocabulary gaps (a screen still saying "customer" in B2B mode, or vice versa) are bugs and get patched.
- I want a mode for something else (e.g. non-profit, healthcare)
- Only B2B and B2C ship. Vertical-specific modes (healthcare with patients and consent, non-profit with donors and grants) are on the roadmap. In the meantime, pick whichever is closer and rename fields in Settings > Custom fields.
- Some third-party integrations still use the old label
- Integrations use the raw database schema (e.g. Zapier still exposes
business_name in both modes). This is intentional - your automations do not break when you flip the mode. Only the UI relabels.
What this unlocks in the CRM
The CRM stops fighting how you actually work. A tour operator sees "bookings" not "deals", "hosts" not "account managers", "trip" not "sales cycle". An agency sees the industry-standard sales vocabulary. New team members onboard faster because the interface matches their mental model. And the dashboards surface the numbers that matter to your model (average booking value for a consumer business, sales cycle length for a B2B one). The change is free, takes two seconds, and is fully reversible - try both if you are not sure.