Ecommerce & Digital Ordering Is Changing The B2B Sales Game

According to Gartner 83% of B2B buyers prefer ordering or paying through digital commerce and this has wide implications on B2B sales.

So B2B sales is in flux, but field sales personnel and account managers are still crucial to the success of B2B companies. As we will try to explore below the success of personal sales resources are becoming highly dependable on how efficient B2B field sales personnel and account managers incorporate and promote new digital ordering possibilities such as punchout ordering capabilities. There are many good reasons for getting down and digital with your B2B customers:

Convenience: Punchout ordering allows customers to order products and services directly from their own procurement systems, which saves time and simplifies the ordering process and gives your customers the ability to place orders quickly and efficiently.

Compliance: Punchout ordering capabilities are rapidly becoming a compliance question from a B2B customer perspective. In other words, punchout ordering is moving from nice-to-have to need-to-have and compliance in this field increases customer retention and new customer win rate.

Value Add: By promoting punchout ordering capabilities, field sales personnel and account managers can add digital value to their customer relationships. Punchout ordering can help to increase customer loyalty, which can in turn lead to increased sales and revenue.

Stickiness: By offering punchout ordering, B2B companies can increase the stickiness of their relationships with customers. Once a customer has integrated a supplier’s punchout catalog with their procurement system, the threshold for them to switch to a different supplier increases, which reduces the risk of churn.

Minimize order errors: Punchout ordering minimizes the risk of errors in the ordering process, as orders are placed directly from the customer’s procurement system and the specific customer is identified correctly. This can help to reduce the time and resources spent on resolving errors and ensure that the correct products are delivered on time.

Increase order value: By promoting punchout ordering, B2B companies can increase the average order value of their customers. Since punchout enabled product catalogs in commerce platforms are often more comprehensive than traditional ordering methods, customers are more likely to order additional products and services from the supplier.

From Manual Ordering Processes To Customer Value Creation

By promoting digital ordering capabilities, field sales personnel and account managers can stay ahead of the new digital B2B trends and provide their customers with convenient, value-adding services that can help to drive sales and increase customer loyalty.

Instead of firefighting internally with customer order errors or pushing for action on delayed orders with Inbound Sales, checking up on stock and inventory questions from customers with the production team or reaching out to IT in search of a specific order line in the latest batch run – sales and account managers can shift focus to creating real value add for customers. For example pitching a new customer specific product campaign, spend more time on customized product presentations, Spend more time in person with customers, focus on related service value-adds or having time to monitor and act on ordering trend data in order to push up-sales or added sales, when relevant for customers.

The new B2B reality – where digital commerce and ordering is a must from customers – is creating new possibilities for sales people who embrace digital possibilities. It is all about delivering both personal (in person) and digital experiences for your customers and who are better at doing that – than your sales people.   

Curious on how to create personalized digital ordering experiences with Shopspray? Book a demo