B2B-Sales is changing
B2B sales is undergoing a major transformation. Digitalization and the new customer experience for B2B customers are central to this. The purchasing process must be adapted to changing customer needs. B2B customers expect digital touchpoints and omni-channel customer journeys just as much as end customers do, and today B2B buyers want the same convenience, flexibility and 24/7 availability as in the B2C sector and prefer to interact with suppliers via digital self-service channels. (Source: Die Zukunft des Vertriebs 2025 | Gartner)
Tools that are playing an increasingly important role in B2B sales
Customer & Partner Portal
With the functions combined in a B2B online partner or customer portal, the entire communication and interaction with customers or partners can be simplified and made more efficient for both sides.
The most important functions include:
Purchase Order Management
Customers can place orders, view the status of existing orders and perform administrative tasks such as reordering or canceling orders. Easily locating, managing and ordering spare parts is also a helpful and time-saving additional function.
Access to Product Databases
Customers can access comprehensive product information (product data sheets), including technical specifications, manuals, availability, pricing and other relevant data.
Customized Document Management and Pricing
The portal provides access to important documents such as contracts and compliance documents. Individual prices and offers can be displayed based on the specific agreements with the respective customer.
Invoice and Payment Management
Customers can receive and view invoices digitally, download them and make payments. This can also include the management of credit limits and account balances.
Service Management and Communication Tool
This is the area for service requests and status queries. Chat functions, forums or messaging services enable direct and rapid communication with the sales or support team.
E-Learning and Training Resources
This access offers online courses, webinars and training materials to educate customers about products and services.
Personalization
This enables the portal to be adapted to individual customer needs, for example through personalized dashboards, notification settings and customized content.
Download-Center
By providing software updates, tools, instructions or marketing materials for download, the company's own employees are relieved of this administrative work.
Feedback and Survey Functions
The ability of customers to provide feedback on products or services or to conduct surveys can provide valuable data that can be incorporated directly into product development.
Analytics and Reporting
Provision of tools for analyzing purchase patterns, order history and other relevant data. This can greatly facilitate product development and production planning, for example.
All these functions help to increase customer satisfaction, optimize business processes and strengthen customer loyalty. But it's not just your customers who benefit from an online portal. There are also many advantages and efficiency gains for your company and your employees.
B2B Online-Shop
Today's B2B customers don't want to make phone calls, write emails or place orders via other manual channels. With the help of a B2B online store, your customers can find and order products independently. 24/7 and without your intervention.
In contrast to B2C stores:
- B2B customers, on the other hand, usually already know what they are looking for and want to complete the ordering process quickly. B2C are still looking for inspiration and want to compare products. It is therefore essential that B2B stores are optimized for efficiency.
- you should implement special features for B2B customers such as storable shopping baskets, recurring order lists, order approvals and simple customization of payment options. These speed up the ordering process in digital sales, especially for existing customers who order regularly.
- It should also be noted that discounts, the product range or prices can be customized. In addition, purchase on account is a fundamental element in B2B stores, while other payment methods tend to be used in B2C stores.
B2B stores and customer portals complement each other in various ways to create an effective platform for personalized interaction between companies and customers:
Efficient Order Processes
B2B stores optimize the ordering process, while customer portals provide a central platform for managing orders, invoices and other document-related tasks. The seamless integration enables customers to process orders efficiently.
Central Source of Information
Customer portals serve as a central source of information where customers can access product data, contracts and other important documents. B2B stores can integrate this information to provide a holistic overview of products and services.
Personalized Offers
Customer portals enable the personalization of offers and contracts. The information can be integrated into the B2B store to ensure that customers receive individual prices and conditions during the purchasing process.
Self-Service Functions
Both platforms offer self-service functions that provide customers with flexibility and convenience. B2B stores allow customers to find and order products independently, while customer portals provide a wide range of management functions.
Analytics and Optimization
The analysis tools of customer portals and B2B stores can be integrated with each other to combine data on purchasing behavior and preferences. This joint analysis enables companies to optimize their strategies and respond better to customer needs.
Through this comprehensive integration, B2B stores and customer portals create a coherent platform that enables companies to effectively manage the entire customer lifecycle - from information procurement and order processing to long-term customer loyalty.
Configurators and Online Calculators
B2B products are often complex, individual and consulting-intensive. With a product configurator, your customers can configure a wide range of products themselves. The configurator guides them through the process and prevents incorrect configurations thanks to a stored set of rules. This relieves the burden on your sales department and gives your customers or partners a great deal of freedom and opportunities to design the information and ordering process according to their own requirements.
The advantages of these guided selling software solutions:
- the customer receives digital buying advice and is guided step by step through the sales process.
- Even varied and complex products can be offered thanks to the step-by-step approach
- The customer can configure the optimum offer for their requirements independently and at any time.
- Price and discount structures can be stored
- Configurators can be seamlessly integrated into your existing websites, portal solutions or online stores
- The completion rate and customer satisfaction are increased.
Whitelabeling Tools
Offer your B2B customers tools that they can use for their customers under their brand. This will boost your customers' sales process and thus indirectly your sales.
An example of this is a 3D furniture configurator for sales partners: the end customer can easily configure their individual armchair or sofa in just a few steps in the online store and order their piece of furniture directly via the online store.
With white labeling, the underlying technology and functionality of the software application remains largely the same, but the appearance, color scheme, logo and other visual elements are adapted to the CI/CD (corporate design) of the third-party provider - e.g. your sales partners. If the end customers are enthusiastic, the purchase decision is made in favor of your sales partners, which in turn increases your sales. It therefore makes perfect sense to equip your sales partners with state-of-the-art B2B sales tools.
Other examples of white labeling can be found in various industries, including financial services (e.g. white label online banking platforms), e-commerce (e.g. white label store solutions) and SaaS (Software as a Service) where companies offer third-party software products or services under their own brand.
Conclusion
Another point to emphasize for B2B sales is the fact that B2B buyers today, just like B2C buyers, want convenience, flexibility and 24/7 availability of offers and prefer to communicate with suppliers via digital self-service channels.
With digital touchpoints such as a product configurator or an online calculator, you enable your customers to design even complex or multi-variant products entirely on their own according to their individual requirements. This not only significantly reduces the need for direct advice from your side, but also increases the flexibility of your B2B customers and makes your offer available 24/7.
With the functions combined in a B2B online partner or customer portal, the entire communication and interaction with customers or partners can be simplified and made more efficient for both sides.
In addition, online stores, configurators and customer portals provide data for the analysis of purchasing patterns, preferred product variations and other relevant information that enables companies to optimize their offers and processes. Overall, these digital platforms create an improved customer journey and simultaneously optimize internal business processes, which can ultimately lead to sustainable business success.
Ultimately, it is customer relationships that determine a company's success. The bond should be close, but also as efficient as possible.