Traditionally, B2B sales are managed by dedicated sales teams, who might have concerns about where they fit in when it comes to B2B eCommerce. But, it’s important to understand that B2B eCommerce is not designed to replace B2B sales teams. In fact, it has the potential to unlock a wealth of valuable information that your teams can then use to their advantage.

One of the great things about using digital platforms is that every product view, customer search and purchase can be tracked and measured. This produces a wealth of behavioral and transactional data about your B2B customers. This information is invaluable to sales teams, who can use the insights gathered from eCommerce platforms to improve things like campaign messaging, the customer experience, and ultimately, your sales revenue.

This data can be combined with other data sources, like Customer Relationship Management systems - or CRMs - to extract even deeper insights into the needs and behaviors of your B2B customers.

Imagine that your brand sells coffee machines, and one of your customers has shown an interest in one of your products online, but hasn’t yet made a purchase. Valuable information like this can give your sales rep a good advantage when they visit that same customer in person to try and convince them to make a purchase.

Or, let’s say one of your sales reps visits a customer and learns that they’re interested in buying one of the more sophisticated coffee machines from your brand. You could then use this information to personalize the online experience for this customer, by highlighting this range of products on your site the next time they visit.

Access to good quality customer data can also help you uncover valuable cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, informing tactics like personalized product recommendations. B2B customers expect at least some personalization when it comes to the brands they interact with regularly, and product recommendations are a great way to provide this.

Another great thing about the measurement capabilities that come with B2B eCommerce, is that you can easily test different products or propositions online. Many eCommerce platforms even come with A/B testing capabilities.

This is where you test two slightly different versions of the same product information, content or messaging, to understand which performs better. But, A/B testing comes with strict rules. Other than the specific element you want to test, everything else must stay exactly the same - this allows you to see which version is more effective. For example, this could be the color of a call-to-action button.

So, the important thing to take away from all of this is that B2B eCommerce and B2B sales are not in competition with each other. Learning how to balance the two, and make the most of what each has to offer, has the potential to greatly improve the efficiency of your sales reps, and help them develop more focussed and trigger-based selling strategies.

Brands like Heineken and Unilever traditionally had sales teams that would visit bars and restaurants across the globe to sell their products. But, in recent years, they’ve moved large parts of their B2B business online, freeing up sales reps to hunt for new customers and improve overall sales performance.

B2B eCommerce & B2B Sales