Companies that don’t have a B2B system often complain that they don’t have mechanisms to streamline their customers’ online ordering process. This is a real problem because using paper or Excel sheets to process orders becomes inefficient and unprofessional. Salespeople waste time finding information for customers and paper documents get lost or icorretly completed. Because of this, the flow of information between company departments slows down and the ordering process gets longer. B2B sales automation will improve online ordering. Orders will be processed faster, with fewer errors which will result in higher customer satisfaction. This article will give you some examples on how such a B2B platform (e.g. based on Magento) can help you achieve good sales automation.

Automated order status

At the very beginning, you should look at the standard features that the Magento platform can provide for B2B commerce. Automated order statuses are now standard in customer service. It’s hard to imagine a company that doesn’t automate these statuses and integrate them with their manufacturing, sales, or warehouse department. Automated statuses are sent when an order is placed, paid for, the package is prepared for shipment, and after the shipment. In addition, you can also integrate the status of the delivery and tracking of the package. Thanks to this the customer has information what is going on with the order and does not have to contact our salesperson so often to get this information.

Ordering multiple products at once

Another element that automates B2B sales is the ability to order multiple products at once. This is done with the help of a module where we can enter SKU numbers of products, which are searched in the store and added to the shopping cart automatically. This speeds up the implementation of larger orders and significantly reduces the time lost by the sales department to manually complete the product list. This is very convenient for the customer, who can make a large order with a few clicks.

Negotiation of quotes and orders

Another sales process that we can automate is the negotiation of quotes and orders. Thanks to the implementation of the negotiation module our customers can send an order for negotiation before they place it. They will also propose a discount they would like to receive or the amount they want to pay for the whole order. Salespeople can approve the offer or correct it in time, and if it suits the customer, the order is processed. In this way, we save time for our salespeople and the customer has the whole history of order negotiation. The negotiation process itself does not extend in time through many phone calls and unnecessary arrangements.

Invoices and payment automation

Ponieważ klienci B2B bardzo poważnie traktują płatności i faktury, nadzór nad nimi musimy zautomatyzować. Po pierwsze, platforma B2B jako dodatek może oferować zapłatę przez bramkę płatności. Dzięki temu klient nie musi wykonywać męczących przelewów bankowych poza systemem. Od razu szybko i sprawnie może dokonać zapłaty za towar. Otrzyma też automatyczne potwierdzenie, ze przelew został wykonany i jest już na koncie naszej firmy. Przez to klient będzie wiedział w jakim miejscu są jego pieniądze i nie będzie niepotrzebnie dzwonił do firmy dopytując się o stan płatności. Dodatkowo do platformy B2B można dołączyć generowanie faktur poprzez system ERP firmy. Spowoduje to, że wszystkie faktury będą generowały się automatycznie do zamówień. Następnie będą wysyłane do klienta mailem oraz dołączane do panelu użytkownika w systemie. Ułatwi to dostęp do wszelkich dokumentów księgowych i wyeliminuje potrzebę kontaktów z handlowcami lub księgowymi naszej firmy, żeby te informacje i dokumenty zdobyć.

Since B2B customers take payments and invoices very seriously, we need to automate the supervision of them. First, the B2B platform as an add-on can offer payment through a payment gateway. In this way, the customer doesn’t have to do tiresome bank transfers outside the system. He can immediately make a payment for the goods quickly and efficiently. He will also receive an automatic confirmation that the transfer has been made and is already on our company’s account. Thanks to this the customer will know where his money is and he will not call the company unnecessarily asking about the payment status. In addition to the B2B platform, you can attach the generation of invoices through the ERP system of the company. This will cause all invoices to be generated automatically for orders. Then they will be sent to the customer by e-mail and attached to the user panel in the system. This will facilitate access to all accounting documents and eliminate the need to contact salespeople or accountants of our company to get the information and documents.

Does B2B sales automation need to be implemented now?

The above suggestions are just the beginning of the processes that can be automated in B2B sales. The main benefits of such automation are saving salespeople time, fewer mistakes in orders, more convenient ordering process for customers and faster order fulfillment, which immediately goes to production or warehouse. This, of course, has a real impact on reducing order processing costs and increasing turnover in the company. Postponing the automation of B2B sales, we can contribute to lower satisfaction of our customers and their possible transition to the competition. So let’s not delay and plan online B2B sales in our company and the benefits will become obvious in a relatively short period of time.

 

If you want to know how else you can speed up your orders on the B2B platform, write to us.