Analytical reports are needed by everyone — both the seller and the buyer. A B2B portal generates them on its own, gathering the required data on procurement/sales, logistics, marketing and management. This functionality was implemented in a B2B portal that kt.team developed for a large food manufacturer. One of the results of the rollout was the automatic export of statistics on partners, sales and complaints from a single source — in both tabular and graphical form.
Its buyers also gained the ability to analyze their purchases in the current period and compare them with the results of previous months, quarters and years.
2. How do you manage product information if it is stored in five different databases?
Product information is stored in several places: accounting, sales, logistics, the warehouse... It is duplicated, inconsistent, lost, and self-contradictory. On a B2B portal, this information can be viewed, edited, and standardized through a single interface. An additional tool for managing product information across internal and external sales channels is a PIM system.
3. How do you fight errors in documents if they are inevitable?
All those "made a typo," "looked at the wrong file," "forgot to check Spam" haunt every head of sales (as well as procurement and supply) in their worst nightmares. As long as people manually create quotes and documents, take orders and raise internal requests, errors will not disappear. In a B2B marketplace's functionality, the human factor is minimized. Processes are automated, and documents are generated from preset templates without a manager's involvement.
And a system, as we know, has not yet learned to forget and make typos as masterfully as a human being.
4. How do you avoid misunderstandings between a manager and a client if they are unpredictable?
Sometimes effective work is hindered by... personal dislike between a sales manager and a customer. All sorts of things happen: didn't like the voice, the manner of speaking, even errors in a letter grate and get in the way of normal work! On a B2B portal there is no interpersonal interaction. An impartial system stands between people and helps make objective decisions.
5. How do you keep ALL prices for ALL clients in your head and not make mistakes?
In the B2B segment, the approach to pricing is flexible. It accounts for individual quotes, seasonality, promotions, the history of the relationship with the client and many other factors that previously had to be kept in your head (or calculated in Excel). Errors were almost inevitable. A B2B portal automatically calculates prices not only for each client, but for each order. Its memory already holds the current commercial offers and the logic for granting and withholding discounts.
Managers do not need to intervene manually in every order, so there will be no invoicing mistakes.
6. How do you take orders outside business hours without running a 24/7 sales department?
In a global village (hello, McLuhan), you cannot work with clients from nine to six. Even in B2B, people want to place orders when it is convenient for them, not when your headquarters is ready. This is especially true for businesses operating across multiple time zones. An order may arrive at three in the morning in the client's time zone or at midnight in yours, or in the middle of the business day. In any case, it will enter the system and begin processing.
7. How do you spend less on salespeople and sell more?
For many years, sales reps and managers were stuck in a shuttle run between the customer and their own office. They burned through liters of fuel and thousands of man-hours collecting orders and delivering documents. The business owner, in turn, had to set aside time for all these visits, sometimes taking it away from customers or important management tasks. Now, to lock in an order, there is no need to send out sales reps or negotiate over email.
The customer can log into the Personal Account from a computer, tablet, or smartphone, build an order, and print the invoice generated by the system. And all of that at a time that is convenient for them. At most, sales reps are left to deliver the ordered goods and collect the closing documents. Which, as you will agree, takes far less time and cost.
8. How do you track kickbacks and eliminate their source?
More than 30% of decisions in logistics are based on kickbacks. Naturally, no one keeps official statistics, but "everyone knows everything." The financial losses the organization incurs as a result are reflected in the product's cost. It's fine if the company has its own logistics division and its own transport. But if delivery is handled by third-party organizations, there is a high chance the manager chooses one contractor over another based on personal gain.
A B2B portal makes it possible to trace the logic behind logistics managers' decisions. And to ask them questions: why is delivery handled through company B if company A is 20% cheaper? Perhaps it is a matter of delivery quality, in which case the manager can justify the choice with claims statistics. Or perhaps company B provides financial incentives to the manager to make the "right" decisions.
9. How do you avoid missing deadlines when handling complaints?
One of the most sensitive topics for business. Did a chip break off a sink, did a metal part bend, or did the pasta crumble into bits during delivery? This is completely standard for any business whose customers are in another city or region of CIS. Our roads are, unfortunately, far from ideal, and loaders can also make mistakes. The customer files a claim, and the supplier must respond within a short timeframe. Otherwise, there will be penalties and reputational damage.
A large construction materials manufacturer decided to pay special attention to this area. A separate claims management module was added to the B2B portal. Claim creation was automated: tooltips and drop-down lists made it possible to fill in the required fields quickly and without errors. The business process, owners, checkpoints, and notifications were defined.
As a result, the number of overdue complaints dropped to zero, and thanks to analytics it became possible to track the sources of complaints and address them.
