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February 8, 2017 Sales

Automate Quotes to Increase Business Revenue

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By Sonja Fridell

Automate Quotes to Increase Business Revenue

How do you know if you are the perfect candidate for B2B eCommerce?  Offering products that are customizable, is the first clue. Combine this with purchase orders spanning multiple line items consistently, and you are ready to use B2B eCommerce to automate quotes and improve your processes.

Scale Without Hiring Using B2B eCommerce

Automate Quotes - ScaleHistorically, complex purchases have been a problem for eCommerce.  They typically require a sales representative to assist the buyer.  This prevents the selection of incompatible items, or as a reminder to the customer to purchase required add-ons.  For businesses with this problem, the prior solution was to hire more sales representatives to close more deals.  A modern web store can eliminate the need for hiring by making simple orders more transactional.  This gives customers the ability to create complex orders online, without violating buying rules.

First and Foremost, Use the Right Tools

Automate Quotes - ToolsBusinesses have long used automated sales technology such as CPQ (Configure Price Quote) software, which generates quotes based on your organization’s pricing structure and database.  CPQ were built to be internal tools, and therefore should not be customer facing.

Ultimately, by building these CPQ rules into a web store for B2B customers, businesses can:

  • Keep track of stock and inventory
  • Automatically apply discounts and offers within quotes
  • Offer visibility into customer-tailored up-sell and cross-sell opportunities

Move From Quote to Revenue Recognition Without Human Interaction:

Automate Quotes - ProcessA B2B web store, like OroCommerce, handles the flow from quote to order.  Confirm your customers will get the best-suited products with every order using a product configurator.  This includes a quote generator that encompasses your business’s discounting and pricing structure.

Furthermore, you can create company-branded quotes which customers save directly in the web store for review, with the ability and purchase later.  Set custom expiration dates for quotes, update automatically to reflect stock levels and new discounts.  While they don’t require human intervention, sales people can monitor generated quotes.  This is beneficial for increasing close rates.  Furthermore, your sales people now have the ability to contact the customer to take advantage of up-sell & cross-sell opportunities, and the potential to maximize deal sizes.

Save Time on Quoting so You Can Focus on Selling:

Automate Quotes - Save TimeSave time on pricing and quoting by putting B2B eCommerce in place.  In fact, sales people can focus on selling more.  By automating quotes with B2B eCommerce, key time wasters are eliminated.  For example:

  • Creating product options quickly while deploying options across all channels
  • Generating data-driven pricing recommendations to determine the best product combination and price for every customer
  • Marketing, sales and production have a better understanding of the market and can plan more effectively
  • The web store allows for faster revenue recognition
  • Updating quotes automatically via CRM for better internal visibility

This results in a faster sales process with more effective follow up, so you can focus on growing your business.

Above all, Improve the Customer Experience and Grow Revenue:

Automate Quotes - Grow RevenueConfigure prices and automate quotes using B2B eCommerce, so that your aren’t waiting for a sales person. With B2B eCommerce, customers are capable of placing orders off-hours, when businesses are normally closed.  This not only allows for more opportunities for a sale, because your eCommerce doors never close, it also improves the customer experience.

In conclusion, automating the quoting process with B2B eCommerce will in crease business growth, revenue and bandwidth.

 

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author bio

Sonja Fridell

Sonja is very active in architecting CRM, ERP and marketing automation solutions for clients across North America. As an ex-journalist, she is adept at exploring a client’s needs and coming up with cutting edge, elegant solutions that fit, drive adoption, and create real results.

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