This is the third in a three-part series explaining how companies selling software to businesses (B2B) should leverage their eStore infrastructure across multiple customer touch points.
In the first post in this series, we discussed the idea of allowing B2B customers to buy direct online, which B2B companies have been reluctant to do because of the high prices of their products. The second blog post focused on leveraging an eStore’s functionality to enable resellers to buy on their own time and with customized discounts. In this third post, we show you how an eStore, rather than competing with your inside sales team, can increase their efficiency and feed leads to your inside sales team. Didn’t think that was possible?
Symantec Purchase Options
If you followed the lead of our first blog post in this series, you would likely allow direct sales via your eStore. However, there’s a certain point in your business, whether it’s two, 10 or 50 license volumes, when you want to build a relationship with the customer who is buying a quantity that large. In the previous model where no direct online selling was possible, companies requested that every potential customer contact your company to make a purchase.
That was inefficient because even the person who knows exactly what they wanted and was ready to buy had to have a one-to-one conversation that could only occur when both sides were ready to make the transaction. With direct online selling, customers can serve themselves, which could swing the balance the other direction so that you almost never interact with your potential customers. Customers who buy in volume or repeatedly are your most valuable customers since the average revenue per customer is more than the value of one license. Therefore, you probably want to interact with these customers and start building a relationship.
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Filed under B2B, Key Accounts, NitroPDF
This is the second in a three-part series explaining how companies selling software to businesses (B2B) should leverage their e-store infrastructure across multiple customer touch points.
Good news for B2B software companies – selling more expensive software to businesses has reached an important inflection point. Business customers are ready, willing and able to buy directly online. As discussed in the previous blog post, Three ways to leverage e-stores for B2B software, B2B companies need to offer their products online without requiring a customer to contact the inside sales team or a reseller.
However, as any B2B company knows, resellers are one of the most important channels when it comes to selling B2B software. It’s time to use your e-store to support and organize a successful reseller program. Leverage your e-store functionality to automate many of the typical channel management processes for resellers and distributors, collectively referred to as resellers in this post.
Resellers fill a critical area of a company’s B2B strategy, such as:
- Selling into a region where the OEM doesn’t have a presence
- Offering a local support option
- Building awareness for your product
- Providing market feedback
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Filed under B2B, channel management, Novastor, Resellers
This is the first in a three-part series explaining how companies selling software to businesses (B2B) should leverage their eStore infrastructure across multiple customer touch points.
The B2B software industry is undergoing a metamorphosis that closely resembles the way B2C companies reinvented online sales over the past 10 years. Years ago, B2C companies had to overcome customers’ fears about providing payment details over the Internet. Once customers became comfortable providing their payment details online, sales through direct channels skyrocketed. While this had a negative impact on retail store software purchases, direct online purchases greatly expanded the overall sales volume. Today, B2B companies are experiencing a similar inflection point.
Buyers’ willingness to provide payment information online for significantly more expensive products has increased. Many B2B buyers prefer buying online. As a result, companies are embracing the B2C direct mentality as a component of their B2B sales strategy. Not only should B2B software providers offer products for purchase directly online, but also fully leverage an eStore to help with existing customer touch points like resellers and insides sales.
Of course some products don’t lend themselves to direct, online sales. Perhaps a product that must be customized by the manufacturer before delivery or hardware that includes pre-loaded software wouldn’t make sense to sell directly online. Nonetheless, how frustrating is it when you want to buy a product from a company that offers a downloadable trial version but then makes you call in to talk with a sales person to actually make the purchase? Make it easy for your B2B customers to purchase your product when they are ready.
There are many reasons B2B customers want to buy direct:
- Timeliness – Customers want to order on their schedule, not only when your office is open.
- Experience – Customers are knowledgeable and don’t need to speak with a reseller or an inside sales person.
- Payment methods – Traditional purchase order and price quote processes are fully supported online.
- Simplified process – Customers are more willing to charge higher price products to their corporate credit cards.
Of course, when deciding to sell direct, channel partners can become upset and as Stefan Utzinger talks about in his book, Channel Revolution, which we recently reviewed, a channel strategy is integral to a company’s success. However, companies need to realize that customers want to buy directly online and should also use their online store as a feeder for other channels, including partners.
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Filed under B2B, eStore, inside sales, Resellers
