To execute B2B sales, it is essential to establish what's in it for the customer first.   In tandem, it is critical to understand how well your business is prepared to engage in eCommerce.  The skill sets to sell digitally are very different from traditional wholesale or retail models.  It is critical to have internal resources that really understand this space and can execute all facets of eCommerce. It consists not only of building the storefront but making sure that you have an engine behind it that can smoothly process all orders, payments, shipping, taxes, and returns.

To start, is it best to designate someone with experience in this space that can take the helm on all eCommerce operations. That person will be responsible for executing the overall objectives, and also have the responsibility of building the project team of influencers that can add input from all the different lines of business involved in the project. These LOBs include IT, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Customer Support.  Each of these groups will be involved and impacted by the company’s engagement in digital commerce. It will be key to have these groups' buy-in, but also their input as to how to make the sales and operational processes as smooth as possible.

This is also the perfect time to make a decision if you don’t have the right people internally to execute the project. The last thing you want to do is spend a huge amount of time, money, and effort trying to launch a site only to realize that you don’t have the internal expertise.  Bring in a trusted advisor to help realize your vision and execute on your eCommerce plans.  They can come in and look at your business holistically and provide resources and experience where they are needed. A good partner can help launch the process with an in-depth Discovery.  The discovery process allows both parties to analyze all the key facets of the project. These include but aren’t limited to an in-depth overview of the Business, eCommerce requirements, Site Design, Product Catalog, Pricing, Shipping, Payments, Taxes, Hosting, Integrations, and Process Automation

One of the key ingredients to a smooth functioning store is to have the ability to automate processes. Many businesses make the decision to start without business process automation, only to find out it becomes a barrier to progress. They find themselves in a reactive mode because any changes or updates need to be done manually. To start, integration of your CRM and ERP systems to your store makes it easy to process orders.  It also gives you the advantage of once having that data bridge in place, it allows for the two-way movement of data.  With that integration, you can automate order processing, but also empowers you to send updates to the store.  You can then dynamically push pricing and inventory information from different suppliers directly to the store, giving your customers the benefit of real-time data.  All of this gives your customer the confidence to buy, and finalize their transaction.

Great, your store is built, and you have automation in place, what’s next?  It is important to get out there and tell everyone about it!  You can’t wait to have customers find you.  If you have an already established customer base, email them all and let them know about the new store. Send them credentials and an incentive to start doing business through your eCommerce site. A good way to do this is by offering a 10% discount on their first purchase.  If you have designed your store well, have the right product mix, and provides a seamless Customer Experience, you will your customers will enjoy the ease of transacting business on their own.  It is also the perfect time to start looking for new customers. Generate a plan to market your store.  Create Marketing Engagement and Retention plans, SEO, and Social Media Broadcasting Strategies to maximize visibility and sales.  And lastly, don’t forget to leverage data to understand your store. Use Data Intelligence & Analytics to view your store's performance.  That way you can examine what strategies are working and which aren’t and make changes accordingly.