B2B Buyers in a B2C World: PROS Guest Blog

We’re thrilled to announce that Tim Chilson, Senior Executive Account Manager / Food & Consumables at PROS, as a featured speaker for Smoke Jumpers XVI.

Tim is a modern commerce champion. Tim will bring his expertise to the October session, a fulfillment of our promise to support attendees with next level businesses strategies that impact sales and trade process evolution. If you’re not already familiar with the ways that modern commerce can positively impact your go-to-market approach, read below and join us in the fall.

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B2B Buyers in a B2C World

You and your team are probably spreadsheet ninjas. You have likely used spreadsheets to manage customer and sales pricing data for years. This approach to managing your sales pricing strategy is quickly becoming antiquated. It has to change. Now.

Modern commerce technology affects – and disrupts — most industries today, including foodservice. Those businesses ill-prepared for modern commerce will be left behind.

Are you ready to modernize your sales pricing strategy, but not sure how? Let’s start by reviewing what modern commerce is and why it’s so important today.

What is Modern Commerce?

Modern commerce is the new era of digital business where companies must meet changing B2B buying expectations. The key to modern commerce success comes from understanding these changes and how to adapt and evolve to grow in these disruptive times.

B2B Buyers Expect B2C Experiences

You’ve done a little purchasing as a consumer, right? You and fellow consumers appreciate instant, frictionless, convenient customer experiences. The ability to purchase across multiple channels, at anytime, anywhere, on your own is what makes today’s shopping experiences so much more enjoyable in the B2C world. Naturally, B2B buyers have begun to demand the same level of convenience and ease.

Businesses that:

• struggle to provide quick quote turnarounds,
• fail to offer consistent or fair pricing,
• try to upsell the wrong products or services,
• or cannot provide consistent omnichannel service . . .

. . . will soon discover that their customers may choose to go elsewhere.

The 8 Pillars of Modern Commerce

As you consider how to improve your sales pricing strategy so that it meets the demands of the modern commerce era, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the eight pillars of modern commerce. Modern customer sales experiences must be:

1. Personalized. Foodservice has always been an industry built on personal relationships. While this doesn’t change in modern commerce, the way personalization can occur does change.
   • Technologically savvy organizations will arm their pricing and sales teams with dynamic pricing solutions that reduce administrative burdens, improve turnaround times, and deliver pricing that is based on willingness to pay. Reps can have more time to spend on relationships and selling instead of quote preparation and approvals.
2. With machine learning, food and beverage manufacturers can harness the power of big data to create sophisticated analyses to segment and target customers with pinpoint precision. These science-based insights lead to actionable, fact-based pricing decisions to replace “gut feeling” deal making and create loyal, repeat customers.
3. Today’s procurement professional wants to buy from you in person, on the phone, and online. And they expect a consistent experience across all channels.
4. Real-Time. You need a data-driven system that facilitates faster workflows when it comes to contract and pricing approval workflows. Customers want your quote now.
5. Pricing transparency and consistency are becoming the norm. Be ready to provide more visibility into your transactions.
6. Your customers want every interaction and purchase to be frictionless. Make it easy for them to buy from you.
7. It is a mobile-first world. Last year searches on Google via mobile devices surpassed desktop and laptop. If your business isn’t ready to respond through mobile, you’re already behind.
8. Marketplace and supply chain conditions constantly change. A modern commerce sales pricing strategy effortlessly responds to these changes thanks to machine learning and data science.

Enhance Your Sales Pricing Strategy to Compete in the Modern Commerce Era

A modern commerce strategy will amplify your brand by enhancing your commitment to service and competitive pricing. With dynamic pricing science, machine-learning algorithms and a frictionless buying experience, you will further strengthen your commitment to core values and meet and exceed customer expectations.