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Magento 2 Sales Rep: Must-Have to Foster B2B eCommerce Website

by Librah Do

After the Covid-19 pandemic, the drastic shift of offline-to-online shopping habits has driven countless companies worldwide to make significant reforms inventing more on website development. Magento 2 B2B businesses are no exception. To capture customers’ hearts and win B2B sales online, store owners are now focusing on optimizing Magento 2 sales rep more than ever.

Are you a Magento 2 B2B enterprise struggling to build good relationships with your customers? Or simply you’re having so many customers that it makes your order management efforts fall into nowhere? Then, find the right path again with this article.

We will help you answer what is a B2B sales rep, why you need them, and how your store can seduce customers with a Magento 2 b2b sales representative.

NAVIGATE to Magento 2 B2B community edition to pick the BEST solutions for your store. 

You are very excited, right? Let’s swipe down to grab the best tips related to Magento sales representative immediately!

What Is A Magento B2B Sales Rep?

Definition 

In fact, the B2B sales rep of a Magento store is no different from those on the ecommerce market. Basically, a B2B salesperson will be responsible for finding, attracting, and building relationships with the heads/representatives of the organization to sell products/services.

Depending on business models, they may do market research themself or retrieve customer data from the marketing department. Simply put, a sales rep plays a vital role in the output of the product and the negotiation process, as well as maintains an excellent cooperative relationship between the two companies.

While the marketing team will be in charge of lead nurturing, B2B sales reps need to utilize different sales skills and approaches to reinforce trust from potential B2B customers, persuade them and ensure a high engagement rate.

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As you may know, a traditional sales rep connects customers through cold calls, emails, social messages, personal meetings, and many other ways to exchange information between the two parties and give reasons why customers should use the products of your company.

However, the game of sales has now changed. Since various B2B businesses began to swift online, the access of sales reps to customers becomes indirect through live chat, email, social media channels, and online marketing.

A Magento 2 sales representative primarily does the same thing. But they don’t have to go outside and “hunt” clients like direct salespeople.

Instead, Magento 2 sales reps will manage the customer list assigned via the backend to ensure a more professional and smoother experience for your B2B buyers.

PERFECT Magento B2B experience on your site INSTANTLY if you’re striving to skyrocket sales volumes! 

Will B2B Sales Rep Reduce Due to eCommerce Shift?

This question can wander in the mind of any store owner. You might be wondering if a sales rep is still crucial for your Magento store when you switch your business online, and everything is so convenient?

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Nowadays, we can easily spot many advantages of B2B e-commerce, which leads to the increasing demands of B2B customers for a shopping experience like B2C. Thus, many people jump into the conclusion that Magento 2 sales rep will gradually become redundant due to the lack of advisory role and Magento’s convenient customer management system.

Despite all those assumptions, actual research data shows the opposite. According to SalesLoft, the convenience of B2B sales practices has helped inside sales (including telesales and B2B sales reps) grow 15 times faster than outside one.

Although more than half of B2B online customers prefer to research their information on their own before finding the assistance of another person, 59% claim that they have trouble identifying which products are suitable for their business based on reading the description on suppliers’ sites.

If you receive feedback like this from your customers, you’ll understand why you really need Magento 2 sales reps. A salesperson will be able to effectively pivot the customer on the main purpose, connect and solve problems for them, and drive them to perform desired actions. From there, it helps increase your revenue dramatically. 

Rep-driven vs. Buyer-driven

It’s easy to realize that the Magento 2 sales representative is a vital department for B2B business (including an online model). If you let your customers decide, they will often make smaller transactions due to the reserve and obscurity of the information. We call this buyer-driven. Often, these emotional decisions can be seen in B2C transactions.

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In contrast, the B2B sales rep acts as a catalyst that helps drive customer sentiment and lure them into sealing bigger deals on your Magento store. It’s no exaggeration to say that rep-driven orders contribute a tremendous amount of revenue to your business. 

Run a website for both B2B & B2C customers? CONSUME Magento 2 unified B2B and B2C to maximize sales opportunities!

Figures don’t know how to lie. The benefits of online B2B cannot cover all customer demands because your target audience is human, and humans always have countless questions that you need to answer thoroughly. So, our answer is no, B2B ecommerce can keep sales rep company. 

The next section will further explain why medium-to-large-sized B2B companies need sales reps for their Magento store.

The Unbreakable Bond of Magento 2 B2B & Sales Rep

Regardless of your business size, once the ultimate goal is to maximize your profits, your B2B site cannot break up with the sales rep. As an idea we want to convey throughout this article, Magento 2 sales rep is really a must-have for building trust, enhancing brand awareness, and generating revenue.

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Some B2B Statistics You Maybe Interested In

A 2019 report from Avionos LLC – the provider of digital commerce and marketing technology – claims that 94% of B2B participants admitted sales reps making their online shopping experience better. Along with that, nearly 70% said they completed online orders thanks to the support of salespeople.

So why? In a B2B transaction, a Magento 2 sales rep will:

  • Provide more details and product/service features that are not clearly expressed on the site;
  • Integrate products into everyday life, emphasize how your product can address customers’ pain points;
  • Make judgments, compare and evaluate the pros and cons of possible options. 

As to reinforce the above points, the survey also found that 43% of B2B buyers were dissatisfied with the content on the product page because it was not enough for them to make a purchase decision, and more than half met difficulty in comparing products and prices.

“Consistency of content across a supplier’s digital sales channels is a problem,”

says Dan Neiweem, a principal and co-founder of Avionos.

“That inconsistency breeds uncertainty for buyers, and when buyers are uncertain, they become concerned about making a purchasing mistake. A sales representative can eliminate that uncertainty by confirming they are purchasing the right product or steering them to a newer version of the product or another product.”

Plus, we’ve collected data from another study that 87% of B2B purchasers still wish to discuss with sales reps for complex and large orders.

Indeed, the link between Magento B2B and sales rep can be regarded as an important chain in a smooth customer journey, from price negotiation to post-purchase.   

Magento 2 Sales Reps Contribute to Efficiency and Conversions Growth 

It’s undeniable that eCommerce enables B2B companies to boost sales volume and ensure customer satisfaction while minimizing operating costs. 

Nevertheless, convenience comes with a lack of information and interactivity, sometimes. Ironically, B2B guests especially appreciate the professionalism of a website and always have the tendency to contact the seller for more details.    

A good B2B salesperson will clear away your nervosity. 

Streamline Price Negotiation Process

Price negotiation is especially important for a B2B business because of its flexible pricing characteristics. Sales staff must memorize the price range of all existing products and offer appropriate price points for assigned customers.

In addition, B2B sales staff must negotiate the most reasonable price, which both ensures your company’s profitability and is acceptable for consumers.

This is a difficult task for a Magento sales representative because B2B customers always prefer low prices, which requires sales staff to have good communication and persuasion skills. 

Even when your sales rep can’t seal the deal with clients at the first attempt, they still need to be persistent in persuading such as introducing features and utilities of products/ services and reconnecting with customers many times. 

Besides, since all the negotiation steps take place online, you also need to optimize your Magento 2 B2B quote to show professionalism, as well as reduce the burden on your salesmen. 

VISIT Magento 2 B2B Quote RIGHT NOW to smooth your negotiation and maximize customer satisfaction.  

Once customers recognize your company functioning systematically, chances are they will choose you as their long-term suppliers. 

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In short, imagine what your negotiation process would be like without the Magento B2B sales rep keeping it on its right track? It’s quite troublesome, right? You aren’t Spider-Man to cover the entire customer list and their individual requests. Only sales reps can understand their assigned customers the most and deliver the best personalized B2B experiences.

Support Inventory Control 

A business person must know what kind of goods and services are currently available for sale. Especially when the object we’re talking about here is B2B customers, so you always need to make sure abundant inventory to supply them.

At the end of each day, a sales rep needs to support checking the stock status to inform customers.

Compile Magento 2 Sales Report

Besides the main task of closing orders, Magento 2 sales rep is also a competent assistant for you in assessing market demand through business results reports.

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A report may contain some information such as during a period of time, your sales department has connected how many customers, the number of products/services has been sold, the percentage of sales has increased compared to that in the previous period, and so on. From there, you can review the operation efficiency to make suitable adjustments to market demand.

Take Charge of After-sale Customer Care

Unlike direct counterparts, almost all Magento 2 sales reps do after-sales support to decrease the complexity of the management system.

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Customers are the best marketers for you. If your product/ service is of good quality, reasonable price, appreciated by customers, trusted and selected by the market, that customer will introduce to other people in need, which thereby helps you generate more leads without using any tools.

Therefore, your store cannot lack a Magento 2 sales rep department to smooth post-purchase procedures, collect the customer feeling of using products/ services, and regularly inform customers about new product samples or updates.

No matter how modern and developed the e-Commerce world is, the relationship of Magento B2B and salespeople cannot be separated, at least for the time being. Magento 2 sales rep is a key factor in improving the efficiency of store management, showing professionalism, closing the gap between the two businesses, and promoting sales. 

Challenges To Magento 2 B2B Sales Rep

In spite of their various benefits to your company, a typical B2B sales rep may still encounter some inconveniences. 

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Needless to say, the quote process between Magento 2 sales reps and customers becomes complicated when they usually do not include face-to-face meetings yet have to close orders in large quantities. Trust and safety issues are put at the forefront of high-value online transactions.

Usually, a negotiation process requires a lot of touchpoints, multiple people’s decisions, and numerous channels. 

Thus, the first difficulty you should expect is how to win the trust of customers, so they are willing to spend some money (not a small amount, as I might add) to buy your products in bulk and bring profits for you.

You can absorb more ways to skyrocket your B2B sales at the article: 

To add insult to injury, corporate decision-makers often scrutinize your Magento website before consulting your sales rep, plus being driven by lots of other competitors. 

Talking to well-informed individuals, Magento sales representative will need extreme patience and sharpness to address questions and find out the pain points of customers.

Moreover, the customer management system of Magento 2 sales rep can also be tricky. For instance, although default Magento allows the store admin to create multiple users and assign roles, you won’t be able to find a specific role for sales. 

If you don’t optimize your admin page for sales, salespeople are prone to management hardship from account creation, seal-the-deal stage to customer care.

However, a B2B sales rep can survive this harsh ecommerce environment with a combo of selling skills, company support, necessary tools, and a firm B2B sales strategy.

Don’t go anywhere! Below reveals some practices you should take to create the most favorable conditions for the development of Magento 2 sales rep.  

How To Harmonize Magento 2 Sales Rep And B2B eCommerce

To help Magento 2 sales representatives overcome those challenges, you, as a store owner, need to upgrade your Magento website comprehensively. 

Ensure Solid Infrastructure 

In an hourly-changing online business environment, you should consider and build a flexible web infrastructure that, yet, still has to be strong enough to survive and adapt.

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Only when the foundation is stable can Magento 2 sales reps make the most of other tools to do their job well.

Provide Exact Product Data

Yes, the second factor that helps your B2B site work with your Magento sales representative team is to enter the correct product data. The sales department will see product stock status and price on the backend to inform their in-charge customers. 

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Therefore, all information on the product & price range should be transparent so that there is no error in the process of consulting with clients.

Utilize Magento 2 Sales Rep Extension

Unfortunately, the road isn’t flat as expected. Default Magento doesn’t support any unique features of the sales department. This makes it very difficult and tiring for store owners to manage and assign customers to a specific sales rep.

Meanwhile, B2B sales reps need sales tools when operating in an online environment that inherently lacks interactivity and causes many difficulties for sales reps in capturing customer psychology. Over the years, sales tools have evolved into the most sophisticated ones powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science.

Specifically for Magento stores, you will need to integrate a suitable Magento 2 sales rep extension to help users manage their customer group better and more effectively.

Wonder what an extension can do for you, don’t you? A lot, we quite sure of that!

Create New Roles to Your Sales Rep Without Constraint

Thoroughly addressing the default limitations, Magento 2 sales rep extension allows you to create as many roles as possible with the sales rep resource developed specifically for you.

 

Furthermore, to simplify customer management, there are two levels of sales rep roles that you may notice:

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  • The admin sales rep can manage customers, orders, and quotes assigned to all sales representatives.
  • The sales rep can access a tab in the admin panel to manage customers, orders, and quotes assigned to them.

Assign Roles to Certain Admin Accounts 

After creating two mentioned roles, you must assign them to specific users so they can log into their admin accounts with a username and password.

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Not only that, but Magento 2 sales rep extension also allows the store admin to edit some information of salespeople to display on customer accounts. As a result, customer trust is strengthened because they can grasp some basic information about the sales rep in charge of them.

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Send Email Notification to Customers

We always have to repeat that trust is the key to increasing your B2b sales. So sending emails automatically when you assign a new sales rep helps customers stay informed quickly with changes in their accounts.

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Keep Track of Customers In the Sales Rep’s View 

Of course, Magento 2 sales reps will manage their customers and orders via a table in the backend. On the other hand, the admin sales rep can manage the customers and orders of all sales reps in their team.

STEAL Magento 2 Sales Rep extension INSTANTLY to professionalize B2B shopping experience. 

Conclusion 

In a nutshell, no matter how cutting-edge the technology is, Magento 2 sales rep and B2B eCommerce must always go hand in hand and complement each other to target the ultimate goal of raising profits for your business.

We have shared all must-know details about B2B sales reps in Magento 2, their importance, and secrets to building a favorable online working environment for them. 

If you really want to improve the performance of your sales staff, consider carefully and choose for yourself an effective sales support tool!

BSS Commerce is one of the leading Multi-platform eCommerce solutions and web development services providers in the world. With experienced and certified developers, we commit to bringing high-quality products and services to optimize your business effectively. 

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