5 Things That Will Get Your Sales Team Excited about eCommerce

One of the major blockers to using B2B eCommerce that we hear is "We can't get our sales team excited about eCommerce as they feel it threatens their job long-term."

If you're a business owner, you may look at eCommerce through the lens of opportunity.

But your sales reps may see it through the lens of fear. They fear losing control over customer relationships, losing ownership of the sales process, and losing their jobs.

Not addressing these worries effectively and early on can sabotage the success of your eCommerce initiative. After all, the sales team, along with customer service, can drive up to 60% of online sales, according to the Distribution Strategy Group research.

Salespeople also shoulder the responsibility of fostering human connections and building customer relationships. To keep up with customer expectations, many create their own shortcuts, processes, and strategies to accelerate sales cycles.

In this context, sales technology should automate non-selling tasks and make selling easier, not add extra steps, friction, and distractions.

Motivating your sales team to use eCommerce must start with making your platform relevant, easy, and profitable for them to embrace.

Here are a few B2B eCommerce functionalities that will warm your salespeople to digital sales and enable them to sell more:

1. Configurable alerts that notify reps about customer actions – or non-actions, like delays in converting a quote to an order. This allows sales to get involved and support the customer at any point in their buying journey.
2. CPQ capabilities will enable reps to quickly generate a proposal from their mobile or laptop device on behalf of the customer.
3. Saved shopping lists, which reps can manage, share with coworkers, and populate for specific customers or configure repeat purchases.
4. Access to rich content, from product specs, stock availability, and suggestions for up-selling and cross-selling to help them sell more.
5. With a promotions engine, your salespeople can set up order discounts or free shipping offers to retain and grow your customer base.

Ultimately, a well-oiled B2B eCommerce system will empower the sales team to add more value to customers and save them from the mundane busywork of order-taking. It's up to the business leaders to convey these benefits.?

When done right, it won't take long to see your salespeople turning from naysayers to eCommerce evangelists.

If you'd like to learn more about B2B sales enablement in digital commerce, this guide is a great starting point.