1. Automating and Streamlining the Sales Process Between Brands and Retailers
Speaker, Anthony Eros
Founder of Switchboard Sales, a cloud-based B2B sales automation platform. Here to share what we and users have learned over the last 2 years. Quick background – HGI syndicated POS measurement model led to Switchboard…

2. $600B in the U.S. $350B Global & U.S. B2B Retail Sales
Brands Sell $2T Worth of Products to Retailers
Every Year
Salespeople Spend hours/week on Administrative Tasks During the Sales Process
We were able to reach these numbers based on a vast amount of research and aggregating our own surveys and interviews.
$350B
in Grocery / CPG

3. Current State
Brands are Selling the Most Expensive Way Possible to Retailers w/ Little Data
Manual, Errors, Opaque, Paper
ADMINISTRATIVE
INEFFICIENT
LOTS OF PAPER
FRAGMENTED
Millions of Hours Across Stakeholders Spent on Non-Selling Tasks
s, Spreadsheets, Collateral Support, Reports
1000s of Processes. One for Each B2B Relationship
65-90% Administrative

4. What is the Sales Process?
Offer Management
Product Communication
Data-Based Learning
Reporting
Offer – everyday, trade, marketing/promotional and excess inventory offers, from communication of the offers to negotiation and contracting
Product – internal & external communication, from item information to Ti-Hi information and pallet sizes for building trucks
Reporting – each individual salesperson and stakeholder reviewing their orders, creating a static report and reporting up until it reaches who it needs to reach
Data – what are the elements associated with a particular offer, what happened last year and can we improve upon it, were the retailers in a certain part of the country w/ a certain demographic

5. Current Process Makes Data Capture & Insights Difficult
Common Scenario Today
1 has offer – s 2-30 are negotiations
Multiple portals input, “multiple-work”
Stakeholder moves to another position
Various stakeholders own various files
Which has the PO? Shipping info?
Common Questions Today
Internally, s between stakeholders at brand and at each retailer
What did we do last year? How’d we do?
Did offers get communicated to all relevant buyers?

6. Automation Increases Efficiency & Centralizes Data Capture
Standardized Process
Immediate Reporting
Switchboard is SaaS-based.
Brands and retailers pay a $300 annual seat license per user. The seat license includes all new releases.
Companies can purchase as many seat licenses as they need depending on how many users that they have.
Once again, we create the value by leveraging the economies of scale created by spreading the development and maintenance costs over the entire industry.
Single Source of Information
Transaction Data

7. Create & Shift Time Allocation
Current
Automated
On average,
1 day per week
spent in front of customer
4 days per week
spent on administrative & other tasks

8. Standardization Increases Efficiencies

9. Consolidate Databases
Current
Automated
Multiple databases, each w/ critical product information is updated & communicated manually

10. Centralized Product & Offers Library

11. Digitize Transaction Data
Current
Automated
Reports are
time-consuming and static
taking stakeholders away from growing the business

12. Immediate Reporting

13. Faster, Cheaper Deal Flow
Current
Automated
Inefficiencies can cost a brand 2-11% in operating profit

14. Efficiencies Impact Profit
An example of how increased efficiencies can impact SG&A
A streamlined process can result in 40% efficiency gains, and this is what it can look like

15. To drive growth, they need both.
B2B suppliers cannot choose between a great sales force and great digital assets and capabilities.
To drive growth, they need both.
B2B suppliers cannot choose between a great sales force and great digital assets and capabilities.
To drive growth, they need both.
76% of B2B buyers find it helpful to speak to a salesperson when they are researching a new product or service.
That figure falls to around 50 percent for repeat purchases of products with new or different specifications.
Only 15 percent want to speak with a salesperson when repurchasing exactly the same product or service.
August 2017 – 1,000 buyers surveyed (across industries)
McKinsey Quarterly

16. B2B buyers want an immediate response.
Be they online or off,
B2B buyers want an immediate response.
Be they online or off,
B2B buyers want an immediate response.
They want ease of use — the ability to find the information they need effortlessly.
They want information to be both accurate and highly relevant to their particular needs—some 46 percent of survey respondents said it was difficult to compare products online accurately.
They are frustrated they cannot complete a repeat order easily.
McKinsey Quarterly

17. Automated reminders will drive repeat purchases.
Half of all B2B buyers rely on sellers to remind them when to reorder, but many sellers disappoint.
McKinsey Quarterly

18. The overwhelming majority of buyers still want the prompt attention and expertise of a salesperson when making decisions.
The overwhelming majority of buyers still want the prompt attention and expertise of a salesperson when making decisions.
Investments in digital assets will indirectly help the sales force meet those needs, freeing them up from dealing with routine inquiries.
Instead, they can devote time to helping customers with more complex buying needs, as well as seeking out new customers.
McKinsey Quarterly

19. Future State
Manufacturers and Retailers are Working Efficiently & Driving Mutual Revenue
Automated, Minimal Errors, Documented BIC Processes, Systems Generated
EFFICIENT
REFOCUSING
AUTOMATED CONTENT
FRAGMENTED
Strategic selling increases as administrative burn is reduced
95% Automated
System-managed Content
1000s of transactions. One single database.

20. Recommendations Start at your own pace, but start
Allow business users to use it
Understand buyers are inundated too
Integrate once comfortable