Higher customer satisfaction through digitalization of the supply chain

At the same time, B2B and B2C customers don't want a standard off-the-shelf product, but their own individual piece that fits their preferences, habits and needs exactly.

Digitization makes it possible. This means that customers can obtain information at any time and put together the absolutely perfect solution to their problem themselves. For example, shoes, clothes, and even tool parts can be designed by the customer, allowing them to intervene in the production process.

For the sales expert, this means adapting. He moves into the position of a consultant or, even better, a coach to help customers find the best product or service for them.

To do this, he must listen to people, understand their problem through honest interest, and rethink individual solutions with his customers from design to user experience.

SAP Digital Supply Chain

Sales experts receive support from professional enterprise software. This is undergoing rapid change, because innovative and future-proof companies and sales organizations need an integrated view of the customer and their own supply chain.

This includes the entire value creation process from "Design" to "Manufacture", "Delivery" and "Operation". SAP Digital Supply Chain is the key to data-based and informed decisions in the interest of the customer and the company's own economic success.

The end-to-end "digital supply chain" process "integrates [thereby] all material, product, people, and information flows across different logistics channels from raw material to end customer [...] to increase efficiency in terms of costs, synergies, and sustainability and effectiveness in terms of meeting customer expectations (e.g., a seamless customer experience) and thus revenues." (Oeser, 2018) Automation and the use of information technology play a key role in this.

Here, auto-identification technologies enable location-based analysis of people and assets, and sensor-based networks enable digital mapping of individual activities along the entire supply chain.

Cloud technologies and open interfaces also increase transparency and facilitate both collaboration between a wide range of business partners and communication with customers.

The fusion of all these technologies offers the availability of the "right data" in real time and, in conjunction with the flexible control options gained, becomes a success factor for the sales organization in dealing with its customers.

Process flows thus become faster, more transparent and more predictable. After all, only a company that can deliver an ordered service within the required delivery period and adjust deviations or problems based on predictive AI-driven risk scenarios will ultimately operate successfully in the long term.

SAP Digital Supply Chain, based on the ERP system S/4, offers solutions to realize this. It can itself be used very individually and is therefore suitable for both medium-sized and large companies. This is because, unlike classic ERP SCM, S/4 can be used flexibly in the cloud, but also as an on-premises and hybrid solution.

After implementing SAP Digital Supply Chain, all stakeholders have an overview of the digital data flows along the entire value-creating process and can make customer-centric decisions and readjust as necessary.

Not only does this enable shorter innovation cycles and faster time to market, but warehouses and transport routes are better utilized and orders are fulfilled on time and with greater proximity to customers.

In addition, the entire production process is improved, scrap is avoided, and rapid coordination with suppliers is achieved through the active network. The supplier is also always close to the customer during operation and, thanks to predictive maintenance, can not only increase customer satisfaction but also generate additional revenue in the after-sales business.

Toolbox for B2B Sales

The sales expert benefits from a 360-degree view of his customers in real time. This enables them to act quickly, make the best decisions at the right moment, and provide customers with the best possible support in finding solutions.

In addition to technological support, however, a sales expert must also have good soft skills that allow him or her to develop a feel for the customer and his or her needs, understand him or her, and skillfully inquire about his or her core problem.

Numerous sales methods have been developed for this purpose. However, sales experts had to painstakingly gather them together and separate the wheat from the chaff. This is because many of the approaches advertised were not scientifically based and were only suitable for B2C sales.

To change this, members of the B2B Marketing/Sales working group of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Marketing (AfM) developed a toolbox for B2B sales together with Visual Selling.

It includes proven and scientifically based methods and models, such as the Top 10 Sales Metrics, Value-Based Selling, TCO Analysis, the Customer Satisfaction Model, Benchmarking or the Visual Selling Discovery Punch.

All of this helps sales experts in the B2B sector to plan strategically, sell successfully and maintain a good customer relationship at the same time. Visual Selling forms the communicative bridge and facilitates the simple transfer into sales practice through explanatory visualizations of the individual tools.

The reference book is structured by Günter Hofbauer's Selling Cycle. It provides a holistic approach and allows you to skilfully run through your sales cycle. You have the right procedure at hand for every moment.

With an overview, the book enables a pre-selection of tools for B2B sales. Each tool is presented in words and "visualization". Practical explanations are given as to which situation is particularly suitable for use, which tools and how many people are required, and what needs to be taken into account in order to approach B2B sales methodically and achieve success using the new digital analysis and control tools.