Do I need a CRM for B2B sales?

For complex B2B transactions that require multiple stages of negotiations, meetings and presentations, a systematic approach is important. This cannot be achieved without implementing a CRM for wholesale sales.

The role of a CRM in B2B sales

The importance of a customer relationship management (CRM) system in wholesale sales is invaluable. Some top advantages of having a CRM to manage your wholesales include:

1. Customer retention - The CRM records every interaction with the customer, which helps you ask the right questions, determine priorities and understand what is really important to the client. 

2. Effective contract support - Transparency, as well as openness of the transaction, are important for corporate clients. To do this, the system contains information about the status of the order, allows you to coordinate requirements and project details, and also simplifies document flow and provides quick access to the latest data for company managers and specialists.

3. Protection against loss of transaction data - In B2B deals, there is a long decision-making cycle: for example, a client is acquired in October, a contract is signed in January, and in April, a sale is made. The whole process requires guidance. During this time however, sales agents may change, but with a CRM, every detail of the information will be in place.

4. Convenient storage of information - Within one company there can be many contacts and often many projects. Thanks to a CRM, all information will be structured. 

B2B sales without a CRM is may seem thrilling, but nothing is clear

CRM capabilities in wholesale sales

CRM for B2B offers a number of functions to improve sales and staff quality:

1. Creation and support of a unified customer base for effective segmentation and interaction with the audience, as well as carrying out marketing activities.

2. Implementation of a sales funnel and development of personal strategies for correspondence with each client, which helps to identify promising and profitable transactions.

3. Using predictive scoring tools, which allows you to assess the likelihood of a transaction being successful. This helps you focus on the most promising clients.

4. Integration with popular applications such as online chats, instant messengers, and virtual telephony. This facilitates communication, improving interaction and increasing customer satisfaction.

5. Conducting detailed analytics of all current transactions and assessing funds in the sales funnel. This helps to understand what stage transactions are at and make decisions for their successful completion.

6. Analysis of the work of each manager and the entire company. A CRM provides the opportunity to evaluate operational efficiency and identify growth areas for process improvement.

B2B CRM is a powerful tool that helps companies improve their sales process and achieve greater results.

Review of popular CRMs for B2B - which one should you choose?

Let's try to understand the diversity of CRM

AmoCRM

AmoCRM is a simple and convenient cloud service with a modern interface and a useful set of functions.

Pros

1. There is an app for mobile users.

2. You only need Internet access to work.

3. Possibility of integration with SaaS services.

4. Availability of correspondence history - calls, emails, SMS and other transaction information.

5. Data on the quality of work of sales managers.

6. Internal chat for employees.

7. A funnel for returning customers, as well as upselling.

Cons

1. Little attention is paid to internal business processes and collaboration, which creates difficulties in organizing team work.

2. The minimum subscription plan is 6 months.

3. There is no free trial version, which makes it difficult to familiarize yourself with the system.

4. Disk space limitation may result in running out of space to store data.

5. Some important features are only available on more expensive plans.

Salesforce

An exclusively cloud-available CRM. It can be used by sales, marketing and support teams.

Salesforce offers special versions for specific industries.

Pros

1. Availability of all the necessary functionality by the sales department -  alerts, funnels, customer and contact accounting.

2. Salesforce provides features for customer engagement, including email marketing, social media integration, and customer communities.

3. Approval processes

4. CRM allows you to manage a warehouse and keep financial records.

5. It provides Analytics, reports and dashboards.

6. A mobile app.

Cons

1. The greatest drawback for many companies is the cost. The lowest available plan (starter) is $25/user/month.  To have a solution that caters to your niche and B2B needs, you should be ready to spend a lot of money on integrations and edition upgrades.

2. It has a steep learning curve -  It takes a couple of months for users to learn and be able to use the tools

3. Limits on storage size even for unlimited versions

4. Many features (for example reports) cannot be understood and used correctly without an admin’s help.

5. Since the platform is hosted by Salesforce.com, You can’t have full control over downtimes and maintenance.

6. Limited functionality on the mobile app

Monday CRM

A cloud-based work management platform that helps teams, collaborate, streamline workflows and manage complex projects.
It is used mainly as a project management tool.

Pros 

1. Easy to navigate and use, with lots of drag and drop tools

2. Automation builder

3. Analytic tools

4. Offers staff time tracking - track and manage employee assignments in real time.

5. project management tools

6. Marketing automation tools

Cons 

1. Limits on the number of integration actions you can perform/month, based on your plan

2. Very limited features on lower subscription plans 

3. Difficult to track time employees spend on tasks 

4. Not all functions in the desktop version are available on the mobile app

5. Is better suited for small businesses

6. Reporting is limited to performing task management.

Hubspot

Cloud hosted CRM for managing marketing, sales, and customer support, all in one place.
It can also be used as a CMS for content marketing or to build your website

Pros

1. It has great UI/UX, and is easy to use

2. Workflow automation tools

3. Provides in-app calling capability, which, when can be combined with call queue functionality

4. Automated lead scoring

5. Track email opens and responses

Cons 

1. It is one of the most expensive CRMs on the market, with very limited features in its free version. 

2. As your contacts grow in number, you have to subscribe to higher plans.

3. Ready-made templates (e.g email templates) are hard to modify without any programming knowledge

4. Limited reporting - e.g it’s impossible to report on how mobile users navigate your web pages

5. no inbuilt contract signing feature 

Without automation, sales managers have to do more manual work than necessary - a rather unenjoyable process

Bitrix24 - The Choice for B2B

Bitrix24 CRM is the optimal solution for B2B sales. Its functionality and capabilities allow you to effectively manage client relationships and increase the productivity of your team.

Pros

1. Bitrix24 integrates with many popular tools such as mail, telephony, chats and video conferencing. This increases the efficiency of communication and reduces the time spent interacting with clients.

2. Bitrix24 offers a wide range of analytical tools that allow you to track and analyze key sales performance indicators.

3. CRM Bitrix24 allows you to create personalized offers and automate many routine tasks. This increases productivity and helps save employees' valuable time.

4. The Bitrix24 interface is intuitive and easy to learn. Users can quickly learn basic functions and get started without any delays.

5. Thanks to flexible settings, Bitrix24 can be adapted to the requirements of any business. This makes CRM a universal tool for various industries and companies.

Cons

1. Bitrix24 requires certain skills and time to set up and launch.

2. Some additional features and integrations in Bitrix24 are paid.

3. A cloud solution does not cover all needs. If you want full control of your system, you need an on-premise version. It is expensive to mange a self-hosted solution, but many enterprises choose this option as it gives them total control of their data. And, by the way, INTERVOLGA can help you migrate from Bitrix24 cloud to On-premise .

With Bitrix24 CRM, a business receives all the tools for effective customer management and successful B2B sales. Want more efficiency? Use a combination of CRM and a B2B portal (We also build these on Bitrix24 :))

This is exactly what AI thinks “Simultaneous use of a CRM and B2B platform” looks like.

Integration of B2B platform and CRM - advantages of an integrated approach

Complementary tools

The B2B platform and CRM allow you to effectively work with orders, communicate with partners, manage your customer base and analyze order-related data.

Save time and resources

The combined use of a B2B platform and a CRM allows you to reduce the costs of processing orders and communicating with clients.

Quick response

Orders from your B2B platform can be automatically transferred to CRM for processing and analysis, which simplifies and speeds up order management.

Improving work quality and productivity

The information in the integrated system is up-to-date and available in real time.

Bitrix24 CRM + INTERVOLGA B2B platform

INTERVOLGA is a web integrator with 20+ years experience. We have extensive experience in implementing Bitrix24 CRM (confirmed by our cases and reviews), and we have also created and integrated our own product into the work of B2B clients - a B2B platform.

The main advantage of our B2B platform is its versatility. It can be implemented as a ready-made tool with a standard set of functions or used as a basis for individual development to suit the needs of a specific business.