Winning

in the
Age of the
Connected
Customer
HOW CLOUD COMMERCE
IS TRANSFORMING
THE B2B SALES FUNCTION

Featuring insights from studies

conducted by Salesforce Research
Introduction
Companies have been talking about “putting the customer
first” for decades, but the truth is, customers are putting
themselves first in today’s digital marketplace.

Not only has technology fundamentally changed what

people expect from the companies they do business with,
but it has given them extraordinary leverage to demand
that those expectations are met. If they can’t research,
browse and transact business wherever and whenever they
want, better options are only a keystroke away. And in the
age of Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter, any disappointing
experience can quickly take on a life of its own—often at
your brand’s peril.
None of this is news, of course. But two
recent Salesforce Research reports show
that a challenging trend has hardened
into a new reality—especially for B2B
companies trying to catch up with their 80 %

B2C counterparts. of business buyers said they expect

vendors to interact and respond to
them in real time
Consider that in a survey of over 4,700
consumers, Salesforce found that 74% were
likely to switch brands if they encountered
a difficult checkout or purchasing process.

A full 80% of business buyers

said they expect vendors to 65 %

interact and respond to them of business buyers said they would

jump ship if a vendor failed to treat
in real time and 65% said they their organizations as unique

would jump ship if a vendor

failed to treat their organizations
as unique. All data on this page is from “State of the Connected
Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
This is hard data showing that business buyers have come
to expect a purchasing experience that is every bit as
smooth and intuitive as what they’ve become accustomed
to in the retail world. But it also demonstrates that because
business relationships are more complicated than retail
relationships, expectations, in many cases, are even higher.

Business buyers increasingly want the best

of both worlds—a seamless self-service
option when that suits them and a trusted
partner who can anticipate their needs
when that makes sense.
This elevates the critical role of an empowered sales
organization and transforms how the front line must interact
with customers. The connected customer, in other words,
is changing the game for companies both inside and out.
This report examines how these CHAPTER 1
developments are reshaping the relationship The Connected Customer
between sales organizations and Goes to Work
customers. It also provides examples of
CHAPTER 2
how innovative companies are turning this
The Demand for Personalized,
moment of transition into a major opportunity
Intelligent Service
by using cloud-based commerce tools to
Manufacturing Proof-Point: Univar
deliver what customers want—quickly,
efficiently and based on real market CHAPTER 3
feedback. In the age of the customer, How the Best Sales Teams
information is power. What’s critical is Are Responding
Consumer Goods Case in Point: Coca-Cola
that companies learn how to use that
information to create a digitally enabled CHAPTER 4
customer experience that provides a Implementing eCommerce
distinct competitive advantage. for Immediate Impact
Consumer Goods Winning Model: adidas

CHAPTER 5
The Time to Start is Now
CHAPTER 1 There was a time when buyers might accept a different kind of customer experience
in their business dealings than they did when shopping for themselves. But that time
The Connected has passed. Amazon and other virtuosos of the digital experience have conditioned
all buyers—B2C or B2B—to expect an identical level of instantaneous, personalized,
Customer friction-free service. And they see no need to compromise. Salesforce Research

Goes to Work found that 76% of business buyers felt significantly more empowered than
they did five years ago.

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CHAPTER 1 - THE CONNECTED CUSTOMER GOES TO WORK
76 % of business buyers
feel significantly
more empowered
as decision
makers than they
did five years ago

All data on this page is from “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
 That’s partly because 83% of business buyers feel that technology leaves them
more informed about product choices than ever before and 82% say tech has
made it easier than ever to take their business elsewhere. The digitalization of
the customer experience has also raised the bar on how they want to be treated.
More than three-quarters of business buyers believe technology has significantly changed
their expectations of how businesses should interact with them, and 80% expect companies
to respond to and interact with them in real time.

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CHAPTER 1 - THE CONNECTED CUSTOMER GOES TO WORK
83 %
82 %

of business buyers of business buyers

say technology say technology
has kept them has made it easier
more informed than ever to take
about product their company’s
choices than ever business
before elsewhere

All data on this page is from “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
Companies have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to matching the customer
experiences that have transformed the B2C world. One reason: Many built clunky
commerce solutions on top of legacy ERP systems that were designed to run back-office
operations and optimize workflows, not manage customer touchpoints. Customer-first
commerce solutions like CloudCraze, on the other hand, put the customer at the center of
the business. They are optimized with the connected customer in mind and designed to
be agile. That lets companies develop commerce capabilities incrementally in a cycle of
deploy, test and adjust, constantly innovating as customer needs evolve.

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What’s critical is speed to market with solutions that respect how tightly networked business
people have become in their own lives. Most live on their smart phones or tablets and are

CHAPTER 1 - THE CONNECTED CUSTOMER GOES TO WORK

conditioned to expect the same sort of instantaneous connections with their vendors. As the
most recent Forrester Wave report on B2B commerce pointed out, B2B customers demand
far more than just a shopping cart. Whether they’re in an airport, commuting to work or
shuttling between customers, they want to be able to research choices, check on purchase
orders and otherwise manage mission-critical transactions on mobile devices.

Almost 60% of business buyers, in fact, said

they were likely to switch brands if a vendor
doesn’t provide an easy-to-use mobile
experience. What company can afford that?
All data on this page is from “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
CHAPTER 2 As much as business buyers value speed, self-service and mobility, they want more
than just smart algorithms and seamless connectivity. A robust commerce solution

The Demand for should allow companies to give their customers the kind of bespoke, personalized
service that can help them run their own business more effectively. Increasingly, the
Personalized, loyalty of business buyers is tied to the overall value of a business relationship, not just

Intelligent Service products and services. A full 79% of business buyers say it was critical or very
important that a salesperson become a trusted advisor who can add value

CHAPTER 2 - THE DEMAND FOR PERSONALIZED, INTELLIGENT SERVICE / Page 9

to their business, while 82% want a salesperson to be available whenever the
need arises. They expect vendors to use digital information and tools to create smart,
tailored customer journeys that reflect things like contract terms, a customer’s unique
geographical footprint and what services can work together to create value.

79 % of business buyers
want a trusted
advisor—not a
sales rep—that
adds value to
their business

82 % of business buyers
want someone
to be available
whenever the need
arises
All data on this page is from “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
 Business buyers also believe the best is yet to come. Three quarters said that by 2020,
they expect that companies will be able to use data and analytics to anticipate what
they want and make relevant suggestions proactively, before the customer has a chance
to pick up the phone. Seventy-three percent said they anticipate seeing more products
that can self-diagnose problems and automatically order replacement parts or service.
In fact, 79% of business buyers expect that, by 2020, a company will already
know their company’s profile when they contact customer service.

CHAPTER 2 - THE DEMAND FOR PERSONALIZED, INTELLIGENT SERVICE / Page 10

What these findings suggest is that connected
customers expect companies to continuously
innovate on their behalf in accordance with
their changing preferences.
Success in the connected marketplace will demand a new level of awareness about
what customers want and the agility to put new solutions to work quickly.

79
% of business
buyers expect
that, by 2020,
a company will
already know
their company’s
profile when they
contact customer
service All data on this page is from “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016.
MANUFACTURING As the world’s second-largest chemicals distributor, Univar Inc. has massive scale and
market power. But size alone wasn’t enough when the company faced a recent decline in
PROOF-POINT:
revenue and profits.
UNIVAR

The Chemistry In the age of the connected customer, reversing field meant retraining and expanding its
global sales team to provide more specialized, value-added expertise. It also required

of Real Customer building a CloudCraze commerce solution on top of its Salesforce implementation to
improve self-service options, sharpen order accuracy and ultimately lower transaction costs.
Value
Building out its digital commerce capabilities meant giving customers the choice to manage
many of their interactions with the company online, which frees up salespeople to provide
more in-depth, personalized service. The goal was to differentiate the company’s offering and
improve margins at the same time. A process-heavy, frustrating ordering process, for instance,
has been replaced by a streamlined, B2C-like customer experience that allows the company
to cross-sell, make recommendations, improve access to vital information and increase supply
chain visibility. The new flow of data provides a 360-degree view of each customer that helps
the sales team devise product and service strategies that add more value.

Adding a sleek, self-service platform boosts gross profit per order by 2% to 6%, which makes
a big difference in a commodity business. And Univar Chief Executive Stephen Newlin says
it has been integral to the company’s broader, transformative strategy to improve the
company’s service culture. “When we demonstrate to our customers the value we create
for them,” the CEO explains, “we not only win in the short term, we forge partnerships that
will produce outsized returns for Univar in the future.” 1
1
Univar’s CEO Stephen Newlin on Q4 2016 Results-Earnings Call Transcript
CHAPTER 3 What can companies do to improve performance in the age of the connected
customer? The research suggest that two things make a big difference.
How the Best
First, top-performing companies are elevating
Sales Teams customer concerns by giving those closest to
Are Responding the customer—sales teams—more influence
over strategy. Second, they are empowering
the front line with tools that make salespeople
smarter and the entire organization more
responsive.
In surveying over 3,100 sales professionals,* Salesforce Research found that companies
with top-performing sales teams (those with significant year-over-year revenue growth)
shared four characteristics:

1. They rely on a single view of the customer.

CHAPTER 1 - TITLE / Page 12

2. They use self-service and automation to free up time for selling.

3. They use data and analytics to boost intelligence, personalization and

responsiveness.

4. They deploy digital commerce to build enduring customer relationships.

The proof is in the details.

* “State of Sales,” Salesforce Research, November 2016.

1. THEY RELY ON A A full 79% of the top-performing sales teams excel at developing a single
customer view versus just 37% for underperformers. That means they use
SINGLE VIEW OF THE
interactions at every customer touchpoint to build a single data file for each customer
CUSTOMER.
that is accessible across functions. A robust commerce system like CloudCraze can be
transformative here. By generating data for a single customer file stored in the cloud,
the commerce platform allows everybody in the company to see the customer’s history,
the status of outstanding orders and service issues, notes from the salesperson or service
engineer—all in real time. Arming salespeople with mobile access to that data gives them
the ability to connect with customers on the go, putting vital information at their fingertips

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in customer-facing situations. No matter how customers choose to engage with the
company, the interaction will be contextual and meaningful. They end up feeling that they
are dealing with a single, knowledgeable vendor, not a collection of siloed departments,

CHAPTER 3 - HOW THE BEST SALES TEAMS ARE RESPONDING

saving time and energy for everyone involved.

79 % of top-performing sales teams excel at developing a single customer view

vs

37 % of underperforming sales teams excel at developing a single customer view

All data on this page is from “State of Sales,” Salesforce Research, November 2016
2. THEY USE SELF-SERVICE Clawing back time in the sales process is critical for both customers and salespeople.

AND AUTOMATION Salesforce research shows that the average salesperson spends 64% of his or her day
on non-selling activities, with 25% soaked up by administrative tasks. Top performers
TO FREE UP TIME FOR
use their commerce solutions to give customers the self-service, mobile and automated
SELLING. options they prefer for many routine interactions like ordering and product research, while
relieving salespeople of the “order-taking” burden that gets in the way of solving bigger
issues. This gives customers what they really want—the ability to approach any company
at any time on their own terms. Nearly half (49%) of the high performers are available to
connect with customers on any channel they want. Only 15% of underperformers provide

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such flexibility. Top performers are also 3.8 times more likely than underperformers
to engage customers proactively and 2.9 times more likely to make themselves
available to customers at any time. In other words, the automation and self-service

CHAPTER 3 - HOW THE BEST SALES TEAMS ARE RESPONDING

features afforded by a robust commerce solution give sales teams the power and time to
serve customer needs—not those of the back office system.

Top performers are Top performers are

3.8x 2.9x
more likely than underperformers to more likely than underperformers to
engage customers proactively make themselves available to customers
at any time

All data on this page is from “State of Sales,” Salesforce Research, November 2016
3. THEY USE DATA
AND ANALYTICS TO
BOOST INTELLIGENCE,
PERSONALIZATION AND
RESPONSIVENESS.
What sales teams do with that extra time often separates the winners from the also-rans.
Top performers use data and analytics to craft more personalized, insightful solutions for
their customers. They also use these insights to constantly adapt and iterate the customer
experience to develop new products, services and channels. While 87% of the salespeople say
it remains absolutely critical to meet with customers in person, data analytics and mobility are
making those meetings dramatically more productive. A robust commerce solution constantly
gathers data that can be crunched and analyzed to generate real intelligence about customer
needs—often before the customer even knows it. Over the next three years, sales teams
expect 139% growth in artificial intelligence capabilities that will recommend products to

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customers based on their preferences. They also expect triple-digit growth in deep learning
systems that classify, predict and react to patterns in data. A full 70% of top performers rate
their predictive intelligence capabilities (using data to recommend next steps, help

CHAPTER 3 - HOW THE BEST SALES TEAMS ARE RESPONDING

make insightful decisions, and alert sales to relevant insights) as outstanding or very
good—nearly three times the rate of underperformers.

70 % of top performers
rate their predictive
intelligence
capabilities as
outstanding or very
good—nearly three
times the rate of
underperformers.

All data on this page is from “State of Sales,” Salesforce Research, November 2016
4. THEY DEPLOY DIGITAL Empowering sales teams with data and time is a key promise of cloud-based eCommerce.
If customers can help themselves when researching products, browsing offerings and
COMMERCE TO BUILD
executing transactions, salespeople not only have more time to think strategically but
ENDURING CUSTOMER they also have an ever widening stream of customer data to improve insights. The critical
RELATIONSHIPS. next step is to use that insight to constantly and rapidly improve the customer experience
and build lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. A cloud-based commerce platform
like CloudCraze helps companies do that by giving them the power to devise proactive
solutions, learn from customers in real time and make critical adjustments rapidly
and inexpensively.

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CHAPTER 3 - HOW THE BEST SALES TEAMS ARE RESPONDING
CONSUMER GOODS Before it built out its B2B eCommerce capability, Coca-Cola bottlers serviced thousands
of small and medium-sized accounts with sales reps and a call center. Simple orders took
CASE IN POINT:
time, required lots of paperwork and were a hassle for customers trying to manage their
COCA-COLA
inventory of soft drinks and other Coke products, often after hours.

Giving Sales Reps While any company might worry that cutting back on human interaction could

A ‘24/7 Personal compromise sales, creating a fully featured commerce platform has actually transformed
the Coca-Cola business. Among the 45,000 outlets that use the CloudCraze platform,
Assistant’ profit per outlet and average order size have both jumped significantly, while cost per
interaction has dropped by 85%. Marta Dalton, Coke’s head of B2B eCommerce
in North America, says the lesson is clear: “If you make it easier, allow them to
transact when they want to, engage when they want to, they’ll do business with you
more often.”

The move has also been transformational for Coca-Cola’s sales reps, call center
and service team. Dalton refers to the self-service platform as the salesperson’s
“24/7 personal assistant.” Channeling routine orders online means salespeople
have more time to analyze customer data, come up with sales plans and become
more of a trusted advisor. And because the commerce system collects data from

CHAPTER 1 - TITLE / Page 17

all interactions, people in every function can access a full, instantaneous customer
record on the fly, often via mobile device. “It’s a way for everybody across channels
to have the same view of the customer,” Dalton says. That results in better, more
contextual service and a more satisfying customer experience.
CHAPTER 4 An effective commerce implementation has to begin with a clear ambition for how it can
enhance the company’s strategy and improve the customer experience. But companies

Implementing are too often tempted to include every feature imaginable, which creates interminable
delays, massive budgets and inevitably causes the effort to collapse under its own weight.
eCommerce A cloud-based platform offers a clear alternative: Starting with a minimum viable product,

for Immediate the company can get in front of customers quickly, collect real-world data and use it to
sharpen the next rapid iteration.

Impact The advantage is that the company can

begin generating ROI, score some quick wins
and arm itself with intelligence about what’s
working and what’s not.

CHAPTER 1 - TITLE / Page 18

Flexibility and speed to market are especially
critical at a time when B2B commerce is in
its infancy.
Customers and companies are still figuring out how the flood of innovation can
most productively enhance their relationship. For decision makers, this can be

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overwhelming. But the most effective implementations start with a key assumption:
You don’t really know what your customers want. You have to ask. Too often, large
companies adopt an enterprise mindset, assuming that what makes life easier for
them will do the same for customers. This is a quick way to veer off course.

CHAPTER 4 - IMPLEMENTING ECOMMERCE FOR IMMEDIATE IMPACT

One of the key benefits of implementing a
commerce platform in manageable stages
is that customer feedback becomes part of
doing business.

/ Page 20
The company can gather data and insights on the fly, using them to make better decisions.

CHAPTER 4 - IMPLEMENTING ECOMMERCE FOR IMMEDIATE IMPACT

Creating tight feedback loops to gather and analyze sales data helps companies
understand what’s working or not, so features can be tweaked, built up—or abandoned.

A smooth implementation also requires determining who has decision rights—IT, marketing,
finance, etc.—and including those people from the very beginning of the project.
Trade-offs between features, cost and speed inevitably crop up in the planning
process. It is critical that everyone contributes to these decisions, so a consensus
emerges around the overall rationale for the project. Anything less than full
alignment is a threat to success.
CONSUMER GOODS As a consumer products company, the wholesale channel makes up 70% of the adidas business.
Balancing automation and personalized service is at the heart of the digital commerce strategy
WINNING MODEL:
it uses to connect with thousands of small- to medium-sized wholesales partners worldwide.
ADIDAS
But creating a B2C-style customer experience is a challenge given the complexity of the

Bringing the German footwear company’s business—adidas offers its wholesalers an immense catalog of
athletic shoes and apparel. The selection of SKUs is vast given categories, sizes and colors.
Corner Store
Add in trade terms, real-time inventory management and other layers of B2B complexity and
to B2B the potential for buyer paralysis is huge. But by deploying a CloudCraze commerce solution to
create a slick, easy-to-navigate self-service portal, adidas gives store buyers a seamless way
to manage the thicket of choices. Customers can research new products, use interactive tools
to put together selections, and set up seasonal orders on any device they choose.

All this has freed adidas salespeople to concentrate on personalized customer solutions.
Rather than spending their day taking orders, they can devote their energy to analyzing
data so they can help buyers spot trends and enhance their business. Salespeople can
now put together pre-loaded shopping carts for customers based on historical buying
patterns, current market trends and other value-added information. Buyers can purchase
the suggested cart with three clicks or use it as a starting point for a face-to-face discussion,
which makes personal interactions significantly more efficient and productive.

The senior director of B2B solutions at adidas explains that the key was to harness massive
streams of product and customer data behind an intimate and accessible front end that allows
buyers to purchase whatever they see, whenever they want. “We wanted to bring the intimacy
of the corner shop to the B2B portal,” he says.
CHAPTER 5 Long-terms contracts, heavy fixed costs, heavy investment in an installed base—these and
other factors have slowed the pace of digital commerce implementation in the B2B world.

The Time to But as the Salesforce Research data shows, customers aren’t waiting for change to come
their way. Increasingly they are bringing the retail expectations to work and wondering
Start is Now why their business vendors aren’t treating them as well as Amazon does.

For B2B companies, this is a call to action. Although the challenges of meeting complex
customer expectations can be steep, the cost of waiting is a real risk. A critical starting place
is to recognize that your customers will tell you what they need and then tell you again in an
endless feedback loop.

The only solutions worth investing in are

those that enhance your ability to connect
with customers in the ways that are most
meaningful to them by offering speed to
market, manageable costs, superior flexibility
and the ability to scale.

CHAPTER 1 - TITLE / Page 22

CloudCraze delivers robust B2B commerce native on Salesforce. SOURCES
It allows businesses to generate online revenue fast and easily
scale for growth. Its Customer-First Commerce model puts the
customer at the core, informing every interaction with data
across commerce, sales, marketing, service and more. With the
trusted Salesforce infrastructure and core capabilities, CloudCraze
provides infinite flexibility to extend functionality, add products and
channels, and conduct billions of dollars in transactions anywhere.
CloudCraze powers Customer-First Commerce for industry leaders
“State of the Connected Customer”
salesforce.com/connectedcustomer
such as AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Ecolab, GE, Hallmark, Kaplan,
Kellogg’s, Land O’ Lakes, L’Oreal, Symantec, Tyco.

CHAPTER 1 - TITLE / Page 23

Second Annual “State of Sales”
CloudCraze is funded by Insight Venture Partners and
salesforce.com/stateofsales
Salesforce Ventures. CloudCraze is recognized in The Forrester
Wave™: B2B Commerce Suites, Q1 2017 and as a Visionary
in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce 2017.
CloudCraze is a Salesforce Platinum ISV Partner.