ONTARIO - Results from a nationwide study on business-to-business (B2B) selling show that e-commerce B2B selling will increase to 22 per cent by 2005. This increase will present many new challenges for B2B sales people who have traditionally relied on face to face and telephone methods to make sales.

The study titled How Business Sells, was conducted by Market Probe for Visa Canada surveyed 514 mid to large businesses throughout the country. Findings showed that 72 per cent of B2B sales people prefer traditional methods of selling because they are better able to build and maintain customer relationships. The bad news for these sales people is that in-person and telephone selling methods are expected to decline from 70 per cent to 57 per cent of total B2B sales by 2005. Sales experts say that e-commerce sales methods will jump from eight to 30 per cent, making it more difficult to build and maintain customer relationships. In addition to dealing with these problems sales people will also have to manage not only face to face relationships but those online as well.

A prior study also sponsored by Visa shows that buyers expect to be placing 37 per cent of their orders through e-commerce methods by 2005. Currently nine per cent of buyers are using online methods. This same study also shows that buyers will decrease their in-person and telephone buying from 53 per cent to 39 per cent.

Only six per cent of companies surveyed use the Web for sales while 22 per cent reported not even having a web site. The main reason for this lack of use is that it can be more difficult to customize a sales pitch or to explain how complex products work online than in person. Findings for this study, How Business Buys, showed that 22 per cent of buyers use the Internet to make their purchases.

"Clearly sellers have to adjust to the fact that their customers are pushing for the efficiencies that electronic ordering provides them while finding ways to maintain the personal contact that underpins successful selling. Buyers on the other hand, will have to be sensitive to the ability and willingness of the sell side to mesh with the internal electronic purchasing systems they are planning to introduce," said Jacqui Hurd, Senior Manager, Commercial Card Products, Visa Canada.

B2B sellers are attempting to deal with the limitations of Internet selling by using extranets, which are electronic systems that allow the user to post and control access to information. For sales people this means they can customize products, price lists, descriptions, and service solutions for each customer. 23 per cent of survey participants said they expect to be using corporate extranets as B2B sales channels by 2005, currently only five per cent reported using them.

"The Visa survey indicates that B2B sales professionals prefer to sell in person," said Terry Ruffell, President, Canadian Professional Sales Association. "There's no question the sales process is changing. Many sales professionals are beginning to integrate e-commerce into their sales strategy, but it is clear that to effectively meet the needs of the buying community, a solid understanding of e-commerce will be required by all sales professionals."

 

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