How to improve digital sales processes for wholesale

The top six reasons why and how digital transformation improves sales for wholesale organizations. Find out how your business matches up.

The top six reasons why and how digital transformation improves sales for wholesale distribution organizations.

Streamline and automate sales team functions
Increase transparency throughout the sales process
Improve communication between sales and the rest of the company
Improve cross-departmental functionality
Get real-time data for better sales and forecasting
Track sales rep activity

Leading wholesale organizations are not just automating, but digitally optimizing their sales processes and technologies in order to meet the rising expectations of consumers and retailers. Much like the modern B2B buyer, the users that wholesale companies target are increasingly reliant on digital information for the research of new products, not salespeople.

“The future of sales is the permanent transformation of organizations’ sales strategies, processes and allocation of resources, moving from a seller-centric to a buyer-centric orientation and moving from analog sales processes to hyper-automated, digital-first engagement with customers.” - Gartner, Future of Sales 2025: Why B2B Sales Needs a Digital-First Approach

Digital transformation to improve wholesale sales processes and revenue

For wholesale organizations, reaching consumers and retailers is quickly becoming dependent on technical architecture to enable them to speed up sales processes and reach more customers, increasing efficiency and revenue.

Here’s how wholesale distributors can benefit from digital transformation solutions that improve sales processes and open new channels.

Streamline and automate sales team functions

Why

The more sales-related tasks that can be automated by technology, the more time your teams will have to hunt and serve clients.

How

Interactive digital catalogues
Online account creation
Real-time inventory available to sales teams

Increase transparency throughout the sales process

Why

Customers and sales teams alike appreciate transparency. It builds trust, loyalty and helps manage expectations. For management, added transparency in the sales, production, and fulfillment pipeline sheds invaluable insight into their everyday operations.

How

By creating connected systems, sales teams stay in touch not only with in-house departments but also among themselves. Limitless connectivity is made possible 24/7 across different time zones. Reps can provide their customers with up-to-date product information, availability, order estimates and delivery times.

Improve communication between sales and the rest of the company

Why

There are times when sales don’t have all the answers; they need team-wide and company-wide collaboration.

How

Using field-accessible operations software, sales representatives can connect with their fellow teammates via their smartphones. With only a few clicks, they can have their team dashboards at the tip of their fingers at all times. Sales reps can exchange information and documents in real-time, or engage in constructive chats with more experienced colleagues. Whenever they need help in the field, sales technology will provide it.

Improve cross-departmental functionality

Why

Improved visibility and communication across departments is a key benefit of an integrated digital architecture. Consolidating data and harmonizing functions means increased inter-departmental efficiency.

How

Implementing a powerful content management system supports multiple sales channels It also unites marketing teams, sales reps, and customer support in an effort to create a comprehensive wholesale customer journey.

Get real-time data for better sales and forecasting

Why

Being able to store a great amount of customer data in a single place, data management systems are even more helpful when paired with robust analytical features, turning unified data into actionable insights.

How

Creating a single source of unified data adds much-needed clarity to both short-term forecasting and long-term strategizing, which ensures data-based problem-solving in the field and decision-making in the office.

Track sales rep activity

Why

Tracking and monitoring sales rep activities are of crucial importance in the context of field sales, and these solutions certainly provide you with all the necessary means to stay in the loop with your employees. You can see exactly what they’ve accomplished thus far and what their future sales schedules look like.

This ability is not about spying on sales reps, but about increasing accountability and boosting productivity. It allows wholesale distributors to measure individual KPIs and determine the best salespeople for certain accounts, but also to uproot inefficiency and bad habits among field salesmen.

How

Use software dashboards so managers can view the entire sales pipeline for every rep. It allows for open, candid conversations about customer needs, sales team expectations and invites coaching opportunities.

Conclusion

As face-to-face interactions with customers decline, wholesale sales teams need to find ways to influence buying decisions. Creating the right digital architecture supports efficient communication, automates sales processes and enables growth and scalability for your sales teams.

Making your sales team a part of your digital transformation strategy early and keeping them involved every step of the way will increase the internal adoption of your digital solutions. If your sales team is on board, they will be able to get your customers on board.

If you are worried about how to get your sales team on board with digital transformation, check out our stakeholder interview guide for ideas on how to best get everyone aligned.