B2B Reimagined

Even before COVID-19 changed everything, distributors in the electronic components industry were dealing with seismic shifts. The dawn of 5G, the explosion of IoT and the ever-shortening product lifecycle combined to create complex business challenges and new opportunities to capture. The pandemic put many plans on halt, as supply chains in Asia and then Europe were drastically disrupted. With a second wave of COVID-19 seemingly imminent around the globe, what will that mean for supply chain, pricing and inventory strategy?

Steve Wilkins, head of pricing solutions at Standav Corp, joins the show to examine these hurdles and dish on reimagined solutions for the industry's new normal.

How does your company stack up against Zilliant's Global B2B Benchmark Report? Click here to find out in our fully interactive experience.

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This episode features a lively preview of Zilliant MindShare 2020, the premier B2B pricing and sales conference, which is going virtual for the first time on Oct. 27-29. Event MCs Barrett Thompson and Rick Chappell joined the show to explain how though the format may be new, the customer stories, thought leadership and product innovation deep dives remain as valuable as always.

MindShare lands at a critical hinge point for B2B distributors, manufacturers and services companies. The global pandemic has changed the way business is done and the resulting recession has put intense pressure on pricing, costing and sales processes. The unexpected pandemic only adds to the complexity that businesses were already planning for when the year began. You don't want to miss this timely event. Get ready for it with this primer podcast and don't forget to reserve your virtual seat!

Register for MindShare

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You've probably heard the old adage: "We can get it done right, we can get it done fast or we can do it for cheap." For high-tech manufacturers and technology providers, the same concept applies to their quoting and offer creation processes. Most can consistently do a good job of delivering quotes with 1) speed, 2) accuracy or 3) completeness… sometimes two of the three. But it seems at least one side of that triangle is sacrificed when pricing and quoting tools lack data-driven guidance. Zilliant Business Solutions Consultant Todd Pate stops by to explore a new approach fueled by data science that is helping companies automate negotiations (speed), consistently offer the right price (accuracy) and identify cross-sell opportunities (completeness).

Find the on-demand webinar mentioned in this episode here.

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Dr. Steve Laborda, chief executive officer of ValueBizBooster, joins our show to discuss the importance of commercial excellence in the specialty chemicals distribution industry. Laborda and host Barrett Thompson diagnose the biggest challenges facing these businesses, including increased complexity, changing relationships along the value chain, and the eCommerce revolution. Traditionally these distributors were seen as simple logistics providers, whose main role was to extend the reach of manufacturers to small and midsize customers. In the last 10-20 years, many have differentiated themselves with value-added services and tailored solutions that sometimes compete with their own suppliers. This complexity creates a challenge for sales teams that have to deal with inconsistent and misaligned market pricing. Learn how leading chemical distributors are using data science-driven tools to reach commercial excellence in this dynamic environment.

Find the blog post mentioned in this episode here.

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When it comes to the ability to set prices that are market-driven, rather than cost-driven, specialty chemicals manufacturers consistently rank among the lowest in B2B. Because of the unique amount of transparency and raw material cost-driven pricing structure, manufacturers in this sector are usually contractually obligated to take prices up and down in line with publicly available commodities indices. Further complicating things, historically the approach to building up to a price has been done by brute force – through spreadsheets, PDFs and tracking down contracts stored in multiple locations. Barrett Thompson and Mick Naughton discuss a better way, driven by data science, to automatically update component cost factors, recalculate formula prices and quickly deliver updated prices that follow contracted guidelines.

To access the whitepaper mentioned in this episode, click here.

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Modern Distribution Management (MDM) is the leading information resource for executives in the wholesale distribution business. MDM's annual reports and periodic surveys provide an unparalleled snapshot into the distribution market, including pricing and sales trends, market share data and deep industry analytics. MDM's VP Sales, Analytics & E-Business John Gunderson joined Zilliant CMO Lindsay Duran for a candid conversation about the mounting challenges facing distributors in 2020. They discuss the extreme pricing pressure B2B companies are under, the panic selling trend caused by market distress and exacerbated by remote work and much more. Tune in to learn why now more than ever it's crucial to put pricing guardrails in place to fight panic with data-driven guidance.

To access the MDM Spotlight video mentioned in this episode, click here.

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The Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ) market has exploded in recent years, as businesses embrace smarter technology to empower their sales reps to build better offers and close more deals. Zilliant has teamed up with Oracle, a market leader in CPQ, to infuse scientific price guidance, price segmentation and dynamic, real-time price-setting capabilities into Oracle CPQ. Joining us from Oracle for this roundtable to discuss the integrated solution and the benefits customers enjoy from our partnership is Ellen Beres, senior principal product manager; Ekta Paliwal, senior product manager; and Neil McHugh, strategic ISV partner manager.

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The role of a traditional B2B field seller, and the sales process itself, has fundamentally changed in a post-pandemic world. With buyers and sellers transitioning to remote work, B2B eCommerce on a meteoric rise and Zoom calls replacing shop floor visits, companies have adapted on the fly with varying levels of success. Brian Hirt has spent years developing SaaS products that use data science to help sellers make better, more profitable decisions. He joins the podcast to explore how field sales is blending with inside sales, the disadvantages and new opportunities available in a digitized sales environment and why many aspects of the new normal are here to stay, even beyond the pandemic. He even makes the case for how doing business virtually is like cracking an egg with one hand – you'll have to listen to get it.

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Find the link to the "The Future of B2B Sales Amid COVID-19 Disruption" blog post mentioned in this episode [here](https://resources.zilliant.com/blog/the-future-of-b2b-sales-amid-covid-19-disruption?utm_source=website&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sales)

Auto and heavy-duty truck parts distributors operate in a "pizza delivery model," in which the goal is to be the first call on a garage's list and to be able to deliver in 30 minutes or less. These distributors service many independent garages and must maintain inventory, get parts there fast and continuously build strong relationships to keep getting that first call. Above all, their parts must be priced rationally and consistently. On the manufacturing side, parts supercession creates immense complexity, as companies try to manage the lifecycle and price points of millions of SKUs. Zilliant Business Solutions Consultant Tim Mohnke joins the podcast to talk through these examples and more while offering reimagined pricing solutions. A veteran in both the spare parts and pricing consulting industries, Tim provides a unique perspective that is increasingly valuable in our current recessionary period, which is creating an increased demand for spare parts. www.zilliant.com Find the link to "Considerations for Automotive & Truck Parts Distributors in a Digital World" mentioned in this episode here: https://resources.zilliant.com/b2b-industry-insights/considerations-for-automotive-truck-parts-distributors-in-a-digital-world-keywords?utm_source=website&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=auto_distribution

Rate setting in the shipping and transportation industry hinges on striking a delicate balance between all the factors that drive rate: Mode, origin, destination, time of year, capacity, and more. In this episode, Zilliant General Manager of Commercial Excellence Barrett Thompson and Zilliant Senior Director of Solutions Consulting Jay Foulkrod discuss how technology can play an assistive role in finding pockets of opportunity in this industry that's rich with opportunity and complexity. Listen now to learn how rates are set today and a reimagined approach to setting smarter, more varied rates that win more business and do so profitably. www.zilliant.com Find the whitepaper mentioned in the episode here: https://resources.zilliant.com/whitepapers/part-1-driving-margin-operational-benefits-for-shipping-providers