Success Stories

Activant B2B Seller Helps Distributor Win Accounts and Increase Sales to Existing Customers

Medical Specialties had the service, supplies, and staff to woo and win a national $4 million account. But the Massachusetts-based hospital equipment distributor did not have one thing the potential customer required: a Web-based, around-the-clock storefront through which its employees could enter orders and access account information.

"The only way the customer would commit to doing business with us was if we had a fully live site in less than 120 days," remembers Tom Sisti, vice president of information technology. Sisti knew he and his staff had to act fast. He contacted Activant - Medical Specialties' longtime technology partner - for help.

"We told Activant what we needed and that we had to get the project underway immediately," Sisti says. "During our first meeting, we mapped out the steps, established a timetable, and began developing the specs required to design and implement our B2B Seller site. Activant was definitely in tune with the critical situation and our need to get this done." Activant B2B Seller, a fully hosted and integrated Web-based storefront solution, enables distributors to service their existing and prospective customers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Thanks to everyone's hard work, Medical Specialties' B2B Seller site was live and ready for customers on its target date. "We won that $4 million customer and a few others who were waiting for the ability to work with us over the Web," Sisti says. "Our B2B Seller site paid for itself the moment it went live."

Skyrocketing Usage

While Medical Specialties employees understand the value of a Web-based storefront, they also realized that people do not automatically flock to a new Web site. So, they encouraged employees to push new and existing customers to www.msdonline.com.

Each inside and outside sales representative worked to register dozens of customers. Those customers then went online to enter almost $357,000 worth of orders for medical supplies during the site's first 30 days. "Online orders represented more than 8 percent of total revenue during our first month," Sisti reveals. "And halfway through our second month, we expected customers to enter about 25 percent of total sales online."

Because the B2B Seller site allowed Medical Specialties to transfer order entry duties to end-users, employees can now sell proactively - and offer more consultative advice. And, as more people enter orders via the Web, the company will be able to handle more customers with the same number of service staff.

Best of all, customers shopping online can take time to browse - which increases the average overall dollar value of total orders. "Dollar-wise, the average online order is about 36 percent larger than a phone-in order," Sisti says.

Sisti says his company's B2B Seller site was well worth the time and money his company invested. "We do about $65 million per year, and we've always done well against other companies our size," he says. "It's the national competitors we've always had challenges with in the past, due to the lack of a Web-based ordering platform. B2B Seller makes us look larger and more competitive - and helps us win business we may not have had a chance at before."

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