The entire Food and Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry is currently facing one of the most important digital transformations in recent history. The support of CRM (customer relationship management) technology in tackling the challenges of a “new stop-start normality” due to continuous lockdowns, contributes towards helping the industry to manage the crisis, providing new solutions for vertical business models, diversifying ways in which services are provided and customers or prospects are engaged.
How to respond to challenges in the F&B industry through B2B customer experience
For all operators of the food industry, the main aim is focused on the capacity to build and maintain quality relations with customers.
In this day and age, adopting solutions like Salesforce CRM has become indispensable, because they enable you to satisfy the specific requirements of companies operating in B2B and B2C contexts. As far as the latter scenario is concerned, order management processes can be optimised, providing business customers with a platform for self-service procurement.
Thanks to the integration of technologies, it is also possible to leverage the potential of business intelligence and CRM systems to gain a better understanding of B2B market scenarios, sharing useful information at the right time with all departments involved (sales, marketing, service, finance and operation).
Advantages of integrating Salesforce CRM and Tableau BI solutions include the smart management of KPIs and improved performance, thanks to a territory management strategy. Moreover, the centralisation of information enables companies of the sector to analyse behaviours and anticipate client distributor trends. (Discover the Business intelligence (BI) for the food industry, why is it important? ).
Today, Food and Beverage companies need to undertake a veritable innovation process and many are yet to grasp the value of technologies as an opportunity for improving performance rates and competitiveness on the market. Focusing on an omnichannel strategy and on customer experience enables the optimisation of processes and boosts cross-selling and up-selling activities, thanks to the improved sharing of information between all actors involved.
Salesforce CRM, the advantages of a cloud-based CRM solution for B2B Food and Beverage
Therefore, choosing a customer relationship management solution like Salesforce is fundamental for Food and Beverage companies, above all for interfacing with both types of clients: businesses and consumers.
Clearly, divergent client needs involve specific choices and solutions. A cloud-based CRM solution enables the unified management of all customer information and guarantees the sharing of data among various company departments: sales, marketing and customer care.
The advantages of implementing a vertical CRM for Food and Beverage include above all the optimisation of key processes, with the intention of creating a personalised relationship with the distributor and consequently activating a customer centric strategy for improved CX.
Focusing attention on B2B dynamics means that marketing automation software systems can be introduced, for the customised engagement of all actors in the industry, from suppliers to distributors.
Salesforce CRM modules for the management of typical B2B processes in Food and Beverage include:
● Sales Cloud
● B2B e-commerce
● Service Cloud
● Experience Cloud
● Marketing Cloud e Pardot
● Tableau CRM
Thus, an integrated Salesforce ecosystem enables companies operating in Food & Beverage B2B to look beyond the single transaction and build lasting relationships with customers.
The functionalities provided by these technologies enable the identification of business trends and customer experience personalisation, for a holistic view of company data through every contact sections. All this is grounded in the concept of Single Source of Truth of information, a secure data hub for the creation of unique visualisations of interactions and specificities of every single client.
Moreover, the implementation of B2B and B2C Commerce applications integrated within the Salesforce ecosystem means that food and beverage companies, which sell their products through a network of distributors and retailers, can get to know and engage final consumers too, creating increasingly customised and effective brand interaction paths. The correct and prompt use of such information generates new opportunities for marketing, customer care and sales departments.
Customer management becomes simple and smart with Salesforce CRM
In order to achieve a significant competitive edge, companies operating in the Food and Beverage sector should rethink their own business models, leveraging the potential of digital technologies, like Salesforce CRM. They should undertake an effective digital transformation path for sustainable growth, in order to respond to current challenges with agility and promptness.
The characteristics of companies that interface with Large-scale distribution, Retail sector and CPG highlight the need to involve experts, to guide this new technological path, focused on the adoption of a CRM solution.
Atlantic Technologies, a Salesforce Partner since 2005, has strong experience in the sector and its team of CRM Salesforce Cloud Consultancy team covers different requirements, supporting holistic adoption of the platform.
Atlantic consultants aim to:
● Help the company digitalise the entire sales, marketing and service process in a unique ecosystem, integrated along the entire value chain;
● Provide companies with a smart system for customer management and therefore visits to the store, collection of orders and retail execution;
● Switch to a data-driven strategy for the real time analysis of adopted commercial strategies.
Moreover, you can count on consultants with vertical experience in the sector, not only for Salesforce CRM technology, but also in ERP, with Infor and Analytics with Tableau Software.
Request a customised demo of our vertical technologies for the Food & Beverage and Consumer Goods sectors!
