Most B2B e-commerce sites make a promise they cannot keep.
They look like a modern online store. But the second a customer tries to buy something complicated, the site hits a wall. If a buyer wants to configure a piece of heavy machinery, add a monthly software subscription, and request a volume discount, the digital cart simply breaks.
So, what does the buyer do? They give up and call their sales rep.
Now, your highly paid sales expert is spending half their week in a spreadsheet. They are manually typing out quotes, checking inventory levels, and acting as a very expensive data entry clerk for a customer who actually wanted to serve themselves.
This is a massive waste of talent and time. But Salesforce just rolled out a set of updates that finally fixes this broken loop. They are blurring the line between your digital storefront and your sales team.
The Old Way vs. The New Way
For years, B2B platforms forced you into two boxes. Simple orders went through the website. Complex orders went through the sales team. Here is how that is changing:
- The Old Way: A buyer wants a custom product. They email a rep. The rep spends valuable time building a quote in the CRM. They send it for signature, the buyer signs it and, in many cases the rep still manually enters the final order.
- How it Should Be: The buyer logs into your website. They use a guided tool to build their own custom product. They add a monthly maintenance plan to the same cart. They click a button to ask for a 10% discount. The sales rep gets a ping, approves the discount with one click, and the buyer checks out online.
The deal closes in three hours instead of three weeks.
How the Tech Actually Works
Salesforce is doing this by quietly connecting two of their biggest tools: B2B Commerce and Revenue Cloud. You do not need to understand the backend architecture to see the value. You just need to look at what your buyers can finally do on their own.
1. The “Do-It-Yourself” Bundle Builder
Your website can now handle complex rules. If a buyer selects a specific generator, the site knows to only show them the exact batteries that fit that model. It stops the buyer from making mistakes and lets them build a complex bundle without needing a sales engineer to hold their hand.
2. The “Mixed” Cart
The future of B2B is selling hardware and services together. Historically, shopping carts could not handle buying a physical pallet of goods and a recurring monthly software subscription at the same time. Now, they can. The system charges for the physical item today and automatically sets up the recurring billing for the software tomorrow.
3. The Smooth Handoff
This is the biggest win. If a buyer builds a massive $100,000 cart online and realizes they need to negotiate the price, they do not have to start over. They just click “Request Quote.” That exact digital cart is instantly sent to your sales rep’s screen. The rep sees exactly what the buyer wants, adjusts the price, and sends it back. It is a completely fluid handoff.
The Catch (Let’s Be Honest)
As partners, we owe it to you to be clear about the investment. Turning your website into a smart sales engine is not a simple switch you flip for free.
To make this exact workflow happen, you need Salesforce licenses for both B2B Commerce Advanced and Revenue Cloud. It is a strategic investment.
But you have to weigh that software cost against your current reality. Look at the salaries of your top sales reps. Look at how many hours a week they spend manually building quotes for existing customers instead of selling. Then, think about the cashflow impact of revenue that is deferred by 24-48 hours every week because of friction in the process. If you can push 30% of that routine configuration work back to the buyer through a smart website, the technology pays for itself very quickly.
Time for a Workflow Audit
You hired a sales team to chase new business and build relationships, not to copy and paste product codes.
At Ateko, we help B2B businesses untangle their quoting process. We look at what your customers are trying to buy and figure out how to make your systems do the heavy lifting.
If your sales team is drowning in manual quotes, let’s schedule a time to look at your workflow and see what we can automate.
