Building & Interior – B2B sales process

by Kristofer
Home » Digitalization Guide » Building & Interior – B2B sales process

As a B2B company supplying products such as windows, doors, interior or similar to larger building projects, the journey to a closed deal is long and complex, but it usually follows the same pattern. In this article, we have created a template that can help you create your own process and decide on how your digital sales tools should support it.

B2B tends to have many steps between client and producer of the end product

Terminology

RFQ – Request for Quote.
Quotation – Formal document with pricing and suggested solution.
Architectural firm – Firm responsible for the design towards the client.
Building Contractor – Responsible for the entire project towards the architect or the client.
Specialized Contractor – Responsible for sub-areas of the project. Like ventilation, kitchen, structure, gates, etc.
Supplier – Product owning company, usually with their own manufacturing.

The typical sales process for quoting and creating a new building

  1. An architectural firm is contracted by a client to design a new building.
  2. The architect creates a solution and collects technical information from suppliers of products needed.
  3. The architect (or the client) sends out a specification and an RFQ to different building contractors for the best price and solution for the entire project.
  4. The building contractor suggests a solution and sends out several RFQs to the specialized contractors for each area involved.
  5. The specialized contractor suggests a solution and sends out several RFQs to suppliers of the products involved.
  6. Supplier sales analyses the specification and building drawings and suggests a solution.
  7. Supplier sales engineer creates 2D drawings and 3D files for the proposed solution.
  8. Supplier sales calculates prices and creates a Quote.
  9. Supplier returns quotation to the specialized contractor.
  10. Specialized contractor returns a quotation to the building contractor.
  11. The building contractor returns a quotation to the architect or the client.
  12. One building contractor gets the job.
  13. The building contractor sends out a change request to all specialized contractors with an updated specification.
  14. The specialized contractor sends out a change request to all suppliers of products.
  15. Supplier sales analyses the updated specification and building drawings and updates the quotation.
  16. Supplier sends confirms changes with the specialized contractor.
  17. Supplier creates detailed drawings and manufacturing information.
  18. Supplier confirms delivery dates with the specialized contractor.
  19. Supplier adds the work to the internal manufacturing planning.
  20. The product is manufactured, assembled and shipped to the specialized contractor or building contractor.

Process impacts of a digital sales tool

  • A digital sales tool can enable the architect (step 2) to collect technical information by themselves from suppliers at an early stage of the process and reduce the need for change requests.
  • A digital sales tool with CAD exports can make drawings and quotations generation for the quotation fully automatic (step 7 removed).
  • A digital sales tool can enable the specialized contractor to do some of the quotations themselves (steps 7, 8 and 9 removed).
  • A wide range of digital sales tools can make the need for specialized contractors redundant (Step 5 removed and better profit on quotation).