Transitioning from volume pressure to full profitability control through the integration of information silos (ERP, CRM, Debt Collection, Complaints) and the implementation of a decision-making one-pager by Resivo.
Sector / Client:
Main Problem:
Solution:
Many entrepreneurs and management staff in the B2B sector fall into the classic trap of equating high revenue with financial success. The presented case concerns a B2B group with a complex structure, where for years the prevailing belief was that a high level of revenue generated by a given contractor automatically translated into profitable cooperation.
The situation was exacerbated by the incentive system and habits of the sales team. Sales representatives, primarily evaluated and compensated based on sales volumes, were under constant price pressure from key partners. To close sales and maintain revenue, they indiscriminately granted additional discounts, added further rebates, and extended payment terms without verifying the actual cost of service.
Some key clients, despite generating huge purchasing volumes, produced negligible, and in extreme cases, negative profit levels. Additionally, the company was developing several business lines in parallel. The lack of uniform analytics meant that profits generated from profitable areas quietly covered losses generated by other lines, artificially sustaining them. As a result, the consolidated performance of the entire group was highly unsatisfactory, and management lacked tools to precisely identify areas of capital leakage.
Data collected: Contact history, open sales opportunities, negotiated operational terms.
Missing decision-making context: Lack of knowledge about actual margin and customer payment history.
Data collected: Hard sales volumes, order history, product indexes, and base prices.
Missing decision-making context: Failure to account for complaint costs and payment delays.
Data collected: Payment history, actual payment dates, delays, interest costs.
Missing decision-making context: Information did not reach the sales representative when discounts were granted.
Data collected: Service costs, returned goods, granted compensations, and handling costs.
Missing decision-making context: Hidden costs did not reduce the client’s result in the eyes of the sales representative.
The Resivo team rejected the concept of building more complex, multi-page analytical reports that no one uses in their daily work. We approached the issue from a process perspective, aiming to provide sales representatives with a single, clear executive tool.
All dispersed data streams were collected into a single, coherent data model. Instead of burdening users with complex analytics, an interactive dashboard (one-pager) was designed. Before making a call or meeting with a contractor, the sales representative sees a complete profile of the business relationship on a single screen.
Average delay in days, current arrears, payment history.
Profit generated on individual product/service categories.
Total cost of claims and returns charged to the client's account.
Open topics and negotiated price levels.
Proper organization and cross-referencing of data immediately revealed critical areas where the organization was losing capital. The implementation of the 360° view led to a fundamental change in the functioning of the entire sales division:
The system precisely identified goods and services sold at zero or negative margins. The company immediately abandoned unprofitable indexes and revised price lists.
The pathology of rewarding with discounts clients who were habitually late with payments or generated high complaint costs was eliminated.
The sales team received hard, irrefutable data. During renewal discussions, sales representatives stopped succumbing to volume blackmail, demonstrating to partners the actual costs of their service.
Management gained full clarity regarding the profitability of individual business lines, eliminating the phenomenon of financing unprofitable areas from the profits of other units.
Most profitability problems in B2B companies do not stem from a lack of sales, but from a lack of visibility into actual transactional costs. Revenue is a vanity metric – the true value of a business is determined by real margin and incoming capital.
The implementation of a unified 360° customer view proves that advanced data analytics does not have to mean deploying heavy, complex BI systems. The greatest value comes from delivering the right, connected data in a simple, executive format precisely where sales decisions are made.
+48 606 281 103
marcin@resivo.pl
