It’s easy to get caught up in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of B2B business today. But relationships are just as important – if not more so. The key thing that sets successful partnerships apart from others? It is mutual trust. A company needs strong working agreements with its trading partners because it ensures both parties have a commitment towards keeping things going forward together.
Collaboration has gone from being a buzzword to a core business component of the B2B world
Trust and technology are two different things that often go hand in hand. Creating a trust model in the rebate ecosystem is not easy. Still, with modern-day technologies, we can evolve from competitive relationships into mutually beneficial ones where both parties know what to expect, which ultimately leads to more margins for growth.
It’s time to upgrade the collaboration model between B2B traders
The traditional rebate system is difficult to navigate and breeds collaboration delays between trading partners. It’s time for an upgrade to an AI-powered rebate management platform.
Rebates have been a part of the B2B trade for decades. They were first introduced to stimulate trade between trading partners, but over time they’ve become more than just an incentive program—they’re also used as feedback on how well you are doing on your terms and what changes need to be made to improve performance even further. However, as suppliers become more and more competitive with each other, it’s no longer enough for them to collaborate on their own – they need an upgrade too!
See how buying groups facilitate meaningful engagement between distributors and manufacturers
How to foster seamless collaboration between B2B trading partners in the rebate ecosystem?
1. Make your deal negotiation documentation/process smarter
- Reduce the back and forth via phone and emails with your partner
It’s important to always remember that no matter how much you might feel like your side has won after negotiating a contract, the other party may see things differently. Therefore, negotiation must be seen as a collaboration between trusting partners rather than a competition between rivals. Otherwise, you will find yourself in many back and forths via phone and email with your partner. - Bring your program details and performance in one place
The complexity of managing rebate deals is such that it’s not uncommon for performance reports to only come out at the point where a new contract negotiation has begun. But by then, there may be nothing you can do about past mistakes-and; this becomes even more true when all information needed Is in disparate systems.The best or only way to get a true handle on rebate performance is by regularly reporting in real-time. The ability for stakeholders to have intelligence through a contextual, AI-backed rebate management platform will allow them to improve performance and plan better and control financial issues more efficiently.
2. Acknowledge the two sides of the same coin – Suppliers and Members work from the same data
When you have access to reliable, trustworthy data that can be used for your collaboration and performance monitoring needs – it will improve the interactions in a big way. For example, it cuts down on emails or other documentation needed. This leads to better transparency and accountability.
With a rebate management platform backed by advanced analytics, you can leverage persona-specific dashboards and have real-time visibility into your rebate programs and actionable insights to better it. This also paves the path for creating a single source of truth for everyone in the rebate system.
3. Clearly identify your goals and performance objectives
The goal of any enterprise, irrespective of the size, is to earn dollars. However, in the convoluted B2B space, manufacturers often had trouble collaborating with distributors because distributors wouldn’t commit to rebate programs set by the manufacturers. So, it is not surprising that a good percentage of potential rebate revenue typically would get unclaimed.
But the days of secret deals are over. Today’s manufacturer has an army at their disposal that can promote, market and sell for them in ways you never thought possible. The same goes for distributors. They have much more options and exposure to a large number of manufacturers.
The key to any trading partnership is a mutual collaboration based on trust, transparency and accountability. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly identify your goals and performance objectives for this to happen.
See how Rebate.ai is helping distributors, manufacturers, and buying groups collaborate more effectively by having all rebate assets combined under one roof rather than being siloed off into different platforms. A win-win for all.
4. Keep track of 100s of suppliers and 1000s of members with built-in search functionality
End-to-end rebate management and analytics platform is a great way for B2B traders to work together and create mutual revenue opportunities. By using Rebate.ai, manufacturers can see all of the trading partners who will benefit from their rebate programs while focusing their efforts on a priority list of trading partners that offer the greatest opportunities for growth and true market share gains. On the other hand, distributors can quickly search 100’s of preferred manufacturers’ rebate programs and identify the incentives that will provide the highest return on their purchases.
A contextual rebate engine is a great way to fill the transparency gap between manufacturers and distributors. This can help both parties see opportunities for mutual benefits, which in turn leads to growth.
5. Track the highest impact relationships
By automating the rebate process, you can have a more sustainable and data-driven means of accelerating your revenue streams. Further, you can automate the shared rebate processes to identify mutual revenue opportunities and combine member rankings based on purchase volumes and buying trend analysis.
How does Rebate.ai foster collaboration between trading partners in the B2B rebate ecosystem?
Rebate.ai facilitates electronic deal approval for E2E rebate governance and auditing, increases transparency into growth incentive performance and hidden/new revenue/sales opportunities, and provides end-to-end visibility into the deal structure and near real-time actionable insights.
Distributors can keep tabs on their agreements and track the sales they’ve made or rebates they’ve earned. Additionally, annual rebate projections are clearly forecasted based on current purchases and historical seasonal purchasing behavior.
It’s time you automate your rebate workflow and build decision intelligence to turn rebates into revenue opportunities. Contact us for a 1:1 demo to see how Rebate.ai fosters collaboration and delivers real-time, contextual insights for everyone in the rebate ecosystem, including buying groups, distributors, and manufacturers.
