Bridging the Gap Between Sales Reps and eCommerce with Jay Schneider of B2B Squared

Full Transcript

Aaron: Welcome back to the OroCommerce B2B Uncut podcast. I am your host, Aaron Sheehan, just back from B2B Online in Florida. With me today is a B2B luminary of his own, Jay Schneider. Some of you may know him or know of him. I’ll let Jay introduce himself. Jay, tell the people who you are.

Jay: Hi there. Thanks for having me, Aaron. I’m Jay Schneider, with B2B Squared. I’ve been in the B2B eCommerce space for a while now. Before that, I worked in B2B media, which gave me the chance to collaborate with manufacturers, distributors, and a variety of industries. It was a great way to learn about product content and how businesses can work together.

So yeah, I’ve been in this B2B eCommerce space for quite a while. I’ve worked for a few agencies and have been consulting independently for the last several years. Thanks for having me.

Aaron: Absolutely. And where in the world are you, Jay?

Jay: Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We’re getting a little bit of snow today. Hopefully, everyone else is warmer than we are here.

Aaron: I’m in Missouri. It definitely got colder while I was off in Orlando at the conference, and I think we’ll have our first freeze tonight. But no snow here. A colleague from Milwaukee sent me a picture of his backyard this morning—it looked beautiful. But snow always looks better from a distance, I’ve found.

Aaron: So, B2B Squared. You said you work with manufacturers and distributors. You started in media, so it sounds like you’ve been around companies selling primarily to other companies for quite a while. Fair statement?

Jay: Yep.

Aaron: I’d love to start where the rubber meets the road—the sales process for companies like this. It’s usually long, involved, and if there’s no structured process, it’s probably bad for everyone involved.

You’ve been in this space for a while, and we’ve obviously seen a progression towards digital over the years. How much of that sales process, from acquisition to repeat orders and nurturing, would you say is fully digital or digitally assisted today? And how has that changed over the last three to five years?

Jay: There’s a lot to unpack there. I’d start with some numbers from Forrester and Gartner. They tell us that 75–85% of B2B buyers want eCommerce and digital capabilities. They want to be able to transact digitally.

When you look at the sales process, whether it’s manufacturers or distributors, I think that’s where we’ll see the most disruption happening today. Many companies are doing things like top-of-the-funnel lead generation to support their sales teams, which is great.

But when you dig into the numbers—whether from industry pundits or analysts—you’ll find that a lot of B2B companies are still struggling with digital adoption. Many are still seeing single-digit or low double-digit revenue percentages from digital channels.

In my opinion, that’s the elephant in the room. Companies can spend all the money they want on platforms like OroCommerce or other systems, but if customers aren’t using those platforms effectively, that’s the real problem.

So, when it comes to the sales process, I see this as one of the biggest points of disruption in digital transformation. Companies need to start building what I’d call revenue workflows—hybrid models where sales teams and eCommerce platforms work together seamlessly.

And honestly, Oro has been asking these same questions and has been building workflows into the platform. I’m not just saying that because I’m on your podcast—it’s genuinely helpful to see platforms addressing these challenges.

Another area of disruption is CRM adoption. It’s still shocking to me how many companies either don’t have a CRM or aren’t fully invested in one. You could probably talk about that yourself.

Aaron: Absolutely. I was just at the NAW Executive Roundtable in Dallas last week. During one of the opening sessions, we were seated randomly, and I ended up at a table with a CFO of a $2 billion distributor. CRM came up as a topic.

Someone asked, “What do you use for CRM?” And this CFO said, “We don’t have one. We use Excel.” You could see everyone’s head turn in unison, like, “Wait, what? What was your revenue again?” And he repeated it.

It was kind of a jaw-drop moment. But then he chuckled and said, “Yeah, we just use a lot of Excel.” And the more I talked to people at that event, the more I realized that it wasn’t uncommon.

A lot of these companies have some form of eCommerce, but they don’t have a CRM. It seems backwards to me. If you look at revenue by channel, you’ll see that every dollar has a sales rep or an account executive tied to it.

And yet, there’s no system of record to manage those relationships. They’re just hoping someone sends an email or updates a spreadsheet.

What you said aligns with recent Gartner research, which shows that companies achieve better results when they unify sales and eCommerce instead of siloing them. You get higher-quality deals, larger orders, and better customer satisfaction when it’s one unified buyer experience, whether they come in through a phone call or digitally.

Jay: Exactly. And I think that’s where the real opportunity lies. Because the truth is, this problem hasn’t been solved for most companies.

The question is: why are B2B companies building advanced eCommerce platforms that are capable of so much, and yet their customers aren’t using them effectively? Why is there such a disconnect between sales and eCommerce platforms when they should be part of one cohesive revenue stream?

From the customer’s perspective, they know how long it takes to send an order via email, or how long it takes to call their salesperson. But they don’t know how long it’ll take to log into an eCommerce platform, find the SKUs they need, add them to their cart, check out, and get an invoice.

That’s the friction point we need to address.

I think there’s a huge opportunity to better connect customers to eCommerce platforms, whether through sales-driven events, marketing campaigns, or other initiatives.

Aaron: Absolutely. That’s a great point. You mentioned the term digital transformation, and it’s one we hear all the time. It’s the umbrella term for solving the problem you’re describing—bringing buyers and sellers together, unifying their experience, and empowering both sides with tools and insights.

But when someone says, “We’re doing a digital transformation,” it can mean wildly different things depending on the company. I’ve never worked with two organizations where it meant exactly the same thing.

So, Jay, when a CTO, Chief Digital Officer, or COO reaches out and says, “Hey Jay, we need your help. We’re doing a digital transformation,” what does that phrase mean to you?

Jay: Usually, when I hear digital transformation, it tells me the executive team decided this is something they need to do. But often, they’re struggling to figure out what the actual strategies and tactics should be.

Digital transformation can mean different things depending on the organization. If you’re a manufacturer, it might involve what happens on the shop floor or how inventory is managed. But in the realm of customer experience—everything outside the firewall—we’re talking about aligning digital tools across eCommerce, CRM, sales enablement, and marketing automation.

And that’s the real struggle for many companies—they know they need to do it, but they’re unsure where to start or how to take the first steps. As consultants, software vendors, and agency partners, we often have ideas about what the first step should be. But the truth is, companies need to ask themselves a foundational question: What does supporting our customers digitally actually look like?

If they can answer that question, they can start working backward to figure out what they need to build, how they need to build it, and how it all fits together.

One of the things I love about hearing from companies like Grainger or MSC at conferences is that they rarely talk about tactics like SEO or outbound strategies. Instead, they’re laser-focused on one thing: understanding their customers. They obsess over what their customers are doing, where they’re experiencing friction, and how they can reduce that friction.

That’s where B2B merchandising comes into play. It’s about thinking strategically about how we can solve customer problems so effectively that it drives more sales naturally.

Aaron: That’s an excellent segue into one of the key things I noticed on your website. You offer merchandising support.

Coming from a retail background, merchandising is such an integral part of how retail operates. It’s about product placement, presentation, and making it easy for customers to buy. But in B2B, merchandising doesn’t always have the same meaning—or even recognition—as a core function.

If you asked most distributors, “How do you handle merchandising?” they’d probably give you a blank stare because the term just doesn’t have the same context in their world.

Why should distributors, specifically, care about merchandising? And how do you think about it in a B2B context?

Jay: That’s a fantastic question. Merchandising is really about one thing: making it easier for customers to buy.

In retail, we know it’s about arranging products on shelves, curating assortments, and designing store layouts. It’s a very deliberate exercise in reducing friction for customers so they’ll buy more.

In B2B, it’s not about walking into a store—it’s about navigating a digital catalog. And there’s so much opportunity for us to apply the same merchandising principles from retail in a digital B2B setting.

For example, if a customer needs a specific component, does your system suggest relevant accessories or compatible products? Are there replenishment reminders for recurring purchases? Can customers easily configure complex product assemblies without having to talk to five different sales reps?

These are all merchandising opportunities. And they directly reduce friction in the buying process.

Another key area is hybrid workflows between sales reps and eCommerce. Customers often want a seamless handoff—they might start with a salesperson, complete an order online, and then have questions later. If those experiences are disjointed, it creates friction.

In B2B, merchandising also includes things like product configuration tools. Think about industries like electrical or plumbing, where products are complex and often sold in assemblies or kits. Most eCommerce experiences today are SKU-based—they’re not built to handle configuration.

But what if customers could assemble an order digitally, configure it to their needs, and check out without any back-and-forth emails or phone calls? That’s B2B merchandising in action.

And when we reduce friction like this, the natural result is that customers buy more, more often, and with higher satisfaction.

Aaron: That’s such a good point. And by the way, great Gimbels reference earlier. If I aged myself by referencing CDs, you definitely took it back with Gimbels.

Jay: (Laughs) Yeah, I’ve never actually been to Gimbels—I just remember it from stories and movies. It was always Macy’s versus Gimbels.

Aaron: Classic. But back to your point on merchandising—it’s such an underutilized concept in B2B, and I see so much opportunity there. One of the common themes I hear at events is the challenge around product data.

It’s a recurring pain point, especially for distributors. They often get flat files from suppliers—16-character SKU descriptions that barely make sense. And yet, their customers often rely on expertise rather than data to identify the exact six-inch fitting they need for a specific application.

Does B2B Squared help with product data enrichment? And if so, who stands to benefit most from those improvements?

Jay: Absolutely, we do. We work with a number of distributors to help with product data enrichment. And you’re right—it’s a massive problem.

I was at an event earlier this year, one I hadn’t attended in several years. And you know what? The conversations around product data were exactly the same as they were five or six years ago.

Despite all the AI tools and advancements available today, product data remains one of the biggest hurdles in B2B eCommerce.

One of the most overlooked aspects isn’t just cleaning up product data—it’s about enriching it to enable better connections between products. For example, if you know which accessories typically go with a particular SKU, you’re in a position to suggest those add-ons to customers in real-time.

If you can do that effectively, your customers will naturally start buying more because you’re reducing decision-making friction for them.

This is also where partner collaboration comes into play. Forrester’s latest report highlighted how manufacturers and distributors need to collaborate better. Imagine if manufacturers provided configurators or enriched product files that distributors could plug directly into their eCommerce platforms.

That’s still rare today, but I’m optimistic. The technology is there, and I think we’ll see more of these partnerships emerge in the next few years.

Aaron: That’s such a critical insight. It’s fascinating—and a little frustrating—that product data is still such a major hurdle despite all the tools we have today. But you’re right: the technology exists, and it feels like we’re on the cusp of better collaboration between manufacturers and distributors.

So let’s shift gears a little. When we talk about digital transformation, product data, merchandising, and everything else, it all ties back to customer data. And I know this is something you’re particularly passionate about.

In your experience, what are companies often missing when it comes to leveraging customer data effectively? What’s the blind spot that you see over and over again?

Jay: Oh, I love this question because it’s something I’ve been diving deep into over the past year or so. Honestly, the answer is simple: customer data is the biggest missed opportunity in B2B.

We talk so much about product data—and rightfully so—but customer data is often neglected or, at best, scattered across disconnected systems.

Here’s the reality: in B2B, we don’t sell to individuals. We sell to companies. But most data tools out there are built for B2C use cases—they’re designed around individual consumer behavior, not around organizational relationships.

In most B2B companies, customer data is fragmented. You’ll have one part of the data in the CRM, another part in an ERP, some of it in spreadsheets, and probably a lot of it in someone’s head.

To truly leverage customer data, it needs to be organized, actionable, and account-centric. It needs to enable segmentation, trigger workflows, and support personalization at scale.

Aaron: That’s such an important distinction. We talk about personalization a lot in B2C, but in B2B, it’s not about personalizing for a single user—it’s about understanding the account-level behavior and all the different roles within that account.

Jay: Exactly. In a typical B2B buying journey, you’ll have multiple stakeholders at a single account. There’s the procurement manager, the engineer, the product manager, and maybe a few others. Each of them interacts with your platform and sales team in different ways.

But how many companies are actually tracking and connecting those interactions across the account? How many are building workflows or campaigns that recognize those different roles and align with them?

And let’s not even start on segmentation. Most B2B companies sell the same product into multiple market segments. But are they segmenting their accounts effectively? Are they crafting messages, campaigns, or workflows tailored to each segment?

In most cases, the answer is no.

Aaron: That’s such a missed opportunity. I’ve worked with companies that are about to invest heavily in some shiny new marketing automation or CRM system. And the first thing I always tell them is: “Get your data in order first.”

Because no matter how powerful the tool is, if your customer data is messy, fragmented, or incomplete, you’ll never get the ROI you’re hoping for.

Jay: Absolutely. The success of these systems depends entirely on the quality and structure of the data feeding into them.

And honestly, it’s not just about historical data—it’s also about behavioral data. How are customers interacting with your website? What are they searching for? What products are they viewing but not buying?

If you can connect historical data, behavioral data, and account-level insights into a single unified view, you’ll unlock so much potential for personalization, automation, and smarter decision-making.

Aaron: You just described the holy grail of B2B customer insights. And yet, so many companies are still at the very beginning of this journey.

So, let’s zoom out for a moment. If a Chief Digital Officer or CMO is listening to this podcast and thinking, “Okay, Jay, where do I even start?”—what’s your advice? What’s the first step they should take to get their customer data in order?

Jay: The first step is to map your customer data ecosystem. Identify every place customer data lives today—your CRM, ERP, spreadsheets, eCommerce platform, marketing automation tools, etc.

Then ask yourself: Is this data connected? Is it clean? Is it actionable?

If the answer is no, start there. Focus on unifying your customer data into a single source of truth. And don’t try to boil the ocean—start small. Pick one or two critical use cases, like account segmentation or replenishment reminders, and build from there.

Aaron: That’s fantastic advice. It’s about creating a strong foundation before trying to scale up automation or advanced analytics.

Let’s circle back to something you said earlier about digital transformation initiatives. In your experience, what’s one thing companies often miss when they’re launching these projects?

Jay: Customer data, hands down. If customer data isn’t a core part of your digital transformation initiative, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

You can have the best platform, the best workflows, and the best team—but if you don’t have clean, actionable customer data, you’re just guessing.

And beyond that, companies often underestimate the cultural and organizational change that comes with digital transformation. These aren’t just technology projects—they’re people projects. You’re changing how teams work, how customers interact with your business, and how decisions are made.

Aaron: That’s such a good point. Digital transformation isn’t just about buying software—it’s about transforming your processes, your culture, and the way you deliver value to customers.

Jay: Exactly. And that’s why leadership alignment is so critical. If the executive team isn’t aligned and committed to the long-term vision, it’s incredibly hard to drive real change.

Aaron: Absolutely. Alright, Jay, one last serious question before we wrap up with a fun one: What’s one thing you know now that you wish younger Jay knew when you first started in B2B eCommerce?

Jay: That’s a great question. I think the biggest lesson is that B2B eCommerce is incredibly complex.

When I first started, I thought it was just about setting up a digital catalog and letting customers place orders online. But the reality is so much more nuanced.

There are complex pricing models, intricate approval workflows, product configuration challenges, and so many other variables at play. It’s not just a technology problem—it’s a people, process, and technology problem.

If I could go back, I’d tell myself to embrace that complexity and lean into solving those hard problems. Because that’s where the real value is created.

Aaron: That’s such a great insight. It’s not just about the technology—it’s about making it all work together in a way that creates value for everyone involved.

Alright, time for the fun question. What’s one piece of media—could be a book, podcast, movie, TV show, anything—that you’ve enjoyed recently?

Jay: I’ve been spending some time listening to Amy Porterfield’s podcast. She does an incredible job breaking down digital marketing strategies, especially around digital education and online courses.

And while her focus is more B2C, there are so many principles and ideas that can be applied in the B2B world as well.

Aaron: Great recommendation! We’ll include a link to that in the show notes. Jay, this has been such a fantastic conversation. Thank you for sharing your expertise and insights.

And to all our listeners, thanks for tuning in to the B2B Uncut Podcast, brought to you by OroCommerce.