eCommerce

Portal Development: How Sales Portals Boost Profits

Updated February 23  |  5 min read
solutionsbreadcrumb separatorsales portal
Key Takeaways
  • Sales portal development involves creating an online platform specifically designed for sales purposes, typically for eCommerce businesses.
  • These sales portals are vital tools as they offer a comprehensive solution for managing various aspects of the sales process. They provide a centralized hub where businesses can showcase their products, manage inventory, process orders, and handle customer interactions.
  • Sales portals enhance the customer experience by enabling easy browsing, personalized recommendations, and secure transactions. They also provide valuable data insights and analytics, allowing businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their sales strategies.
  • Ultimately, sales portals empower eCommerce businesses to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and maximize revenue potential in the competitive digital marketplace.

Improve Sales with a Successful Sales Portal

When creating a sales portal, it's crucial to ask: Who makes up your sales force and how do you ensure that they have all the sales tools and information they need in real time to “move the needle?”

This is the same problem virtually every company faces. Add in the many versions of collateral that you've ever produced and the fact that every person has a different version of each PDF saved somewhere or re-forwarded from another email, and you've got an almost impossible task of ensuring that your staff provides the most updated information to your hard-earned prospects. Version control becomes an obvious necessity.

An AI-powered sales portal can improve traditional sales processes and sales enablement

A Portal Provides What the Sales Team Needs

Sales is the lifeblood that drives your business and keeps the doors open, and sales teams are a vital part of the sales process. This means that executive and marketing staff everywhere are scrambling to build and provide collateral, fill out RFPs, create videos, attend events, and more so that sales can't blame them for not having the right piece of collateral that could have “sealed the deal.”

So we continue to invest time and energy creating and re-creating every piece of conceivable collateral that sales claim the prospects need, without considering a strategy to re-use and update the collateral as the information changes.

Clarity Ventures has built sales portals for less than $10k all the way up to $200k. It all depends on what you need. The most important thing is to find a business partner that's an expert at portal development and can help you sort out what you need but provide all the extras as you grow into needing them.

So what software does it take to build an eCommerce portal? Technically, it's mostly a CMS (Content Management System), with a number of specific features, capabilities, and access controls. What are these extra features and capabilities that traditional sales portals don't have? Here's a short list of the most important ones, although you're not limited to anything:

Portal Software

So what exactly is sales portal software? Basically, it's the same as a CMS, or website-building software. The main difference is that it's designed to be more modular, meaning that it's designed to be highly customized to allow new functionality to be "snapped" onto the site to extend functionality to your specific needs.

The second is the ability to easily integrate it with other line-of-business applications. You can't have a great sales portal if you can't bring in all your sales collateral, leads registration, training materials, etc. into the site easily. Portals are designed to do just that.

Dynamic Content

What is dynamic content? It is relevant content that is served up dynamically in the portal only when it is supposed to. How? With granular access control. For example, if you have a page with 10 different partner price lists on it, you'd only want the appropriate price list to show up for each partner (i.e. Reseller sees the reseller pricing, Wholesales theirs, and so forth).

While this feature is easy to talk about, it's much less easy to provide unless the digital platform you chose has this built in as core functionality. That's why Clarity uses the platforms that we do, that provide this out-of-the-box, and easy so your team can quickly reap the benefits of a powerful, yet easy-to-use system.

Document Management System

Document management is core to a good sales portal. When a remote sales rep is heading to a demo and the prospect asks if you've got any case studies, white papers, testimonials, technical documentation, videos, etc. like theirs, the right sales portal software makes it easy to get all that information at their fingertips in seconds.

Never lose a deal because you didn't know if you had the proper information. A good DMS will also allows you to do version control, have drag and drop ease-of use, document subscriptions, favorites and more to ensure your sales department always has the latest and greatest information that marketing tools and development have produced. Involving the team in sales portal development is an excellent first step in the evolving sales process.

A sales portal can house sales and marketing materials for sales reps.

Ease of Communication

Wouldn't it be great if an outside sales rep logged into your sales portal and they could see a direct message from their inside rep, their contact info, picture, and an updated message? (E.g., "Hey guys, I'm out in San Francisco this week at Dreamforce. I hope if you're there, you'll call and we can get together. Here's my cell ###-####-####.")

What about the ability to get ahold of another sales rep? What about asking a question of the group? What does your portal do to promote support and collaboration? A good sales portal enables and improves engagement, as well as just providing information.

Compliance Enablement

One of our clients was a medical device manufacturer that we built a sales portal for and therefore had to maintain patient portal HIPAA compliance. Their biggest issue was that their sales reps kept requesting meetings, surgeries, and appointments that violated different compliance regulations. Sales never submitted all the information that was required, and there was no trail to help improve the process.

We performed their patient portal development and built a number of complex and custom workflows into the portal that enabled the sales team to make their requests while requiring the necessary information and enforcing the compliance elements at risk. It also tracked and reported statistics on every request so the company knew exactly where it needed to focus its sales support efforts.

Sales Toolbox

There are about 20 more features that we could share, but most fall under the category of sales tools. Sales portal tools could be simple forms to register opportunities, a scheduling calendar for event supplies, access to sales training materials, sales enablement collateral, approved marketing tools, forms to request MBO (marketing business objectives) funds, and tons more. These are just a few ideas to get you thinking.

Extensible, Yet Affordable

One of the most important things is that the solution provides you the ability to extend and enhance the solution. Your business is constantly changing, morphing, growing, merging, and much more. A successful sales portal needs to be able to do the same to match and stay ahead of the needs of your sales team. Your sales team is only as good as the tools that they've got available to them.

Finally, when you enhance sales portal performance, it shouldn't break the bank. This is true whether it's public-facing or a B2B sales portal. Just like moving into a new home, yes it's expensive, but if you paid cash for it, you'd hope that you'd only have utility expenses, at least until that additional deck or pool is added.

This holds true for any Clarity-built sales portal. Once you purchase the portal, the only ongoing expense is your hosting fees, which you have to pay for any online web property. Other than that, Clarity trains you to be able to manage, enhance and add to your portal. We'll always be here when you want to add the pool as well!

Marketing collateral and sales materials can be used on an AI-powered sales portal with just a few clicks.

Make the Most of Your Sales Portal

That's where a well-constructed sales, partner, or distributor portal can step up and help. We've helped hundreds of organizations with their websites over the years.

Improvements in technology allow us to use that same web technology to be configured to provide both public-facing information to the masses and dynamically controlled and tracked information to their sales force, both internal and external.

NEXT --> We Address Your Pains

 

Get Custom Sales Portal Functionality

Clarity has built sales portals for SMB to enterprise-level businesses. Our demo and sales presentations can better support your sales teams for high performance with your own sales portal.

Get A Free Demo
Online sales portal with relavant content for closing deals.

FAQ

 

A portal is a common term that normally means a purpose-built website. For example, a sales portal is a website that has specific features and content to help sales and marketing departments make sales operations more efficient.

A career portal could be like monster.com, indeed.com, or dice.com. Those are just websites with a very specific set of features and serve the specific purpose of showcasing jobs or helping people with their ability to apply for and build on their careers. Because there isn't much eCommerce associated with them, they don't need to be an online sales portal.

 

The cost of a great sales portal can vary significantly depending on various factors. These include the complexity of the sales portal's design and functionality, the extent of customization required, the size of the product catalog, and the integration with other systems such as payment gateways, marketing automation, and customer relationship management tools.

Also, the cost may be influenced by the expertise and rates of the development team or agency hired to create the sales portal. It is challenging to provide a specific cost without considering these factors. However, developing a great sales portal generally requires a considerable investment in terms of development, design, infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance.

 

When the content on the site is protected and served up behind a login, that’s usually what is meant by a secure client portal. That means that the business requires membership or partnership, sometimes a fee, to gain access to specific content or materials reserved for those clients. These can range from partner portals and sales portals to client portals.

 

Examples of portals that aren't sales portals include educational portals, government portals, and healthcare portals. Educational portals provide students and educators with access to educational resources, online courses, and academic information.

Government portals serve as a gateway to various government services, allowing citizens to access information, submit forms, and interact with government agencies.

Healthcare portals provide patients with secure access to their medical records, appointment scheduling, and communication with healthcare providers. These portals focus on providing specific services and information rather than facilitating sales transactions, making them valuable tools in their respective domains.

Some of these portals may also incorporate aspects of sales portals, making them hybrid models. For instance, a government site may allow a business owner to pay annual fees, and a healthcare portal may offer the ability to purchase medicine.

 

Sales portals serve as effective sales and marketing tools by providing a centralized platform for businesses to showcase their products or services, engage with customers, and facilitate transactions. Using a sales portal enables a business to create an online presence where potential customers can access detailed information, compare offerings, and make purchases conveniently.

Sales portals often incorporate features such as personalized user accounts, product catalogs, customer reviews, and secure payment gateways. A sales portal streamlines the business process by allowing sales reps to manage inventory, track orders, and provide customer support. By offering a seamless and user-friendly experience, sales portals enhance customer satisfaction and foster long-term relationships, ultimately boosting sales and revenue.

 

Online sales portal software plays a pivotal role in enhancing both sales and marketing efforts. Sales portals centralize information, enabling a sales team to access critical data like leads, customer profiles, and product details in real time. This streamlines the process for sales reps, leading to quicker responses and improved lead nurturing.

Sales portals also facilitates seamless communication between a marketing and sales team. Marketing can provide sales with tailored content and collateral, ensuring that they have the most effective resources at their disposal. This alignment ensures that the selling process is consistently aligned with marketing strategies, leading to a more effective approach and successful sales.

Sales portal software often enables robust analytics and reporting. Sales and marketing team members can track performance metrics, analyze customer behavior, and identify trends. This data-driven approach allows for more informed decision-making and increased sales enablement, helping teams adjust strategies and tactics for improving sales activity.

Online sales portal software often incorporates customer relationship management (CRM) tools, enabling sales teams to manage interactions, track leads, incorporate marketing content, and nurture relationships effectively to makes sales reps more effective. This enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately driving revenue growth thanks to successful sales portal implementation.

 

A sales portal can significantly enhance sales processes by providing a centralized platform for managing and streamlining various aspects of the sales cycle. It offers real-time access to product information, pricing, and inventory, enabling sales teams to make informed and timely decisions.

The ales portal facilitates efficient communication between team members, ensuring seamless collaboration and a more cohesive approach to customer interactions. A sales portal also allows for the automation of repetitive tasks such as order processing and tracking, freeing up valuable time for sales representatives to focus on building customer relationships and closing deals.

With analytics and reporting tools integrated into the sales portal, businesses can gain insights into sales performance, customer behavior, and market trends, empowering them to make data-driven decisions and optimize their strategies for greater success.

Overall, a sales portal serves as a powerful tool to enhance productivity, communication, and decision-making within the sales ecosystem..

 

Sales portals play a crucial role in optimizing sales funnels. They assist in lead generation and capturing by providing a centralized platform to collect and manage leads effectively. Using a sales portal in this way ensures potential customers and future business partners don't fall through the cracks.

Second, great sales portals aid in lead qualification and nurturing. Through integrated CRM tools and automation, they help track and categorize leads based on their likelihood to convert, helping a sales or marketing team prioritize efforts towards closing deals with the most promising prospects.

Sales portals facilitate timely and personalized communication with leads. Templates, email sequences, and follow-up reminders ensure that no opportunity is missed, and prospects receive relevant information at the right time.

When you enhance sales portal performance, you add valuable analytics and reporting, offering insights into the performance of different stages within the sales funnel. This data empowers sales teams to refine their strategies and make data-driven decisions for continuous funnel improvement.

 

An online sales portal serves as a centralized platform that delivers sales enablement so teams can streamline sales and enhance their effectiveness. Dedicated sales portal software provides easy access to a comprehensive database of products or services, enabling representatives to quickly retrieve relevant information. This facilitates faster sales reps response times to customer inquiries, bolstering customer satisfaction.

An online sales portal often integrates customer relationship management (CRM) tools, allowing teams to track interactions, leads, and deals. This promotes better relationship-building and personalized sales approaches. Managers using a sales portal can monitor progress through analytics and reporting features, offering insights into performance metrics, conversion rates, and revenue generation.

An online sales portal, as well as an accompanying app for mobile devices, facilitates collaboration among team members working on sales materials. It enables seamless communication, file sharing, and knowledge exchange, ensuring everyone is aligned and informed. This promotes a more cohesive and efficient workflow.

Also, sales and marketing automation capabilities within the sales portal software can streamline routine tasks associated with sales content, such as lead scoring or follow-up emails. This frees up so much time for sales and marketing to focus on high-value activities. It also aids in territory management and sales forecasting, optimizing resource allocation and revenue projections.

 

The timeline for sales portal development can vary widely depending on the complexity and specific requirements of the project. A basic online sales portal with standard features—a traditional sales portal—may take around 4 weeks to develop. This includes tasks such as requirement gathering, design, development, testing, and deployment.

However, for more complex portals with advanced functionalities like integration with third-party tools, custom reporting, and intricate user interfaces, the online sales portal development process could extend to 12-20 weeks or more. Factors such as the availability of resources, technology stack, and any unforeseen challenges can also impact the timeline.

It's crucial to conduct thorough planning and define clear objectives to ensure the project stays on track and meets the desired deadlines for you own sales portal. Regular communication between stakeholders and the development team is essential for a successful and timely delivery.

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Written by Stephen Beer
Stephen Beer is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures and has written about various tech industries for nearly a decade. He is determined to demystify HIPAA, integration, enterpise SEO features, and eCommerce with easy-to-read, easy-to-understand articles to help businesses make the best decisions.

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