What does a B2B business need from its software?

A business that sells to other businesses needs software that knows who each customer is, what that customer pays, and what that customer needs on the paperwork. Most B2B customers are companies, some are sole traders and a few are private people. Each buys at its own price, often on account, and expects its quotes and tax invoices in its business's name, with its tax number. Below are the eleven things to look for, then which of them RPM does today, which it doesn't yet, and a short narrated video of the ones it does.

What a B2B business needs from its software

Customers that are businesses, and the people behind them

A trade customer is a business, with a trading name, a registration number and a tax number, and a person who places the orders. A sole trader is both at once. The software should hold all of it in one record, without making you decide up front which kind of customer it is, and put the right name and tax number on every document. Suppliers are no different.

A price for each kind of customer

A workshop expects trade prices, a fleet expects better, and the walk-in customer pays retail. The software should keep a price for each kind of customer, put the right one on every line by itself, and let you set next month's prices before next month.

Fields of your own

Every trade records something no software ships with: a delivery route, the day a credit application was signed, whether a customer needs an order number on every invoice. Without a place for it, it ends up in a notes box or a spreadsheet, where nobody can search for it.

From quote to invoice without retyping

Business customers ask for a quote, then order, then expect the invoice to match the order. Every time one document is typed again from another, something goes wrong.

Selling on account

Most business customers buy now and pay later. You need a credit limit for each of them, a statement whenever they ask for one, and to know who owes what, and for how long.

Buying on account

Your suppliers sell to you the same way. Orders, deliveries and bills should be checked against each other before anything is paid.

Branches, and who does what

A growing trade business opens a second branch, and its people work across both. Each person should use only what their job needs, and every change should leave a trail.

Knowing who your best customers are

A handful of customers often bring most of the sales. You should see who they are, who is new, who came back and who has gone quiet, without building a report first.

Payment terms and discounts

Thirty days from statement, a discount for paying early, a better price for buying by the pallet: business customers negotiate, and the software should apply what was agreed.

Ordering online

Many business customers would rather place a repeat order, or find last month's invoice, themselves at ten at night than phone you in the morning.

Other currencies

If you buy or sell across a border, you need prices, invoices and payments in the other party's currency.

How RPM does it

• Customers that are businesses, and the people behind them. Every customer and supplier is one kind of record, which holds a person's details and a business's. A customer is the person you deal with (their names, and their ID or passport number) and, when they trade as a business, its trading name, registration and tax numbers and bank details. A sole trader is simply both. A supplier is kept as a business, with its directors and bank details. Quotes, sales orders and tax invoices name a business by its trading name, with its tax number, and a person by their name.
• A price for each kind of customer. Price levels are your price lists (Retail, Trade, Fleet, or as many as you need), and each customer is given one. Every stock item has a price at each level, with its cost and the day it applies from, and to if it ends, so next month's price can go in today and takes over on its day. When an item goes on a quote, sales order or invoice, the line is priced at the customer's level, and its tax is worked out with it. Prices are kept per level rather than per customer, so a customer with prices of their own needs a level of their own. Purchase orders and goods in are costed the same way, from the cost price.
• Fields of your own. On Attributes you add fields to customers, suppliers, stock and every kind of document, from quotes to supplier invoices: a line of text, a few lines, a number, a date, a time, a tick, or a list to choose from. Each can be required, and placed and sized on the form. They appear under Additional Details on the form, print on its documents and filter its list, and every branch of the company has the same ones. Give a quote's field and an order's field the same code, and the value goes with the quote when it becomes an order.
• From quote to invoice without retyping. A quote becomes a sales order with Convert to Sales Order, and the order an invoice with Convert to Invoice, its customer, lines and your own fields carried across. An accepted quote can no longer be changed, and can't become a second order. From the invoice, Take Payment, Credit Note and Dispatch each start the next document.
• Selling on account. Each customer's account has a credit limit: 0 means pay before you buy, and -1 no limit at all. RPM won't issue an invoice that would take a customer past their limit; take a payment first, or raise the limit. A customer's statement, for whatever dates you choose, prints as a PDF or saves as a CSV from their record, and Books prints who owes what, and for how long, as Aged Debtors.
• Buying on account. A purchase order becomes a goods in with Receive Goods, and the delivery a supplier invoice, which can't bill more than arrived. Supplier payments settle what you owe, and each supplier's account prints from their record.
• Branches, and who does what. A company can open branches, and a person can work in more than one, choosing which as they sign in. User groups decide which screens each person can use, and every change to a record is kept in its history.
• Knowing who your best customers are. The Customer Insights dashboard shows how many customers bought in the period, how many were new and how many came back, your best customers with their last invoice, how much of your sales the top ten bring, and how customers pay. Scout answers questions of your own, and the 360 view shows everything a customer is linked to.

RPM doesn't do these yet:

• Payment terms and discounts. Invoices carry no due date or terms, and there are no early-payment, line or volume discounts. A customer's account runs as one balance, and Aged Debtors ages what is owed from when it was charged.
• Ordering online. There is no shop or portal where customers order, or find their invoices and statements, for themselves.
• Other currencies. RPM works in one currency, your company's.

If you need any of these, write to support@rpmcode.com and tell us how you work.

See it in under two minutes

Play the 113-second video

Every screen in the video is in the user guide, a step at a time.