From a click, pay and ship e-commerce site that lists solar equipment in industry language, to a platform for buyer and seller negotiations with add-on logistics and other services, Sunhub has continued to evolve to meet the solar industry’s procurement needs.
Seeing another industry gap, Sunhub is excited to release its Sales Portal. The portal was developed in response to the struggles of overseas manufacturers who often have limited sales teams and industry contacts to help them expand in the U.S. market.
Marketing challenges driving change
Currently, many manufacturers rely on distributors who may lack the on-hand inventory and brand-specific knowledge and experience required to effectively bring their products into various U.S. territories. Meanwhile, many distributors are faced with their own cash flow problems as they pay upfront for inventory that they may not be able to move as quickly as they need to make a return. Some have even been forced to close their doors.
Seeing the need to offer another way for new manufacturers to penetrate the market amongst competition while helping distributors reduce risk, Sunhub developed its Sales Portal. The portal serves as a customer relationship and order management platform that allows suppliers to conduct business with existing customers as well as new leads they acquire. Here’s a closer look at the upcoming Sales Portal and how its features can benefit manufacturers and distributors while bringing more inverter, panel and battery options to solar installers, developers and EPCs.
Sunhub sales portal benefits
Sunhub’s Sales Portal gives suppliers more options for listing their products in front of an online community of buyers—both publicly and privately.
For example, a supplier may want to send a listing link to a potential buyer but worries that its access to pages of other vendor options on the Sunhub Solar Trader Platform will cause distraction. Instead, the Sales Portal allows manufacturers and distributors to list their own deals on a private link. Companies can even duplicate a public listing to create a separate private link. This also allows offering different pricing on the same products to various buyers, as suppliers typically would when quoting.
Buyers can then accept or bid on the deal and clients can respond. Communications and transactions proceed just as they would on the Solar Trader Platform, offering the same direct communications and negotiations in a convenient chat-based interface, with Sunhub updating and generating a final contract and enabling add-on services as the trusted custodian of the deal.
The Sunhub Sales Portal also gives sales managers the freedom and flexibility to manage their teams and client lists. Each representative can have their own customer lists and chats within a company’s channel while managers can oversee everything and assign listings as needed. Entire teams can also access information that the company shares with the whole group.
Having typically sold through distributors, many suppliers don’t have digital marketing resources like a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, or an e-commerce website. The Sales Portal eliminates the need to invest precious resources into internal digital development, SEO and other marketing. Just as people buy through online marketplaces like Amazon without needing to visit a manufacturer’s site, buyers can make solar equipment choices on Sunhub by selecting the product features they need.
Also, recognizing that smaller and larger companies have differently structured teams, Sunhub offers support options in terms of help with pricing and publishing listings, managing sales activity, and conducting negotiations and other customer communications in the chat. Our operations team is here to help fulfill orders as needed depending on your preferred boundaries and goals, but we’re always here monitoring to ensure safe and secure transactions.
Sunhub’s Sales Portal will also offer additional marketing capabilities such as featured product listings, banner ads and promotional emails, whether suppliers want to send to their own contact lists or to Sunhub’s tens of thousands of shoppers. Using Sunhub enables manufacturers and distributors to reach a far larger audience for much less than they would spend trying to create brand awareness and generate leads on their own. They also benefit from Sunhub’s automation, which expedites the entire sales lifecycle, and add-on services that fill the gaps to close more deals.
Sales portal advantages
- Generate leads and build buyer relationships
- Separate team interfaces
- Access digital marketing resources
- Choose level of Sunhub support
- List and send deals privately
- Quote products differently
- Reduce transaction time
The Sunhub Sales Portal is just another way that Sunhub continues to innovate to meet buyer and seller needs for more efficient solar procurement. While the portal is set to launch later in 2024, solar buyers and suppliers are invited to learn more by visiting Sunhub at the RE+ 24 conference September 9-12 in Anaheim, California. Our team will be at the Anaheim Marriott’s Platinum Ballroom of in booth #MP503. We look forward to seeing you there!
As always, you can also feel free to shop our Solar Trader Platform and reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help.