In manufacturing, pricing is everything for advancing the bottom line. With 56 percent of B2B engineers reaching their second or third stage in the buying process before even making contact with a vendor’s sales team, it’s imperative that manufacturers stay on the cutting-edge of sales strategies to remain relevant.

Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud recently enabled seamless integration with rebate management in Revenue Cloud, an enticing possibility for many manufacturers looking for new ways to gain loyal customers. But before manufacturers dive headfirst into building and supporting rebate programs, it’s important to consider the strategy at large. Sales leaders at manufacturing organizations must recognize that rebate offerings are a lever, but they’re not the only lever in the sales repertoire. There are many creative ways to use the Salesforce platform to enable a strong B2B or B2B2C pricing strategy.

But if rebates are on the agenda for your company’s future, it’s crucial you integrate this option wisely. In this article, I’d like to discuss the best approach in the industry for addressing rebates. This includes defining your pricing strategy at large, aligning with sales KPIs, and enabling sales and marketing teams to follow through on the benefits of rebates.

Define your strategy precisely

Before you can hash out the nitty-gritty details of a rebate offering, you need to consider whether or not a rebate program makes sense with your larger sales approach to begin with. What are your other win strategies already in place and how would a rebate program add to this, as opposed to competing with it? What kind of behavior are you hoping to grow in your customer base by way of rebates? Why do rebates make more sense than other promotional or pricing options available to your organization? Why would my target market be incentivized by a rebate program? Do your competitors offer similar strategies that customers have come to expect?

If you have the right pricing structures in place, rebates might make perfect sense and be a viable way to gain new customers and grow revenue. The big appeal is that you not only sell more products but also…

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