If you’re an OEM that relies on another business to sell your parts or products to end customers, you want to set them up for success and make it easy for them to:

• Add your product to their lineup
• Educate themselves about your product’s features and benefits
• Competitively position your product to the customer
• Price and quote your product accurately
• Provide strong post-sale support that enhances your brand reputation

Manufacturing dealer portals are a popular solution to achieve these goals. And it’s easy to see why. Portals, by their very design, are intended to bring together information from multiple sources and repackage it for a specific use – like putting critical information at a dealer’s fingertips, whether on the sales floor, at a trade show, or in the warehouse.

If you’re an OEM that’s hesitant to build a portal because you’re concerned about the time, cost, and complexity of building one, we understand. A project like this can be a big undertaking. But if you stay focused on the result and work with a vendor experienced in building this type of site, the outcome is worth it.

This post explores how a manufacturing dealer portal can eliminate the three most significant pain points we’ve observed in the OEM/dealer relationship.

3 pain points a manufacturing dealer portal can solve

#1: Incorrect or outdated product information

You never know when a potential customer could walk into a dealership and ask an incredibly specific product detail question. “I love this watercraft, but can you tell me the total cubic feet of the aft storage compartment?” Or “What’s the tolerance for this bearing in a radial setting?”

In these cases, you don’t want the dealer to lose the sale because they don’t know or have access to your latest product specifications.

Dealer portals are product information workhorses that can bring together a range of product details and organize them for easy and intuitive use. Examples include:

• Detailed product specifications like dimensions, weight, materials, and features
• Marketing materials like sell sheets and battle cards
• Inventory, location, and lead time
• Images and videos
• Technical documentation, manuals, and installation guides
• Customer-facing product manuals
• Warranty details such as terms, coverage, and how to file a claim

Providing your dealer network with real-time access to your product information is now table stakes for OEMs. And it’s also the best way to ensure dealers are highly educated on your product, share accurate details with the end customers, and deliver the desired experience.

#2: Inaccurate pricing details

When you have complex pricing that changes in real-time based on various factors, it’s easier than anyone would like for a misquote to happen. A manufacturing dealer portal is a great solution here as well.

Dealer portals allow you to provide detailed, proprietary pricing information behind a log-in. Having this information password-protected lets you be more comprehensive and transparent about everything that goes into the customer’s final price. This could include:

• MSRP
• Dealer pricing
• Discounts and promotions
• Taxes and fees
• Shipping and handling

Having this detail readily available helps dealers more accurately answer customers’ pricing-related questions. It also increases their efficiency, allows them to make better decisions about pricing their inventory, and enhances customer service.

#3: Lack of clarity regarding post-sale support

So, your dealer made the sale. Awesome. Now your job is to ensure every post-sale touchpoint goes smoothly so the customer enjoys a great relationship with your brand. But how do you do that when many of the details, like managing product registrations or handling warranty claims, are driven by a third party?

Dealer portals help pull critical post-sale and customer-support information into one place designed for the unique OEM-dealer relationship. This could include:

• Tracking shipments
• Registering the product
• Viewing product manuals
• Requesting technical support
• Ordering parts
• Requesting repairs
• Managing warranties and claims

Ready to enhance your OEM dealer relationship with a manufacturing dealer portal?

Delivering product information, pricing detail, and post-sale support resources in a well-packaged manufacturing dealer portal makes it easier for dealers to focus on selling your product and providing excellent service. Other benefits of a dealer portal include the following:

• Reduced costs
• Improved customers satisfaction
• Increased sales
• Enhanced brand reputation

The trusted web development partner for manufacturing companies

We’re proud of our team’s track record of building dealer portals, but we know this is new territory for many of our manufacturing customers.

If you’re looking for a website development partner to build your manufacturing dealer portal, we’d offer this advice: Find a vendor with significant experience seamlessly integrating multiple data sources and packaging them together in an easy-to-use interface with great search.

We’re happy to walk you through our web development process and answer any questions about how a dealer portal can eliminate pain points in the OEM-dealer relationship. Contact us today.