Being tasked with launching a B2B e-commerce operation can be a scary undertaking, but there are ways to prepare that make it less so.

The year is 1993. I’m 18 years old and I’m watching my parents drive away after dropping me off at Indiana University Bloomington.  After I’m merely a speck in their rearview mirror, a mix of emotions begin to set in. The first is Fear. Fear of not choosing the right classes. Fear of starting a new social life. Fear of finding my way around campus. And fear of how I’m going to chart a course to better my life.

That’s me in the IU sweatshirt, 1993.

After a few days, I start to get a bit more comfortable with my surroundings, start meeting some people and start gathering as much information about my new life as I can. Being that the World Wide Web has not yet caught much momentum, I use the resources available to me to piece together the next steps for my college career. 

My strategy was to get in front of those that have been down this path before, solicit their guidance while at the same time educating myself with nearly all of the options that were available to me (classes, clubs, intramural sports, fraternities, good pizza…). 

I had never had so many important choices to make at one time, and many of those choices would have a huge impact in shaping my future.

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If you’re walking into a B2B company and have been tasked with overhauling or starting e-commerce from scratch, you’re in the same boat that I was in when my parents bid me adieu back in ’93.

You’re experiencing the same emotions. Fear of not knowing where to begin. Fear of not fully understanding your options. And fear of not being able to identify or evaluate the options that are available to you (e-commerce software, mobile, social, e-marketing, e-procurement…).

Your first instinct—tapping into the web to start your business journey—was the right one. You tapped into the most informative resource that has ever existed, the World Wide Web. You have a head start but you’re underwater trying to make heads or tails of how to choose the right software, how to identify the best vendors and especially how to prioritize the huge list of go-forward options.

When I was struggling to chart my course at IU, I sought out those that had been there before me.  I connected with upper classmen, teachers and administrators to advise and help me build a plan. 

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You should be doing the same thing with your e-commerce strategy.  Find those that have been successful with this journey to advise you.  Help them to analyze your current situation.  Work with them to build out your roadmap and start early with a test and measurement culture. 

Not all B2B companies are created equal. Your products, services and customer base are different from those of your closest competitors. As easy as it would be to mimic your competitors, you’ll only know what they’re doing at a cursory level. You need a bespoke strategy that fits perfectly with your company and you need experts to advise and shepherd you.

Understandably, finding the right expertise in this space is not a walk in the park.

After a short time at IU, I found my way with the help of others that had blazed these trails before me. With their guidance, I was able to maximize my experience, my education and my enjoyment of that special place.

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For B2B e-commerce, the help is also there, through social media, at conferences and in business networks, among other sources. Tap into it and make a plan. 

Mike Mayer is director of e-business strategy and commerce at distributor Crescent Electric Supply Co., a family-owned distributor founded in 1919. At Crescent, Mayer launched cesco.com, a related mobile site and apps, and the company’s first e-catalog for 250,000 products. He has also held various e-commerce and technology-related positions at companies including Thermo Fisher Scientific and Capgemini Ernst & Young. Follow him at LinkedIn.com/in/ecommerceexec.

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