What free resources does Express B2B offer for B2B distributors?

Express B2B offers six free downloads: a B2B Customer Account Setup Template (Excel), The B2B Portal Adoption Playbook (PDF), a B2B Portal Vendor Comparison Matrix (Excel), a New Customer Welcome Email Pack (5 ready-to-send email templates), an Order Approval Policy Template (fillable PDF), and a Catalog & Pricing Readiness Checklist (pre-launch audit PDF). All are free with an email address.

What is included in the B2B customer account setup template?

The B2B Customer Account Setup Template is an Excel spreadsheet with four worksheets: Customer Accounts (company name, contacts, payment terms, credit limits, price list assignments, and approval thresholds), Ship-to Locations (delivery addresses, receiving contacts, dock availability, and delivery instructions), Price Lists (negotiated rates, effective dates, and assigned accounts), and a Welcome sheet with instructions. It includes dropdown data validation and sample rows to guide you.

How do I successfully roll out a B2B ordering portal to my customers?

The key is a phased rollout: start with your 3–5 easiest accounts (regular reorders, tech-comfortable buyers), walk them through their first order live, then expand by tier over 6–8 weeks. Most failed rollouts happen because distributors launch to everyone at once or treat it as a software launch instead of a process change. The B2B Portal Adoption Playbook (free download) covers the full 3-phase approach, objection-handling scripts, and 30/60/90-day adoption milestones.

How do I compare B2B ordering portal vendors?

Evaluate vendors across six categories: catalog and pricing (per-account price lists, volume tiers, catalog visibility), ordering (multi-site support, approval workflows, PO numbers), account management (billing hierarchy, site permissions), technical (API access, SSO, webhooks), commercial (subscription cost, transaction fees, trial), and support. The free B2B Portal Vendor Comparison Matrix includes 50+ criteria pre-filled for Express B2B with blank columns for up to three competitors and your current process.

What should I document before setting up a B2B ordering portal?

Before configuring a B2B ordering portal, document: every customer account with their negotiated pricing and price list assignment, all ship-to locations with accurate addresses and receiving contacts, approval thresholds per billing account, and which users are authorized to order for which accounts. The most common cause of poor buyer adoption is misconfigured accounts — wrong prices or missing products — which is fixed by thorough pre-launch documentation. Use the free Account Setup Template to capture this data in a structured format.

What emails should I send when launching a B2B ordering portal?

A successful portal launch needs at least five customer-facing emails: an initial invite explaining what the portal is and why they should use it, a first-order walkthrough with step-by-step instructions, a 14-day follow-up for accounts that haven't placed an order yet, an order confirmation that reinforces the reorder process, and a 30-day check-in to embed the habit. The free New Customer Welcome Email Pack includes copy-and-personalize templates for all five.

How should I set up order approval thresholds for B2B customers?

Define approval thresholds by dollar amount and account type: for example, orders under $500 auto-approve, orders $500–$2,000 require location manager approval, and orders above $2,000 require a finance or operations manager. Document who holds each role, who covers when they're unavailable, and what happens if no approver responds within 24 hours. The free Order Approval Policy Template includes a fillable threshold table, approver hierarchy, and escalation procedure with a completed example.

How do I know if my product and pricing data is ready for a B2B portal?

Run a pre-launch audit across four areas: product data completeness (every SKU has a name, description, unit of measure, and base price), per-customer pricing documentation (each account's negotiated rates are in a spreadsheet, not someone's head), ship-to locations (every delivery address has a receiving contact, phone number, and delivery instructions), and user access mapping (you know which users should see which accounts and sites). The free Catalog & Pricing Readiness Checklist covers 28 product criteria and walks through each area with yes/no questions.

Free resources

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B2B ordering

Free templates and guides built for B2B distributors — useful today, regardless of what platform you're on.

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Excel template

B2B Customer Account Setup Template

A structured spreadsheet to document every customer account before you configure a B2B portal — or just to get your data in order.

What's inside

Customer accounts — billing contacts, payment terms, credit limits
Ship-to locations — addresses, receiving contacts, delivery notes
Price lists — negotiated rates, effective dates, assigned accounts
Data validation dropdowns — no free-text errors

PDF guide · 8 pages

The B2B Portal Adoption Playbook

How to get your customers to actually use a self-service ordering portal — from pre-launch prep to handling the buyer who insists on calling.

What's inside

The 3 mistakes that kill portal adoption
Phase 1–3 rollout plan with a pre-launch checklist
Invitation email template (copy and send)
Word-for-word responses to the 5 most common objections
30/60/90-day adoption milestones and metrics

Excel template

B2B Portal Vendor Comparison Matrix

50+ evaluation criteria pre-filled for Express B2B. Add your other vendors and score each one. Built for sharing with your team.

What's inside

6 evaluation categories — catalog, ordering, accounts, technical, commercial, support
Express B2B pre-filled so you're not starting from scratch
Blank columns for up to 3 competitors + your current process
Scoring guide — ✓ included, – not available, Partial

PDF guide · 5 templates

New Customer Welcome Email Pack

Five ready-to-send emails for rolling out your ordering portal — from the first invite through the 30-day reorder nudge. Copy, personalize, send.

What's inside

Portal launch invite — subject lines and body copy to copy
First-order walkthrough for buyers (step-by-step)
"Haven't ordered yet" 14-day follow-up
First successful order confirmation with reorder instructions
30-day check-in to reinforce the habit

PDF template · fillable

Order Approval Policy Template

A ready-to-fill doc for defining approval thresholds, who approves what, and what happens when your approver is unavailable — before you configure your workflow.

What's inside

Approval threshold table by dollar amount and account type
Approver hierarchy and role assignments
Escalation procedure for when the approver is unavailable
Emergency and override scenarios
Completed example for a 3-location distributor

PDF checklist

Catalog & Pricing Readiness Checklist

A yes/no audit to run before you configure a B2B portal. Most delayed launches trace back to gaps this checklist catches before they become blockers.

What's inside

Product data completeness audit (28 criteria)
Per-customer pricing and price list documentation check
Ship-to location and receiving contact verification
User access and permissions mapping
"Fix before launch" issue log to track gaps

Also useful

B2B Ordering Cost Calculator

See what manual order processing is costing your team annually

Platform features

Deep walkthrough of every feature in Express B2B

Live product walkthrough

Join a live demo — Tuesdays at 1 PM Central, free to attend

Also see

Templates explain the process. Case studies show the results.

See how real distributors and publishers made the switch — specific problems, specific numbers, honest implementation timelines.

Browse case studies

Ready to see the platform?

Book a 30-minute walkthrough tailored to your catalog structure, customer accounts, and ordering workflow.

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Tools to help you modernize
B2B ordering

B2B Customer Account Setup Template

The B2B Portal Adoption Playbook

B2B Portal Vendor Comparison Matrix

New Customer Welcome Email Pack

Order Approval Policy Template

Catalog & Pricing Readiness Checklist

Ready to see the platform?

Find out if Express B2B fits your operation

How do most of your customers send you orders today?

How much of your team's week goes into manually processing orders?

How confident are you that every order goes out at the right negotiated price?

When a customer ships to multiple locations, how does that work today?

What would you fix about your ordering process if you could?

Analysing your responses…

Where should we send them?

Check your inbox.

Tools to help you modernize B2B ordering

B2B Customer Account Setup Template

The B2B Portal Adoption Playbook

B2B Portal Vendor Comparison Matrix

New Customer Welcome Email Pack

Order Approval Policy Template

Catalog & Pricing Readiness Checklist

Ready to see the platform?

Find out if Express B2B fits your operation

How do most of your customers send you orders today?

How much of your team's week goes into manually processing orders?

How confident are you that every order goes out at the right negotiated price?

When a customer ships to multiple locations, how does that work today?

What would you fix about your ordering process if you could?

Analysing your responses…

Where should we send them?

Check your inbox.

Tools to help you modernize
B2B ordering