The “digital, third industrial revolution” is replacing branch locations, field sales jobs and sales tasks. But salespeople are still needed with complex solution sales like cloud computing. Digital creates both new challenges and opportunities for all sales organizations. How can sales organizations adapt?
Digital Product/Service Offerings
Products become more digital. Sensors detect maintenance needs and suggest performance-enhancing adjustments, enhance customer value over time.
SALESTEAM ACTION:
- Show the customer how to best use the product to get most value.
- Increase digital product knowledge and help customers get value from digital features.
- Use digital tools to help buyers find solutions, compare alternatives, and assess the ongoing value of their purchases.
Digital Native Customers and Colleagues
With easier access to information, today’s customers explore options and gain insights before dealing with salespeople. The trend is accelerated by the growing majority of Digital Natives in the workforce, who are used to taking cues from peers and social networks and doing their own internet research.
SALESTEAM ACTION:
- Ensure that the information buyers get (through multiple channels and involved influencing parties) before engaging with salespeople puts your company in the best possible light.
- Identify opportunities where you can add value to the buying process – for this you first have to find out what customers have learned through their pre-buying research.
- Us Digital Natives’ tech skillset and creative mindset in sales roles (digital tools, LinkedIn, solution architects, customer-success mgt., team motivation and mgt.).
Multichannel Customer Contact
Today’s customers get information from multiple sources:
- company websites
- online videos
- Third party (review) websites
- text (whatsapp, LinkedIn messenger, …)
- field sales
- inside sales
SALESTEAM ACTION:
- Design and adapt the channel mix to ensure fit as technology, customer needs and channel preferences evolve
- Orchestrate the channels to create a consistent, synchronized multichannel customer buying experience (i.e. ensure the salesperson tells the same story as the website)
- Balance “push” versus “pull” information
Data-Driven Decisions
By collecting and analyzing phone/f2f call records you can gain insights replace gut-feel with data-driven strategies to improve sales effectiveness and answer questions like:
- Where to focus? Which target industries are most profitable?
- What is the best time of day to call?
- Which consultative sales techniques work best? (analyze and standardize top performer’s approach)
- How to leverage LinkedIn to find sales talent?
SALESTEAM ACTION:
- Use data analytics based decisions to improve sales strategy, resource deployment, talent management, sales team motivation, and customer engagement.