Digital Sales Transformation

What is Digital Sales Transformation?

Digital sales transformation (DST) is the process of integrating digital technologies into all aspects of a company’s sales operations. It is a subset of the broader business cultural shift, Digital Transformation (DX).

Digital transformation in sales includes everything from automating repetitive tasks to using data analytics to understand customers and market trends better. The goal of digital sales transformation is to make the sales process more efficient and effective, resulting in increased revenues and profits. Businesses must first invest in the right digital tools and platforms to achieve this goal. They also need to create a digital sales strategy that outlines how to use these technologies to drive growth.

Digital sales transformation can be a daunting task, but it is essential for businesses that want to stay competitive in today’s market. Those who can successfully implement digital sales transformation will be well-positioned to reap the rewards of increased sales, improved customer relationships, and higher revenue.

Synonyms

• DST
• Digital transformation in sales
• Sales transformation

What is Driving Digital Sales Transformation?

What’s driving digital sales transformation? In a word: data. The vast amounts of data now available to businesses completely changed the sales landscape. Companies now have a much clearer picture of their customers and what they need and want. This, in turn, allows businesses to create more targeted and effective sales strategies.

Data is also driving another major change in sales: the move from a product-centric to a buyer-centric approach. In the past, companies would develop a product and then try to find customers who wanted to buy it. Today, the process is reversed. First, businesses identify their ideal customer and then create a product that appeals to them.

According to Statista, in 2020, 37% of companies were expected to grow the digitization of the customer experience. This customer-centric approach is made possible by data-driven insights into what customers want and need.  With this information, businesses can develop products perfectly tailored to their target market, making it much easier to close sales.

Forrester reports three key trends driving the need for sales leaders to transform their organizations digitally.

• B2B buyers are increasingly conducting more of their purchase journey online and are demanding a frictionless customer experience.
• The subscription economy is expanding quickly. Customers and B2B buyers want to test goods and services, pay for them monthly or annually, and discontinue their subscription if they aren’t receiving the desired return.
• Finally, data is readily accessible; as a result, purchasers demand highly customized interactions from salespeople.

The Benefits of Digital Transformation for Sales Leaders

Digital transformation is not a magic bullet, but it can be a powerful strategy for sales leaders who want to improve the performance of their teams. The benefits of digital transformation include:

1. Helping sales teams become more efficient and effective. By automating tasks and processes, sales teams can reduce time spent on administrative work and focus more on selling.
2. Helping sales teams better understand their customers. Using data and analytics, sales teams can identify trends and patterns and develop more targeted marketing and selling strategies.
3. Helping sales teams improve their relationships with customers.

Why B2B Sales Organizations Need a Digital-First Approach

Businesses are increasingly turning to digital-first approaches to stay ahead of the competition. This is especially true in the case of sales, where technology can help companies reach new markets and tap into new customer segments. There are several reasons why going digital is essential for sales teams.

1. Digital sales transformation platforms can help businesses reach more customers and prospects. With the right tools, businesses can connect with customers and prospects through multiple channels, including social media, email, and even chatbots.

2. Digital-first approaches can help sales teams automate repetitive tasks and processes. This frees up time for salespeople to focus on more strategic tasks, such as building relationships with customers and developing new business opportunities.

3. Digital tools and technologies can help sales teams collect data and insights to improve performance. With the right data, businesses can track key sales metrics, understand customer behavior, and identify areas of opportunity.

8 Ways to Increase Revenue with Digital Sales Transformation

Digital transformation is pivotal to increasing revenue and staying competitive in today’s market. By taking advantage of digital sales tools, implementing data-driven strategies, and increasing online visibility, your business can tap into new markets, increase sales productivity, and close more deals. Digital sales transformation is not something that can happen overnight. It’s a gradual process that requires careful planning and execution. But for businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s an essential undertaking. Here are five ways to digitally transform your sales organization.

1. Understand Your Customers’ Digital Buying Behavior

Digital transformation is revolutionizing the way businesses operate and customers interact. Businesses need to understand their customers’ buying behavior and how to optimize their digital presence accordingly. Customers expect a seamless and personalized experience when they interact with businesses online. Creating a frictionless customer experience should be a top priority if you want to increase revenue. 

There are a few key factors that influence digital customer buying behavior:

The digital channels they use

Customers today have more options than ever before when it comes to digital channels. They can purchase products and services online, through social media, or even via chatbots. Businesses need to identify which digital channels their target customers use most often and focus their efforts on these channels.

Their level of comfort with digital technology

Some customers are more comfortable with digital technology than others. This can influence how they search for and purchase products and services. For example, customers who are less comfortable with digital technology may be more likely to use search engines like Google to find what they’re looking for, while those who are more comfortable may be more likely to use social media or chatbots.

Their buying journey

Customers all have different buying journeys. Some may prefer to do their research online before making a purchase, while others may be more impulsive and buy something as soon as they see it. Customer buying behavior is constantly evolving, so businesses need to stay on top of the latest trends to ensure they provide the best possible digital experience for their customers.

2. Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams

To digitally transform your sales organization, it’s vital to align your sales and marketing teams. Customers move quickly and easily between channels. They may start their research on a company’s website but then move to social media or even offline sources like word-of-mouth before purchasing.

Sales and marketing teams need to work together closely to ensure that the customer journey is smooth and seamless. By aligning your teams, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goals.

3. Re-Allocate Sales Resources & Roles

As digital transformation increasingly becomes a business priority, organizations are looking for ways to re-allocate their sales resources and roles to better support this shift. Many sales organizations are already beginning to invest in new digital capabilities, such as social selling and digital marketing. However, these initiatives can only be successful with the right staff and resources to support them.

To ensure that your sales organization can successfully support digital transformation, consider the following:

• The skills and experience of your sales team
• The type of customers you are selling to
• The products and services you are selling
• The sales channels you are using

Once you have considered these factors, you can begin to identify the sales resources and roles best suited to supporting the digital transformation process.

Organizations are also beginning to invest more in sales enablement, which is critical to supporting digital transformation. Sales enablement functions help to ensure that sales teams have the necessary skills and knowledge to sell in a digital world.

4. Invest in Technology

The second step to digital sales transformation is investing in the right technology. Your sales team needs to have the best sales tools. This means investing in technology like customer relationship management (CRM) software, sales intelligence software, configure price quote and sales proposal automation tools, digital sales rooms, and social media monitoring tools. Your sales team will stay one step ahead of the competition by having the right technology in place

5. Automate Sales Workflows

Sales teams have always been quick to adopt new technologies to help them close more deals and grow their business. However, there has been a digital transformation in the sales process in recent years, with new tools and applications being developed to automate various sales workflows.

A sales workflow is the process that salespeople use to move a deal from initial contact to a closed sale. By automating sales workflows, businesses can improve efficiency and close more deals. There are several ways to automate sales workflows. One popular method is to use a CRM (customer relationship management) system. CRM systems can automate many sales tasks, such as lead generation, contact management, and deal tracking.

Another way to automate sales workflows is to use a sales automation tool. Sales automation tools are designed to help salespeople manage their deals and contracts, and can automate various administrative tasks such as emailing prospects and sending reminders.

6. Implement a Deal Desk or Automate Approvals

The next step to digital sales transformation is implementing processes and workflows for deal approvals. To be successful, you need to clearly understand your sales process and the steps required for a deal to be closed. To this end, many organizations are building a deal desk team within their Sales Operations or Revenue Operations departments. A deal desk is a dedicated team within an organization that is responsible for reviewing and approving all sales deals. The deal desk ensures that all sales deals are compliant with company policies and procedures and any applicable laws and regulations. 

Another option is to automate approvals based on rules and logic built into a CPQ tool. Automating approvals ensures there are pricing guardrails on all deals generated in the CPQ.

7. Train and Coach Your Team

A crucial step in digitally transforming your sales organization is training and coaching your team. Your team needs to be up-to-date on the latest digital sales techniques and strategies.

Sales coaching software enables sales leaders to help their sales reps improve their performance. The software provides sales teams with the ability to track their sales numbers, set goals, and receive feedback about their performance. In addition, some sales coaching software analyzes sales reps’ customer interactions to help sales teams make data-driven decisions that will improve sales rep performance and close more deals.

8. Gather Data and Measure Results

The final step to digital sales transformation is gathering data and measuring your results, then using this data to make improvements. 

Customer data: Data-driven sales processes use customer data to create customer profiles, which help sales teams identify and target the right prospects. By understanding their ideal customers, companies can tailor their sales processes to be more effective.

Sales KPIs: Sales metrics include response time, length of the sales cycle, the number of deals closed, the win rate, and the average deal size. By tracking your progress, you can make sure that you’re making the necessary adjustments to achieve your goals.

Tips for Digital Sales Transformation Success

As digital transformation continues to change the way businesses operate, Sales Operations need to keep pace with new technology and processes being implemented across the organization and within other organizations in their industry. 

Here are a few tips for success:

• Define what digital transformation means for your business. Is it about improving customer experience? Is it about automating processes? Is it about both? Once you know what digital transformation means for your business, you can start to develop a plan.
• Get buy-in from all stakeholders. A digital sales transformation can’t be successful if not everyone is on board. Make sure you involve all stakeholders in the planning process and get their input.
• Be realistic about what can be achieved. Digital transformation is a big undertaking, so set realistic goals. Trying to do too much at once will lead to frustration and failure.
• Implement changes gradually. Once you’ve developed a plan, start implementing changes gradually. Not every change needs to happen overnight.
• Communicate with your team. Digital transformation can be disruptive, so keep your team informed of changes. Make sure they understand why the changes are being made and how they will benefit.
• Monitor results and adjust as needed. Be prepared to make adjustments to your plan as you go. Digital transformation is an ongoing process, so be flexible and adapt as needed.

DST for the Modern Buyer

Today’s buyers are more sophisticated and digital-savvy than ever before. They have access to a wealth of information and resources, and they expect a higher level of service and engagement from the companies they do business with. As a result, sales organizations must go digital to remain competitive.

Digital transformation is not just about technology; it’s about rethinking the entire sales process from top to bottom. By integrating digital tools and strategies into every step of the sales journey, companies can better engage buyers, shorten sales cycles, and close more deals.

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