Businesses must adapt to digital or fail

Businesses that hesitated to embrace digital transformation find themselves at a disadvantage as the world economy contracts from the coronavirus pandemic.

Those who waited now face imminent peril. It’s a matter of digital or demise. 

Make no mistake, business hasn’t stopped. It is realigning. Quickly.

Amazon, for example, announced plans to hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery people.

Pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to meet demand. They are inundating suppliers with orders for packaging supplies. 

These companies, and smart ones like them, don't rely on person-to-person sales. It’s all happening on websites or apps using savvy digital marketing along with equally savvy sales reps. 

B2Bs Slow to Adopt Digital Transformation

While many consumer products companies turned to websites for selling products and engaging customers, many B2B businesses have not. Sales reps accustomed to cold-calling prospects, visiting clients, or attending trade shows now must find new ways to sell. Travel has stalled and face-to-face meetings are a health risk.

For the economy to recover requires more than digital marketing tied to sales. That represents only half of the equation.

What’s more, holding the fragile system together is not simply a matter of selling, but also buying.

Supplying the online retailers and drug manufacturers creates a ripple effect throughout the economy. It's more than hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Packaging requires ink for printing labels or boxes, and plastics and foil for packaging. It's a complex and, as we’re seeing, fragile ecosystem.

These operations hire employees from small communities like Jeffersonville, Indiana or larger metropolitan areas like Cincinnati, Ohio.

Fuel to Keep the Economic Engine Running

Governments around the world are proposing stimulus measures. In the United States, a proposed stimulus package in the range of $1.4 to $2 trillion would help struggling businesses and citizens. On the other side of the world, Australia could inject $11 billion into the economy down under. 

These measures can help stabilize the economy if the individuals and businesses they’re intended to help use the cash to buy goods and services.

It’s time to sell and buy.

Saving a stimulus payment for a rainy day is not the solution. Because, guess what, the storm has arrived and it’s a deluge.

A New Normal on the Horizon

Its unlikely business will return to the way things were before the onset of the pandemic. Already the pace of digital change described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution has accelerated the speed of innovation and accompanying disruption.

Digital transformation has altered the way businesses sell and buy–forever.

The success of consumer brands using digital channels set the bar for B2B companies. Businesses must deliver the same experiences found at online retail giants–think Zappos. Digitally savvy companies offer ease of purchase, customer service through many platforms, information for download or instruction videos.

Business is sluggishly continuing with remote work-from-home. But, B2B sales and buying require more than working with a laptop and internet connection at home.

Adopt a Mindset of Flexibility

Agile companies have already embraced the opportunities of this Fourth Industrial Revolution. Forward-thinking companies disrupted competitors by using digital systems for many business functions. 

Forward-thinking companies may not have anticipated the eventualities of a coronavirus pandemic or a natural disaster. Regardless, adoption of digital systems that accelerated virtual sales positioned them to maintain business continuity. They recognized and capitalized on the fact that savvy, self-empowered buyers were increasingly turning to digital platforms when evaluating B2B products and services.

To be clear, virtual selling doesn’t replace the sales rep. As Gartner reports, 55% of buyers discover “an overwhelming amount of trustworthy information” when researching services online. Companies succeeding with virtual sales help buyers navigate preliminary research in the initial stages of the sales cycle.

Companies must begin adapting their sales methods even now. It’s no longer an option. It’s the difference between survival or demise.

Business and production will return. Selling and buying will be changed forever.

The unprecedented upheaval we’re experiencing only accelerates the need for adopting a digital transformation.

What are Agile B2B Companies Doing Right?

Winning companies collaborate with buyers by stepping into their position. Buyers are simply overwhelmed with competing, often equally valuable, information. Companies embracing virtual sales understand this and thrive on it.

An ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance Account-Based Marketing Benchmarking Survey in July 2017 found that digital leaders in B2B achieved a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) almost double that of other firms.

What’s in the portfolio of successful companies?

Generally, the majority of companies in this stratosphere take a 12-month view, or longer, of the sales cycle. They understand all buyers are not the same. Prospects are vastly different from existing customers. Successful companies have created pathways streamlined for different users.

• Marketing and connecting to an individual buyer, not mass marketing.
• Embracing transparency by featuring digitized pricing and competitor comparisons.
• Publishing content that informs and facilitates the buying process.
• Providing their sales team with training and materials to help overwhelmed buyers.
• Using data and analytics for continuous improvement of the non-linear buying experience
• Delivering frictionless buying experiences.
• Leveraging Technical SEO and Schema markup to elevate organic search.
• Offering support for prospects who must work with numerous internal stakeholders for approval.   

The Changing Role of the Sales Rep

Done effectively, this new digital sales paradigm only increases the dizzying amount of quality information for buyers to review. To be sure, as B2B companies adopt digital marketing and virtual sales, the successful sales rep needs to skillfully guide the buyer. 

In a 2019 Gartner report, 89% of B2B buyers found generally high-quality information online. It’s a given that a sales rep will know their product advantages. Now the sales rep must be equally familiar with competitor information so they can collaborate with the buyer to distill their preliminary research.

On the surface, many products from different businesses share the same features. What are buyers to do? How do they decide which product to choose? The B2B buyer spends the majority of their time on research. They split their remaining time talking with several sales reps. 

Virtual selling changes the focus from “the deal” to the sales rep being a trusted source of information, including pointing buyers to third-party sources of information that they may not have already discovered. 

The Harmony of Marketing and Sales 

Like performers in a symphony, marketing and sales must perform on cue with perfection. More than ever marketing and sales must by playing off the same song sheet. 

The messaging for products and services must align—otherwise, a buyer encounters a disconnect when online content doesn’t match what they were told during a conversation with a sales representative. This erodes trust and credibility.

Share specific sales goals with marketing professionals so they can develop methods to lead prospects into the sales funnel.

Communication is critical, expect clashes. 

In the end, a feedback-loop helps sales and marketing teams focus on the leads that result in a satisfied customer. 

One Step at a Time

Digital transformation is not an all or nothing proposition. Processes need to be developed. A high-performing progressive web app (PWA) needs to be considered. Successful adoption of digital-first sales and marketing for B2B companies requires thorough planning.

Information and content need to be developed. 

It takes time—but it also creates more opportunities to thrive as a business.

An experienced digital agency strategically plans a digital transformation that relies on agile systems to bring virtual sales components online in stages. 

The good news is that this process can begin rolling out in a few weeks.

We Understand You Need to Move Fast, and We’re Positioned to Help You Now.

Contact Us Now to get Started