There’s no time left to wait. If you’re a B2B company still relying on a traditional sales process, you’ll be losing deals you don’t even know about — on top of those you do.
The intense access to technology that’s characterised this decade has left vital marks across all business. As technology companies get consumers used to fluid, data-driven personalization and elegant interfaces and service, so too must B2B companies adapt their sales processes to seamlessly integrate in this world.
This doesn’t need to be a daunting task you reluctantly do or die: it should be an invigorating transformation of your company’s approach to business focused on reorganizing several key departments into a new model capable of driving growth more effectively than ever before.
Sales in the Flywheel Model
Traditionally, leads enter the marketing funnel and get passed down to sales. Sales closes the deal, and customers pop out.
You can still get success this way, but it’s not the best method. We’ve got a new approach. It’s called the flywheel model, and it involves the complementary interplay of the marketing, sales, and customer service departments.
Instead of relying on this linear, one-way model, the flywheel puts customers at the centre of a self-reinforcing of marketing, sales, and customer service. Marketing gets people interested — whether new or existing customers — and service ensures they have a great experience that nudges them toward their first, or repeated, sales.
The role of sales isn’t to push the deal at all costs. A customer knows when the only thing you care about is the sale. Instead, sales in this model is tasked with forming meaningful, helpful, valuable relationships.
Understanding the Customer is Necessary in a Sales Digital Transformation
Digital transformation for sales means becoming the resource that buyers consult when they’re weighing their options. Being that resource means you have to understand what your customer’s looking for.
Modern technological tools such as customer relationship management systems enable businesses to learn vital insights about their customers. It’s more than just what persona they match or what demographic they fit into. It’s about understanding what their problem is, and what sort of a solution they’re looking for
Obviously, a direct conversation with a sales rep is one potential way of finding out — but so is everything else. How did they find out about you? Have they subscribed to a newsletter? Did they read any blog articles on your site? Is there a trend in the topics they’re interested in?
You can use all the information you gather to predict when a lead might be ready to buy.
You can also tell from the customer service interactions how well a solution might be working for someone — possibly even stepping in before they realize they have a problem.
The aim is to create a dynamic and personal process and experience, from when they first discover you, through the sale, the service use, through additional marketing based on the sale and experience, through ongoing or cross sells, through the experience again, and around and around.
Small steps from the marketing, sales, and customer service departments build into the momentum that keeps your customer engaged and successful. And a successful customer is a successful sales department is a successful company.
Building the Sales Relationship
For the sales department, this means first accepting that you aren’t the customer’s only source of information, and they’re not just sitting around waiting in an office for you to cold call them.
They’re out there researching on their own and they’ll likely be coming to you more informed than ever. You need to know when to reach out, and be ready to give them honest, helpful advice. Building the relationship means building trust. If a customer trusts you’re out to help them solve their problem, they’ll be receptive to your sales pitch — again, when the time is right.
Get Ready to Transform Sales
It’s time to thrust your company forward and drive your success by coordinating sales with your marketing and service departments. Ready for the first step? Check out how Sales Enablement is set to digitally transform your Sales Department.
Flawless Inbound is a revenue growth agency specializing in helping B2B companies achieve marketing, sales, and customer service growth and success. We’ve helped more than 60 B2B organizations across Canada and the US and are always happy to meet for a quick advisory call.