Industrial Sales & Marketing in a Digital World

Conventional + Digital = Blended New Normal

The foundation for industrial sales and marketing success is reflected by the size and clarity of an organization’s sales opportunity “pipeline,” the relentless focus on winning “deals,” and systematic actions taken to build a “digital brand” that supports the selling process. Among other factors, COVID-19 has magnified and accelerated the digital sales and marketing trends of the past five years. As industrial companies try to absorb the disruptive lessons learned, they must rapidly adopt and integrate digital capabilities with existing (i.e. traditional) sales and marketing methods.

The fundamental structure of today’s “blended” industrial sales and marketing capabilities is summarized in Figure A below:

Figure A

To close deals and build a sustainable pipeline, companies must define and execute a comprehensive, blended set of sales and marketing capabilities. This requires adding a mix of digital selling, virtual selling, e-commerce and digital branding capabilities with conventional marketing and face-to-face sales.

Every industrial company is familiar with conventional marketing, sales technique training, and face to face selling as it relates to their own unique requirements. These capabilities are essential to compete in today’s markets. However, conventional methods alone are no longer adequate to win in today’s industrial markets landscape. Digital sales and marketing capabilities must be added to conventional techniques to effectively compete and win on an ongoing basis.

Digital marketing starts with the design, look and feel, functionality and SEO (search engine optimization) effectiveness of the website. It then requires targeted digital marketing projects such as: Blogs, email campaigns, social media marketing, video marketing, PPC advertising, etc. to develop a digital brand that enhances all of the abilities of the sales team to build their pipeline and close deals.

Digital sales is an overall term that includes all of the selling tools that use cloud, mobile and internet capabilities to connect sellers with customers. These digital capabilities continue to improve and expand at a rapid pace, creating more and more competitive advantages for their users.

Digital sales management is the definition and optimization of the opportunity pipeline combined with the relentless focus on winning deals. Sales leaders must make sure that the entire sales team has the tools, skills and support they need to be effective in all types of customer interactions.

Digital selling is the proactive exchange of information whether it is direct, self serve, or on demand. This includes website calls to action, email sales, LinkedIn Sales Navigator/Dux Soup, online training and all other forms of information exchange.

Virtual selling is the use of virtual offices, phones, video, webinars, chat features and collaboration tools to create online face-to-face or one-to-one real time communications. The adoption of Zoom or other video conferencing tools for industrial sales during COVID-19 is pivotal in redefining sales best practices.

E-commerce is the use of online transactions, either through a web store shopping capability or the use of an electronic proposal/agreement capability. All forms of e-commerce increase the speed of the selling process and are powerful competitive advantages wherever they can be used.

Digital customer service is the use of online tools, secure portals, online training and help desk/ticketing capabilities to provide 24/7 support. These tools are typically available 24/7/365 and may be DIY, live – in real time, on demand, or a combination of these communication methods.

There are important differences in the use of digital sales and marketing tools for acquiring new customers versus supporting existing customers. However, these situations become more similar when you are introducing new products/services to existing customers or you suddenly have a new competitor as an existing customer.

The need for an effective blend of conventional and digital sales and marketing capabilities to effectively compete and win in today’s industrial markets is clear and compelling.

The Industrial Buyer’s Journey

While it is clear that the industrial sales and marketing process was (and still is) significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the industrial buyer’s world has also dramatically changed. Industrial buyers were forced to shift most of their evaluation, negotiation and procurement process to digital tools and platforms.

The multi year trends toward digital purchasing, starting with the pre-qualification of supplies, moved rapidly from an average of 30% to well over 80%. The buyer’s requirements for digital information, virtual meetings, e-commerce and secure private portals are now the primary method for proposals and transactions.

Awareness Phase

The industrial buying process typically begins with the awareness of an emerging business problem or opportunity. Awareness can be driven through internal situations (e.g. recognition of a competitive disadvantage) or discovered through external stimulus (e.g. customer complaint/loss of sale).

Throughout the process, buyers/teams have real time access to relevant websites, blogs, technical documents, user ratings, white papers, ebooks, social media referrals and many other sources of comparative information. Typically, the information is sourced from well-promoted websites and digital marketing content.

Qualification and Comparison Phase

As the industrial buying process transitions from the qualification stage to the comparison stage, more specific information is required: This is usually the point where the internal/external sales staff activities begin. Response time, product/solution information, access to experts, sales representative knowledge, after sale support, product management capabilities and other buyer experiences all factor into decisions made during this phase of the buying process.

Purchase Decision and Process

After the qualification and comparisons are completed, the buyer is in a position to make a decision. At this point, the speed, clarity and responsiveness of the order placement process is essential to validate the buyers’ decision.

Customer Service/Account Management

After the sale, customer service, training, documentation, project management, real time communications and help desk support become critical requirements for the retention and renewal of customer relationships. Throughout the entire industrial buying process, the customer expects a seamless set of digital experiences to achieve and maintain confidence in the supplier’s ability to serve their needs.

Figure B below summarizes how digital sales and marketing capabilities are used to impact the various stages of the industrial buying process. Your sales team is still the most important factor in the competitive process. However, most buyers will have already done their research, comparisons and initial evaluations before initiating direct contact with potential suppliers.

Figure B

Sales and Marketing Mix … Existing vs. New Customers

In the industrial marketplace, competitive selling requirements are driven by demands for organizational speed, ready access to product information, and a consultative selling approach throughout the buying process. Complex account-based relationships are common, as are products and services delivered as packaged or custom tailored “solutions.” Both of these conditions dictate close alignment of an organization’s sales and marketing functions.

The relative contribution of each function will vary, to some degree, based on the unique nature of each sales situation. However, as a general rule, the mix of sales vs. marketing inputs will follow a pattern similar to the percentages indicated in the table below:

Figure C

As you can see, the sales team typically plays a more prominent role in situations where an organization is trying to sell established products to existing customers, while marketing usually plays an increasingly important role in situations where the organization is promoting the sale of new products to new customers. Across the spectrum, although one function may be dominant, contributions from both sales and marketing are necessary to be successful throughout the product/customer life cycle, and the efforts of each function must be: A) aligned with the business’s overall strategy and B) tightly integrated to ensure a smooth, timely hand-off as opportunities progress through the sales pipeline.