Winning Strategy

Today, the industrial buying process is very much a digital journey. In fact, recent surveys show that a clear majority (68%*) of industrial buyers prefer to conduct their own product research, and 43%** prefer to buy with no sales rep involvement at all. From initial search to company qualification, product/service comparisons and — in many cases — the purchase of selected offerings, most of the industrial buying process now involves some form of ecommerce.

24/7 Digital Sales Channel, Product Support, Order Entry and Customer Service

Industrial ecommerce is a business strategy that integrates conventional sales and marketing techniques with digital sales and marketing, product management and online transaction capabilities to achieve comprehensive competitive advantages. These advantages include:

• Reduced customer acquisition costs
• Strengthening of existing sales channels
• Development of new sales channels and new markets
• A reduction in order processing and logistics costs
• Improved responsiveness to customer inquiries
• Improved after-sale support

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 ecommerce capabilities is summarized in Figure A below:

Figure A

Every industrial company is familiar with conventional marketing, sales training and face-to-face selling techniques as they relate to their own unique requirements. These capabilities continue to be essential to success. 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

Digital marketing starts with the design, look and feel, functionality and visibility (search engine optimization) of an organization’s website. It then requires execution of targeted digital marketing projects, such as: Blogs, email campaigns, social media marketing, video marketing, PPC advertising, etc. These projects help an organization develop a digital brand that enhances the ability of the sales team to build their pipeline and close deals.

Digital Sales Techniques

Digital sales is an overall term that includes the use of cloud, mobile and internet capabilities to connect sellers with customers. These 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.

Industrial Ecommerce Capabilities

E-commerce is the use of a product catalog to facilitate online transactions, either through a webstore (online 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.

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

As a buyer progresses through the steps in our framework above, they eventually reach a turning point — a point where they either a) abandon their search; b) choose a different direction/competitive offering; or c) seek to move forward.

For those prepared to move forward, some will have questions and may prefer to initiate contact with a sales rep (inquiry). Others will seek a firm quotation (quote request). Buyer’s with a high degree of confidence may be ready to initiate an order. All of these actions fall under the definition (and influence) of ecommerce. The end point — inquiry/quote request/order entry — will depend on the complexity of the product(s) needed, the dollar amount of the total order, purchase authority limits imposed by management, and/or the limits of your current ecommerce capabilities.

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.

* Source: Industry Week

** Source: Gartner 2000 Digital Buying Survey