It seems that everywhere we look, we see the phrases “digital sales transformation” or “sales enablement program.” Yet, according to the Boston Consulting Group, only about 30% of companies navigate a digital transformation successfully. They, along with dozens of consultants and think tanks, also offer advice about which factors are most critical for success and what it takes to improve those odds. Despite the statistics, they agree that a digital sales transformation is a lot for an organization to undertake on its own. But it is doable, and it is necessary.

Positive Changes Are Happening

The past two years have left an indelible mark on the way business — particularly sales — is conducted in the distribution industry. We’ve seen significant changes in buyer behavior, and there’s little indication that these behaviors are going to change back. Mask mandates have eased up, yet prospective customers remain difficult to reach, and existing customers are not as dependent on salespeople as they used to be. Buyers don’t pick up the phone because they’ve learned it’s more efficient to conduct their buying activities and research online. The rapid increase in online competition has also become somewhat threatening. It’s a resounding call to distributors that change is needed. This is not news.

What is news is that the distribution industry is beginning to respond. Most distributors are in some state of disruption (in a good way, I believe), and we’re seeing many take steps toward the digital transformation they’ll need to keep in step as industry sales standards evolve. From an operations standpoint, we’re seeing distributors working smarter and leaner and exploring innovative solutions to keep themselves motoring forward. In the sales arena, good progress is being made as well. Unfortunately, it isn’t as surefooted as it should be.

Sales is Struggling to Figure it Out

Distributors are adopting new sales processes, changing internal structures, and installing technology to help maintain their relevance and stay competitive. However, they’re finding it challenging to communicate effectively with buyers. The struggle they’re having with their sales and go-to-market strategies is real. Why?

Think of it like this: For anything systematized to run correctly, you need the right pieces in the right places, and you need to know how to make it do what you want it to do. Or, at the very least, you need an idea or picture of what you want it to do and work towards that. Without instructions, you’re winging it. Unfortunately, it seems, many distributors are winging it. But that’s only because they did what they did so well.

Distributors have been incredibly successful at selling face-to-face. It’s how the industry began, and it’s stayed that way ever since. Digital sales strategies are new territory for nearly every distributor I’ve come across. Not knowing how to generate the results you’re expecting from a digital sales transformation is to be expected.

The definition of a successful digital sales transformation can be different from company to company. If the results you’re looking for are something akin to an ability to leverage technology to make more or better sales, your 30,000-foot view of success should look something like this:

• A buyer’s journey that is targeted and frictionless.
• Digital messaging that is readily discoverable and ensures buyers are crystal clear on the value you provide.
• An automated way to attract buyers, capture them as leads, and then drive them through sales funnels that lead them from a market-qualified to a sales-qualified status before being handed off to sales.
• A more automated way to increase customer spend.
• Executable plans to enter new markets and increase market share.
• A way to keep your sales function agile and innovative.
• Systems and processes you can build upon as you grow or add future technological advancements or improvements.
• A measurable return on the investment you’re making in digital sales and marketing, including your eCommerce site.
• A strong, stable, and lasting online presence that leaves no question that you are the best possible partner for your most ideal customers.

If your goal is to leverage technology to increase sales, having these bullets in place will get you there. But these things must be built. It takes time and, you guessed it, instructions.

Here’s What You’re Missing

You also must have the six items below in place before you start any of the projects I listed above. Every business, distributor or not, must have this foundation in place if they want a powerful, successful GTM strategy that involves communicating with buyers via the internet.

Most businesses put these objectives in place a little late. Most wouldn’t know, though, that a foundation like this existed, let alone was needed or attainable until they realized their digital sales transformation wasn’t working the way they had planned. This is the point where distributors are at right now. You could have put this in place years ago, too; but again, it wasn’t a necessity because, unlike most other industries, you were doing so well with face-to-face sales. Now is when you’re seeing a need to use digital sales and marketing strategies.

1) A Clear Direction for Your Sales and Marketing Functions: To have a strong, unshakeable online presence, you must publish a lot of content because when a buyer doesn’t have a salesperson in front of him, he’s going to turn to the internet. Unless you are running Google ads, which is a costly strategy that cannot showcase your value, the content you publish will lead buyers to you. Your marketing team, who would be responsible for creating and publishing that content, must fully understand who your customer segments are, what their needs are, and how your company meets or addresses those needs. Your strategy should be that when a buyer finds your content, the information he discovers is similar to what he would otherwise get from a salesperson. He should find information that addresses his specific goals, pain points, or struggles while showcasing your company’s ability to help resolve an issue or attain a goal. To accomplish this, your sales and marketing teams must work together to build your strong, unshakeable digital presence together.

2) A Solid Understanding of Your Customers and Their Needs: There’s no sense in communicating anything if buyers aren’t tuning in to it. Buyers everywhere have come to expect a certain level of targeted, personalized communication from vendors, including you. Salespeople know how to personalize their communications because they know your customers and what they need. When a salesperson is in front of a buyer in Segment A, how he delivers his message may be completely different from how he would communicate to a buyer in Segment B. The information you share online must do the same; it must show your audience that you know them, and you are dialed in to what they need. A solid understanding of your customers begins with defining each audience segment and their goals, struggles and pain points.

3) Clear and Compelling Communication of the Value You Offer: Personalized communication reinforces a customer’s belief that you know them, understand them, and have their best interests at heart. Personalization also means not sending customers information that doesn’t pertain to them. Personalization builds trust. You’ll need the trust of your audience segments if they’re going to do business with you. The first step in building trust is knowing you understand their needs. Only then will they be open to exploring what value you have to offer. When you know your audience, you can communicate to Segment A about what Segment A finds valuable and communicate to Segment B about what Segment B is looking for, and so forth.

4) A Solid Understanding of Marketing Automation: To accomplish No. 3 above (and No. 5 below), you must have automation in place that gets the job done without breaking the bank. Marketing automation is not a one-size-fits-all. Some tasks you’ll want automated, some you may not. Some you may wish to automate in the future. Be familiar with both what’s available and possible so your online strategies don’t lose momentum as your business grows or your digital requirements expand.

5) A System to Capture, Nurture, Qualify and Move Leads to Sales for Closing: Under typical circumstances, lead capturing and nurturing would be your salesperson’s responsibility. However, we’re where we are today because: 1) It’s not nearly as easy for a salesperson to interact with prospects as it was a year or two ago; and 2) It makes sense to let automation pick up some of that work. A system that makes closing deals easier for your sales function would be ideal. Consider benefits like lead tracking, scoring, and behavior-based nurturing. Salespeople can then focus on and interact with the already sales-qualified leads or more attractive than others.

6) The Ability to Measure and Monitor the Success and ROI of Your Digital Efforts: One of the most significant benefits of a digital transformation is that anything and everything is measurable, flexible, and can be made better. If you can’t measure it, you can’t fix it, and you won’t know if what you’re doing is working. There’s always going to be a new strategy or tactic to consider. Whether it is more effective or not will only be known by monitoring and measuring your increased or decreased success.

When all six objectives are in place, you can put the strategies mentioned earlier in place as well. You’ll have strategies at your fingertips that grow your customer base, increase customer retention, and increase wallet-share, too. Your efforts will attract more eyes to your website, produce better-qualified leads for your salespeople and drive more sales. You’ll be prepared for whatever the future throws at you vis-à-vis digital sales strategies and technology. You’ll also see, very clearly, the ROI in everything you’ve done digitally. A digital sales transformation and the digital sales and marketing strategies that go with it are easily available to all. If you haven’t already done so, now really is the time to get going.

Susan Merlo is a digital sales and marketing strategist specializing in wholesale distribution. Her new venture, The Digital Distributor Program, helps distributors who struggle to effectively communicate their value to buyers. Learn more about this subject and meet Susan in person at the 2022 Modern Distributor Summit: Sales Transformation. She will be speaking on digital sales integration and marketing Tuesday, June 14th. Click here for information on how to attend.