Although for years we had been observing a progressive growth in the adoption of techniques and methods that were increasingly removed from the offline world, the new paradigm forced the industrial sector to make rapid decisions aimed at initiating a digital transformation plan as quickly as possible.
But of course, haste is not a good friend when it comes to establishing an effective digital transformation plan. Many of the companies that adopted palliative measures to stay afloat have maintained methods that were sweden email list initially provisional, but have found that the results obtained do not compensate for the resources invested. What is being done wrong?
Before starting your digital transformation plan, it is very interesting to know the current trajectory of the sector, its challenges and the state of the Marketing and Sales departments. Did you know that at Connext we prepare a complete annual report with sector data from +120 industrial and technological companies ?
connext report 2022
1. Most common mistakes in the digitalization of companies
Improvising can be fun when it comes to a trip, a plan with friends, or life itself… But it is not so much when it comes to your company's sales strategy. Any mistake or non-optimized plan can have fatal consequences . What are the mistakes you should avoid when formulating your digital transformation plan?
The “action-reaction” strategy . The RAE defines “strategy” as: “A regulated process, a set of rules that seek an optimal decision at all times.” It is essential to have a clear and measurable objective and, based on this, develop an action plan or Roadmap that guides each small decision to achieve this objective. If you only dedicate yourself to reacting in case of crisis, you will hardly be able to achieve your objectives, because you will exhaust all your resources weathering the storm.If you don't know how to start, I recommend downloading this webinar: How to set your objectives and meet them with a Marketing strategy
Lack of initiative for change . It is necessary to have a person who leads this digital transformation plan and is responsible for transmitting the culture of change to the rest of the colleagues. Likewise, he or she must be able to accept proposals from each of the agents involved.
Failure to prioritize . Sometimes, company management decides to tackle each and every phase of the Plan at the same time. It is impossible to focus on developing each step well if resources are divided among several projects.
Setting up a digital transformation plan and obtaining successful results is not a simple process. It requires experience, knowledge of the sector and of the Marketing and Sales strategies that can achieve the objectives of each business.
There are many aspects to take into account, which is why companies like Cryospain do not hesitate to count on the help of our B2B specialist team to bring their digital transformation to all their departments.
Pierre Meurgey, Marketing and Sales Director at Cryospain tells you about his transformation experience and results:
Download the complete Cryospain success story to learn how we developed the digital marketing and sales strategy step by step and the results obtained.
2. Steps in a digital transformation plan
What is a digital transformation plan? Betting on transformation is not a simple process, but you must be clear about the benefits it will bring you: it will increase your productivity, cut costs and be more efficient.
In addition, you will be able to adapt more quickly to the needs of your sector and reach more potential customers. On top of that, all of this will have a positive impact on your company's image.
If you want to create your digital transformation plan, follow these steps!
Step 1. Acquire the necessary skills . Ongoing training for all stakeholders is essential for change to occur.
Step 2. Create a Digital Marketing Plan tailored to achieve your goals (or seek help to do so). Sometimes companies in the industrial sector do not have a sufficiently large Marketing Department. This is not a problem, in fact, most of them ultimately decide to put this point in the hands of professionals.If you are looking to start creating your own marketing plan , you can download these templates that our Marketing team has prepared. If you have any questions, at Connext we will be happy to help you
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Step 3. Schedule your next actions . Not only do you have to make decisions about content, website optimization, sales processes, communication with customers… You also have to analyze when is the best time to send a newsletter, how often you should publish content, how often you will analyze your results…
Step 4. Remember : your digital transformation plan is not a permanent and unbreakable document . It will be at first, when we have carried out the previous analysis and decided to start certain actions, but month by month you will have to analyze your results. If the strategy does not work as expected, there is no problem in reviewing and modifying it.
Step 5. Bring digital transformation to all your teams . From Human Resources, through Operations, Quality, and especially Marketing and Sales. All the processes followed by the departments must go through the digital filter. If you maintain offline or analog processes in some of them, it is likely that in the long run they will become a burden and slow down the overall process.
Step 6. Analyze the process . Be very clear that the digital transformation process is precisely that: a process. Like any major change, it will be carried out gradually and you may not notice its effects until a few months have passed. Don't despair and don't be in a hurry.
3. Strategies for an effective digital transformation
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the digital transformation plan has become essential for any company that wants to survive.
What strategies should you apply (correctly) to successfully achieve an effective transformation in each of the areas of your business?
ABM
Simplifying this term, we would say that account-based marketing (ABM) is a type of marketing in which the strategy is designed with specific accounts , very specific people or specific segments in mind.
We know our target customer and we know how to reach them, so we will carry out a personalized strategy to attract them.
ABM guide
Social Selling
With Social Selling, organizations use social networks like LinkedIn to prospect, attract and nurture potential clients. However, it is not just about searching and contacting through this medium; it requires a solid strategy that supports each action and is consistent with the rest of the complementary strategies.
Social Selling as a commercial strategy allows sales teams to increase the opening of new business opportunities and increase their sales closing.
I suggest you download this success story so you can see the sales results we obtained in 1 month with just one salesperson at Prime Biopolymers.
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Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing combines different non-intrusive strategies that aim to reach a user, determine to what extent they may be a potential client and help them to make the desired transaction.
With Inbound Marketing we don't just limit ourselves to getting traffic, we try to ensure that this traffic is really interested in our activity, we provide value that helps them in the decision-making process and we make them understand that we are their best alternative
At Connext we are specialists in this methodology, applied mainly to the B2B sector. If you want to fully immerse yourself in the methodology, we recommend downloading this free Masterclass on Inbound Marketing.
Smarketing
Sales+Marketing = by integrating both departments, they will work together with the same objective: Marketing will obtain leads that Sales can mature .
Applying everything learned in the article, we could summarize that your Sales department will be able to follow ABM and Social Selling strategies, and that in the meantime the Marketing department, following an Inbound strategy, will provide qualified leads that will end up becoming sales in a high percentage of cases.
What can go wrong? What are you waiting for to start your digital transformation and sell more and better?
sales enablement guide
These are some of the most effective strategies for generating results in Marketing and Sales teams. Study them in depth through the resources we have included in this article.
Once you know them well, assess your needs and identify measurable objectives. Choose your project KPIs and include all this information in your digital transformation plan.
Below, we will show you the trends that the B2B sector is forecasting for next year 2023. These forecasts will be very useful for you to start evaluating your next actions. As you already know, a digital transformation plan is variable and must be constantly updated based on changes and developments in the sector.
