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It’s time for the digital transformation of your Sales eco-system to multiply morale, pump-up performance, and reinvent ROI.
Dudes and dudettes in Sales don’t work the way the rest of us do. They work the way Russell Crowe likes to. The Russell Crowe from the 2000 flick Gladiator that is. They strictly follow your BYOD policy by carrying their spears and swords to work. They can stare a Siberian Tiger’s equivalent of the Daily Sales Target XL sheet bang in the eye without batting a lid. And they are always up for a good, bare-knuckle fight (in a snatch-that-account-from-the-jaws-of-the-great-white-shark kind of way). To bring out the best in this tribe, you must, simply put, keep up. In 2021, the #NewNormal that’s fast morphing into the #NextNormal means going digital on all cylinders. There is no Plan B.
Give ‘em What They Want!
“Employees expect their employers to be on top of the latest digital developments and to be tech-savvy enough to deliver an employee experience that matches the rest of their 21st Century lifestyle.”
How this Sales Digital Transformation can help the Cause
1. Digitize the sparring spirit
Money matters, but your folks in Sales are often playing for ‘far greater spoils’ (at least that’s how it read in their lexicon) such as legacy, brag-ability, and yes, some good old fashioned ego massage. It’s all about the kind of motivation - extrinsic vs. intrinsic - that pulls their wagon (each one of us comes factory-fitted with a unique blend that combines the two uniquely). Bring out the inner gladiator in every Sales warrior by tickling their mojo and stoking their competitive bone. A great way to do this is to borrow a leaf from sports, an arena that does a super job of firing up its participants' competitive spirit. In the modern-day, that mantle has been picked up by Gamification. Choose games with universal appeal (such as those inspired by best-selling movies, mirroring timeless mythological stories or moored in local customs & cultures – and reimagined for the modern sensibility with a twist), and transplant its allure and essence into your Sales workflows and models in a way that pits one member against the other in all fairness and fun. Digital software today lets you do precisely that, bespoke designing compelling gamification experiences that draw your rockstars into a happy loop that celebrates the positive momentum of rivalry minus the blood and gore.
2. Digitize the thirst for wisdom
There’s nothing a Sales rockstar cherishes more than his or her swag - even if it’s carefully hidden, which makes them great students of the game. Most of the Uber professionals at heart are wired to beach-comb the working day for tricks and hacks that can help them gain an edge at work. No matter the hierarchy level, your Salesforce will be grateful for opportunities to interact with more experienced veterans and real-life seniors-turned-coaches, which allows them to pick up precious tips and hands-on strategies. While the guru-shishya equation has been a timeless practice (and not just in the Sales function either), it can be a highly personal interaction that stays locked within the individual’s world without benefitting the ecosystem. A well designed and intuitive sales digital platform can bridge this gap, affording the unique opportunity of sharing learnings within the entire community, and that too, in real-time. It is also an easy way to ensure that the knowledge trickling down from pros is not lost: This is achieved by archiving and organizing the wisdom in themed folders and sharable groups that can be retrieved and referred to later. Real-time learning is the future of work: Get there NOW by digitizing your Sales climate.
3. Digitize the progress
You can’t acknowledge, appreciate or improve something you can’t measure (here’s a longer read on why tracking progress is critical). And truth be told, the manual system of slinking chits of paper under the sleeve of your shirt (and other equally creative devices) has always been high on drama but short on accuracy. When your fleets-on-street are slugging it out in the heat and dust of the battleground, giving it all they’ve got, you owe it to them to at least back-up the valiant effort with a system that is equally efficient. Your system should honor every drop of sweat and document every ounce of passion in the unambiguous digital language (read data-sets, for instance) that not only underline capability and underscore progress but comes in handy during the appraisal and reward stage when lacunae in performance need to be addressed with laser precision. Spoils of victory have to be meted out fairly. That’s precisely what digitization does. It lets you monitor and measure every moment and milestone in real-time, laying the template for a self-preening-framework (which operates on the self-optimizing machine learning model) that adds visibility at every point of the journey, aiding smarter decisions and putting leaders firmly in control of the action.
4. Digitize the dessert
Dessert (rewards and recognition) may appear on the table last, but make no mistakes: It’s the first thing on the mind of most Sales folks. New research by Josh Bersin and Reward Gateway underlines the powerful influence of employee recognition on overall business results. Without the right motivation - one that is (A) commensurate with the achievement, (B) resonates with the personality and Wish-Lists of the achiever, and (C) is shared instantly (in today’s world of ‘instant gratification,’ a pat-on-the-back that is delayed is pretty much a pat-on-the-back that is denied) - the sport loses its tang and zing. Latest sales digital solutions in the motivation and performance space that can be intuitively matched with performance and dispatched to the deserving in both quickly and instantly. Never miss a beat again or break the winning tempo by following up the saga of guts with the moment of glory!
Digital Sales Strategy: Digitize what matters
- Optimize costs by identifying and plugging leaks.
- Tweak strategies in real-time to add speed at every step.
- Automate processes to save time further.
- Fine-tune workflows to sidestep faff and double down on core targets.
- Eliminate human errors to reimagine efficiency.
- Remove personal bias and make appraisals accurate and fair.
- Record every action to build valuable process insights.
- Build proprietary best-systems and implement them organization-wide.
- Unlock the power of data for smarter decision-making.
- Leverage learnings at every point to train up teams smartly.
- Multiply capabilities by staying current with trends & tactics.
- Interpret buyer behavior to create high-quality leads and boost loyalty.
- It all adds up to more lead closures, better ROI, and robust growth.
The Signs are Powerful
Surveys conducted at leadership stratas indicate that…
- 66% of leaders were trying out digital dashboards to make decisions.
- 51% of leaders were using advanced data and analytics for demand forecasting & planning.
- 48% of leaders were implementing bots to automated engagement.
- 41% of leaders were exploring ML (machine learning) and AI (artificial intelligence) to track and interpret customer data at scale.
But The Response Isn't
According to the Efficacy Index, a recent survey undertaken by Dow Jones Intelligence, less than a third of organizations who were surveyed owned up to using advanced digital tools to generate unique insights.
The Industry is Looking at the Leaders to Jump This Gap. Will you Lead?
Digitizing your Sales engine is much more than just grabbing low hanging fruits like automating back-office tasks or perfecting stakeholder placebos like trending on Twitter. It is perhaps the only way to redefine competitive edge in a fast-changing world, discover new value pools, keep teams mission-ready, and stay ahead of a curve that is looking increasingly uncertain. And no, it doesn’t begin when you unbox and install that shiny new tech stack (although it’s part of the big picture). It only whirrs to life when you plant a bold new mindset in the psyche of your Sales army: One that’s a bit of both physical and digital. A.K.A., PHYGITAL.
