Selling complex products has always been a challenge for manufacturers, and now professionals in this field are dealing with a new reality: buyers and the buying process have changed forever.
According to Gartner’s Future of Sales report, nearly half of buyers prefer minimal engagement with sales teams, with over 80% of the buying process happening before they even engage with a vendor. This shift makes it critical for manufacturers to adapt to this new reality. Here are five strategies to maximize your digital transformation efforts and remain competitive in this quickly evolving market.
Start by Asking the Right Questions
Your transformation journey begins by asking critical questions needed to define your goals and initiate the process. Consider: How can our organization accelerate our digital transformation efforts to enhance efficiency, productivity, and supply chain visibility? What strategies can we implement to advance from planning digital initiatives to executing them effectively? And how can we leverage technology to ensure we don’t miss out on sales opportunities and fall behind competitors by delaying our digital transformation journey?
Conduct a Thorough Assessment
Successful sales organizations fully understand their internal landscape and broader market dynamics. Assess your current situation, to understand where your organization stands. It’s also vital to evaluate your technology and talent to evaluate the organization’s capabilities and identify gaps or overlaps. An honest assessment lays the groundwork for an effective digital transformation.
Define Clear Objectives and Differentiators
Before you get started, set your key operational objectives and identify how your digital transformation journey will support the sales strategy. This involves redefining how your organization differentiates itself from competitors in the market. For example, today’s businesses are shifting from selling standalone products to comprehensive solutions, such as multiple products or products bundled with managed services, to offer more value and meet evolving customer expectations.
Choose the Right Digital Solutions
Selecting technologies that complement your current operations is vital. Configure Price Quote (CPQ) should be central to defining your strategy. Implementing a centralized system that houses important information about your products and your buyers empowers your sales team and gives them a leg up on the competition. Arming your sales engineers with this wealth of knowledge transforms salespeople into solution consultants, ensuring expertise is available to potential and existing customers anytime, across every channel.
Accelerate Your Go-to-Market Agility
Today’s sales landscape is all about speed: how fast can your new products and solutions be brought to the market, and how quickly can they be sold. Organizations need to make informed decisions more frequently and move away from quarterly or monthly planning cycles towards weekly or even daily activities informed by real-time data. This increased agility enables quicker responses to changing market demands and customer expectations.
While digital transformation has been top-of-mind for years, leading organizations are leveraging technology to create differentiated buyer engagement. By using advanced technology to provide personalized experiences, you can empower buyers to make informed decisions and streamline their path to purchase.
At Tacton, we’re dedicated to helping manufacturers completely transform how complex products are developed, configured and sold. Discover how Tacton CPQ can redefine your buyer engagement and speed up your sales process today.