Understanding Digital Sales Data: Steps to a Successful Digital Sales Transformation

It's no secret that we live in a digital world. The data we get from the internet is what shapes our lives and business decisions. Digital sales data, or analytics, is one of these essential pieces of information for any business owner to have access to.

 With more businesses going digital than ever before, it's important to know how your competitors are doing and what strategies they're using so you can stay ahead of them!

 In this blog post, I'm going to share with you some Steps to a Successful Digital Sales Transformation which will help you increase your conversion rates and generate more revenue for your company!

I'm sure you've heard of the saying "knowledge is power", and that's exactly what digital sales data does for your business! Steps to a Successful Digital Sales Transformation are all about utilizing this knowledge which will help you stay ahead in today's competitive marketplace. 

A successful transition means knowing how to utilize keywords, tracking links, retargeting ads, and personalized web design to reach your target audience.

 Steps to a Successful Digital Sales Transformation are all about knowing what works best for each individual client so you can tailor the information that they see specifically towards them!

We've identified six phases in this post to help you through your company's digital sales transformation. These methods can assist your sales force achieve new heights and maximise the success of your transformation initiative.

Technology and the digitalization of society have forever altered the function of sales. The days of completing business while playing golf are long gone. 

Revenue businesses must not just embrace technology to thrive in today's hypercompetitive market; they must prioritise it as a mission-critical pillar of modern business.

Sales teams are now tasked with undertaking a comprehensive digital transformation. Those that do will be well-equipped to succeed, while those who do not will fall behind swiftly.

“Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.” – Bill Gates

More than simply software is required for a digital sales transition. It's a team effort that demands complete leadership buy-in, departmental alignment, strategic planning, and meticulous execution. At the end of the day, it's about people just as much as it is about technology.

We've identified six phases in this post to help you through your company's digital sales transformation. These methods can assist your sales force achieve new heights and maximise the success of your transformation initiative.

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01. Data is the Bedrock of Digital Sales Transformation.

The basis of your digital sales transformation effort should be data management and control. You will gain actionable insights if you can rely on the data in your CRM for all business decisions.

Finding alignment and tracking progress both require a core point of truth. Your main goal should be to construct a solid data foundation on which to develop. 

Higher-quality sales engagement and data-driven decision-making result from creating and maintaining a single source of reliable, useful data.

Conduct a CRM audit to discover areas where duplicate or erroneous data exists, then fill in the gaps with data enrichment providers. The goal is to arrive at a point where keeping a clean database is a continual operation.

 One to two times a year, check for duplicates, create automation, and optimise your CRM to ensure your revenue organisation has relevant data to use with prospects and customers.

 Automation and engagement technologies will be able to provide personalisation at scale for both digital and account-based campaigns as a result of this.

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02. Sales Process: In your digital sales transformation, you must first understand the customer journey.

The most important aspect of a digital sales transformation is defining your lead-to-revenue process.

 It should be a realistic portrayal of your sales process. Establishing client lifecycle stages to track progress and KPIs throughout the sales process should be your goal.

Begin by determining the key stages in your sales process. Then decide on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between marketing, sales, and customer success with the help of sales operations and your entire revenue organisation.

Before digging too deep into automation and tools, be sure that the human parts of your process can be accomplished manually. The procedure must be explicit, and all team members must be aware of the procedure and expected outcomes.

Your CRM and marketing automation technologies are great for automating the handoff between teams. Your lead-to-revenue process will be improved, sales effectiveness will be increased, and customer intimacy will be strengthened.

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03. Use the Right Tools and Processes to Improve Your Digital Sales Transformation

Identify opportunities for improvement for sales engagement at each stage of the sales cycle after you have a better grasp of your lead to revenue process. To evaluate any bottlenecks and gaps, work with your sales managers and gather feedback from your front-line sales reps.

 Their suggestions will assist you in determining which engagement tools and processes may be added or improved.

Without enterprise solutions like computer telephony integration (CTI) or sales engagement platforms, sales teams waste the majority of their working day on wasteful, non-sales-related activities.

Investing in a unified revenue engagement solution can help your sales staff prioritise leads, reply to questions more quickly, and reduce the amount of time they spend leaving (or responding to) voicemail. 

Because reps will have the context and resources to fulfil the expectations of today's B2B buyer, a solution that exists inside CRM will result in more thorough, accurate data collecting and an overall improved customer experience.

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04. Use Continuous Training to Improve Quantitative Sales Performance

 As a sales leader, one of your most important jobs is to motivate your salespeople. Your sales staff are your most valuable asset.

 Continuous training and coaching can help your teams flourish by motivating them to do their best every day.

Capturing critical engagement indicators like feelings, outcomes, and others can provide your team with insights regarding process improvements and coaching opportunities that will help you boost sales even more. 

To discover where your sales agents need the greatest training and coaching, you need access into their performance data, such as activity volume and speed-to-lead indicators.

CRM platforms may become a very effective tool for sales managers to examine these types of KPIs with the correct add-on tools and processes. Consider creating some friendly competition and incentives to encourage your salespeople to meet and exceed their targets.

 There are sales performance tools that make it simple to gamify the sales process in order to keep your salespeople motivated and engaged.

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05. Use Metrics and Coaching to Improve the Quality of Sales Engagement

Sales executives can benefit from developing processes to enhance sales development and improve the whole customer experience, in addition to measuring important engagement indicators. 

When you switch to a digital sales model, you can track qualitative components of interaction that are difficult to track in an outside or field sales approach.

Using Call Recording Analysis technology to standardise conversation outcomes, track talk duration, and analyse conversation quality gives your sales management team a data set to measure what is difficult to define.

 The outcomes of the conversations offer you with actionable information that you can use to personalise coaching to each individual rep's selling style. 

Measuring talk time and discussion outcomes allows you to spot conversation trends, which can help you capitalise on opportunities and plan your next steps.

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06. Improve Sales Enablement by Providing Relevant Content and Resources

Arming sales reps with thought leadership and product expertise is the final step in changing your sales force into a modern, digital-first sales organisation. Keeping up with newly published marketing information could be difficult for sales personnel.

 Consider developing or implementing a sales enablement platform that functions as an internal content library for your customer-facing representatives.

Collaboration and alignment with marketing, product, and customer success will be crucial in ensuring that your sales force's outreach is in line with the brand and product plan.

Guided training and discussions, in addition to providing sales collateral, should be scheduled on a regular basis to enable agents become product and industry experts. 

Keeping your sales staff informed about which messages succeed and which don't will be highly beneficial. It's time well spent, whether you teach them broad sales methods or industry best practises.

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Overcoming the Challenges of Digital Sales Transformation

It takes a lot of effort to make a thorough digital sales shift. In fact, it can be quite intimidating. The truth is that the majority of digital transformation efforts fail for a variety of reasons.

 Lack of management support, misaligned departments, aversion to change, and poor post-launch maintenance are all common factors.

According to the 4th edition of the Salesforce State of the Connected Consumer report, digital engagement will reach a tipping point in 2020, with 60 percent of brand-to-consumer interactions taking place online. 

This is a significant increase from the 42% of contacts that took place online in 2019. While pandemic limitations played a role in this rise, the tendency is projected to persist even after the virus is over. 

Consumers plan to do more online buying, while business buyers expect to transact more business online, according to 58% of consumers and 80% of business buyers.

Consumer requirements have irreversibly altered, according to this report, and 66 percent of customers expect businesses to comprehend them. Personalized experiences demonstrate to your clients that you are aware of their unique requirements. 

Personalized content accelerates the conversion of your prospects from curious to qualified. Return on investment (ROI) calculators assist prospects in determining the worth of your items in real time.

 Automated contract review and approval workflows shorten deal cycle times. Additionally, they free up time for your sales team to focus on sourcing and closing new business.

Experiences with event registration can yield a plethora of information about potential clients. B2B commerce sites allow business buyers to place orders over the internet.

 Buyers get the digital experience they want, while sales and service representatives have more time to focus on high-touch interactions as a result. 

Prospects are moved down your sales funnel by an engaging digital sales experience long before they interact with a professional. 

An efficient digital experience speeds up workflows for your sales staff, including the activities required to setup, price, and quote your items. Stop saying "let me get back to you" and start having direct dialogues with your salesmen.

When these advantages are added together, you have ROX, which you can track using any of your favourite sales measures. Here are some of the most important sales KPIs that ROX has an impact on:

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1. Rates of upsells and cross-sells

Your existing customer base is the most fertile ground for sales. Existing clients can be converted into prospects for other items using a digital sales experience that smoothly transforms into a service, content, and commerce experience.

 Depending on what you sell, the experience can assist customers in making purchases or learning about new products with little or no assistance from your sales team. Assume you're in the business of selling industrial equipment.

You can simply transition new clients into a B2B commerce experience where they can buy spare parts without ever having to speak with a salesman.

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2. Leads that are qualified

A positive digital experience generates more qualified leads. You may demonstrate this by comparing growth in marketing and sales-qualified leads against past qualified lead standards and tracking the success of your experience.

 Keep track of the percentage of leads that progress from marketing to sales qualification. Have you noticed a drop in conversions? Look at ways to automate the progression of leads through the funnel even more.

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3. Rates of closure

Add your closed deals and sales-qualified leads for a particular period to get your close rate. Divide the number of closed deals by the number of leads and multiply by 100. 

The definition of a "good" closure rate varies by industry. By keeping prospects engaged with information and expediting (or eliminating) regular processes that draw salespeople away from engagements with prospects, digital experiences increase close rates.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based lead scoring, for example, can assist salespeople in focusing on leads that are most likely to close.

 Additionally, ROI calculators might assist in overcoming pricing objections. Learn how sales teams can use AI to define priorities and accelerate sales.

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4. Deal cycle times on average

This measure is simple to understand. For all sales, add the total number of days from initial contact to contract close. 

Subtract the number of deals from the total. Take into account the scope of your digital experience if you're utilising this statistic to measure ROX.

This is another measure that improves when you employ content and digital process flows to help buyers move through the sales process more quickly. 

Material such as ROI calculators, configuration tools, and client success stories are examples of this type of content.

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5. Earnings

More leads equate to a greater close rate, and shorter cycle times equate to more income. All-in investments in digital transformation and sales experiences are motivated by the bottom line.

 Of course, numerous factors, such as industry developments, have an impact on revenue from quarter to quarter, but better sales-related experience indicators lead to more revenue over time.

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Conclusion-

In this blog we have discussed Steps to a Successful Digital Sales Transformation. We have also covered different ways how sales data is transforming and why it's essential for your business.