Although we are now in the age of IT, some companies and departments still have a lot of analog work to do. However, some companies and departments still have a lot of analog work to do. https://slimtime.co.jp/ DX is about digitizing all of this with IT and moving toward the creation of a next-generation organization.
DX in sales is an effort to move away from relying on the abilities and physical strength of the person in charge, and to raise the level of performance efficiently through the power of digital technology. With minimal cost and without relying on the abilities of the individual, technology can be introduced that allows even young personnel to achieve the same level of performance as veterans.
Sales is a typical example of analog work that persists in Japanese companies. Tele-appointments, where salespeople are constantly making phone calls while looking at a list, and face-to-face sales, where salespeople jump into a store to conduct sales, are some of the types of jobs that persistently rely on the qualifications and physical strength of the salespeople. The fact that they can actually communicate with customers and prospects and learn business skills with their bodies can certainly be considered an advantage, but the question remains as to how much these activities contribute to the organization in the age of IT.
As job changes and turnover become more common and the mobility of human resources increases, what is important is an environment where each individual can always perform at a high level without relying on their own potential. By DXing sales, everyone can achieve excellent results and contribute to the organization without relying on individual salespeople.
Why do we need to DX in sales? Challenges faced by existing sales activities
Tools to facilitate DX in sales are currently available from a variety of companies. What are some of the reasons why so much attention is being paid to DX in sales?
Lack of resources
The first reason is a lack of resources. In many industries, the shortage of talent to perform existing tasks continues to worsen. According to one study, there will be an overall shortage of 6.44 million people by 2030. Some companies are promoting the re-employment of senior citizens, support for women in the workforce, and the active hiring of foreign workers, but even if these measures are successfully implemented, they will only be able to make up half of the shortage.
This is because the birth rate in Japan is declining every year and the working population is also on the decline. Since sales activities have always been a culture that requires a large amount of manpower, it is a sector that is particularly vulnerable to manpower shortages. Creating a sales system that can maintain the traditional performance of a small number of people is a top priority for companies.
Longer lead times
Lead time refers to the time required for the entire process from the generation of a project to the acquisition and delivery of an order. Lead time in sales activities refers to the time it takes from the creation of a customer to the acquisition of a deal.
Looking back at traditional sales activities, we can see that there is much more room for shortening the lead time than in other departments. There is room for improvement in many processes, such as sharing customer information with superiors and colleagues, travel time to reach the sales destination, and formulating highly probable prospects.
As the shortage of manpower becomes more serious and sales activities with a small number of people are becoming the norm, prolonged lead time in sales activities is a matter of life and death. It will be difficult to improve the efficiency of sales unless the time it takes to acquire a single deal is reduced as much as possible.
Differences in the abilities of salespeople
As briefly mentioned above, an environment in which differences in the ability of salespeople affect the management of the company can also be considered as a factor that hinders the maintenance of performance.
Sales activities that depend on the ability of the person in charge or to develop the ability of the person in charge is a risky mechanism for the organization. This is because it is necessary to constantly acquire personnel who can successfully win deals, and the difficulty of doing so is increasing in today's world where human resource shortages are becoming more serious.
Even if you find good people or develop them into good people, it is also difficult to keep them employed for a long period of time in the current labor market where there is high mobility and many companies are looking for good people. So in order to fill the holes in our talented workforce, we need to promote effective sales activities through the realization of DX.
Advantages of DX in sales
Realization of proactive data utilization
One of the essential benefits of DX is the ability to make use of data: as you digitize your organization through DX, you will be able to handle the information generated by all your activities as digital data.
You will be able to centrally manage your prospects' website visit history, inquiry history, etc., create detailed customer lists, score the activities of your sales staff, and provide appropriate feedback.
Realization of Inside Sales
One of the new initiatives to be realized by DX in sales is inside sales. Inside sales is a position where sales activities are carried out while the employee is still inside the company. It is also called inside sales.
There are many ways to reach out to potential customers from within the company. Through phone calls, e-mails, websites, requests for information, etc., you can get people interested in your products.
Inside sales is also a new approach in terms of encouraging the autonomy of prospective customers. In today's age of widespread Internet use, products and services are no longer necessarily sold by force.
It has become commonplace for prospective customers looking for customers and services to use the Internet to obtain information on their own. For this reason, inside sales is an effort to increase the opportunities for the company's products to be seen by prospective customers and to promote orders, rather than directly promoting products through tele-appointments or door-to-door sales.
By realizing inside sales, you will be able to create more business opportunities, such as gaining a better understanding of customer segments that you were not previously aware of and strengthening your ability to gather information.
Realization of BCP measures
Another important aspect of DXing sales is BCP measures, which refers to a system that can continue business even in the event of a disaster. In the event of damage from an earthquake, tsunami, fire, or other disaster, it will be difficult to continue business until recovery if BCP measures are inadequate.
In particular, in the year 2020, an unknown infectious disease called the new coronavirus made it difficult for many companies to come to work, and many cases were confirmed where business continuity was in jeopardy. It is the power of DX that makes it possible to continue business even in such an unprecedented situation.
With DX, inside sales can be strengthened, and text chats and online meetings can be set up so that work can be carried out smoothly even in a remote environment. Employees can also work more efficiently from their home computers instead of commuting to the office.
The effects of the new corona are expected to continue, and the situation is likely to remain unstable. It is important to take BCP measures by promoting DX as soon as possible.
Specific Examples of DX in Sales
What kind of business structure can be realized by DXing sales? Let's take a look at some specific examples.
Online business negotiations
As the name implies, online business negotiations are conducted in a non-face-to-face format. Since you cannot talk face to face on the phone, communication can be difficult. Video chat, on the other hand, allows you to see the other person's face while talking, making communication feel almost like face-to-face.
In addition, it is possible to conduct business meetings from Tokyo to the countryside, from the countryside to Tokyo, or even globally without incurring travel costs, which can lead to new business opportunities.
Automation and efficiency of email distribution
DX can automate the process of creating and sending email newsletters. Some tools provide multiple templates in advance, and you can simply modify the contents as needed to complete the process, greatly reducing the time and effort required.
You can also easily set the recipients of your emails from a list, so you don't have to check your customer list every time you send an email. Streamline the email process, which is essential for inside sales, and create an environment where you can allocate resources to more advanced tasks.
Improve sales content
One of the most important aspects of inside sales is the creation of content to generate interest in your services and products. Many companies are moving to use owned media and social networking sites because they consider these to be important as part of their sales activities.
By using DX to create an environment where web media and SNS can be easily operated, sales activities can be further promoted.
Use of SFA
SFA (sales support system), as the name suggests, refers to all the tools that support sales activities. In sales activities, there are various opportunities to utilize data such as customer information, company information, and negotiation history.
SFA is a service for centrally managing the data necessary for such sales activities and smoothly providing it to the person in charge, thus dramatically improving their performance. The number of mobile-compatible systems is also increasing, making it easy to use on the go, making this service useful for business trips and remote work.
Related Business Blogs