Digital transformation checklist for sales. Where do companies start to become more digital, faster and “better”? Part 1 of 2
Consistently digitalized processes are the answer to a successful future. Optimization potential can often be found in the following areas:
# 1 Software in sales
Quotations are usually still created manually using Word templates and Excel price lists. Project and customer information is stored decentrally and the current status of customer quotations and orders is only known to the responsible persons in the sales organizations. There’s a smarter way! There are suitable software solutions for many things, such as quotation software with a workflow manager and a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) for efficient customer and order data management. If the systems work consistently and transport data bidirectionally, noticeable added value is guaranteed.
# 2 Availability of data
The expertise of sales staff is often only stored in their heads or in local and user-specific end devices. As a result, valuable information remains unusable for colleagues. The opportunity for the company to learn and grow from its own knowledge is literally squandered. Cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions provide a remedy. This makes the collected knowledge accessible to a large number of users and end devices. Separate “islands of information” are a thing of the past. In addition, the respective information is no longer tied to an end device and is therefore not lost in the event of a failure or loss of the device.
# 3 Analyses & evaluations
A classic in many quarterly meetings: elaborately customized PowerPoint presentations with sales figures for the respective territories, product ranges and options sold. Detailed and automated monitoring can be presented much more easily and clearly with the help of CPQ or quotation software. After all, it already contains all information on outstanding, lost and won quotations, including all details on items, territories and options. Sales figures can be measured automatically and in detail without any effort, and all analyses are based on a correct and uniform database. A glance reveals which options are in demand from customers and your own product portfolio can be precisely tailored to demand.
