Sales professionals are constantly looking for ways to improve and stay ahead of the competition. One way to do this is by transforming the sales process and going digital. And to stay ahead of the game, all the businesses out there are trying to fully embrace technology. There are many benefits that come with this. Digital transformation and automation make business processes more efficient. It leads to increased sales, better customer services, and overall productivity in the company.   

But what does that mean? How do you know if you’re ready for this digital transformation? What are some steps to take to make sure your company is set up for a successful change? This blog post will answer these questions and more, so that you can get started on the road to your company’s digital transformation.

What classifies as digital transformation?

Digital transformation implies the use of digital technologies to upgrade the existing or to create new business processes. Sales digital transformation then describes efforts aimed at introducing digital solutions to different stages of your sales process – finding customers, customer relations, online sales, etc. 

It may seem like it’s another buzz word that’s emerging but in reality, digital transformation has been going on for decades. The simplest example is the transition from paper films to watching a movie via a streaming service. 

Transformation is a big word and it’s often associated with 180-degree changes. That’s not necessarily the case. When you embark on a digital transformation journey, you don’t need to uproot everything you’ve done and start from scratch. True digital transformation lies in a number of small changes in all stages. It’s similar to what the American author James Clear calls getting 1% better every day. Instead of striking out everything you’ve done and digitalizing every single step, start with small changes. We will talk about the specific steps in detail. 

What does digital transformation look like in sales?

Long story short, a digital transformation in sales processes refers to the transformation of both internal processes (within the sales department and the company at large) as well as external processes (sales representative and client).

A good example of a digital transformation in sales and what kind of problems it can solve is given by Roger Galdon, the head of technical consulting at ForceManager. An insurance provider had an issue of seeing their sales team’s activity. The employees, more specifically the field agents and the brokers, were supposed to compile and share weekly reports. As a result, the managers didn’t get any insights into that week’s sales activity nor into customer satisfaction. Because the reports were created individually, the company didn’t have a centralized database. 

This example demonstrates what kind of problems internal sales processes have. As a matter of fact, not being able to oversee the work of the sales department and lacking a database is quite a common issue in many companies. The solution was very straightforward – to create and use digital centralized tools that will bring together all the different stakeholders – agents, brokers, managers, etc. and allow them to see each other’s work in real time. 

If you can relate to this example or you thought of other inefficiencies among your business processes, keep reading to find out what steps you should take to begin your digital transformation journey and enjoy its benefits. 

Needs assessment

Being motivated to boost your sales efforts and drive change in your company is great but before you get to making the actual transition, you have one important task – a thorough needs assessment. As tempting as it is, you cannot skip this step. Before any change happens, any tool is introduced or any structure is modified, you first need to understand your sales process – both internal and external – from A to Z. 

Take a close look into all the different sub-processes that take place within a single sales process. What happens between generating a lead and converting the lead into a customer? Clearly identify all the steps in your sales cycle and pinpoint the areas that need improvement and could potentially undergo digital transformation. You should engage your whole sales team in this (if it’s a large organization, only the managers/team leads), also representatives from the marketing and customer support departments. A great tool to use for this step is Miro. It will help you visualize the process and note the aspects that can be involved in the pilot digital transformation.

Making a distinction between internal and external processes is also a great framework to use when you’re doing your assessment. Whether it’s different columns, colors, or entirely different flows, do make sure that you differentiate internal and external sales processes. 

Some addition things to consider during your assessment are: 

• The roles and responsibilities of employees engaged in sales processes. 
• How is communication handled?
• What reporting mechanisms are you currently using?

Ultimately, the needs assessment will help you determine the extent to which your organization can integrate sales technology to complete the transformation, and the scope of your sales digital transformation. 

Get data and use the data

This goes hand in hand with the needs assessment. At this point in your career, you’ve certainly realized that data can make it or break it. We no longer have to rely on our instincts or run a thousand experiments to figure out the right or the best possible course of action. We employ data-driven decision making. 

In terms of external sales processes, at the very least, you are using a CRM tool. So, dive deep into your CRM platform and study every single data it can possibly present you. If you’re not using a CRM then put “integrating a CRM” in your to-do list of digital transformation. 

As Conquer pointed out, the ability to rely on the data in your CRM for all business decisions will provide you with actionable insights. Start the process with a CRM audit and keep an eye on duplicate or inaccurate data.

Here is what Hubspot recommends you track: 

• Total revenue
• Total sales by time period
• Sales by lead source
• Revenue per sale
• Revenue by product
• Market penetration
• Sales per prior activity
• Percentage of revenue from new business
• Percentage of revenue from existing customers
• Year-over-year (YOY) growth
• Average customer lifetime value (LTV)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Number of sales lost to competition
• Percentage of sales reps attaining 100% quota
• Revenue by territory
• Revenue by market
• Cost of selling as a percentage of revenue generated

Analyzing your data will not only make your sales digital transformation successful but also your overall sales strategy. Data-informed sales efforts have a significantly higher chance of generating income. 

Put together an action plan

Once you have the visual picture of your sales process and data that shows where you are, what you lack and what you’re strong at, you can put together an action plan. There is no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all action plan that we can share with you. It depends entirely on your company, size, industry, assessment results, goals, etc. But we can share with you what a simple, yet effective action plan looks like: 

Objective	Task	Indicator	Timeline	Resources
Ex. Introduce chatbots to respond to basic customer queries	Research chatbot solutions that are fitted to our industry	A list of 5 options.	Deadline: March 5th	Allocate a monthly budget for the chatbot. Assign a team member to do the research.

Surely, you have heard this before but it’s worth reinforcing that your objectives and the action plan in general need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).

Hint: which sales processes can and should be digitalized

 Unfortunately, similar to the action plan, we also can’t tell you which sales steps and processes you should digitalize. It can vary greatly from company to company, and it takes a thorough assessment to identify these processes. 

We can, however, share some essential ones with you that will steer you in the right direction.

Introduce a CRM solution 

If you already have one, feel free to skip to the next point. But if you don’t have one, read closely. In this day and age, a CRM solution is indispensable for most organization. Customer relationship management systems like Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot CRM, etc. allow sales reps to manage all interactions with customers and prospects. It’s the ultimate digitization of sales processes as it helps stay connected with customers, streamline processes, provide data-based insights, improve profitability and more. 

However, if you’re ready to invest in a CRM or don’t need most of its advanced capabilities, there’s a way you can use Microsoft Teams as a CRM. We explain how to do that in this blog post.

Connect virtually 

Cold calls no longer work – it’s truly the end of an era. So, if your sales process still includes cold calls then scratch that and move to automated email flows and notification solutions. While you’re on that, introduce digital solutions to digital networking events and sales meetings. Video-conferencing tools do an excellent job replacing in-person events and meetings, saving you quite a lot of money in the long run. 

Eat, sleep, automate, repeat

Digital transformation and automation go hand in hand, so automate whatever you can. For example, you can:

• Use email and presentation templates 
• Automatically schedule meetings
• Generate activity and outcome reports
• Match leads with sales representatives
• Automate sales update notifications

If any of these interest you, do a separate research on them and you will find a myriad of tools and services. 

And if you need help to address your specific business needs, reach out to our team.

Digitalize your sales playbook 

As a part of your digital transformation, we highly recommend also digitalizing your sales playbook to achieve higher adherence to internal guidelines. Collaborative platforms like Microsoft Teams is an excellent place to start. Instead of organizing the work via multiple channels and tools, you can bring them together in a single platform. You will be able to: 

• Have all the relevant stakeholders in one place, 
• Upload, store and manage files such as pitches, reports, etc. 
• Integrate your CRM solution,  
• Guide your team with task management tools, and more. 

You can go a step further and introduce solutions like nBold that allow you to build and duplicate efficient sales deal rooms with all the structure, guidelines and tasks needed for your team to work. With this tool, your team won’t have to create a new deal room from scratch. Instead, they can build a sales deal room just once and when needed, get the same level of execution from one deal to another. 

Here’s how it looks like

You have a sales playbook that outlines all the steps necessary for your sales team to close a deal. Imagine having that playbook translated into a digital workspace where you have all the tools and information you need to follow the guidelines. 

You create a Sales Deal room Collaboration Template with the structure that will apply to all your sales team. 

1. Add all the channels that cover key areas of deal collaboration. These are your spaces for focused discussions.

2. Add all the documentation that your teams will need to efficiently work on closing deals. That can be proposal templates, sales decks, contracts, guidelines, etc. These documents will automatically appear in the team created from the template. 

3. To make sure your team know exactly which steps to take as soon as a new deal is open, you can pre-build task boards in your preferred task management tool and add it to the template.

4. You may also want to build a Document Library dedicated to sales deals. This will be the knowledge repository for your team where you keep all the essential resources, best practices, guidelines and other documentation for further reference.

5. Connect your everyday tools to your teams. Both native and third-party apps such as CRMs can be integrated with your Microsoft Teams workspace through nBold technology. Keep track of sales funnels, receive updates, and analyze sales results without leaving Teams. 

Learn more about the sales deal room Microsoft Teams template. 

Resisting digital transformation is no longer an option. Embrace the opportunities it offers and use them to scale your business.