Digitization is altering the way people sell. Sales professionals must now look at how to personalize their processes. A great way to do this is through Enterprise Selling.
Outside Sales
The outside sales process is significantly changing. Larry Davis of AgoNow explains in a recent Modern Distribution Management podcast, “Outside salespeople no longer handle orders, stock checks, backorders, and pricing errors, as they are no longer the quarterback. Alternatively, these tasks could be handled by a computer system. Moreover, today’s salesperson must act like a scout, adapting to creating relationships with customers. Where they can share insights from suppliers, technology integrators, consultants, and other information providers.”
Understand Business Objectives
In Enterprise Selling both outside and inside distributor sales processes must work with the customer’s CEO and leading executives to understand their business objectives. This is called personalization — “the act of tailoring an experience or communication based on information a distributor has learned about their customer.” Which means, the goal of personalization is to educate and train customers about new added-value propositions related to eCommerce and vendor-managed inventory. Also, another way is to offer internal and external expertise using your employees and vendors.
Get Close to the Customer
Additionally, Fastenal is a company that is working hard on personalization to increase its share of the digital market. The company just reported, “Sales through its digital footprint comprised 47.0% of total 1Q sales, up from 46.4% in 4Q 2021; 39.1% in 1Q 2022 and 34.9% in 1Q 2020. Indeed, that is a jump of 12.1 percentage points in just two years, and the company said its goal is to hit 55% within 2022, which would be yet another hefty increase over the next nine months.” Fastenal’s first quarter total revenue was $1.7 billion, which is up 24.6% for the same quarter in 2020! Fastenal CFO, Holden Lewis said, “We spend more on getting closer to our customers than our peers do. We should invest more in the tools that allow us to move product where the customer needs it.”.
Prepare to Personalize
Lastly, selling is entering into an exciting new era of methodology. Which makes, the hallmark of this new paradigm is the personalization of your approach to the customer through Enterprise Selling. In conclusion, Make sure you are taking a good look at how to personalize your sales processes. You should tailor your sales based on the information you have about your customers’ needs.
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