Innovation Alphabet
Sales Transformation
In a nutshell
Sales transformation is a pervasive process of updating a company’s sales operations. It may be due to, or inspired by, a general desire to grow and achieve new goals. Adapting to change ensures survival. Those who fall behind may disappear. It is the law of nature, but also the law of business.
Application Fields
Sales Industry: Consumers have changing needs, are unfaithful and difficult to interpret. Sales managers must be able to adapt to changing market environments and, therefore, lead the transformation. It is a pervasive change that revolutionizes processes, affects employee skills, alters the way customer relationships are managed, changes the sales organization, and requires the adoption of new technologies that must be applied to support sales activities. Hence, companies need to develop new core capabilities.
Industries
• Sales Transformation in the software industry
Microsoft announced a change in strategic direction from “Windows first” to an “AI/cloud first” strategy to capture the growing demand for software available on the cloud. As a result, Microsoft had to come up with a viable go-to-market plan that would align its new business strategy with sales, partners, products, services, and customers in order to initiate long-term growth without the risk of hurting current revenue or profits.
• Sales Transformation in the consulting industry
Accenture is a multinational strategy and management consulting firm that began its sales transformation in 2020, just before the pandemic. Previously, teams operated with little coordination, and clients still did not believe in digital transformation. The company thus reshaped its community to build innovation through strong leadership, harnessing data and talent, embracing the human experience, and building the right teams to meet new challenges.
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Business Functions
• Sales Transformation in support of digital strategy
Mayflex, a leading distributor of converged IP solutions – including infrastructure, networking, and electronic security – had set the goal of achieving 20 percent of revenue through digital by 2020. Palladium, a digital transaction consulting service, worked alongside the company, accompanying it in the sales transformation process. The result was a digital strategy that highlighted appropriate solutions supported by concrete and practical evidence, drawing a roadmap to achieve the set goal.
• Sales Transformation in support of social selling
InContact is a company that makes software for call centers. It trained half of its sales team in social selling using LinkedIn and Eloqua (an automated marketing solution). Within a year, the half of the team that had been trained on the subject experienced a “slight” increase in revenue: 122% for employees who used LinkedIn alone and 157% for employees who also used Eloqua.
• Sales Transformation in support of social media
U.S. telephone company AT&T decided to take a completely new approach to sales that encouraged building customer relationships through social media. Relationships with their users had been quite poor in previous years, and had resulted in a decrease in sales. Thus, the company funded a content marketing strategy based on the “3 Cs” to better serve consumers:
– Create content, to inform before selling, so as to create engagement.
– Curate the process of selecting, collecting, and organizing compelling digital content.
– Connect, to create trust and build relationships.
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Check out more of the Innovation Alphabet:
3D Printing
3D Printing
“3D printing” is a process carried out by an electronic device which, instead of resorting to the canonical ink, it molds almost any kind of material: from concrete to living tissue, most usually plastic, but also metal. And the operating principle is similar to that of a traditional printer. The creation of three-dimensional models can lead to the redesign of a company’s production capabilities.
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5G
5G
5G is the new frontier of cellular telephony. It was designed to improve (or completely replace) previous generations of mobile networks. The 5th generation features lower latency, ensuring flawless performance of business applications and many other digital experiences – thus enabling the new cultural generations to furiously play Fortnite away from home.
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Advanced Analytics
Advanced Analytics
The term “Advanced Analytics” refers to the ability to autonomously or semi-autonomously analyze data and content to identify correlations, develop analyses, predictions, and recommendations. It is not just a matter of collecting information and then organizing it into watertight compartments: the ultimate goal is to identify a dialogue pattern from a data-driven perspective.
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Agile
Agile
Agile is an approach to software development designed to respond to change. Teams quickly analyze the context in which they operate, identify uncertainties faced, and figure out how to adapt to always move forward. Interaction between individuals comes before processes and tools; collaboration with the customer is more important than negotiating contracts.
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Ansoff Matrix
Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix is a marketing planning model that arises from the intersection of new and existing products and markets. It derives four possible strategies for expanding the company’s market, which are built around four variables with a changeable factor of risks and possibilities: existing product, new product, existing market, new market.
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Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is not strictly defined. Basically, it is a computer system able to make decisions in an independent and flexible way. A good AI application can perform everyday tasks better than an average person (e.g., identifying other people from their photos on social media or beating the best chess player). Nothing to fear, then. Unless you are a chess champion.
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Artificial Scarcity
Artificial Scarcity
We often tend to desire what we cannot have. Or what we are in danger of losing: Artificial Scarcity is a strategy that flaunts a limited number of items that do not correspond to actual availability. The goal is to stimulate the perception in consumers that the stock of items is about to run out and thus create a need based on the “fear of being cut off” or the intention to buy the item in order to resell it at a higher price.
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Attack Surface
Attack Surface
The term attack surface refers to the part of a system that may be subject to attack or breach by hackers. The smaller that surface is, the easier it will be to protect it. Indeed, the Internet is an ocean of deep, dark waters: those who navigate it must be aware that they are exposing themselves to a flood of digital risks. Yet, ironically, we do not need a big boat to shelter us.
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Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is an ever-evolving technology that overlays multimedia information on top of our common sensory horizon to gain a deeper understanding of our surroundings. No, it doesn’t allow you to step out of the Matrix dream simulation, nor can it be accessed by swallowing a red pill. But neither is it the disturbing experience of the Playtest episode of Black Mirror.
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Balanced Scorecard
Balanced Scorecard
In business, as in life, you need balance. The Balanced Scorecard is a holistic tool for strategic management. It offers, in fact, the possibility of assessing corporate performance in its wholeness. An overview that embraces four perspectives: the business/financial side, customers and stakeholders, internal processes, and learning and growth.
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