Six Rules for more sales success

Increasingly demanding and better informed customers are B2B company under pressure. For this it is increasingly difficult to satisfy the customers and to convince them of its own products and services. Every second company is struggling with rising distribution costs. At the same time the distribution is often not yet adapted to the new challenges.

So much money is wasted because the correct procedure EBITDA increased by up to 25 percent is possible. This emerges from the current study "Mastering the New Reality of Sales" of the international management consulting firm Bain & Company. In order to meet and efficiency at work is the high demands a reorganization of distribution is necessary.

Loyalty is more and more from

Companies are in B2B sales facing major challenges. The reasons for this are increasingly transparent markets with customers who are increasingly better informed because of the digital channels at the same time and be more demanding. As a result, customer loyalty decreases in companies. 68 percent of executives in industrial companies in the study indicate that the loyalty of their customers decreased massively.

The company is currently trying to reclaim this loyalty by investing in sales and reduce product complexity. 50 percent have their marketing spending increases - but so far often with limited success. Many companies have their sales structurally not yet adjusted to the new reality, in other words: the changing needs and behavior patterns of their customers. 60 percent of the salespeople do not know how their company differentiates itself from the competition. That makes it all the more difficult to convince critical and well-informed customers.


Outdated Customer Segmentation

"Companies need to rethink their entire sales model in this situation and realign, if necessary," said Dr. Tobias Umbeck, a partner at Bain & Company. This includes the first step to make the behavior and wishes of the customer at the center of all sales activities. "The existing customer segmentation is often outdated or too theoretical. In addition, valuable customer data lie fallow. Here the process of change has to start, "said Umbeck.

Six Rules for more sales success

Bain has identified six areas of action as part of its extensive project experience that will allow companies to prepare for the new marketing realities:

1. Less sales too thinly: Only 40 percent of B2B companies sell the right products at the right customer segment. Very few are their distinguishing features clearly.

2. The customer value and the customer wishes to know: The Key Account has accurate only 40 percent of company’s surveyed knowledge of the purchasing processes of its customers. Only 30 per cent analyze potential clients - leading companies do this eight times more likely.

3. More Online in channel mix: 65 percent of companies are planning to expand self-service functions on the Internet, because the importance of the online channel for sales will increase by 50 percent in its opinion.

4. Sales and Marketing interlink: leader agree the work of these departments up three times more frequently and with each other as from the rear.

5. Start Qualification Initiative in sales: Only 30 percent of industrial companies believe that their sales staff have the necessary skills.

6. IT investments on the sales team: 75 percent of companies have indeed invested significantly in technology, but only 30 percent were able to generate more revenue from it.

Sales generalists are out

The basis for a reorganization of sales structures thus forms a deep understanding of customer segments, the sales potential and the decision-making among key target customers. Only in the next step, we recommend the reorganization of the organization and the sales staff in order to improve, for example, the integration with the marketing. The days of sales generalists are counted. "The orchestration of teamwork increasingly determined the sales success," explains industry expert Umbeck. "In a specific project the return on investment of a specialist was nearly 1,000 percent, because it was used at the right time for the right time at the right place."

Courage to realign

Companies need to scrutinize their sales and be ready for a structural realignment. As a result, they can not only win the ever more demanding customers, but also significantly improve your bottom line. With the right marketing structure can be determined by the experience of Bain of EBITDA, i.e.: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to increase up to 25 percent.