Southeast Asia’s B2B buyers are on board with the digital revolution. As the region grapples with the many changes brought on by the past year, more and more companies are choosing to focus on digitally-powered solutions for their businesses. This has created a major shift in traditional sales methods, as older sales approaches are being replaced with more marketing-led methods with a large online channel component. B2B companies should take this as a cue to hasten their digital acceleration and put more focus on learning about and adopting digital media.
In the white paper Transforming B2B Digital Sales in Southeast Asia, professionals from YCP Solidiance outlined five key success factors for B2B companies to make a fruitful transition:
Create Effective Online Sales Content
Traditionally, salespeople will pitch to potential buyers in face-to-face meetings that allow them to seamlessly tailor their pitch to the buyers’ needs in real time. Crafting an online sales pitch requires seamless integration of industrial experiences with digital expertise, but utilizing online channels actually allows for more consistent and purposeful content that can easily be updated as product catalogues and target markets grow. This also addresses difficulties in expanding to foreign markets, as companies can easily—and for a lower cost—create sales content perfectly tailored to a new market and utilize online channels to reach more potential buyers.
Prioritise Key Stakeholders
Digitizing sales allows B2B companies to directly target key decision makers through a mix of compelling content and digital targeting know-how. Identifying the right target market is the key to maximizing ROI, and digital channels make it easier by allowing companies to profile customers through specific locations, industries, ages, and even media habits. Focusing on vital stakeholders allows B2B companies to reduce lead time and lower costs.
Establish a CRM Database
In line with identifying key stakeholders is making sure companies have a good understanding of their customers’ needs and wants. Investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system ensures and effective and efficient workflow from inquiry to sales, and builds an integrated system of data that can help maximize potential leads and even repeat clients.
Define and Track KPIs
Digitalization has accelerated the sales process, which is why it is crucial for companies to establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that they’re meeting their goals with each new sales lead. Some of the most common performance metrics include the Quality of Leads, which ensures that companies only pursue leads that will benefit the company’s specific criteria, and Cost-per-Customer Acquisition (CPA), which tracks how much the company spent to pursue each sales lead.
Have Efficient and Selective Follow-up on Leads
With digital creating a wider potential customer base, making sure that there is a system in place to follow up on leads is essential to ensure a higher conversion to sales. Companies need to actively allocate resources and manhours to make sure quality leads are pursued and eventually translated into valued customers.
A Deeper Dive into Digital B2B
Southeast Asia’s leaders are confident that, with vaccinations on the rise, the region will soon be back to business as usual—but the COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of digital transformation in even the most traditional of industries like B2B. Digitalizing B2B sales is the most effective and efficient way for companies to recover and evolve to new markets with ease.
To learn more about how B2B companies are adapting to digitalization, including case studies that outline just how effective digital solutions are, download our full report here.
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