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Accenture Song

How to make sales truly digital

April 19, 2021

RESEARCH REPORT

In brief

  • Industrial customers expect an Amazon-like digital purchasing experience, but companies have been slow to deliver.
  • Our research shows that more than 96% of companies want to transform their sales department, but only 7% have plans to act in the next 1-2 years.
  • We highlight how leading companies are setting the pace by focusing on five key capabilities to develop digital sales at speed.

Industrial customers have placed their orders

Many industrial companies know what customers want but struggle to deliver a highly digital sales experience. To better understand the barriers companies face and how the most successful surmount them, Accenture surveyed 500 industrial sales and marketing executives globally. Results reveal respondents are aware of the potential margin benefits and efficiencies from digital (or online) engagement and automation. Yet few have pursued them.

How can industrial companies jumpstart the sales transformation process?

29%

of total B2B sales will come from online sales by 2025.

~90%

of industrial customers see clear benefits in digitizing B2B sales processes.

PRESS RELEASE: “While the pandemic served as a digital wake-up call for most sectors, industrial companies seem to have missed the message,” said Thomas Rinn, who leads Accenture’s Industrial industry group globally. Read the full press release.

Sales transformation maturity levels

Our survey examined five capabilities that drive sales transformation. We assessed survey respondents against these cutting-edge sales capabilities to understand their maturity in providing a seamless digital sales experience.

Leaders are farthest along in the sales transformation journey but still need to continue their efforts to develop digital sales capabilities. Strivers struggle to transform the sales organization boldly and quickly, while Laggards face significant internal obstacles to making progress.

Make sales truly digital

Leading Industrial companies are focusing on these five key capabilities to transform their sales at speed.

1. Digital end-to-end customer engagement

Create a personalized online experience such as product and service configurators, to build a robust digital commerce offering.

2. Proactive, customized recommendations

Build recommendation engines to increase cross- and upselling for products and services.

3. Predictive, data-driven customer insights

Stitch together customer insights from marketing, sales and service transaction data.

4. Automated, standardized sales processes

Provide immediate customer responses via chatbots. Leverage RPA for approval workflows to unleash back-office capacity.

5. Collaborative front-office operations

Break down functional silos. Direct cross-functional teams to improve the customer journey at moments of truth.

Create a seamless digital sales experience

The path to creating digital sales is individual to each company, determined by your company’s strengths and weaknesses. As a first step on this journey, assess the maturity of your company’s capabilities and where you need to start. Don’t wait—ignite “high-voltage“ digital sales at your company, now.

Here’s what mature digital sales look like

View Transcript

About the Authors

Thomas Rinn

Senior Managing Director – Global Lead, Industrial

JOE MCGEE

Principal Director – Strategy, Customer Sales & Service

THOMAS WRANA

Senior Manager – Industrial

Matthias Wahrendorff

Senior Thought Leadership Principal – Accenture Research, Global IIoT and Industrial Research Lead

Andreas Egetenmeyer

Associate Manager – Industrial Research

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