Change is Inevitable, but Where do You Start?
We’ve known for a while now that innovation and digital technology are critical to almost any company’s success—perhaps every company. Still, many distributors held off on investing time or resources in exploring digital sales and marketing strategies. How about you? If you’re like most distributors, you did very well conducting your sales via good, old-fashioned face-to-face interactions.
But then things changed. We found ourselves in a pandemic with no end in sight. It’s likely your ability to rely on traditional methods to communicate with your customers, find new customers, and build or strengthen relationships with customers was hit pretty hard.
For a number of us, there is a new normal — a shift that will take some new thinking about digital innovation and exploring the sales and marketing strategies that will strengthen your company’s presence in the marketplace in order to remain competitive.
One Step at a Time
Although the thought of breaking into and grabbing a foothold in this new space can be overwhelming, do your best to be patient. Sure, the change will require an investment of time and resources. But there’s no need to panic! Better to take your time moving one step at a time. Better still to do it right the first time than have to do it over. 
The first step in the right direction is to ensure you have a rock-solid foundation from which to move forward. Before going in a direction that may or may not work, focus on the elements that form the foundation that will support your digital sales and marketing efforts and ensure your success. Without these elements in place, your digital efforts will be built on hope, which is basically no foundation at all.
Build a New Foundation that Withstands Time
You see, one of the most significant benefits of launching digital sales and marketing strategies is that, when done correctly, everything can be intentional and measurable. As such, any missteps are quickly correctable as long as your basic foundation is in place.
If a marketing strategy or digital sales tactic doesn’t work, having the following five elements in place will allow you to quickly identify what went wrong. After all, if you want to move forward with solid footing in the digital space, there’s no room for hope.
The alignment of the sales and marketing teams, which includes a unified vision of the company and its sales mission
- The clear and unequivocal understanding of who your customer segments are and what each segment’s goals and challenges include
- Command over what the messaging is that communicates the value you offer to each customer segment
- The ability to deliver your messaging clearly to each customer segment; in other words, getting the right message to the right customer at the right time in the best format
- A way to drive, capture, and nurture internet leads; and to be able to measure their value and know when to pass them to sales for closing
Why These Five Elements Are Necessary to Stay Competitive
There’s a high level of product research and purchasing taking place online today. Even more so, most people begin their searches by looking for a solution or an answer to a question. The ability to leverage this fact alone gives you much power in the digital world.
Searchers are looking for your solutions and your services. However, to position yourself to be found, a solid foundation must be in place, ready to receive them and capture that lead, or these people will slip through your fingers and make their way to your competition.
Your digital sales and marketing collateral will play a vital role in attracting and driving customers through your sales funnel. And it’s become more important than ever to ensure your buyer’s journey is positive, targeted, frictionless, and successful.
With a solid foundation in place, you’ll create a strong, stable, and lasting online presence. You’ll attract prospects and customers to your site and keep them coming back. (This is particularly important if you’ve invested in eCommerce and you’d like to increase your return on that investment.) You’ll gain new customers and increase customer retention and wallet-share. You’ll also attract more eyes to your website and produce better-qualified leads for your salespeople.
Additionally, by mastering the five objectives above, you’re equipped to take advantage of new technologies, especially those relevant to digital sales and marketing strategies.
Are You Ready to Get Ready?
Completing the steps above will require time and resources, and doing so is well within any company’s ability. You won’t see changes overnight, but you will feel change coming almost immediately. You’ll gain an understanding of the importance and long-term benefits of what it takes to succeed in the digital world. You’ll also feel better prepared for whatever the future of digital sales and marketing holds for the industry.
Because digital sales and marketing strategies are available to all, now really is the time to move forward if you want to leapfrog your competition.
Since COVID hit, we’ve yet to see a clear indication that sales practices will go back to what they were. With a rock-solid foundation in place, you’ll keep your sales efforts nimble and innovative. You’ll be exceptionally well-prepared for anything sales and marketing related that is necessitated by the changes that have taken place—and will continue to take place—in the industry.
Let’s do this … Together!
Rather than struggle alone with decisions about what to change, where to invest, and what will work, bring in a team to support you. Together, we will discover the answers you need and teach you and your team to do it on your own. Our goal is to work ourselves out of a job so you can be self-sufficient!
Now is the time to take charge of your company’s digital sales and marketing efforts. I can help. Just give me a call, and let’s discuss the best options for moving forward.
We’ll define metrics, set goals, and measure KPIs going forward. You’ll watch your marketing efforts transform into a revenue-generating department that you can tie directly to a positive impact on your bottom line.
