Four significant forces are coming into play, they are linked, they will impact even the best in sales & marketing. They demand a different set of expertise and depth of approach to navigate the complexity they create.
But, what are they:
- The rise and impact of Digital Transformation
- The transfer of IT purchase decision-making into the business leader community
- The imperative need to transfer from IT Supplier to Strategic Partner
- The increased need for Joint Partner and Channel Partner propositions
And, this is why you should consider them carefully:
The impact of Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is maturing. Consumers expect services specific to their needs. Employees expect to be able to work anywhere and on any device. Organizations expect rapid and agile deployment of new products and solutions – so they can sell more and extend their proposition capabilities.
The consequence, for sales & marketing professionals working in business technology companies is they now have to re-align their propositions to demonstrate how they can help organizations to take advantage of “digital transformation” very quickly. This means re-engineering complex solution portfolios that enable organizations’ to understand how they can help and make it easy to buy instead of by service line or solution area in isolation.
The transfer of IT purchase decision-making into the business leader community
IT is no longer seen as a function that enables the organization to operate. The impact of digital transformation has meant that IT is central to an organizations business strategy and how it can sell and service its customers and employees in a new way.
The impact of that, is sales & marketing have to be able to not only talk about IT solutions with IT customers but have business-led conversations with a broader range of Executive functions and be seen as experts able to strategically drive and enable the business strategy of that organization.
The imperative need to transfer from IT supplier to Strategic Partner
As organizations decide that they must join the digital transformation journey, they are looking to trusted and low-risk partners to help them navigate a safe and innovative path.
The result, is that sales & marketing are set a job to break free of traditional perceptions of their capabilities, to prove they can be the strategic partner of choice (above other competitors) or risk being left behind in a shrinking IT supplier order entry position.
The increased need for joint partner and channel partner propositions
To secure the quantity and quality of pipeline opportunity, to overcome the growth of capabilities of competitors and meet the demands of organizations – many are driving the use of joint partner and channel propositions harder than ever before.
The impact of this, is that a multiple set of propositions and capabilities have to be re-engineered to enable the partners to truly take the joint proposition to market. And internal sales support has to be built up. And the offer has to be taken to market in an easy way for buyers to buy and experience delivery.
So, how do you tackle the impact of one of these forces or all of these forces all at once.
- Recognize that doing nothing is not an option
- Understand that delivering as normal is not an option either
- Don’t expect the traditional marketing agency approach to give the answer driven by creative
- Engage consultant-led analytical services to engineer the solution to the complex situation
At The Craft, we know the complexity of the 4 forces and have the capability to understand the impact and actions needed to navigate them as separate and combined factors. The extra mile of consultant-led insight, analysis and process means…
- We do re-align our clients story to present a business-led argument which can be had with business-leaders and IT decision-makers
- We do re-align our clients’ complex portfolio to make it easy to be understood by sales and buyers
- We do differentiate them from competitors to engineer the position and journey of our clients from IT supplier to the Strategic Partner of choice.
