The coronavirus pandemic continues to cause issues for sales teams in the United Kingdom.
According to McKinsey, 65% of small and medium-sized enterprises reported either somewhat reduced or greatly reduced revenues since 2020.
These changes have meant digital transformation in business has sped up by several years. Without following suit, you might find your business will struggle to keep up.
To avoid falling behind, this guide shares what the digital transformation really is, the advantages of having a digital strategy, plus five smart ways your UK-based sales team can get in on the action.
What is digital transformation?
Digital transformation means a company has adopted digital technologies in their business. This new technology can range anywhere from automation to artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT) and machine learning.
Digital transformation will change the entire way your business operates and delivers value. But don’t worry: it’s not as complex as you might think.
Businesses have been able to adopt digital solutions 25 times faster than they expected in the last year—largely due to the pandemic leaving teams no choice but to run virtually.
The advantage of going digital
Using online software to run your business might sound scary, but it’s a process worth undertaking. Let’s look at the benefits of sales teams going digital.
More efficient (and productive)
There are two main drivers for going digital - efficiency and productivity.
The first comes from data collection and organisation.
For example, when one business-service provider offered better data analytics and source insights to its salespeople, it increased its sales productivity by 25%.
The other major benefit, in terms of productivity, comes from is remote work.
Research from Catalyst shows that employees who have access to remote work options are 75% more likely to report being engaged in their work. Respondents are also 63% more likely to report being innovative—a skill that when possessed by your sales team can drive incredible business results.
More cost effective
There are plenty of savings to be made when your sales team transitions into a digital business.
For example, Samsung—already a highly digital company—migrated its 1.1 billion users from a legacy physical database to Amazon Aurora (a cloud-based service). The result? A 44% reduction in monthly database costs.
Going digital is also cost-effective when you think about saving on physical office space with more employees working remotely. The UK has the most expensive offices in Europe.
Downsizing—or going completely virtual—can save businesses a lot of money that would be collected for rent.
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Deliver better buyer experiences
These days, buyers have high expectations. They want a fast, personalised, hassle-free digital service whenever they demand it. It’s no wonder companies are prioritising the buyer experience.
In a survey by Harvard Business Review, 40% of people said customer experience was a top priority for moving towards digital business models. Not only that, but almost three-quarters of them expect digital initiatives to create closer relationships with customers.
Digital tools like CRM platforms can help sales teams get a 360-degree view of customers. Use the data inside on to proactively deliver personalised offers as before leads ask for them.
Improve sales team communication
Speaking of 360-views of customers, CRM platforms can also help your sales teams better communicate with each other. They store customer information in one easy online dashboard—which prevents miscommunication with each other and customers.
That’s especially important for remote-first workplaces—something 54% of organisations think is here to stay.
Popular apps such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have also helped create an ecosystem of digital collaboration. While GetAccept recently launched our very own Digital Sales Room.
These time-saving platforms have meant less reliance on email or paper-based communication.
How sales teams can become more efficient with digital transformation
You know the benefits of digital transformation, but how do you achieve them for your own company? Some businesses spend a long time migrating. But for others, it can be as simple as adopting one tool at a time.
Let’s take a look at 5 ways sales teams can improve with a digital transformation strategy.
1. Lead qualification and prospecting
It’s critical for salespeople to respond to inquiries quickly, especially when qualifying and prospecting leads. You need to strike while the iron’s hot. Otherwise, you risk the buyer losing interest.
Social selling is a great way to build brand awareness and generate leads, especially if your existing customer base is small. Sales teams need to be on-hand to qualify that anyone visiting your website through your social media strategy fit your target customer persona—and reach out, if they do.
2. CRM
A CRM isn’t just for lead qualification.
It’s a central part of any UK teams’ digital transformation strategy for several reasons:
- It’s easier to be compliant with GDPR (and similar privacy laws worldwide).
- You can increase efficiency within your internal teams through shared knowledge.
- It’s significantly easier to identify new opportunities and grow your business.
Choose a CRM that allows your sales team to see connected data in a single view. Check for integrations with other digital tools you’re already using.
3. Virtual sales meetings
Using video software can help save your business money on travel.
But what digital tools can you use to help get your sales reps online from anywhere?
One popular feature with GetAccept customers is our engagement options. And for good reason, too as our customers have increased their hit rate by 30% since adding engaging communication features to their sales process.
4. Digital signatures
If your business relies on contracts or other types of forms that need signatures, offline-only processes limit you either by geography or time (for mail to send).
That’s where digital signature can help you.
Digital signatures help you get contracts signed in hours, not weeks, which is why it’s a key component for sales teams and their digital transformation strategy.
The fun part?
More than 50% of UK sales reps have never used it!
With digital signature, deals are done faster and more efficiently. – allowing sales teams to spend more time on converting new customers.
5. Automate the sales process
One of the easiest parts of the business to digitalise is repetitive sales tasks—most of which can be removed from your plate entirely using automation.
Automating small or repetitive tasks can free up time and effort for your sales reps to work on more important tasks.
For example, most sales reps agree that following up is difficult.
In fact, it’s the third biggest challenge in sales!
Want to make it easier? It’s simple. Automate it.
Important factors to consider when buying sales software
Convinced to try out digital transformation in your business?
As you shop around for sales tools, you’ll need to take into consideration these three factors.
Security
No matter the size of your business, you must make sure the data you collect from both your customers and your employees is secure. Statista reports that data breaches have already cost companies an average of £2,670 in 2021 so far:
If breaches aren’t found and reported quickly enough, you’ll also find yourself on the wrong side of GDPR law. That’s why you need to confirm that any digital systems you’re using are secure and encrypted.
GetAccept is strongly committed to privacy, security, and transparency. But no matter which software you choose, ask questions to determine that your new software has the level of security you need to protect yours and your customers’ sensitive information.
Integrations
If you’re thinking about adopting more than one type of tool, another crucial element to consider is integrations. Making sure your tools “speak” to each other not only saves you time hopping from one to the other but can also provide unique insights.
For example, if you prefer to log your activities in Salesforce, you can integrate with GetAccept and send personalized videos straight from their Salesforce account. You can also track digital document opens and change history without leaving the Salesforce dashboard.
An alternative to integrations is Zapier.
If you’ve found a tool to implement but can’t see any native integrations with the other software you’re using, scan premade automation templates on Zapier:
Team training and onboarding
The final factor to consider when looking for sales software is its training or onboarding options.
When you start using a new tool, you’ll want to know how it works and what you’re doing before you implement it across the business. Training and onboarding can help you avoid making costly mistakes when starting, and also benefit you later down the road when you want to optimize your processes further.
Many digital tools will offer product/service demonstrations, but you should also look out for tools that have onboarding services, online learning portals, a wide customer base, and support forums.
As you learn more about the way the tool works, you’ll have better ideas on how you can maximise its use within your organisation.
Start your digital transformation journey with GetAccept
It doesn’t matter which industry you’re selling in: digital transformation makes UK sales teams more productive, deliver better customer experiences, and improves internal team communication.
The good news?
You don’t need to overhaul your entire operations in one day.
Digital transformation sounds complicated, but you can take it one step or tool at a time.
The best place to start is electronic signature. It takes minutes to get up and running, which means you’ll be sending out your first digital document before the workday is over.
See, it’s not that complicated after all.
Want to learn more about GetAccept and our electronic signature platform?
