How to deliver successful Sales and Marketing Transformation

An interview with Anja Varrelmann, Managing Consultant at LanciaConsult, Europe

‍Q: What exactly is Sales and Marketing Transformation?

A: Digital Transformation is a term that many of us are familiar with; Digital transformation allows businesses or organisations to create or modify processes, internal and external to the business to meet changing customer demands and market requirements. Essentially recreating a business culture that can effectively work and continue to deliver in the digital age.  

Marketing and Sales Transformation is a digital transformation that essentially focuses on both Sales and Marketing teams. It is a process of utilising digital methods that enable Sales and Marketing to share data and collaborate to drive awareness, leads, sales and of course, revenue. Overall objectives may vary across industries and companies, but the key is to embed digital automation into their processes and culture, allowing them to thrive.  

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Q: What are the key drivers for Sales and Marketing transformation?

A: Key drivers tend to be;

• Identifying opportunities for automation – To get rid of manual workarounds which are often the result of using out of date technology and what we call legacy processes.  ‍
• Increased transparency around data analytics and insights – Connecting data from various sources and generating meaningful insight through analytics is often key to deliver ambitious business results and an enhanced unique customer journey. ‍
• Fast-changing customer expectations – Customer needs and behaviours are evolving quickly and across various (And new) sales channels which has a huge impact on marketing messaging and the buying process itself.  Businesses that react fast will be able to keep up and stay relevant.

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Q: Is choosing the right technology the most important component of a successful sales and marketing transformation?

A: Absolutely - but it can be challenging. How can businesses make sure they are choosing a technology that fits their individual needs? Often it is about understanding the organization first, their specific needs, customers and markets they operate in. Comparing tools by their features alone will not lead you to the best solution for your purpose. Understanding E2E (end-to-end) needs and processes can sometimes lead to a completely different technology tool than the one people had in mind when starting the project.

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Q: How is success in Sales and Marketing transformation measured? What does it look like?

A: This may vary across different businesses and organisations; Based on strategy and what companies are specifically trying to accomplish when choosing to invest in Marketing and Sales Transformation.

A few examples could be:

• Reducing the overall end-to-end process duration time
• Reducing customer churn and increasing the number of customers retained
• Reducing the average time for customer conversion
• Increasing the number of engaged and qualified leads in the sales funnel
• Driving a higher NPS (Net Promotor Score)
• Reducing the order fulfilment time
• Time to Market
• Employee satisfaction rating

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Q: What are the main challenges associated with Sales and Marketing transformation?

A: The challenge is in ensuring a holistic approach which considers end-to-end processes and business needs alongside the selection of new technologies. Internal users across the business will be crucial to the success of a Marketing and Sales Transformation. If they feel it is not addressing their needs, they will be reluctant to embrace the new technology and ways of working. They need to understand what is in it for them. Change of technology often means change in operation and you need your people to buy-in to that change because fundamentally, winning them over and bringing them along the journey with you can mean success. Failure to do so can risk the entire transformation.  

From a customer perspective; I would recommend putting yourself in the shoes of a customer. What is the end-to-end journey for them? Customers expect connected journeys, they expect personalisation. When consumers experience the breakdown in connectivity because of internal business silos it is frustrating and damages your relationship with them. Lining this all up is increasingly challenging as customers are now using multiple channels to connect with businesses. This can be very tricky!  

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Q: Why are LanciaConsult the best partner to help businesses drive successful Sales and Marketing Transformation?

A: We listen to our clients. Having personally worked on the other side and seen consultants come in, not listen and leave a general sense of “knowing it all”, I know that Lancia is different. We come in with an open mindset talking to teams, trying to understand pain-points, structure, culture, E2E (end-to-end) processes and customer journeys. Challenging the status quo and aiming to meet future needs.  

We have a broad range of experts who have worked in various roles within transformation programs across industries and will bring this expertise to the table. Our team is great in building trusted sustainable relationships quickly, working with our client's side by side.  

So, in a nutshell, we have a great skillset but most importantly a genuine and honest team of people who are fun, entrepreneurial and reliable to work with.  

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Q: Do you have any words of wisdom to share with leaders looking to invest in Sales and Marketing Transformation?

A: Yes! Invest and focus on people as much as the technology.

Want to find out more about working with us on your Sales and Marketing Transformation get in touch today!

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