Before thinking about the inclusion of new digital channels to sell your products and services, it is necessary to create or strengthen the 4 pillars of Commercial Transformation to avoid belonging to the 80% of companies that fail in the first attempt to adjust their business, reducing the risk of negatively affecting your corporate image and your relationship with strategic clients permanently.
The economic, social and even emotional effects of major crises such as the one generated by Covid-19 have been shown to have a tremendous impact on consumer and purchasing habits and brand loyalty. Additionally, and depending on the duration of the crisis, the impact affects the business models of our clients, having to adjust our learned operational routines and with which we have made our business grow.
In the world, many countries have gone through numerous political, social and economic crises, being able to learn from the experiences of those companies that not only survived, but also managed to grow their business over the years. The first lesson obtained from our clients consulted in countries that have gone through major crises in recent years, such as Spain, USA, Argentina, Nicaragua and Colombia, is that “the one who learns the fastest wins”.
Surviving the crisis requires that the commercial team strengthen its existing capabilities to keep the ship afloat, and at the same time open a space to quickly learn the new skills necessary to operate in a new scenario described as VUCA - Volatile, Uncertainty (Uncertainty in English), Complex and Ambiguous.
THE PILLARS OF BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
AGILE PROCESSES
Guarantee that the sales team is capable of learning to react unconsciously and automatically but systematically to the unforeseen events of the Transformation process.
SIMPLIFICATION
Have the ability to reduce the complex into small, simpler and more automatic routines that support previously designed processes, with clear responsibilities and times.
CONTINUOUS LEARNING
Not making the same mistakes twice, allowing teams to learn from their experiences in a dynamic, decentralized and structured way, under the philosophy of gamification.
COMMITMENT
There is no possible transformation in a company in which its leadership does not demonstrate real commitment to change, its importance and urgency. A management team that does not share the vision is the stumbling block for any process.
And so we briefly describe the 4 key elements that make the difference in companies that succeed in their digital transformation process, regardless of the size of their turnover or structure. All of them manage to create internal processes to continuously respond, adjust, learn and update the skills and abilities of the sales team to sustain greater and faster growth than the market.
Beating the market once is a challenge, but winning consistently over time requires a high-performing commercial team backed by strong digital, analytical, and quick-reaction capabilities underpinned by continuous learning from experience to reduce the risk of making the same mistakes over and over again.
If you are having difficulty convincing your company leadership team about the need to start by strengthening the 4 pillars of Business Transformation, we recommend that you quickly develop a document with the answers to these 3 questions:
Where are we and why change?
How do you intend to develop those pillars?
What do you need?
Main barriers that organizations face during the Business Transformation process
Disconnection of senior management in what they consider more operational phases. Big mistake!
Slowness, delays and interruptions by internal bureaucracies to carry out the different activation initiatives.
Cultural characteristics of the company combined with ineffective change management plans.
Training and development methodologies that are outdated and poorly aligned with new realities and technologies.
And perhaps the most common: change in corporate and/or commercial priorities for economic, competitive or any other reason (example: Covid-19 crisis).
What to do if the Business Transformation process stops?
Evaluate the level of progress
If you are not achieving the objectives or progress is slower than required, you need to review the original plan and try to understand what limiting factors or barriers are generating those results. Here bureaucratic issues may appear, functions misaligned with the objectives, insufficient resources (human, economic, etc.), inefficient change management or simply program leaders without the required leadership or skills.
Despite the fact that we have mentioned some possible factors that are affecting your Transformation process, each organization has its own life and it is necessary to continuously evaluate and understand which ones are affecting or slowing down said process.
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