Are You At The Mercy of Digital Disruption?

Brick and mortar retailers fighting for customer's share against eCommerce.

Owners of IT service providers concern with slashed margin from selling cloud products vs the traditional on-premise ones.

Logistics and forwarders playing a waiting game while the rise of eMarket place evolves.

eBooks vs hard covers.

Apps taking the main stage for almost all IT savvy products like home cameras, drones, car and phone locators etc...

Software and hardware vendors hopping onto the cloud wagon.

A tsunami of new products in the market that claim intelligence no how potential buyers behave in the digital arena.

Social media platforms bursting with activities.

So what do all these examples imply? Are you watching from the sidelines or are you doing something to adapt with the market changes.

Digital is real and is here to stay. It is not a trend. It is a historic shift in the way we sell.

The problem is, while B2B buyers are living in a digital-first world, most B2B sellers are still living in a 1965 salesman-first world.

Forrester predicts one million B2B sales jobs would be eliminated by year 2020. But the displacement varies. Of the four main seller archetypes (Order takers, Navigators, Explainers and Consultants) that Forrester listed, order takers take the biggest hit in job lost. They will be replaced by self-service portals that we all call eCommerce.

Explainers are the next most at-risk group and will be overtaken by sophisticated and comprehensive company websites.

Navigators will take a small hit due to the rise of tools and integrations that streamline procurement.

Consultants will however, be the bright shining star of the lot. With the gradual demise of the three other archetypes, Consultants will be highly sought after.

Neil Rackham who master-minded SPIN selling gave an extended view of the situation (see diagram below).

While his explanation coincides with Forrester's prediction and the current market transformation (center and right of diagram) , he also gave additional insight to the rise of the Inside Sales (left of diagram). Thus the idea of adding value for transactional sales via Inside Sales teams and the deep consultative sales through trusted advisers in Consultants.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where businesses are struggling to transition. Because the transformation would require us to change and look deep into our people, processes, tools and strategies. The way we prospect, the way we engage, the way we attract, hire & retain, and the way we transact will all need to be under the scrutiny.

Today's post does not serve to dive granular into the bolts and nuts of these components. Rather, it serves as a wake up call, if you will, to start looking at changes. As the saying goes, "if you want to achieve something that you never have before, you need to do what you have never done before".

The future is bright with lots of unknowns for us to uncover. Will you ride the wave of digital transformation, or prefer to be at the mercy of the undercurrent.

"it serves as a wake up call, if you will, to start looking at changes. As the saying goes, "if you want to achieve something that you never have before, you need to do what you have never done before"

- Cherry B

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Do you have any experiences to share about today's topic, or any opinions? We certainly need to learn from you.

If you would like to know more about today's topic, join us in our coming FREE 18-min Shotgun Webinar, "What in the World is Happening? - A Digital Situation".

Meanwhile, Cherry-O!

#Awareness