The Shift to Sales Transformation
Turning the Ship Without Taking on Water
At MDM’s 2022 SHIFT conference, the best minds in distribution came together across sales, digital, and data analytics transformation to share ideas and network to build organizations of the future. White Cup’s CEO Matt Mullen had the pleasure of kicking off the conference with an address that set the tone for the multi-day event: it’s time for distributors to shift to sales transformation.
This year, we surveyed thousands of distributors and asked them one simple question: What do you need help with?
And according to our results, it looks like you need help with getting new customers, improving your gross margins, and getting very specific with your analytics. That all leads to 97% of distributors surveyed looking to grow revenue and improve profits.
For that other 3% of distributors, really?
At any rate, how do about growing your revenue and improving your profits? Well, you should start by addressing the things you said you need help with. That means understanding why your sales are flat or declining and modernizing your sales process, for example.
But trying to do all of that at one time can seem very overwhelming. There’s a principle associated with it: Martec’s Law. It states that technology offers you solutions faster than you can absorb them. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance to identify technological changes that strike the right balance between meaningful improvement and organizational bandwidth.
After all, investing in new tech is worthless if your business can’t take on the task of fully adopting the solution. Which raises the question, how do you get to solve your problems?
How do you stay afloat but not capsize?
You need to prioritize what matters most. You consider platforms that give you the ability to expand when you are ready. You take into account ease of use because your people must be able to use these systems. And it has to be industry-specific because you won’t want to spend time (or money!) customizing it. It has to be ready for your business from day one.
So, here are the facts. Do you know them?
- Effective CRM use increases sales velocity by up to 75%
- Automating email marketing improves lead generation by 300%
- Pricing software increase gross margin by an average of 5%
- Data analysis can decrease customer churn by up to 15%
These are the facts. And now is the time for you to shift. White Cup is here to help with distribution-focused software that integrates with your ERP.
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