Commercial Management In The Digital Era

Commercial management in the digital era

Commercial management is changing its reality at a vertigo speed, which imposes digital transformation. Companies have been in full process of change and face the double challenge of offering their clients an attractive omnichannel experience, while optimizing the effectiveness of the configuration of their commercial operations.

The three areas of change in commercial management

Digitization drives organizations to enter new environments to seek solutions that allow them to face the new challenges with greater probabilities of success. In its digital expansion, three areas stand out:

1.  Internet. Although an increasing use of the web is observed throughout the sales cycle, this does not entail the expected effectiveness. In fact, companies still need to work to integrate their corporate websites much more effectively into the multichannel structure. It is a decisive movement when winning new customers and retaining the existing ones that depends on the sales department but not only concerns commercial management, but has roots in the IT area, from where they must ensure that it occursAn effective integration, backed by a unique version of the truth and the absence of information silos.
2.  Mobile devices. Commercial teams exploit the potential of tablets and smartphones, which are supported in their customer visits and allow them to remain connected to not miss a single opportunity to close a sale.

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   In addition to the need for quality and updated information to consume in real time in self-service mode, having this type of tools is a substantial part of a planned strategy to improve the effectiveness of commercial management. Of course, the hardware cannot go far are the support of a CRM tool and a data repository, which contribute to raising the capacities of the equipment and promoting the agility of commercial processes.

3.  Social networks. The use of social networks, both internal and external promises rapid growth. Collaboration is a competitive advantage that has been identified, and exploited, by leading organizations from all sectors and that includes its commercial management. However, in this regard, it is essential to take into account the safety requirements imposed by law and not forget that endpoints are the most vulnerable link in the corporate information protection chain.

The role of the commercial manager in digital evolution

Senior management now sees the commercial manager as the key agent of change between their teams, and the driving force behind organizational changes. Therefore, consider that it is in the center of digital transformation.

This mission that senior management now attributes to the commercial manager adds to the rest of the expectations that fall on the person responsible for commercial management, which are related to the motivation and training of the equipment, but also with the most traditional sales function and itsobjectives. The challenge for those who hold this role can be broken down into four facets:

• Face sales teams whose members are millennials, who are less and less willing to recognize hierarchical authority.
• Transmit sales techniques to their equipment, at a time when they are developing at a higher speed because they are interconnected with the multichannel environment and the growth of mobility tools.
• The lack of automation of certain processes that overload the person in charge of commercial management with administrative tasks that provide little value to the strategic plan.
• The difficulty of monitoring the wide variety of set indicators that must be followed daily.

As a consequence of these difficulties, the manager not only loses his course in the fulfillment of his mission, but also stops providing an effective leadership of his teams.

There is a solution, however, that goes through aligning the operational configuration with expectations. This would allow these responsible leaders.

In many cases it is a cultural issue. And, digital transformation cannot occur without an adequate contextual framework or without a strategy that integrates digital into commercial practices. Because the introduction of digital tools only makes sense when these tools are integrated into the processes by which the company works, and, therefore, digitalization implies carrying out a review of existing processes, such as the hiring and training of commercial employees.

Companies with the highest level of digital maturity share a certain number of characteristics that reflect their desire to emphasize the role of the point of sale in the multichannel structure. These characteristics include:

• Priority expectations related to local managers and their participation in the organization and their ability to carry out change relying on solid relationships with their teams.
• A solid operational configuration highly consistent with these expectations.
• Manager’s performance monitoring using a small number of indicators.

The effectiveness of the configuration allows managers who work in companies that are digitized, maintain a sense of their mission and dedicate more time to commercial management activities.

There is no doubt that the success of the digital transformation of the sales area should be based on the best practices observed in companies with the greatest digital maturity, which show us that it is a priority to clarify the way in which the multichannel configuration works, which is essential to countWith a unique government system for distribution channels, accompanied by rules and that the vision of the person responsible for commercial management for the definition and application of coherent policies cannot be lacking.