Multichannel sales, where companies sell their products and services through multiple different channels is widely implemented in B2B organizations. On the other hand, omnichannel sales where buyers use multiple channels concurrently to interact with sellers throughout their purchasing journey, is a relatively new practice which soared during the pandemic.
As a matter of fact, we are already familiar with the omnichannel model in our personal lives, as this is the modern norm in B2C. Think about how your shopping experience spans across multiple engagement channels such as social media, online and in-store… but what about B2B? Is this new trend a pandemic reaction that will progressively fade away, or should B2B organizations take it more seriously?
Prepare to embrace B2B omnichannel sales
According to Gartner (1), by the end of 2023, the total number of B2B digital commerce transactions is expected to overtake the total number of B2B direct sales transactions, and by 2025, 50% of B2B sales technology implementations will include digital sales rooms. By then, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur in digital channels.
If you haven’t started thinking about it, now might be a good time to prepare for the omnichannel tsunami.
In an article published at the beginning of the year, Harvard Business Review (2) identified the following 5 key success factors for moving to omnichannel sales:
- Customer centricity
- A holistic approach
- Proactive channel conflict management
- Digitally enabled sales and marketing
- Agile cross-functional collaboration
Manage the 3 types of interactions
With B2B customers now regularly using ten or more channels to interact with suppliers (McKinsey and Company 3), many companies can expect to face channel-competition challenges.
Traditional field sales representatives who have been forced to work remotely may not be the only touch point that buyers want to interact with anymore. Actually, on the contrary, McKinsey is demonstrating that a new rule of thirds for omnichannel B2B sales has emerged: customers use a roughly even mix of in-person meetings, remote (videoconferencing, phone) and self-service (e-commerce, digital) interactions at each stage of their buying process. And this behaviour spans all major industries, company sizes and countries, according to the survey.
Rethink your client-facing organization
As a consequence, companies need to start looking at their Go-to-Market strategy and how they want to allocate field sales, remote sales and customer service resources to meet the demands of their clients and find the right fit for their different segments. Key deciding factors for the right mix will include customers’ preference, purchase frequency, average order size and expected lifetime value according to HBR. The type of purchase also plays a key role in how you will set up your sales strategy, as McKinsey highlights, with first-time, complex or high-value sales requiring more in-person interactions.
With the role of field sales becoming more of an orchestrator of the buying experience, a form of hybrid between field and inside sales, companies will need to find the right balance between each of the elements of the rule of thirds to provide the best customer experience at the most optimal cost. Different remote sales models are emerging, that will need to be adjusted to each organization. Using different target personas, deal size or stage in the journey scenarios, sales teams can adapt and find the best model for them. Joint incentives, clear roles and responsibilities, and alignment at the management level descriptions will be critical to making the most out of a hybrid sales model. It will keep the teams engaged and collaborative. This evolution towards the augmentation of field sales with digital sales can also positively impact the cost of sales.
Finally, companies should not underestimate the importance of sales and marketing digital enablement. However, to fully leverage the benefits of marketing automation, personalization and analytics, sales and marketing teams will need to work more closely together than ever. But that’s another story!
Don’t miss the boat
If you are already leveraging omnichannel for your B2B sales, then congratulations; you rock and I would love to hear from you and learn more about how you are nailing it.
Otherwise, I would love to help you out by designing the best omnichannel strategy for your sales and marketing organization and creating value for your business.
In any case, I am happy to help and exchange ideas.
Over the years, I have earned hands-on experience in strategic marketing, demand generation and brand management in high-growth B2B organizations. You can contact me here or reach out on LinkedIn.
(1) Gartner 2022 Strategic roadmap for B2B digital selling published December 14, 21
(2) How B2B businesses can get omnichannel right, January 24, 2022
(3) B2B sales: Omnichannel everywhere, every time, December 2021