Industry Insights

B2B WeChat Marketing – Improve the Digital Sales Ability with WeChat Sales Platform

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As we learnt from the previous article, B2B enterprises are in urgent need to improve their online sales capabilities. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) analyzed 723 global companies and categorized them into four evolutionary stages for digital B2B sales (beginner, intermediate, mature, and champion). Among these companies, more than 50% are still in the stages of beginner and intermediate. Translate the digital sales capability to revenue, each phase of progress will result in at least 1 percentage point EBITDA (earnings before interest and taxes) growth.

Only 11% of total companies fall into the champion stage of digital B2B sales. According to their performance advantages, what are the necessary digital sales capabilities for B2B enterprises?

The Finest Tools. Big data analysis allows sales organizations to gain insight about everything from employee performance, customer journeys to product success. This requires a unified database (the single source of information), special tools like real-time KPI tracking system, and intelligent document management.

Keen Customer Insight. It is recommended to categorize customers, understand their needs and motivations, and track their journey. With these insights, we can design marketing and sales experience. At the same time, in order to better implement, enterprises also need to clarify the internal responsibilities and roles involved in the user journey. For example, in terms of WeChat official account followers, JINGdigital’s unique tagging function not only helps track sources but also records subsequent customer behaviors to help build a more customer-focused WeChat sales platform.

Modernized Processes. All sales processes are digitized, from inbound marketing to lead acquisition, bid preparation, customer visits, pricing, and customer retention. For instance, search engines and social media are used to generate leads, account-based marketing tools are used to personalize marketing pitches, and new technology of Internet of Things (IoT) is used for vendor-managed inventory (VMI) systems and optical ordering systems. New technologies allow enterprises to collect more data, such as product data to monitor customer penetration and product usage. JINGdigital’s customer journey design function is able to customize the entire WeChat automated B2B sales journey, making the WeChat sales platform more intelligent.

Integrated and Expanded Channels. Adding new digital and data-driven channels, such as inside sales and e-commerce, to existing digitized channels will reduce the cost-to-serve and better meet customer needs. Meanwhile, giving sales force the specific digital apps will improve their performance. And digitized channels usually increase productivity by 5-7 times. JINGdigital platform helps enterprises marketing on WeChat with functions like lead scoring and automatic assignment of sales leads.

Seamless Coordination. By using the centralized demand centers, digital champions can manage all sales channel activities, such as online WeChat sales, inside sales, and the field force. In this way, enterprises can coordinate digital sales across channels and avoid channel conflicts. These centers design and implement marketing campaigns and operations by using big data to analyze all web traffics and customer interactions. Digital channels also put the appropriate combination of incentives, pricing, and commissions in place on specific product and customer efforts.

Furthermore, we will learn from companies in the champion s and study how to plan systematically to improve digital B2B sales capability.

First of all, assess the status quo. Examine the digital sales organization – including existing infrastructure and digital capabilities – to understand how it compares with digital B2B sales champions. Survey available technologies in the marketplace. Study customers’ journeys, paying particular attention to the pain points of your current go-to-market approach.

Secondly, define the future. Based on the status quo assessment, develop the ideal go-to-market approach. Identify how your company can introduce new functions and channels, as well as how to optimize the existing channels to seize the opportunity of e-commerce and inside sales, such as coordinating the planning and management of the WeChat sales platform. Decide on the ideal channel mix by product groups, and develop strategies to achieve multi-channel coordination and navigation.

Thirdly, prioritize and scale initiatives. It is critical to prioritize the most achievable and beneficial undertaking so that the company can reap rewards as soon as possible. Leading sales organizations can use pilots to quickly test new digital initiatives and motivate the organization. On the basis of these pilots, you can develop a sales playbook and scale the initiatives into new markets, and continuously using lessons learned to improve the sales playbook over time.

Fourthly, adjust your operating models. To scale initiatives beyond pilots, enterprises must make several adjustments in their commercial operating models. First, acquire new capabilities, such as digital IT, content production, advanced analytics, inside sales and e-commerce. Second, marketing should play a greater role in generating leads through inbound marketing or account-based marketing. Third, companies should review and define the marketing and sales relationship, perhaps with a service level agreement (SLA). Last, decide which activities need to be handled by headquarters and which to be handled by divisions.

WeChat is the major sales channel in China. JINGdigital provides all-inclusive WeChat sales platform solutions, including integration with the enterprise’s existing customer database, data analysis of WeChat followers, customized customer journey, sales tools, and other functions.

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