Digital Thinking to Grow your Online Business !!

Do you really need "Digital Thinking to Grow your Online Business"? I feel certainly yes !!

Before we discuss the same, checkout some numbers. India has more than 300 million internet users as of now and it is growing by approx 30% year on year. This way, the number is expected to cross 500 million by 2018. China has 600 million internet users with over 300 million users using E Commerce. 

This big growth in Internet population is going to fuel E commerce adoption in India. The Indian E Commerce market which is approx 17 bn $ is expected to touch 100 bn $ by 2019-2020.

These are really big numbers and are going to change the way customers like, feel, buy and review products or services. If Online is the way forward than Marketers must bring in "Digital Thinking" into their fold. Customer perception about your product / service will now matter a lot as it will have a big multiplying effect. Now your product / service can become heart throb in a day and may also loose sheen the other. 

Marketers must now study "Digital Lifestyle" of their target segment. What are the social platforms on which they visit often, how much time do they spend online, who influences in a group, who are trend setters, their online likes and dislikes. Study what product / services they currently like and aspire for.

Communication would also need a revamp. It needs to be crisp and to the point. Now you cannot have long punch lines, you need to be highly creative to catch eyeballs, online influencer's will play a big role in success. 

I feel time is not too far when "Only Online" remains the way .............   

Is POC (Proof of Concept) Necessary?

One of my friends recently approached me to help him introduce to few SME's and Enterprises for his yet to be launched Technology Solution. My Friend had worked as a CTO with a large reputed organization with few successful product innovations under his belt.

We approached few organizations with Solution Presentation for building a use case. We were ready to work on customer specific challenges and build solution application around that. We were also ready even if the customer was "Non Committal" to buy if the solution was successfully tested.

Customers liked the solution very much and had the belief that the said solution will improve their lives BUT  to my surprise wanted us to show a POC. We told them that the solution is in design stage and we need "Large Network" like yours to show POC but they did not agree.

The said solution was ultimately build, tested and as is in Launch Phase but the question still remains - 

Do we need POC for every good idea even if it is in ideation stage only?

Shall organizations not help new ideas to be tested, promoted by them?

Go To Market : How to Design a Most Suitable One

The way marriage should be done to a "Most Suitable" person rather than "The Best", similarly Go To Market or GTM in short should be "Most Suitable" for your product or service taking in view Target Segment, Competition, Market Conditions & Aspirations.  Lets check out these parameters for working on Go To Market : How to Design a Most Suitable One :

Target Segment : Clearly define the Target Segment which you want to address for your product / service. Your product / service must solve their big issues / challenges. 

for example : Nokia Mobiles somehow lost in an attempt to address "All Segments". Focused approach to few Target Segments would have allowed them to stay afloat against competition.

Competition : Stand out of your competition. Do not just say like every bollywood director "my movie is different", mean it. Some unique features / offering can help you in a big way to make your GTM a big success.

for example : "Tupperware", they had a unique way of distributing their products through agents.   

Market Conditions : Market dynamics like growth, stage etc should be taken into account while designing GTM.

Aspirations : Aspirations are the key. Be clear what you want "To Be". I have personally seen CEO's / Entrepreneur's have great aspirations to grow their business to unparalleled levels but do not allocate enough resources and have patience to reach there.

Saarthee Infoserve (www.saartheeinfoserve.com) is a sales and strategy consulting organization serving Entrepreneur’s, SME’s & Enterprises in India. We help implement proven methodologies in organizational ecosystem to maximize their sales productivity and effectiveness to create a high performance organization.

Cost of Sales vs Sales Productivity

Head Sales of any B2B organization has to constantly fight with the challenge of Cost of Sales vs Sales Productivity.

In direct sales team model, organizations want Cost of Sales LOW while Sales Productivity to remain HIGH. It’s easier said than done. Low cost means lower skill set which generally translates to low productivity.

Organizations try to implement Channel model to improve Sales Productivity while keeping Cost of Sales in check. This model though popular but has intrinsic problems attached to it. The cost of sales difference is not too large compared to the direct model, channel focus towards your product / service always remains a concern.

What shall organizations do to maintain the above equation?

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      Develop a Strong Qualified Lead Generation System : More qualified leads means less effort to close sales thus improved productivity

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      Sales Pitch: Majority of time customer does not understand “what benefits will he get if he buys your product / service”. Crisp & to the point communication brings more conversions.

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      Review your Sales Process : A robust process improves your sales acquisitions by 20-50%

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      Training : A highly motivated and informed Sales Team closes deals faster

Saarthee Infoserve (www.saartheeinfoserve.com) is a sales and strategy consulting organization serving Entrepreneur’s, SME’s & Enterprises in India. We help implement proven methodologies in organizational ecosystem to maximize their sales productivity and effectiveness to create a high performance organization.