Research finds digitally dormant businesses risk losing £1m a year in sales revenue

More than three quarters of sellers (76 per cent) believe that their employers’ digital shortcomings mean they are missing out on revenue from their bottom line. This is according to new research amongst the UK’s business community, from Showpad, the global leader in sales enablement technology, as part of its international State of Selling study.

While a lack of digital sales infrastructure is costing companies in the region of six figures from their bottom line each year, 12 per cent of those surveyed believe this is costing their company over £1m a year, and one in 20 (5 per cent) say it is costing their company over £5m per annum.

Three quarters of salespeople (72 per cent) also believe that their company’s failure to deploy the latest digital sales methods is costing them significantly in commission or bonuses, amounting to an average of £64,000 per rep per year.

These insights are supported on both sides of the buyer and seller coin, with accompanying research from Showpad demonstrating how technology is rapidly changing the business sales industry. It found that nine in ten buyers (87 per cent) say they now prefer to be sold to virtually, forgoing traditional face-to-face sales meetings.

Over three quarters of sellers (77 per cent) say that they have a clear understanding of digital-first selling, but just 27 per cent say that their business sales team fully incorporates it. Three in ten (30 per cent) say that it is a ‘must-have’ and 39 per cent say that it is a ‘differentiator’ to the sales experience for customers.

When asked what they’d like to see their organisation doing more of to support digital sales journeys, nearly half (49 per cent) say ‘providing better technology and platforming’ whilst 32 per cent selected ‘deploying a sales or revenue enablement platform’.

In addition, 28 per cent would like to see better coaching and upskilling for sales reps, whilst 27 per cent would like them to leverage social media to reach more prospects.

Companies are, in many cases, already seeing benefits from the switch towards digital-led selling. Eight in ten (80 per cent) believe that digital sales technologies within their sales motion have boosted revenues in the past year on average by 23 per cent. However, 55 per cent say that they ‘could have more’ training when it comes to digital sales, with 20 per cent saying they have ‘not had enough’.

The research also showed that social media is on a rising tide, with 85 per cent of sellers saying they feel it will be important or very important to the future of B2B sales.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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