Digitalization of the sales organization has become more crucial than ever to stay competitive in this evolving digital landscape. Successful sales digitalization requires strong leadership, clear accountability, cross-functional teams, agile implementation and effective change management.
Digitalization of sales organization means using technology, data, and analytics to improve the sales process. Done well, digitalization can help pharmaceutical companies in many ways, including offering increased customer engagement and boosting the skills and performance of sales professionals.
However, digitalizing the sales organization comes with its own set of challenges. Here are five key actions pharma companies can take to digitalize their sales organization: –
Put the right leadership in place
The sales digitalization team must have a leader or a boundary spanner who is comfortable with and respected by sales and marketing people and technology experts. Collaboration between these two teams is essential to ensure solutions are not just functional; they are also adaptable and scalable.
The best boundary spanners possess empathy for different viewpoints, often with a background of leadership roles in technology and sales or marketing. Consider seeking digital sales consulting to guide leadership on the best digital strategies for sales.
Incorporate accountability measures
Digitalizing sales is more likely to succeed with a clear vision, strategy, and way to measure progress. To achieve this, a pharmaceutical company must create a business plan that explains how digitalization will benefit the business and the customers. It is also vital to set specific goals and track them using key performance indicators (KPIs). Additionally, it is important to establish a governance structure to guide the project, identify areas where different initiatives overlap and find ways to share resources and learning.
Deploy cross-functional teams
People from different areas of the organization must come together to make digitalization work. A boundary spanner who can connect different groups and oversee the entire process must lead them. The core team should have representatives from sales and marketing, technical experts like data scientists, scrum masters, and software architects, and coordinators like project managers, sales support people and change management specialists.
A team with a mix of skills ensures the digital solutions are technically sound, easy to use and valuable to the business. If it lacks diversity, a pharma company may excel in one area but struggle in others, leading to problems with adoption or long-term success.
Implement an agile approach
In the past, projects were often completed using a “waterfall” method. Each step had to be finished before moving on to the next one. It could take over a year to design, build and launch a system. Now, most projects use an “agile” approach, which involves short cycles, or “sprints,” where teams design, build, deploy, learn from feedback and then improve their work. This approach is essential for managing digitalization projects in sales.
An agile approach often includes artificial intelligence. Considering this, pharmaceutical companies must have artificial intelligence consulting to ensure AI solutions are effectively implemented and continuously refined.
Enable organizational change
Change management in sales isn’t just about changing how the organization works; it is also about involving people in creating the change to ensure it benefits those affected. Early experience teams (EETs) test early versions of solutions on how to implement them and how useful they are. Experts in user experience work with teams to design systems that are easy to use and help people work more efficiently with technology.
The digitalization of sales is proceeding at breakneck speed. By implementing the above steps, pharmaceutical companies can bring speed and impact to their efforts, ultimately helping sales soar.
