Every day, sales representatives in FMCG companies are responsible for developing and sustaining long-lasting relationships with distributors and retailers to ensure orders are filled and sales targets are met. In emerging markets, however, much of this communication is manual, as sales reps must visit retailer stores to interact with merchants and gather feedback.
Even though many FMCG brands recognize the need to digitalize their business, digitization of the sales communication and customer interaction process does not receive much attention. A Google survey of over 2700 B2B sales managers found that many top sales leaders underestimate the strategic importance of digitalizing sales interactions.
FMCG brands must now answer the question of how to reach customers quicker via digital channels and respond to their requests in real-time as research shows that sales leaders that effectively implement digital transformation drive five times more revenue growth than their peers who do not.
Manual communication is limiting your sales force and costing you sales.
The manual communication methods used by sales teams in emerging markets are slow and ineffective, and risk losing sales as lack of real-time communication is by far, the biggest frustration for FMCG customers. 30% of B2B buyers surveyed say they prefer to buy from distributors because manufacturers’ sales reps took too long to respond to their requests.
Digitization has made providing consistent, high quality customer interactions a competitive differentiator, irrespective of the sales channel, and FMCG companies need to adjust to this reality. Without digital means of communicating with their customers, sales teams do not have access to raw POS data, or the visibility needed to manage sales profitably and accurately determine the most effective ways to allocate sales resources.
B2B brands that are unable to replicate the convenient and personalized customer experience offered in the B2C industry are already losing to non-traditional players that can. E-commerce giants like Amazon, and smaller digital-first brands are already cashing in on this trend by providing their customers with simple and convenient digital platforms to make commerce easier and faster.
Digitalizing sales communication is key to driving sales growth.
Digitization is a decisive factor for driving sales growth in the long term as it enables brands improve communication with distributors and retailers to gain line of sight across the distribution chain and gather vital information about consumer behavior and purchase decisions. Companies that successfully digitally transform their sales processes and implement digital sales communication generate five times more CAGR and 8% more shareholder returns than companies that do not.
On the other hand, brands that fail to make the switch to digital communication will find their market share taken over by smaller, digital-savvy brands that directly engage merchants through multiple digital channels. Statistics show that the smallest brands now account for over 53% of FMCG sales growth, and e-commerce’s share of retail trade has grown to 17% – showing that the future of sales communication is indeed digital.
Fortunately, all is not lost, as industry reports shows that B2B customers desire a combination of great digital interactions and the human touch – a field that FMCG brands have excelled at for decades. Sales leaders must employ fresh, out-of-the box thinking to combine digital platforms with the existing relationships in their distribution networks to increase visibility across the distribution chain and empower sales reps to make targeted, data-driven decisions based on real-time feedback gotten from all merchants.
This is RedCloud’s mission – a highly efficient, digitalized distribution chain that connects FMCG brands directly to every single distributor and merchant across the value chain. We have achieved this by building the world’s first digital open commerce platform that allows sales team gain real-time insights into the entire distribution chain. For the first time, sales teams have line-of-sight to the smallest merchant and can access actionable data at POS. In addition, you can directly segment customers and communicate with specific merchants to cross-sell, and up-sell your products, which can yield up to 60 percent higher revenue.
Schedule a demo today to see how RedCloud is revolutionizing the distribution chain and partnering with brands to increase revenue by up to 25%.
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