READINESS, USE AND ENABLERS OF DIGITAL CUSTOMER ... · • Ivens, Björn Sven, Philipp Alexander Rauschnabel and Alexander Leischnig (2016), “Social Media in B2B-Unternehmen: Einsatzpotenziale

READINESS, USE AND ENABLERS OF DIGITAL

CUSTOMER INTERACTION TOOLS

IN AUSTRIA

Michael Wenzler & Michael Schmidthaler

OVERVIEW

• Introduction• Digital Customer Interaction Methods• Digital Customer Interaction Metrics• Corporate Culture & DCITs• Empirical Analysis

– Methodolgy– Results– Discussion

• Managerial Implications

2Michael Wenzler & Michael Schmidthaler

INTRODUCTION


Selling through DCITs in a nutshell


Customer

Gather up to date information

Avoid gatekeepers

Prevent Cold CallingListen – Ask – Analyze – Act

Understand concerns & interests of buying center members

Educate & collaborate

Win – Win Solutions

DIGITAL CUSTOMER INTERACTION METHODS


5 Steps to a successfulimplementation of DCITs


Craft a comprehensive strategy

Holistic training of involved people

Company wide change in Corporate Culture

Risk assessment and implementing countermeasures

Top management support and process ownership

12345


Strategic Integration of DCITs

find the right channel

define metrics & communicationplanfor each channel

hire the right people

train & develop your staffset up guidelines &asess risks

create mutual value

DIGITAL CUSTOMER INTERACTION METRICS


Soft Metrics

measure…

• degree of customer engagement with content shared• time spent on a social media channel• posts per day• number of return visits• number of bookmarks• search engine ranking• spread over effects to other channels• likes, shares, comments, tags, etc.


Hard Metrics

Financial metrics People metrics Product metrics

revenue Employee satisfaction Product & servicequality

Cost reductions Customer satisfaction Time to service

ROI Customer retention Product & serviceperception

TO per employee Training success TO per product


CORPORATE CULTURE & DCITS


The Cultural Perspective of DCITs

• determine affected departments• analyze corporate culture of customers• social media – primary communication channel of the

future• holistic approach is key to success

– put yourself in customer‘s shoes– why should customers engage with you– pull instead of push– 1:1 interactions– continuously provide value

• ask customers what they desire• let customers shape your offer

Have you alreadyheard of …


EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS -METHODOLOGY


Methodology

SCORE DEGREE OF ADOPTION0-25 pts. Low degree of usage / early stage of adoption

26-50 pts. Medium degree of usage / advanced stage of adoption

51-75 pts. High degree of usage / high stage of adoption

76-100 pts. Superior degree of usage / full scale of adoption


Online Survey• 70 people from 54 companies in AUT• Scoring model

Three Pronged ApproachDetect structural differences by means of indep. T-Test

Investigation of sub-layer differences by means of a variance analytical approach

Multiple regression analysis

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS -RESULTS


Social Media Tools – Usage Frequency

3

0

3

5

14

24

0 10 20 30

6

5

4

3

2

1

LinkedIn (Mean: 1.98, Mode: 1)

2

7

4

13

14

10

0 5 10 15

6

5

4

3

2

1

Xing (Mean: 2.8, Mode: 2)

5

8

16

6

10

5

0 5 10 15 20

6

5

4

3

2

1

Facebook (Mean: 3.54, Mode: 4)

12

16

13

6

2

1

0 5 10 15 20

6

5

4

3

2

1

Twitter (Mean: 4.54, Mode: 5)

4

11

7

13

9

6

0 5 10 15

6

5

4

3

2

1

Youtube (Mean: 3.4, Mode: 3)

25

9

6

8

0

2

0 10 20 30

6

5

4

3

2

1

Blog (Mean: 4.9, Mode: 6)


Social Media Usage in the Stages of Sales Process

15

3

5

14

23

19

33

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

7. Follow up and maintenance

6. Closing

5. Overcoming objections

4. Product Presentation and Demonstration

3. Approach

2. Preapproach and Needs Identification

1. Prospecting and Qualifying/Generating Leads


Time spent interacting with Customers on Social Media per Day

75%

17%

2%2%

4%I don't interact via socialmedia on a daily basis but ona weekly basis1 hour

2 hours

3 hours

I am constantly in touch withcustomers via Social Mediawhen I am at work


Channels Used By Austrian B2B Sales Reps to Generate Leads

11

11

15

19

34

35

40

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

I get my leads from the marketing department

Others

Social Media

Conferences & Congresses

Trade Fairs

Recommendations

Projects With Existing Customers


Degree of Customer Integration in the Product/Service Development Process

4

10

22

18

5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Not At All Weak Moderate Strong Very Strong


Degree of Respondents’ Social Media Sales Adoption

30

20

61

0-25 pts.

26-50 pts.

51-75 pts.

76-100 pts.


Further Insights

• manufacturing 9.8% < rest• low holistic implementation in sales process• no top management support• size of company not relevant• Marketing, R&D, Production cooperate

strongest with Sales• low degree of performance measurement

(mainly soft metrics used)


DISCUSSION OF CURRENT STATUS


STATUS QUO

• usage of DCITs in its infancy• communication through DCITs irregular• youngest respondents reached highest scores• marketing, IT & telecom. are leading• large variety of challenges – DCITs not used to

solve them• DCITs not seen as sales tool• DCITs not used to solve existing problems


STATUS QUO cont‘d.

• no connection of Social Media & CRM• only superficial info is spread• little engagement with customers‘ content• size of networks insufficient low visibility• DCITs believed to provide superior value


MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS


8 Steps to provide Superior Value


IT‘S NOT ABOUT SELLING

Sources• Agnihotri, Raj, Rebecca Dingus, Michael Y. Hu and Michael T. Krush (2016), “Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales,” Industrial

Marketing Management, 53, 172–180. • Agnihotri, Raj, Prabakar Kothandaraman, Rajiv Kashyap and Ramendra Singh (2012), “Bringing “Social” Into Sales: The Impact of Salespeople’S Social

Media Use on Service Behaviors and Value Creation,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32 (3), 333–348. • Agnihotri, Raj, Adam Rapp and Kevin Trainor (2009), “Understanding the role of information communication in the buyer seller exchange process:

antecedents and outcomes,” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 24 (7), 474–486. • Andzulis, James Mick, Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos and Adam Rapp (2012), “A Review of Social Media and Implications for the Sales Process,” Journal of

Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32 (3), 305–316.• Baird Heller, Carolyn and Gautam Parasnis (2011), "From social media to social customer relationship management," Strategy & Leadership, 39 (5),

30-37.• Bowen, Melanie and Alexander Haas (2015), “Social-Media-Kompetenz: Der vergessene Erfolgsfaktor im modernen Vertrieb,“ Marketing Review St

Gallen, 32(6), 54-61.• Cuevas, Javier Marco (2017), "The transformation of professional selling: Implications for leading the modern sales organization," Industrial

Marketing Management, 69 (2018), 198-208.• Culnan, Mary J., Patrick J. McHugh and Jesus I. Zubillaga (2010), "How large U.S. Companies can use Twitter and other Social Media to gain Business

Value," MIS Quarterly Excutive, 9 (4), 243-259.• Curtis, Joan C. and Barbara Giamanco (2010), The new Handshake: Sales meets Social Media. Santa Barbara: Praeger.• Ferrell, O. C. (2010), “An Assessment of the Use of Technology in the Direct Selling Industry,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 30 (2),

157–165. • Greenberg, Paul (2010), “The impact of CRM 2.0 on customer insight,” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 25 (6), 410–419.• Itani, Omar S., Raj Agnihotri and Rebecca Dingus (2017), "Social media use in B2B sales and ist impact on competitive intelligence collection and

adaptive selling: Examining the role of learning orientation as an enabler," Industrial Marketing Management, 66, 64-79.• Ivens, Björn Sven, Philipp Alexander Rauschnabel and Alexander Leischnig (2016), “Social Media in B2B-Unternehmen: Einsatzpotenziale in Marketing

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Contributors• Michael Wenzler

FH Steyr – Global Sales & Marketing Alumnicurrently Sales & Project Manager at Primetals TechnologiesE-Mail: [email protected] Tel.: +43 (0)699 19675294

• Michael SchmidthalerProf (FH) University of Applied Sciences Upper AustriaSteyr – Global Sales & MarketingE-Mail: [email protected] Tel.: +43 (0)650 3466494

• Sakshi BhambhaniKJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai, India – Post Graduate Diploma in General ManagementE-Mail: [email protected] Tel.: +43 (0)660 7609335


READINESS, USE AND ENABLERS OF DIGITAL

CUSTOMER INTERACTION TOOLS

IN AUSTRIA

Michael Wenzler & Michael Schmidthaler

Documents

READINESS, USE AND ENABLERS OF DIGITAL CUSTOMER ... · • Ivens, Björn Sven, Philipp Alexander Rauschnabel and Alexander Leischnig (2016), “Social Media in B2B-Unternehmen: Einsatzpotenziale