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Talk About Value, Not Product… the Solution to Widen the B2B Sales Pipeline?

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Talk About Value, Not Product… the Solution to Widen the B2B Sales Pipeline? Talk about value, not product… The solution to widen the B2B sales pipeline? Malin Väringstam & Annina Wede Department of Business Administration Master's Program in Management Master's Program in Business Development and Internationalisation Master's Thesis in Business Administration II, 15 Credits, Spring 2021 Supervisor: Christopher Nicol Acknowledgements We want to give our warmest appreciations to our respondents from Tele2, who gave us the opportunity to explore sales development within their organization. Your inputs, competences, and inspiring experiences have provided great insights for this thesis. We also want to thank our supervisor, Christopher, for motivational meetings and wise insights, but also for teaching us a thing or two about proper English. Finally, we would like to say thank you to Umeå University for these five years and for preparing us for our future careers. Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, 26th of May 2021 _____________________ _____________________ Malin Väringstam Annina Wede Abstract Business-to-business (B2B) organizations are facing challenges related to complex sales cycles and increasing competition, resulting in more value-driven sales processes and a holistic ecosystem for the B2B marketplace. Recent studies have acknowledged the lack of research on inside sales and sales development in B2B organizations. Scholars point at the increasing importance of inside sales due to changes in the environment and increasing customer demands, which has resulted in the development of digital sales processes within companies. In this study, we have examined the early phase of the sales process referred to as customer acquisition, which is an important part for companies to do business and be profitable over time. In customer acquisition, lead generation and lead management are two central phenomena including generating potential customers and managing them in an adequate way. In this study, where we are writing on commission for Tele2 IoT, our aim was to develop recommendations for how they can improve their conversion rate and sales performance by asking; “How can B2B companies work with sales development processes and lead generation to improve their sales performance?” Based on a literature review of previous studies on sales processes, Internet of Things, and content marketing, we developed an exploratory and qualitative research design, where data was collected through twelve semi-structured interviews with respondents from the case company. Our empirical findings present how the development of a separate unit for Sales Development in Tele2 IoT can be a solution for handling the current challenges for lead generation and lead management. A dedicated Sales Development Representative (SDR) can be responsible for the early phase of the sales process before a Sales Manager takes over. This would include responsibility for lead generation, qualification, and follow-up to ensure that the qualified leads are timely managed. We demonstrate a model that conceptualizes how companies in a highly competitive business environment can initiate a dedicated function working with customer acquisition practices, which we refer to as Sales Development. In our model, we emphasize how three different channels for attracting and managing leads must be considered: 1) outbound lead generation, 2) inbound lead generation and 3) marketing automated lead generation, to improve sales performance. Based on these findings, we propose iterative customer acquisition processes where communication, documentation and cooperation are at its core. Finally, we propose a framework with reflective questions for managers and organizations to take into consideration when implementing Sales Development into their business. The study primarily contributes to the scarce research field of inside sales, where we encourage practitioners and academia to apply our model and utilize quantitative data measures to understand how a Sales Development configuration can improve lead generation within different industries. Keywords: Customer Acquisition, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Sales Development & Inside Sales Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 An evolving sales process ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 Case Company ........................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Introducing the Telecom industry and the Internet of Things ................................ 5 1.4 Research gap ........................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Research purpose .................................................................................................... 7 1.6 Research question ................................................................................................... 7 2. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................. 8 2.1 The evolution of sales ............................................................................................. 8 2.1.1 Relationship selling ......................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 Digital tools and technology in the sales process .......................................... 10 2.1.3 A Holistic and Value-oriented View of Sales ............................................... 11 2.1.4 Inside sales and sales development ............................................................... 12 2.1.5 Internet of Things .......................................................................................... 13 2.2 Customer acquisition practices ............................................................................. 14 2.2.1 The Sales Funnel/Pipeline ............................................................................. 15 2.2.2 Lead generation ............................................................................................. 16 2.2.3 Lead management .......................................................................................... 17 2.2.4 The sales lead black hole ............................................................................... 18 2.2.5 Sales-marketing integration ........................................................................... 20 2.3 Approaches for reaching the customers................................................................ 21 2.3.1 Digital content marketing .............................................................................. 22 2.3.2 A joint funnel for sales and marketing .......................................................... 22 2.4 Synthesis ............................................................................................................... 23 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Scientific methodology ......................................................................................... 25 3.1.1 Choice of topic and pre-understanding .......................................................... 25 3.1.2 Research paradigm ........................................................................................ 26 3.1.3 Research approach ......................................................................................... 27 3.1.4 Research design and strategy ......................................................................... 28 3.1.5 Literature search and source criticism ........................................................... 29 3.1.6 Quality criteria ............................................................................................... 30 3.2 Practical methodology .......................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Qualitative data collection method ................................................................ 33 3.2.2 Sampling method ........................................................................................... 34 3.2.3 Sample overview ........................................................................................... 35 3.2.4 Interview technique and interview guide....................................................... 36 3.2.5 Interview procedure ....................................................................................... 38 3.2.6 Qualitative data analysis ................................................................................ 39 3.2.7 Ethical considerations .................................................................................... 40 4. Empirical findings ...................................................................................................... 43 4.1 Experiences on the IoT sales process ................................................................... 43 4.1.1 A changing landscape for sales ..................................................................... 43 4.1.2 Challenges of selling IoT ............................................................................... 44 4.1.3 The Ideal Customer for IoT ........................................................................... 46 4.2 Continuous developments for customer acquisition processes ............................ 48 4.2.1 Three categories of leads ..............................................................................
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