Digital Transformation in B2B Sales
Differences and best practices in three European countries
Pia Hautamäki, Margarethe Überwimmer, Stefan Wengler
Robert Füreder, Gabriele Hildmann and Ulrich Vossebein
9th Cross-Cultural Business Conference
at University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Steyr, 14th May 2020
Agenda
1 Research Idea
2 Research Design & Data Collection
3 Research Results
4 Future Research
5 The Future of Sales Education in Austria, Germany and Finland
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1 Research Idea – Starting Point
• Digital transformation a big challenge for B2B-companies
with regard to sales
• European countries are on different development levels
regarding digitalization
What could be the future role of universities assisting
companies in their digital transformation in sales?
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1 Research Idea – Background
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Processes People Data
IT Systems
Customers
Par
tne
rsC
om
petito
rs
Business Model/Business Type/Resources
Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)
Conncetivity
Human Capital
Use of Internet Services
Integration of digital technology
Digital Public Services
Finland: Rank 1; Germany: Rank 12; Austria: Rank 13
2 Research Design & Data Collection
Research Questions:
1) What does “Digital Transformation in Sales” mean for you?
2) What does “Digital Transformation in Sales” mean for your company?
3) Which areas/activities do you think will be mostly affected by the digital
transformation in marketing & sales?
4) Who do you think is driving the digital transformation primarily?
5) Which competencies will the salesperson require in future?
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2 Research Design & Data Collection
• researched countries: Austria, Finland & Germany
• approx. 15 SMEs per country (=> 50 companies)
• Manufacturing and IT sector
• expert interviews (semi-standardized questionnaire)
• experts mainly members of the board of management
(CEO, COO, CIO, VP of Commercialization)
• company size: 50-550 employees
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3 Research Results• not many differences between these 3 countries
• common understanding about need to digitalize parts of sales and marketing activities but
many question marks from companies’ side: how to do it properly…?
• companies (no matter if manufacturing or IT): difficulties to define needed skills in sales in
future
• Still the human is important and human skills are needed (all interviewees)
• Continuous development of skills important (several interviewees)
• Which and how digital skills should be developed? (several interviewees)
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⇒ Importance of the role of universities increases – development of sales skills!
4 Future Research
• Data analysis will be continued. Many other topics to go deeper on:
• How do companies define and drive digital transformation in these three
countries?
• How have these companies digitalized their sales and marketing and
what kind of differences are there when comparing these three countries?
• First step: Analysis of the data from the perspective of future sales
skills in a close collaboration.
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We already now see: universities’ role in educating future
talents to sales career is more important than ever before…
5 The Future of Sales Education in Austria, Germany and in Finland
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Main underlying question:
Which skills are necessary?Interpersonal skills
•Communication skills
Salespersonshipskills
•Abilities along the sales process to service the account
Technical skills
•Knowledge about markets, competitors, customers
Intercultural skills
•Forethought, performance, self-reflection
Digital skills
•Systems, integration in sales and marketing processes, knowledge
Source: adapted from Rentz (2002); authors