B2B now means “Business to Buyer” with the shift from product-centric to customer-centric selling. Keynote speaker Joe Robinson, senior vice president of Health Systems Solutions at Philips Healthcare N.A., recently shared his insights on this evolution at the 2017 Chief Sales Executive Forum. Businesses must understand the new buyers’ mindset in order to bring them professional (fulfillment), functional (expert) and executive (innovative) value.
Highlights from Joe’s keynote include:
Sales transition from products to solutions
Gaining these new customers requires a new sales model that offers solutions, not just products; a new sales compensation plan for sales representatives to see the value of new buyers instead of maintaining existing accounts; and a new way to measure customer success.
Engage results-oriented executives
Today’s sales models are about building relationships with customers, not just completing a transaction. Creating a sales team with long-term strategic partnerships in mind will help improve outcomes and achieve revenue growth goals.
Implement the notion of seamless care
Philips Healthcare designed a continuum of care between health care systems, physicians and patients, so the long-term value didn’t stop as soon as the initial care was provided. Their partnerships are now between “Business and Buyer.” Robinson further noted that benefits of this new B2B partnership (simplified data, gathered insights, better workflow, higher customer satisfaction, time/money savings, and improved outcomes) can translate across all industries.
Though Philips Healthcare started with a light bulb and an x-ray, this 126-year-old company is on a monumental journey to become a health technology leader who is all in on health care to provide better outcomes and business solutions to customers and to flourish as one united company..
Attendee Takeaways
For companies undertaking a similar transformation, Joe offered some important considerations:
- Don’t assume that your regular sales people will be successful in the new world immediately. It is a different customer, and it takes time to get your teams ready.
- Train your sales force on driving new customer value. Leverage existing educational outlets and add additional training opportunities for optimum growth.
- Think creatively about the business models and how they can work.
- If you start to look differently at how revenue is generated, make sure the rest of your organization is measuring revenue the same way.
We look forward to sharing more keynote presentations from the 2017 CSE Forum in the coming weeks.
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About the Author
Gary Tubridy is a principal of the Alexander Group and the general manager in charge of the firm’s management consulting business. Gary’s consulting work is focused on increasing marketing and sales effectiveness with particular emphasis in technology and medical products industries. Gary has deep expertise in diagnosing sales management issues and helping clients execute action plans to improve results. His research is focused on best practices of leading sales organizations in North America with particular emphasis on sales force transformation and the role of sales leadership. He leads the Alexander Group executive events series and hosts the Operations and Executive Forums. He is one of three founding stockholders of the Alexander Group.
Gary has been with the Alexander Group for over 35 years. Prior to that, Gary was in sales with the IBM Corporation. Gary holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.
