And DN did not stop at its custom-
ers. They went beyond. They started looking internally. They began looking at how they could leverage digital to bolster account planning for their top 100 global accounts which comprise the world’s top banks and retailers. They took digital to a brand-new space: strategic account management (SAM).
Wasn’t this step to digitalize account
planning logical? Indeed, it was. Having worked with the best compa- nies in financial services as strategic accounts, it was only a matter of time before DN started noticing the poten- tial of extending digital to managing accounts. With it began DN’s exciting journey to digitalize account planning as part of its overall transformation pro- gram called DN NOW – and in came the challenges.
VOL. 21 ISSUE 3 2019
There were two major sources of
challenges. One was the changing mar- ket. The second was from the inherent problems with account planning, as gleaned from past approaches.
The changing market challenge B2B buying journey. Gartner, fol-
lowed by other analysts, has confirmed this harsh truth - that the B2B buying journey has fundamentally transformed into a long, hard slog. Buyers today pre- fer to be more informed and to do their own research even before they decide to involve the vendor. It means a prospec- tive customer comes prepared and has completed 80 percent of the journey before involving the supplier. Vendor participation is sought only towards the end of the buying process. Gartner
analysis has postulated that, on aver- age, seven decision makers are involved in the buying decision. This has also become standard practice in all B2B purchase transactions. What this means is that prospective customers can't be sold to; they will buy...eventually.
Product to solution. Market orien-
tation is changing too, from product to a “credible” solution. This transfor- mation is only accelerating. Customer expectations are inching higher. They are looking at partners who can make the effort to understand the business model, pain points and drivers so as to add value on a consistent basis. The sales process discussion is also shifting from topics of price and technology to successful phases of
implementation.
Consequently, the perceived risk of transactions has also gone up.
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