Optimum Sales – The Evolution of the Role of the Commercial Director in Times of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted different reflections in various areas, both personal and professional. Between pre-confinement, confinement, and post-confinement, it will be between 6-8 weeks, if not more, of time without the commercial teams, in-person, being able to do their work.
This reality has put us in front of a clear question: What could we have done to avoid stopping the company’s commercial activity? The answer we know: develop the activity of the sales team through digital channels.
The digital transformation of sales teams has different phases. One is the incorporation of technology, in the broadest sense, and among others, the most important, in my view, is the digital attitude that the team must have, which generates sustained digital sales activity over time.
To enhance this attitude and, above all, to maintain it over time, the role of the commercial director is key to making it a reality.
His role must evolve; he must be the driver of the digital transformation of his team and customer relationships.
The scope of their responsibility has changed, somewhat without being a disruptive change, it has evolved by adding different areas of action.
The current commercial director must have a broad understanding of the levers of market operation in its traditional format, but must incorporate the vision of how to establish the integration of digital sales processes. His strategic vision must maintain strategic compliance, but he must be able to establish tactical actions in very short timeframes. The Marketing edepartment is your ally, and valuable content is your differential asset. Multichanneling, the buying journey and the costumer journey generate the sales team’s activity plan, both in digital channels and in face-to-face visits. The metric they use combines parameters from the team’s digital activity and in-person activity. Digital sales activities by the salespeople are considered proactive sales activities. The teams are led remotely, with direct and continuous communication. Commercial immediacy is a reality, and organizations must be oriented towards it, with their teams highly motivated to provide an appropriate response to customers.
If the competency development of current commercial directors were aligned with the description I have made, the impact of COVID-19 on the commercial activity of sales teams would surely have been imperceptible.
| David Galve | General Director www.linkedin.com/in/davidgalve |  |
