If you were working on the 80’s and 90’s you probably remember faxes or telex. If on the other hand you were born after the 90’s then you probably never heard about it or they are things from the stone age. Nowadays, all this process is way more efficient, however some telco companies are not keeping up with digital and don’t know these efficient practices, which leads us to the question: How is digital age transforming the sales process in Telecom?
The old process
In the 80´s or 90´s, before internet, for you to make a purchase for your telecom products you had to do the following:
- Have catalogue with all the products from different suppliers
- Pray that all the prices were still ok
- Make a phone call during working hours, to see if there was stock
- If there was stock, send a telex or fax with the order
- Wait for the reply by fax or telex, or sometimes a phone call
- Call to know when it was shipped to you
- Call the shipping company
- Wait
- Wait
- Wait
How efficient was this process compared to the process that we usually use right now?
The process that is described below refers to a standard procedure and it´s much more efficient than previous processes
- Go to different supplier websites and check the references
- Send an email asking for prices for specific quantities and availability
- Wait for the reply of the different suppliers
- Send by emails order to the suppliers
- Receive shipping dates and tracking number
- Wait
Is this the best way possible? No. Although we save a lot of time and have better records of our information, we can still be more efficient saving time, money, improving our document organization, and above all, having new opportunities.
How can we do it?
With the development of Digital transformation organizations can build processes and use technologies to increase their competitiveness, simplify their systems and use data to make better and faster decisions.
You have ERP´s where all purchase history is registered, you can use the data to check lead times, extra costs,etc. This information will help you make better decisions from the information that is inside your organization.
The most efficient process
One of the buying processes that we know is here to stay it´s the online purchase. First of all, we already do it multiple times in a B2C approach, we already know that it´s much faster, cheaper, saves us a lot of time and hassles.
The younger generations prefer buying online than offline and once in their professional life, they will choose the same way as they do it personally, online shopping. So, it´s not just a matter of if, is more a question of when.
Sooner or later B2B online purchases will be the norm not the exception and there will be two ways of doing it, using online shops or marketplaces.
The way that we think is more efficient is choosing marketplaces because they combine a wider variety of suppliers from different regions providing much more options. This helps us find most of the products we need, in terms of technical information, pricing, availability, and shipment costs, in one single place 24/7.
Usually, they also have a customer center where all your questions will be answered.
This is how digital age is transforming the sales process in telecom but in the near future, you can count on way more features and developments that will give you lots of benefits in this process.
Related articles: What is Digital Transformation and Why is it Crucial in 2022?
