B2BDigitalTransformation.com The Definitive Guide to B2B Digital Transformation: How to Drive Uncommon Growth by Prioritizing Customers over Technology

This book fully lives up to its title. The book provides a carefully crafted framework for the digital transformation of B2B businesses, with a specific focus on sales, marketing, and value proposition.Leaders of B2B businesses are looking for a way to stay competitive in the digital era. The digital transformation of B2B sales has gained momentum - accelerated by the covid crisis. The younger generation of purchase managers prefers to interact via digital channels. Data available throughout the value chain is growing exponentially. In this context, the book provides immense value to the reader.The book outlines a concise and action-oriented framework, built on three transformations: The “digital selling shift”, the “digital experience makeover” and the “digital proposition pivot”.The “digital selling shift” transforms the traditional approach, which relies on the sales force, into a fully digitized funnel. Further, the authors highlight the need to break down the siloes between sales and marketing departments. Most importantly, the authors demonstrate, how the new, digital sales funnel is fueled by the proliferation of online customer data.Embracing the “digital experience makeover”, B2B businesses reinvent the customer journey from scratch, maximizing the benefit for the customers. The authors illustrate with compelling examples, how a “customer first and last” approach, putting the focus on listening to the customer, rather than the latest or most fancy technology, leads to sustainable growth.One of the authors' merits is that they do not limit digitalization and the systematic use of data to the sales process, but see both as the core of companies' future services and products. In the chapter about the “digital proposition pivot”, the authors outline how to create high margin value propositions, e.g. by turning data into added-value services, or how to stay competitive by moving to a low-cost model.The book provides guidance on how to implement the three abovementioned transformations, following a defined range of specific steps of action. I see this approach as a kind of “cookbook” for the digital transformation of B2B businesses. It is very helpful for leaders who are absorbed by day-to-day business and are looking for a fast path to action and quick wins.The steps are well defined and come with many concrete examples of how to execute them: Where to play, how to win, what to do, and who is needed. The steps demonstrate, e.g. the strategic definition and prioritization of use-cases, identification of target audience, set-up of the marketing funnel, the choice for the most appropriate agile method of execution, forming a team with all required competencies.I found the wealth of real-world examples and case studies most inspiring. The examples range from insurance, finance, health care to logistics and manufacturing. I found the series of diagrams showing key steps towards digitalization of a hypothetical “ACME” corporation, most valuable. Just sifting through these easy-to-read charts, provides key insights to any reader who does not have the time nor patience to read the whole book in detail.Overall, the book provides a straightforward blueprint for the digital transformation of B2B businesses, aimed at practitioners, but at the same time with the depth, reflection, attention to detail, precision, and comprehensive references of a textbook.

A confession. I don’t read many business books, because blogs, online articles and newsletter updates usually pick up on topics faster.But, short, punchy posts lack the perspective, structure and practical guidance well-researched books provide. So, motivated by an upcoming project I was seeking a combination of inspiration and practical framework, both of which I found in Geyer and Niessing’s Definitive Guide to B2B Digital Transformation.The book breaks B2B digital transformations into three parts. A shift to digital marketing and data-driven selling. A focus on overall customer experiences that breaks out of current analogue patterns. And, a digital proposition pivot that recognises that digital breaks and restructures customer value propositions.The book works through these three concepts using an artful blend of digital strategy, case studies, implementation experiences and ‘worked’ examples to span the range of issues that digital transformation projects surface. And, Geyer and Niessing don’t pull any punches about how long and how hard companies work to achieve success.I read the book cover-to-cover (inspiration), but the following suggestion may work better if you are currently working on a digital transformation project.First, read the introduction. It cover the three main digital transformation concepts at a high-level. From there, read sections 1.1, 2.1 and 3.1 along with the associated case studies. These sections reinforce the key ideas and the case studies anchor the concepts in real businesses that have travelled the digital path.Then, go back and read through the worked examples. These are carefully assembled hypothetical B2B businesses, for which the combination of narrative and diagrams provide a strong feel for the actual, hard work of digital transformations. Lastly, read the main text in each chapter to better understand the “why’s” behind the digital selling shift, the digital transformation makeover and the digital proposition pivot.Leave Part 4 until the end, as it doesn’t pull any punches about how hard transformation projects can be and it provides solid advice on resolving the typical barriers companies face: lack of employee enablement and ineffective use of customer data.If you sell to other businesses and you’ve embarked on a digital transformation project or want to get one going, read the Definitive Guide to B2B Digital Transformation it’s packed with practical advice and best practices.

Good insights, but also hands on