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Salesforce’s Marie Rosecrans shares three ways digital transformation fuels business growth

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Recently 1776 hosted Salesforce Growth Camp, where we learned most small and midsize businesses have heard the buzzy term digital transformation (https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/06/small-business-digital-transformation.html) — yet they don’t really know what it means. Here’s a definition: Digital Transformation (DT) is how companies are using digital technologies to automate new business processes or modify existing ones in order to improve their models and keep up with their markets and competition.

Sound a little soft? Consider the Amazon Effect (https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Amazon-effect) , or the evolution of the retail market, named for retail giant Amazon, who disrupted the market at lightning speed, forcing competitors to keep up or fold. Don’t want to be disrupted? Then you’ve got to put technology to work for you. That’s where Digital Transformation comes in.

Here are three ways Digital Transformation helps small and midsize businesses grow.

1) DT helps you build a high-performing sales team.

Advancements in CRM and sales software have allowed teams to revolutionize the sales process, and these days it’s vital to have all customer-facing departments collaborating on the same platform. This allows leaders to see who’s contributing — and who’s not.

Older companies who get caught up in traditional models and stagnant growth tend to have employees who aren’t on board with that count of accountability and visibility into their day-to-days. “Every person we replace, we talk about our CRM software in our interview process,” says Chris Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher Fluid Seals (https://www.gallagherseals.com/) . “If you aren’t interested in being in that kind of environment, we don’t want you. We turned over 50% of our outside sales team and 25% of inside sales, but now having everyone working together and on all cylinders is driving a ton of growth.” Implementing the software is one piece of the puzzle; walking that talk also projects that you’re a progressive company.

2) DT helps small marketing teams deliver big results.

In the age of Digital Transformation, it’s not only possible for small marketing teams to do big things, it’s expected. The way we market changes profoundly every year. Customers today aren’t going to respond to your emails the way that they did a few years ago. Everyone has competition — as soon as you do something new, your competitors do it, too. So businesses of every size have to keep innovating and thinking different.

“We changed our metrics so that we aren’t rewarding on the sheer number of touchpoints, but on the quality,” says Rick Nucci, Co-Founder and CEO of Guru (https://www.getguru.com/) . “You’ve got to be strategic and coordinated. We use Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.com/solutions/small-business-solutions/overview/) for sales, along with a product called Outreach (https://www.outreach.io/) (that integrates with Salesforce) for marketing. This lets both teams do very personalized outreach and gives each more context in their conversations.”

Added marketing futurist Mathew Sweezey (https://twitter.com/msweezey) , “Any company can improve its marketing content by asking these three questions to a person who has engaged with their content: Was the content helpful? Did it meet your expectations? What’s the best thing you’ve found on the same topic?”

3) DT helps you perfect the customer experience.

Connecting your systems and getting everyone on the same platform is the start of your digital transformation, but as Laurie McCabe (https://lauriemccabe.com/) says, “Digital Transformation isn’t a thing; it’s a process or a journey. You solve something now, but there will be something later that needs to be changed or fixed. How do you look at your company and figure out what needs to be better?”

A major upside of that thinking comes in the form of a better and more flexible customer experience. Integrating technology helps even the smallest of businesses run more efficiently, collaborate more effectively, and get more out of their data, which all work together to improve the ways a customer views your business. “Technology is a tool,” says Chris Gallagher of Gallagher Fluid Seals (https://www.gallagherseals.com/) . “It doesn’t solve how you go to market or how you win. But technology allows us to optimize and measure that process.” Even simple updates help: “Self-service features have helped us minimize those easy-to-answer support questions, allowing the team to focus on more complex issues,” says TC Field-Bobroski, Executive Director for Association Headquarters (https://ahredchair.com/) .

So keep pushing, keep changing. Look out for what’s next. “AI is now at the top of the hype cycle,” says Guru (https://www.getguru.com/) ’s Rick Nucci. “Push your vendors on how you can make your employees work smarter and faster.” That’s the essence of digital transformation, and it’s how you get growing.

Want to learn more about other technology trends affecting SMBs? Download Salesforce’s 2018 Small & Medium Business Trends Report (https://www.salesforce.com/form/pdf/2017-connected-small-business-report.jsp?d=7010M000001ybOqQAI&nc=7010M000001ybOMQAY) now.
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** Member feature: FarmRaiser
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FarmRaiser (https://farmraiser.com) connects farmers and food entrepreneurs with schools and groups that want to raise money by selling healthy, local products. The platform lets suppliers create Etsy-like wholesale markets where a campaign organizer can select products and launch a custom e-commerce fundraising site in just minutes. Students become advocates for eating locally-grown and -made products, selling through personalized web markets and face-to-face using gamified mobile apps.

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1 Million Cups Washington, D.C. 2018: Week 29 (https://union.vc/1776/events/4bcb49a0-adee-4801-8eb9-22d55f4ab6ed) . Wednesday, July 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
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Kicking off on Wednesday, July 18th, we’re proud to announce we will host the DC chapter of 1 Million Cups each week to support local entrepreneurs and business owners.

We’ll start at 8:30 a.m., with time to network and make connections with DC's movers, shakers, and local business owners. After coffee and conversation, you’ll hear from one business owner or company on their most current business challenge while having the opportunity to actively participate and offer feedback to the founder(s).

To learn more and register for the first event visit 1 Million Cups DC's Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1-million-cups-washington-dc-2018-week-29-tickets-47019582838) page.

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