As a B2B agency owners, we know how challenging it can be to keep up with the latest technology and trends. Over time, companies become bogged down in outdated systems and processes, which may have worked for a decent amount of time, but now will hold your team back from achieving their full potential. Change is necessary if your business wants to stay competitive in todays market which is why we have decided to share some of the strategies we used at HRS Ignite to modernize our own B2B sales agency and skyrocket or leads and sales.

Conduct an Assessment of Your Current Systems

The first step to modernizing your B2B agency is to conduct an assessment of your current systems. Which software, processes or technology do you loathe or feel is holding you back. A swift and brutal audit will help you to identify any areas that could be improved and ensure that you're not investing in solutions that you don't need or disadvanatge your business. We found that out of date CRM's and manual processes were slowing us down considerably and leading to errors. By automating these processes, we were able to streamline our operations and reduce errors. Pro tip: Automating functions within new software and CRM's is no where as hard as it used to be. Most new technologies come with support and these people are able to guide you through a series of automated processes so you hit the ground running.

Identify Your Business Needs

Once you've assessed your current systems, the next step is to identify your business needs. This will help you to determine which technology solutions will have the biggest impact on your business. For us, generating more online meetings that we could convert to sales as well as improving our customer service was a top priority. We found that by investing in a new CRM system (we chose Pipedrive), we were able to respond to customer inquiries more quickly and provide better service overall. We also trialed our LinkedIn outreach software, Ignite, which ended up being a game changer for our business. Within weeks we doubled and tripled our online meetings and then sales, all by investing in technology that could reach out to warm prospects for us whilst we slept.

Research Modern Technology Solutions

With your B2B business needs in mind, the next step is to research modern technology solutions that can address those needs. There are a variety of software, tools, and platforms available for B2B companies, so it's important to choose ones that are specific to your industry and that integrate with your existing systems. On top of our CRM and Ignite outreach software, we found that cloud-based solutions such as Google Drive were particularly helpful for us, as they allowed us to store and access data from anywhere in the world. We also coordinated more online bookings via the use of Calendly, which meant we could wake up to a calendar full of automated meetings.

Develop a Plan

Once you've identified the technology solutions that you want to implement, the next step is to develop a plan. This should include timelines for trials, budgets, and any necessary training or support for your employees. We found that it was important to involve our employees in the planning process, as they were the ones who would be using the new systems on a daily basis. We trained our teams on how to use Google Drive to store all of our company information, we trialed Ignite outreach software for 3 months and linked this to Calendy bookings to gauge if we picked up an increase in leads that converted to online demonstrations (which we more than quadrupled).

Start with Small Changes

All this aside, when implementing new technology solutions, it's important to start with small changes to test the waters first. This will help to avoid overwhelming your team with too many changes at once. Choose a specific area to focus on first, e.g sales tracking, and roll out a new solution in that area. This will help you to identify any issues early on and make adjustments as needed. We made sure that automated outreach and calendly bookings were working first, before we introduced the CRM and finally, moved to Google Drive.

Monitor and Adjust

Finally, it's important to monitor the results of your modernization efforts and make adjustments as needed. Use data analytics to track your progress and identify areas that may need further improvement. We found that by regularly reviewing our data, we were able to make changes that improved our sales and processes over time.

We understand that modernizing your B2B agency can seem like a daunting task, but it's necessary if you want to stay competitive in the market. By following these strategies, you can make small changes that lead to big improvements in sales and processes. Remember to involve your employees in the process and to monitor your progress over time. With the right technology solutions in place, you will save time, generate more leads, and in-turn attract better people to your business which helps you to provide a better service to your customers.