In the first season of the Vincit Talks vodcast, female leaders in the IT industry will talk about important topics affecting organizations. Listen in to get insights, inspiration, and tips for developing and renewing the IT industry.
In our latest episode, we sat down with Ilona Ylinampa, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Sales & Portfolio Offering at Fujitsu Finland & Estonia. She discussed her thoughts on sales and procurement in the IT sector.
A focus on sales
According to Ilona, IT companies are starting to realize that they need to get back to basics and “learn to sell for the first time”. This means that they have to improve their ability to sell value to customers and support them in decision-making during challenging times.
To do this at Fujitsu, the company has simplified their sales organization and added more hands-on resources to engage with customers. They’ve also trained sales teams to sell value and to support the business case for the customer. Additionally, the marketing and product development teams are closer to sales, with representatives from these areas joining the sales leadership team to ensure they’re keeping up with the times and meeting customer needs.
These changes have been well received, with some 90 percent of polled Fujitsu employees seeing this as a positive move.
Tracking performance
When it comes to sales metrics and tracking performance, Fujitsu uses traditional metrics like order backlog, turnover, and sales margins. But they also use customer activity metrics, such as their presence on social media and the number of customer meetings and meaningful discussions.
Ilona thinks it’s crucial to understand how customers are buying, whether they’re looking for consultants or services, and whether they want a supplier who can take care of the entire package. As part of this process, it’s essential to educate sales teams and leaders on financial statements and, more importantly, how to add value to the customer.
Tips for sales leaders
When asked for her top tips, two things came immediately to Ilona’s mind. First, you need to help IT personnel at the customer’s end to sell internally by providing useful information for them, like business calculations. To do this, it helps to understand the customer’s strategy and what real value your company brings them.
Secondly, thinking broadly across economic cycles is important. For a small nation like Finland, differentiation through high-value-added services is crucial. That means you need to invest in and advance the IT industry accordingly.
Watch the discussion below or tune in on Spotify! 🎙️
