Developing a digital maturity model for the sales processes of industrial projects

Figures & data

Figure 1. B2B project sales process synthesized from the literature.

Table 1. Maturity model architectures (De Bruin et al. 2005).

Criteria	Characteristic
Audience	Internal		External
	Executives, Management		Auditors, Partners
Method of Application	Self-Assessment	Third-Party Assisted	Certified Practitioner
Driver of Application	Internal Requirement	External Requirement	Both
Respondents	Management	Staff	Business Partners
Application	1 entity/1 region	multiple entities/single region	multiple entities/multiple regions

Table 2. Structure of maturity models (Mettler 2010).

Levels	Definition
Design levels	Design levels reflect the concept of maturity and thus define what is applied in the assessment of the items.
Design dimensions or maturity dimensions	Design dimensions summarize all requirements of a topic and serve to structure the maturity model.
Design objects or items	Items are used to enable quantitative measurement of the maturity dimensions (e.g., by means of questionnaires).
Maturity levels	A maturity level summarizes several items that must be fulfilled to advance to the next level.

Table 3. Comparison and summary of the dimensions of DMM in the literature.

Dimensions according to		Description of the dimension (cf. Teichert 2019)
Teichert (2019)	Angreani, Vijaya, and Wicaksono (2020)
Digital Culture	Culture	Existence of a customer-centric digital business culture
Technology	Technology	Technologies relevant to digital transformation
Processes and Operations	Operations	Process digitalization and automation
Digital Strategy	Strategy	Existence of a clear, long-term strategy for digital transformation
Organization		Management structures that support cross-functional collaboration, information sharing, and digital daily operations
Digital Skills	People	Digital skills, as well as the interest and knowledge of employees regarding digital transformation
Innovation		Innovation in products, work practices, and digital business models
Customer Insight and Experience	Customers	Optimized customer understanding and customer experience through digitalization
Governance	Governance	Ensuring the implementation of a digital transformation strategy
Vision		Formulation of a clear digital vision for a company
Digital Ecosystem		Connecting the entire value chain through digitalization
Leadership	Leadership	Leaders are engaged in digital transformation and exemplify it for their employees
Compliance and Security		Existence of clear security precautions for handling internal and external data
Products and Services	Products	Digitalization of products and services (e.g., solution-oriented product service systems)
Business Model		Development of new, disruptive business models

Table 4. Relevant articles identified.

No.	Title	Authors	Year	Journal/Conference
1	Digital transformation in sales as an evolving process	Wengler et al.	2021	Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing
2	Mastering the Digital Transformation of Sales	Guenzi et al.	2020	California Management Review
3	A capability based framework for customer experience focused digital transformation	Sahu et al.	2018	Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Information Systems
4	Customer experience management (CXM) – Development of a conceptual model for the digital organization	Doherty et al.	2017	Proceedings of ECISM 2017 11th European Conference on Information Systems Management
5	A Model to Assess Customer Alignment Through Customer Experience Concepts	Muñoz and Avila	2019	Business Information Systems Workshops

Figure 2. Hierarchical coding structure exemplified by the first phase of the sales process.

Table 5. Types of maturity dimensions in the new DMM.

Dimensions of the new DMM	Description
Main maturity dimensions	These are the digital maturity dimensions identified in the systematic literature review. In addition, the dimension “activities” could be identified. Some of the main maturity dimensions are subdivided into sub-dimensions of digital maturity in specific phases of the project sales process.
Sub-dimensions	Some of the main maturity dimensions have special sub-dimensions in certain phases of the B2B project sales process. For example, in the phase “presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation,” the sub-dimension “visualizing tools” is a specific manifestation of the main maturity dimension “digital tools,” which is only applicable to this phase.

Figure 3. Results for the phase search for project opportunities and customers.

Figure 4. Results for the phase presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation.

Figure 5. Results for the phase offer preparation and negotiation.

Figure 6. Results for the phase implementation.

Figure 7. Results for the phase after-sales and customer retention.

Figure 8. The new digital maturity model for B2B project sales.

Table 6. Maturity level for the phase search for project opportunities and customers.

Maturity level	Description
5 (Digital oriented)	Marketing and sales have all the relevant digital tools for generating and qualifying leads. This means that all digital touchpoints with potential customers, such as on social media or on the company website, can be stored and analyzed. Leads are qualified in a targeted manner, with content tailored to them (nurturing) and evaluated using AI-based lead scoring models. Marketing and sales are in close contact with each other and process the customer along their customer journey together, so that there are no longer any silos. On the software side, this collaboration is realized through application programming interfaces (APIs) between the marketing systems and the CRM system.
4 (Advanced digitalization)	By introducing further digital tools such as marketing automation software, leads can be systematically stored, and typical nurturing activities such as e-mail marketing can be automated. The company regularly offers potential customers digital events, (e.g., in the form of webinars on relevant industry topics). With the help of digital tools such as a chatbot, potential customers can be addressed automatically. Intensive, long-term training on digital tools and employee coaching help to increase acceptance.
3 (Average digitalization)	Following the trend from outbound to inbound marketing, the company starts sharing customer-relevant content on social networks, for example. Classic customer pain points are addressed on the company’s own website. Responsibility for this lies in marketing. Sales is not yet aware of the benefits of these digital tools and is not yet adept at using online platforms such as social media.
2 (Basic digitalization)	The first digital tools for generating leads have already been established, such as external databases. However, the quality of the leads is often poor, so that they must be checked manually by employees. The distrust of sales staff toward marketing-induced leads means that leads are still primarily generated personally. As a result of the continuing low level of communication between marketing and sales, marketing has little knowledge of the market and is therefore hardly able to generate customer-relevant content.
1 (Initial)	The company does not use digital tools to generate and qualify leads. There is little communication between marketing and sales. The marketing department is primarily responsible for creating and distributing company advertising as part of classic outbound marketing. The sales staff generates its customer and project leads exclusively through personal conversations.

Table 7. Maturity level for the phase presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation.

Maturity level	Description
5 (Digital oriented)	Sales has a wide range of visualization tools at its disposal for acquisition talks. Virtual reality applications, for example, enable the customer to perceive desired products and solutions even more intensively and thus simplify the purchase decision. With the help of file-hosting software, the customer can upload their 3 D models and make them available to all relevant people, such as the technical department, securely and without loss even before the official start of the project.
4 (Advanced digitalization)	Sales can not only visualize 3 D models on site but also edit them so that customer requests can be considered immediately. The company offers a range of digital pre-sales services such as automatic calculation of the project’s CO2 footprint.
3 (Average digitalization)	The use of further visualization software, such as 3 D visualization tools in the acquisition talk, can significantly improve the customer experience. The sales department can advise customers based on a 3 D model. By means of a reference database, the sales department can access projects that have already been carried out at the customer’s site. Sales and technical staff communicate much more intensively with each other.
2 (Basic digitalization)	The sales department uses basic tools such as PowerPoint to present the service portfolio to the customer. Employees in the technical department can increase the quality of their advice by using special software such as CAD programs.
1 (Initial)	Sales staff only conduct face-to-face customer meetings and do not use digital tools. The lack of communication between sales and technical staff results in slow and inefficient customer service.

Table 8. Maturity level for the phase implementation.

Maturity level	Description
5 (Digital oriented)	The company owns and uses all relevant digital tools to handle the project flawlessly.
4 (Advanced digitalization)	The company has almost all the digital tools for efficient project management.
3 (Average digitalization)	The company has numerous digital tools in production as well as in the delivery and visualization of the current project status.
2 (Basic digitalization)	The company has basic digital tools to handle the project more efficiently.
1 (Initial)	Project processing takes place almost completely in analog. This concerns the production as well as the delivery and the visualization of the current project status.

Figure A1. Procedure within the systematic literature analysis (cf. Levy and Ellis 2006).

Table A1. Results of the methodological analysis.

Article	1	2	3	4	5
K1: Journal reputation	C	B	no journal	no journal	no journal
K2: Systematic model development	other systematic development	other systematic development	other systematic development	other systematic development	development according to De Bruin et al. (2005), Becker, Knackstedt, and Pöppelbuß (2009)
K3: Documentation of the development process	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
K4: Building on existing (D)MM	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
K5: Validation via case study	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
K6: Scope of the model	practice	practice	practice	practice	practice
K7: Model type	not classified	prescriptive, comparative	not classified	not classified	descriptive
K8: Application/assessment	not mentioned	self-assessment	not mentioned	not mentioned	self-assessment
K9: Assessment tool	other	other	other	other	questionnaire, meetings
K10: Bottom measuring level	sales department	sales process	organization	organization	organization
K11: Focus Project Sales	No	No	No	No	No

Table A2. Overview of dimensions from the literature and interviews.

Main maturity dimension (identified from the literature review)	Sub-dimension (identified from the interviews)	Items (identified from the interviews)	Sales process phase
Digital skills	Social media skills	Networking skills	Search for project opportunities and customers after sales and customer retention
		Skills in creating relevant content
		Technical expertise in using digital tools	Apply to the entire sales process
		Own initiative, interest in digitalization and self-motivation
		Data and source maintenance skills
		Online moderation skills
		Identification and adaptation of the customer´s level of digitalization
Digital tools	Lead-generation and qualification tools	Social media platforms	Search for project opportunities and customers after sales and customer retention
		Company website
		Chatbot
		External lead database
		Marketing automation software
	Visualizing tools	3D model viewers	Presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation
		Virtual/mixed reality
		Presentation programs
	Technical tools	Industry-specific tools	Presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation
		CAD programs
		File hosting software/cloud
	Quotation tools	Quotation calculator	Offer preparation and negotiation
		Configure price quote software
	Logistic tools	ERP software	Implementation
		Tracking tools
		Complaints portal
		Customer relationship management system	Apply to the entire sales process
		Online meeting tools
		Calendar and scheduling tools
		Business warehouse and business intelligence tools
		Customer portal
		Mobile devices for the sales
Leader responsibility		Organize and conduct sales training on digital tools	Apply to the entire sales process
		Define clear and realistic sales targets
		Demonstrate the added value of digitalization
		Take away employees´ fear of digitalization and coach them
		Role model function
		Represent the opinions and interests of the sales staff on site
Digital business organization		Existence of an inside sales department	Apply to the entire sales process
		Existence of an independent digital department
		Flat hierarchies
Digital business culture		Interdepartmental collaboration and communication	Apply to the entire sales process
		Value and customer orientation instead of cost orientation
		Error and risk tolerance
		Ability to change
Activities (identified from the interviews)	Online marketing activities	Email marketing	Search for project opportunities and customers, after sales and customer retention
		Search engine marketing
		Conduct (digital) events
	Digital pre-sales services	Digital model check	Presentation of the performance portfolio and consultation
		Emission determination of the project
	Online surveys	Determine Net Promoter Score	After sales and customer retention

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