B2B Sales Institute | The BLOG by Ralf H. KOMOR | Professional articles, whitepapers, events, keynotes, videos and podcasts |
Welcome to my blog!
On this blog, you will find relevant and up-to-date topics relating to B2B sales, digitalization processes, AI in sales, and some insights from my assignments. You will also find information about upcoming events, thoughts, interviews, and videos.
Take some time to browse. Be inspired.
I am also active on LinkedIn. There I regularly post articles and videos. I invite you to follow and discuss with me. I’d love to hear what you think! Likes and comments are always welcome.
THE DILEMMA OF CONTENT PRODUCTION IN B2B COMPANIES. OR IS THERE NONE AT ALL IN THE END?
/in Professional articleDiscover the crucial aspects of content production in B2B companies, the challenges they face, and the strategies for overcoming them. Learn from industry expert Mark Grandler as he discusses how to optimize content efforts with limited resources. This article provides actionable insights for enhancing visibility and efficiency in B2B marketing.
FIVE THINGS THAT SUCCESSFUL TEAMS DO DIFFERENTLY
/in Professional articleLearn the unique habits that set successful teams apart, including direct communication, mutual appreciation, and authentic interactions. This guide covers essential aspects of team management and the role of an interim manager. Find out how effective planning and open emotional expression can boost team productivity.
FOCUSING ON INNOVATION: COMPARING PAUL COOK AND CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN
/in Professional articleDive into a detailed comparison of two innovation giants: Paul Cook and Clayton Christensen. Understand the nuances of incremental versus disruptive innovation and how these approaches can guide modern business strategies. Discover insights to refine your innovation efforts.
METASALES | SALES IN THE METAVERSE
/in Professional articleMetaSales is an innovative sales strategy that offers companies new ways to present and sell their products. The virtual twins of factories, machine parks or office complexes offer customers the opportunity to simulate work processes and try out products virtually. This builds product loyalty and boosts sales. Sales consultants can use XR Customer Experiences to visualise complex products and processes, increasing their efficiency.
MetaSales is a promising technology that can help companies differentiate themselves from the competition and increase customer loyalty.
SALES AS A SUCCESS FACTOR: TOP-LINE ORIENTATED RESTRUCTURING FOR A SUSTAINABLE TURNAROUND
/in Professional articleDiscover the crucial role of sales excellence in business restructuring for sustainable turnarounds. This guide emphasizes strategic revenue growth, customer focus, and the balance of cost efficiency with long-term viability. Learn best practices and key success factors to revitalize your company’s performance.
ESG AND SUSTAINABLE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
/in Professional articleThe blog discusses the intrinsic link between economic growth and resource consumption, emphasizing the role of new regulations and younger generations in driving sustainable change. It highlights the impact of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and showcases companies like Zalando that are leading in sustainability. The piece calls on all stakeholders to participate in the sustainable transformation of the economy.
HOW B2B SALES LEADERS ARE ADAPTING TO THE NEW GENERATION OF BUYERS
/in Professional articleRead how to adapt to the new generation of millennial buyers:
– Younger generations are increasingly moving into decision-making positions in B2B purchasing. This requires a rethink of customer communications.
– To attract and retain the new B2B generation, suppliers need to create more positive digital experiences along the customer journey.
– With the right coaching and supportive consulting, companies can better align their sales strategy with the new generation and deliver sustainable value.
THE INTERIM MANAGER AS A BRAND
/in Professional articleThis is a collaborative article by three interim professionals Ulvi Aydin, Malte Borchardt, and Ralf Komor on the subject: THE INTERIM MANAGER AS A BRAND. Interim Manager: Business megastars or just excellent? Being a good interim manager is one thing. If nobody knows it, then something is wrong.
PRICE NEGOTIATION TIPS | HOW TO CONDUCT A PROFESSIONAL PRICE NEGOTIATION
/in Professional articleAlways follow the QUID PRO QUO principle. Even small rebates can have a devastating impact on the bottom line of a company. Many salespeople are not sufficiently aware of this fact. During contract negotiations, they are often quick to offer discounts.
AGILE CUSTOMER CO-CREATION: INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT | PROJECT REPORT
/in Professional articleA hidden champion and world leader in technical interior design faced strong pressure from its customers to innovate, with ever-shorter product lifecycles in the global marketplace.
In order to differentiate itself from the global competition and successfully establish its products in the market, it was clear that more attention needed to be paid to current and future customer needs.
6 PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN CHOOSING AN INTERIM MANAGER
/in Professional articleInterim management is becoming increasingly popular in Germany, and for good reason: the added value that temporary managers bring is enormous.
To help you find the right interim manager for your business challenge, I’d like to highlight 6 common pitfalls in selecting one – and show you how to avoid them.
THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY FOUNDERS IN THE B2B SALES PROCESS
/in Professional articleEven the most creative and agile start-ups often neglect their customers and the access to them in their product orientation.
FIVE STEPS TO A STRONG VALUE PROPOSITION
/in Professional articleFive steps to a strong value proposition. High performing salespeople are essentially change agents. They recommend, advise and support their customers and aren’t afraid to push when it’s in their customers’ best interests.
HYBRID WORK: Moving towards a two-tiered organisation?
/in Professional articleEUREKA: THE IDEAL THREE-TIER PRICING MODEL
/in Professional articleMany pricing models are divided into three tiers, for example GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE. The questions that arise are: How do we ensure that customers buy the middle price as intended? What is the right spread?
Agile Customer Co-Creation: The customer as innovator
/in Professional articleAgile Customer Co-Creation: The customer as innovator. The pressure to innovate is increasing, innovation cycles are becoming shorter. Anyone who wants to stand out from the competition and successfully establish products on the market in today’s world must (even) more strongly focus on the needs of the customer. An agile customer co-creation solves this problem and offers companies numerous advantages.
CHALLENGES AND TOP PRIORITIES IN SALES 2023
/in Professional articleA recent study reveals the biggest challenges and priorities in sales in 2021, with responses from 423 sales directors, CSOs and CEOs identifying the biggest challenges and their main sales priorities for 2021.
Heureka: The ideal three-tier pricing model
/in UnkategorisiertFor a long time I have been looking for the ideal three-tier pricing model. How do we get almost everyone to buy the middle price?
Insights into the B2B shopping trip – Know YOUR customers
/in Professional article“Know YOUR customer”. This is still the most important task for marketing. Forrester Research has vividly depicted the B2B (Customer Journey). Have a look yourself.
Inside Drucker’s Brain
/in Professional articlePeter F. Drucker is a role model to me.
His ideas and thoughts are the blueprint for all other management books. I often say: “You don’t have to have read more than a Drucker”.
Drucker embodies the true essence of management. Drucker lived a life based on embracing tomorrow and giving up yesterday. In the process, he discovered an important paradox: in order to build something, you have to tear it down. Drucker had no problem tearing things down, giving up what didn’t work and leaving behind what no longer mattered. He could achieve so much that way.
In principle, this is also what interim management is all about and this is also reflected in my claim: MOVE | CHANGE | CONNECT
Tips for the new sales managers on the first visit to customers
/in Professional articleTips for new sales managers on how to prepare the initial visit to existing customers and how to strengthen and expand the relationship resiliently
WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE INTERIM MANAGERS AND WHAT MAKES INTERIM MANAGERS UNIQUE
/in Professional articleInterim Management is the better way. It is a fast method for accessing management resources. Unlike consultants, interim managers are responsible for line management. They offer companies an effective way to expand the existing skills of their “core” employees – a just-in-time source of intellectual capital and additional specialist capacity.
B2V – BUSINESS-TO-VIDEO // The ultimate tips for video calls with the experience of the Corona times
/in Professional articleB2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2G, … these abbreviations stand for different sales channels. I would like to add a new approach based on the experiences made in the last months: B2V – Business-to-Video. This is the appropriate description for the many video calls we have made with our customers recently. But how do you prepare yourself and your sales team for B2V? Here is my suggestion how to do it.
Global Account Management in B2B Medium-sized Businesses | Part 2
/in Professional articleBasics for a successful introduction of a Global Account management strategy in B2B medium-sized businesses. Especially in the B2B SME sector, it is the customers who drive the activities of the companies. Because often the medium-sized businesses follow their clients out into the world. However, this creates a new situation for the suppliers with many challenges: Price differences in the countries have to be negotiated, worldwide support is required, an adjustment to the global procurement strategy of the customers is necessary and best of all, they should make the greatest possible profit from this very promising situation. In short: At some point, national key account management is no longer sufficient. It is time for a global or even international account management on the part of the suppliers. Global Account Managers develop customer relationships and track revenue opportunities with Global Accounts worldwide.
Global Account Management in B2B Medium-sized Businesses | Part 1
/in Professional articleBasics for a successful introduction of a Global Account management strategy in B2B medium-sized businesses. Especially in the B2B SME sector, it is the customers who drive the activities of the companies. Because often the medium-sized businesses follow their clients out into the world. However, this creates a new situation for the suppliers with many challenges: Price differences in the countries have to be negotiated, worldwide support is required, an adjustment to the global procurement strategy of the customers is necessary and best of all, they should make the greatest possible profit from this very promising situation. In short: At some point, national key account management is no longer sufficient. It is time for a global or even international account management on the part of the suppliers. Global Account Managers develop customer relationships and track revenue opportunities with Global Accounts worldwide.
Autodesk Global Design and Manufacturing Recovery Summit 2020
/in EventsI am very honored to have been invited to this year’s event as a panelist to talk about new business models that may emerge from the Corona pandemic.
What can Interim Management Clients learn from a captain?
/in Professional articleHere is one of the most interesting quotes of resent times: Captain (ret.) Friedhold Hoppert explains what Interim Management clients can learn from a captain.
These values count in B2B sales: 40 things that really matter to your customers
/in Professional articlePurchasing decisions of B2B customers are more similar to those of private customers (B2C) than it may initially appear. It is not only objective criteria that count; subjective factors also play a role. These include whether the brand matches the positioning of the own company or whether the design and features are attractive. This article takes a look at the research and explains how – with the right data – it can be used to help you better understand the more personal elements behind your customers’ decisions. From this you can then form a value proposition that meets the deepest needs of your customers. After all, the customer should perceive the products and services of his supplier as unique and make his decision accordingly.
What does ”Return on Interim Management” stand for and could you explain your motto ”Resulting instead of Consulting” in more detail?
/in InterviewsIn this interview with the Interim Management Provider Bridge imp GmbH from Grünwald, I talk about RoIM – Return on Interim Management – and my motto “Resulting instead of Consulting”.
Questions about the mandate – What exactly is it about?
/in Professional articleYou can use these questions to prepare for the assignment of an Interim Manager.
Objection Bingo: 44 reasons why it does not work!
/in Professional articleWe all know people who always have a “good” objection why something will not work out. Here you will find collected works of these contemporaries.
Thinking beyond the purchase: The dynamic customer life cycle
/in Professional articleThe management consultancy Gartner recognised early on that it is not enough to focus on the pure purchasing cycle. Since it is no longer enough to simply win orders, the focus must be on the entire customer life cycle. Here is a summary of the Gartner ideas from 2016.
DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE // Changing customer experience: 5 challenges for companies
/in Professional articleWhether Big Data, Machine Learning or the Internet of Things (IoT): Technological progress and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing everything – including how customers experience companies and make purchasing decisions. What challenges do companies have to overcome to remain competitive in the future?
I will introduce you to the five most important trends and challenges of digital customer experiences – DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Virtual reality in the BIM process: technology, benefits and added value
/in EventsI am giving a lecture at the invitation of the buildingSMART regional group Upper Rhine. The event “Virtual reality in the BIM process – technologist, benefits and added value” will take place on November 5, 2019, in Karlsruhe. My topic: “Waldner.BIM.VR. // Virtual Reality as a planning and communication tool in laboratory engineering”.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Experience
/in EventsThe DDIM congress has been held annually since 2003 and has developed into the most important event of the entire Interim Management Industry in Germany. In the meantime, more than 300 guests regularly attend the event. Here Interim Managers, providers and guests from companies, science and politics meet. They gain insight into the latest market developments, listen to exciting impulse lectures and find opportunities for extensive networking in a variety of specialist discussions and workshops.
Five Quotes from my book “Chefsache Interim Management”
/in Professional articleHere you can read five important quotes from my book contribution “Agile B2B Sales in the age of Digitalisation” in the book “Chefsache Interim Management“.
New impulses through Interim Sales Managers: Resulting instead of Consulting
/in Professional articleInterim Sales Manager in medium-sized companies: Resulting instead of consulting!
How to make a successful business restart in times of digitalisation? Interim Sales Managers initiate new business models in the digital change and lead sales teams to old strengths and new successes. This is becoming increasingly important, especially for medium-sized businesses.
Autodesk University Germany 2019: BIM as the basis for process optimisation and new business models
/in EventsAutodesk University Germany is the conference for those who design and shape the world around us. On October 15 and 16, 2019, users, decision-makers and partners from the fields of mechanics and mechanical engineering, construction, and digital media and entertainment will meet at Autodesk University Germany in Darmstadt. At the invitation of Autodesk, Ralf H. KOMOR will give the lecture “BIM as a basis for process optimieation and new business models”.
Do not assign me until you have the answers to these seven Questions!
/in Professional articleDear interested parties and clients!
I want to find out if I am the right man for the job. For this purpose I have developed these questions over the course of time.
Please answer these seven questions for yourself before hiring me or any other Interim Manager.
Short explanation video: What exactly do I do?
/in VideosShort, concise and clear. In one minute you’ll understand: What do I do? What can you expect? How do I work?
Through the Independence I became a tiger on the hunt
/in InterviewsRalf H. Komor is an interim manager, book author and absolute B2B Sales professional. Clients from corporations to small and medium-sized businesses benefit from his 30 years of experience in national and international projects. He is recognised in the industry as a thoroughbred salesman and heads the DDIM.fachgruppe “Vertrieb & Marketing”. He is also co-author of the book project “Chefsache Interim Management”, which was published this year by Springer-Verlag.
In an interview with division one, Komor talks about his experiences that he has had in his previous self-employment as a temporary manager and reveals valuable tips for newcomers to the Interim Market.
Consulting vs. Interim Management – A panel discussion of the HEIDELBERG BUSINESS CLUB
/in EventsAt the invitation of the HEIDELBERG BUSINESS CLUB in the German-Chinese innovation centre “ZGC InnoHub” in Heidelberg on 4 July 2019 at 6.30 pm, Ralf H. KOMOR will take part as a discussant and representative of Interim Management in a panel discussion on this interesting topic: Management Consultancy vs. Interim Management.
Top Tips for Interim Managers and companie that want to hire Interim Managers
/in Professional articleNorrie Johnston, one of the leading British Interim Recruiters, shares his best tips for Interim Candidates. This quick checklist should hopefully give you the most answers.
INTERIM MANAGER: these questions, thoughts and tips can be used to help you prepare your presentation and plan the start-up phase of a mandate.
CUSTOMER: these questions, thoughts and hints can be used to prepare for the assignment of an interim manager.
Digitisation & Digitalisation – You Need To Know The Difference
/in Professional articleIn German there is only one term: digitalisation. In the Anglo-American language area, however, a distinction is made between “digitisation” and “digitalisation” (in the U.S.A.: digitization – digitalization). For once, our language is not as precise as English.
But what is the difference?
Disruptive Innovation: “Many have misunderstood the concept”
/in Professional article“Disruptive” and “innovation” – the two terms are often mentioned in the same breath, but they are also misunderstood and misused. Harvard professor Clayton Christensen is considered the inventor of the Theory of Disruptive Innovation. He is astonished that his theory is applied to all kinds of things. Neither Uber, nor Tesla, nor Airbnb are considered to be disruptive innovators.
Structuring Sales Success through Vertriebshygiene®
/in Professional articleI am totally convinced that the more agile a sales organization is to be, the more clearly the rules and scope must be defined. Rules and automatisms create freedom of manoeuvre. Only in this way is it possible for the local salesperson to quickly make clear statements to the customer’s purchasing team. This creates self-confidence in the employee, has a highly qualified effect and accelerates the decision-making process at the customer. This clear assignment of KPI-controlled implementation competencies is part of my concept of Vertriebshygiene®
New Business Models – BIM (Building Information Modeling) is the Key to the digitalisation of the traditional construction industry
/in Professional articleEveryone is talking about digitalisation. It is changing and presenting companies with new challenges. These are also reaching traditional industries, such as the construction industry. Here, digitalisation is driven primarily by a new methodology, Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, the effects of this are not yet fully foreseeable. What is certain, however, is that business models could and possibly must change.
Guest Contribution XING “Klartext”
/in Professional articleInterim Manager is not a “trend profession”. Its presence in the media is due to the fact that the shortage of managers in companies is becoming increasingly apparent. Due to the good economic situation in the DACH region, there is an ever higher fluctuation at director level and, in parallel, an ever shorter period of time spent by managing directors and board members. What opportunities and privations does this profession bring with it?
BIM and Digitalisation – Relevance for the manufacturing industry?
/in EventsThe increasing global importance of BIM – Building Information Modeling – and the resulting pressure for change for the entire value chain is no longer only omnipresent in the construction industry. Customer markets are changing as a result of the BIM methodology, and as a result, building suppliers, factory planners and planners of industrial plants must act. At the invitation of Autodesk GmbH, Ralf H. KOMOR discussed this topic at the event on 26 November 2018 at the BIM World in Munich.
The DDIM Specialist Group Sales & Marketing
/in InterviewsRalf H. KOMOR in an interview with Inés Carrasco, DDIM about the DDIM Sales & Marketing department. It was founded at the DDIM Congress in 2015 and with 10 Interim Managers is one of the larger specialist groups. The meetings take place three to four times a year with external guests and specialist presentations e.g. Sinus Milieus in B2B and Business Information Intelligence as a supplement to CRM.
Fit for the future: WALDNER Laboreinrichtungen uses the advantages of BIM
/in Professional articleIn the near future it should be possible to load all information from WALDNER products into BIM databases without any problems. However, we also use the necessary software to simplify, accelerate and make our internal processes more transparent. This initially requires a change in thinking and rethinking – but pays off in the long term.
Interim Management in Sales
/in Interviews“Global, agile, digital” is not only the motto of this year’s DDIM Congress, it also applies in particular to the Interim Managers from the sales department.
The ten expert groups of the Dachgesellschaft Deutsches Interim Management e.V. (DDIM) also includes the Sales and Marketing expert group. Ralf Komor, sales expert at Senior Executive/Director level and long-standing Interim Manager in this field, is head of the group. In times of digital change and changing market structures, he and his professional colleagues have particularly important tasks.
Fireside chat of WIRO e.V. with Ralf H. KOMOR
/in EventsFireside chat of the WIRO e.V.
At the end of November 2017, WIRO e.V. invited to a fireside chat with Ralf Komor of Komor Interim Management, an alumnus from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering at Rosenheim Technical University and a distinguished B2B Sales Specialist. In front of an audience of alumni, students and professors, Mr. Komor gave an exciting insight into the temporary management of companies and functional areas.