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- Siemens combines the real
world with the digital world

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in ways that empower our
customers to make better decisions

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and create sustainable
industrial innovation.

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Traditionally, our main focus
has been on using field sales

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to build customer relationships,

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primarily with scope on large
and mid-size corporations.

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Meanwhile, the SME customer
segment was partly covered

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with field sellers focused
on the upper end of SMEs.

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A few years ago, we
developed a growth strategy

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based on scaling up our customer base

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to better cover long tail and SMEs

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that can benefit from
our integrated hardware

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and software solutions.

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To proactively connect
with these smaller firms

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and efficiently serve
this broad SME market,

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we recognized a need

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to augment our existing
field sales operations

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with new inside sales capabilities.

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That meant we would have to
hire and train the right people,

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support them with the
best technology and tools,

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set up effective KPIs and incentives,

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and get the broader organization on board.

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For support getting all
these success factors right,

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we turned to BCG.

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- Traditional field sales
practices are often still based

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on personal relationships
and gut feelings,

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and this can be a smart way
to serve large accounts.

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Inside sales, however,
can be a more effective

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and efficient channel for
serving the SME market.

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Inside sales lends itself
to a data-driven approach

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using automation and other digital tools

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to support various systematic
transactional activities

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in ways that can increase conversion rates

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and compress cycle times.

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Inside sales also gives
companies the ability

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to reach customers using a low-touch

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but high-frequency approach.

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In our experience, a properly organized

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and motivated inside sales team

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using standardized tools and processes

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can have more customer interactions

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and greater productivity
than field sales reps.

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- The first two big issues we faced

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were figuring out the
inside sales processes

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and selecting the initial countries

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where the inside sales reps
would focus their efforts.

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BCG's expertise and
knowledge of best practices

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were very helpful as we
worked closely together

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to choose the target markets,

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selected the inside sales hub location,

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developed the end-to-end sales processes,

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and defined the entire operating model

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for the inside sales operation.

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Based on all these steps, we
figured out the customer base

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and created a strong
overarching business case.

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Once we had the customer base

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and the volume and
productivity targets in place,

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BCG helped us define the number

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of inside sales reps we needed,

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and supported us throughout the hiring

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and recruiting process.

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Together, we worked to define roles,

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build compensation structures,

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and find talent with
inside sales experience,

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an engineering background,
and native speaking ability

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to serve customers in our
initial target countries.

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- We helped Siemens HR
conduct over 100 interviews

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so that the initial cohort
of inside sales reps

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could be hired within three months

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after posting the job openings.

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We also defined an effective
training and onboarding package

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for this new role, which
enabled the sellers

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to quickly start conducting customer calls

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and the inside sales hub
to begin booking orders.

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- Together with BCG, we co-created
the inside sales function

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using a cross-functional approach

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that incorporated the views
of all essential stakeholders,

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including the countries, business units,

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marketing, finance,
human resources, and IT.

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This collaborative development method

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helped us achieve buy-in and alignment

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across the organization.

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It also enabled us to
increase transparency

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and provided useful guidance
for making important decisions.

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With our new inside sales capabilities,

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we have managed to increase
our coverage in the SME market.

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The plan now is to scale the benefits

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of this approach globally.

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(bright upbeat music)