Did you know that companies that are actively using big data show 50% higher revenue growth rates than those that are not? Despite this, just 2% of sales leaders rate their relationships with their sales data an A- or better, while 38% give themselves below a C-. It’s no surprise that an industry that has traditionally been considered an art is struggling to adopt the scientific approach needed in today’s data-driven marketplace.
One of the most important and challenging steps to becoming a data-driven sales organization is making sure that everyone from BDR to VP truly understands, experiences and upholds the value of sales data. To help provide some guidance in this quest, we asked a few experienced sales leaders how they succeeded in creating a data-driven culture within their teams using Base. Check out their answers below.
“Think about what areas of the business you are trying to impact…”
Start with a goal and manage to that goal. Think about about what areas of the business you are trying to impact and how you can plan to reach those goals. Obtain buy-in from your sales leaders and stakeholders with data. Execute on your plan and work with the Base team to measure KPIs against your goal. Follow up with your sales leaders and stakeholders on progress and show your salespeople how these changes positively impact their bottom line!
Lauren Futris
Senior Project Manager, Sales Ops
Groupon
“Data is an assumption killer…”
The global marketplace is evolving faster than ever before. A “hit and miss” approach to sales doesn’t cut it anymore and we can no longer rely on “good relationships” to close the deal. Our customer interactions must delve beyond the surface – they must be relevant and meaningful. Data is key.
The information we gather in Base helps us design and manufacture products our customers want. It’s not about logging calls – it’s about our sales team capturing customer insights that assist key stakeholders in our business to make decisions that make a difference. Data is an assumption killer. Base gives us immediate insight into the needs of our customers; it’s a customer-centric approach to product evolution, sales and journey mapping.
Nikos Psaltopoulos
Head of Sales & Customer Innovation
Brand Collective
“Guide your team toward data-driven process improvements…”
It’s vital to review your current pipeline/process stages to ensure that they encompass actionable and significant steps in a deal. It seems pretty “no duh,” but establishing your first line of metrics, defined by stage changes and time spent in each stage, is the basis for a data-driven sales process.
Each stage title should describe the critical focus of that stage. In our case, our first stage is “Confirm Opportunity, Accept Deal.” By specifically identifying the critical steps of each stage, you can use stage change and length reporting in Base to inform your team of their individual opportunities for growth and guide your team toward data-driven process improvements.
Garrett Knight
Sales Team Lead
Expensify
“Schmoozing and gut instinct have been replaced…”
I believe the days of schmoozing and gut instinct have been replaced by understanding the data-driven behaviors and interests of customers and prospects in today’s competitive world. Base not only helped us track and analyze the real-time performance of sales teams but presented us with fact-based intelligence of our customers’ buying journey.
Yogesh Shah
Director of Sales
iResearch Services
“Human interaction can become data…”
I like to teach the team about how important talking to the customer and obtaining information is. The human interaction can become “data” for us on the tech side to learn from. Most of our sales team does not understand what it means to spot data trends. We try to get them to understand that the more information they feed into Base, the better data we can pull and ultimately the better lead sourcing our marketing team can push for. Which in the end means more qualified leads ending up in their Smart Lists.
Rob Mains
Sales & Marketing Leader
Vroom.com
“Track minute-by-minute the minutiae of each rep’s activities…”
“Before Base, we were waiting until the end of the month to pull reports for our sales team, and even then, we only had high-level stats. We live inside Base now because we can track minute-by-minute the minutiae of each rep’s activities to make sure our pipelines haven’t come to a screeching halt because we forgot to follow up and follow through.”
Dan Waldschmidt
Partner
Servosity
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Want more advice on how your sales team can become data-driven and start taking a more scientific approach to sales? Download our free white paper, Understanding the New Metrics of Sales.
The post Sales Leaders Share Tips to Building a Data-Driven Sales Culture with Base appeared first on Base CRM Blog.
