It is essential for the marketing and sales teams to conduct an analysis of their strategies as well as their performance in order to identify areas for improvement. Utilizing sales analytics as a method of measurement is one approach. The use of analytics has permeated nearly every aspect of modern life, from determining the quickest route to work to predicting trends in the stock market.
Analytics can also assist in the development of strategies for sales and marketing teams, it is beneficial to gain knowledge of sales analytics and how to apply them.
In this article, we will first define sales analytics, then explain why they are important, and finally discuss the various types of sales analytics available, along with some helpful hints on using them to increase the sales ratio.
The practice of using sales analytics as a method for predicting trends in sales and modeling one’s own sales process is becoming increasingly common among businesses. Analytics typically involve the use of technology that can collect and measure sales data.
It is helpful for marketing and sales teams to define metrics for sales analytics at the beginning of a marketing campaign. This allows for the most accurate tracking of their performance and progression throughout the marketing campaign.
The term sales analytics has been around for some time. Companies have been making use of it for a number of years in order to optimize the various stages of the sales cycle. However, the majority of them are only scratching the surface when it comes to the potential of intelligent sales analytics.
Benefits of Sales Analytics
The marketing team can take advantage of many assistances offered by sales analytics, including the ability to:
Optimize the Sales Funnel
The activities that a buyer engages in from the time they make their initial contact with your company until they make a purchase are referred to as the sales funnel. A detailed examination of each stage, followed by the implementation of a few targeted refinements.
These refinements are proven as one way to help the overall process reach its full potential. It is also possible for sales analytics to assist in the automation of certain processes, such as prospecting, which enables sales representatives to concentrate solely on the act of closing sales.
Increase Efficiency in Sales
Utilizing sales analytics allows for the optimization of the sales funnel as well as the improvement of the sales process, both of which contribute to increased efficiency. This is accomplished through the automation of workflows, the facilitation of team member collaboration, and the reduction of the amount of time spent on individual tasks.
The ability to recognize patterns in lead generation is one of the capabilities of the sales effectiveness analytic. These patterns can include the type of content that consumers are most likely to interact with. The marketing and sales team can now generate leads more quickly and produce similar content more frequently.
Identify Strength and Weakness
The use of sales analytics, such as the performance of a team, can assist in determining which sales practices are most successful. Marketing teams and sales representatives are able to review the process and its success on an individual stage basis.
For instance, marketers can collect analytics about the content that consumers interact with as opposed to content that gets very little interaction and then use this information to create content that is more engaging.
Boost Sales Productivity
In order to be successful, sales representatives always need to be on their toes. The sales process is typically very complicated. Between generating leads and actually making a sale, there are many obstacles to overcome.
When it comes to sales, data analytics can assist managers in shortening the length of the sales cycle by pointing out areas that need improvement. Analytics not only helps salespeople increase their productivity by an average of 20 percent, but it also helps them decrease the amount of lost revenue in the sales pipeline.
Identify New Sales Opportunities
As a company expands, its products undergo transformations and new avenues of commercialization open up. Monitoring sales data provides businesses with the ability to better understand how their products fit within various markets and sectors. The historical data gives salespeople the ability to define their customer base and identify opportunities to upsell and cross-sell products and services.
Plan Effective Sales Targets
Data on sales, including closed deals, qualified opportunities, and length of sales cycles, collected over the course of a year or even a quarter can significantly improve a company’s ability to strategically plan for and achieve their sales goals. The use of predictive analysis makes it possible to estimate future sales revenues and to establish individual goals based on the performance of your sales team.
Improve Customer Acquisition
It is difficult to create personalized customer journeys without first gaining insights into how customers behave. There are numerous touchpoints throughout the customer journey, and these touchpoints can be improved by tracking factors such as the amount of time spent on a specific website, the tone used during the call, and the response rate. Customer analytics enables salespeople to make more pertinent recommendations, and more than 44 percent of businesses use it to acquire new customers.
Incentivize Sales Teams
The most effective way to motivate sales teams is to offer them incentives. However, if you do not keep accurate records, you cannot reward their performance. Businesses are better able to fairly incentivize their sales teams when they record sales activities and the outcomes of those activities. The use of analytics can simplify the management of payroll and assist managers in determining the most effective sales commission structure.
Increase Customer Retention
Every company has the goal of increasing their Customer Lifetime Value because it is five times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing one. And this is exactly what you can accomplish with the assistance of sales analytics. The number of accounts that are churned can be reduced by identifying the potential stages of account cancellation and by taking preventative actions.
