5 ways to improve sales performance with analytics
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:09 am
According to a 2015 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study*, 33% of organizations fail to meet their sales targets, often due to poor data quality, difficulties in accessing it and limited skills to analyze it.
“Companies considered data accuracy (53%) and the ability of analytics platforms to integrate with existing systems (38%) to be the most important features of sales data analytics applications. However, these were also most frequently cited as the main limitations of their current systems, by 37% and 34% of respondents, respectively,” the study notes.
Previously, an April 2014 report from the Aberdeen Group titled “Sales Analytics: Data-Driven Prediction for Better Quota Attainment” divided respondents into “leaders” and “followers” and found that “56% of high-performing companies provide self-service analytics to employees.
The findings suggest that due to increasing global belize number data connectivity and technological advancement, sales will likely become even more data-driven in the future, and that sales leaders will continue to capitalize on these trends.
Do what leaders do
There are five ways to use sales analytics to gain insights to improve sales performance:
1. Gain improved customer insights
Sales analytics goes beyond CRM data on leads, contacts, and accounts to find relevant, historical data from a variety of internal and external data sources. This provides insight into real-time customer behavior to determine:
What are the best products to offer this customer or prospect?
Are there similar customers who have the same purchasing behavior?
What is the potential revenue impact of a specific deal?
How can I grow the deal?
What is the estimated sales cycle for this deal based on historical information?
2. Use historical trends to determine the best customers and the best offers
Sales analytics tools provide trend reports based on months and years of data.
This provides a more accurate means of determining whether the deal will close, allowing you to focus time and resources on deals and customers.
3. Rely on analytics to uncover patterns and forecast accurately
Sales analytics tools include mathematical models based on past purchasing behavior and other information.
Rank factors such as probability of winning, what products to sell, expected revenue, and sales cycle time.
Account target lists can be based on current successful accounts and the most promising prospects.
4. See data more clearly and effectively
View data from disparate sources in a holistic analytics environment.
Use visual analytics to present information in a streamlined and intuitive way, such as dynamic reports or customizable dashboards.
Look for a platform that “slices and dices” data without IT help to make more informed decisions faster.
5. Let it go
Demand analytics that delivers the same out-of-the-box functionality on any device, whether you're working from your laptop or your phone.
Create, view, and share applications anywhere, drilling down to the detail level of a transaction in any dimension.
Gain customer insights anytime, on any device, to work at the speed of business.
Uncover the full story inside your data with Qlik. Learn more here .
*Unique Selling Points: Separating Sales Leaders from the Herd Johnatan Hopner / Charles Ross, Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, July 2015.
“Companies considered data accuracy (53%) and the ability of analytics platforms to integrate with existing systems (38%) to be the most important features of sales data analytics applications. However, these were also most frequently cited as the main limitations of their current systems, by 37% and 34% of respondents, respectively,” the study notes.
Previously, an April 2014 report from the Aberdeen Group titled “Sales Analytics: Data-Driven Prediction for Better Quota Attainment” divided respondents into “leaders” and “followers” and found that “56% of high-performing companies provide self-service analytics to employees.
The findings suggest that due to increasing global belize number data connectivity and technological advancement, sales will likely become even more data-driven in the future, and that sales leaders will continue to capitalize on these trends.
Do what leaders do
There are five ways to use sales analytics to gain insights to improve sales performance:
1. Gain improved customer insights
Sales analytics goes beyond CRM data on leads, contacts, and accounts to find relevant, historical data from a variety of internal and external data sources. This provides insight into real-time customer behavior to determine:
What are the best products to offer this customer or prospect?
Are there similar customers who have the same purchasing behavior?
What is the potential revenue impact of a specific deal?
How can I grow the deal?
What is the estimated sales cycle for this deal based on historical information?
2. Use historical trends to determine the best customers and the best offers
Sales analytics tools provide trend reports based on months and years of data.
This provides a more accurate means of determining whether the deal will close, allowing you to focus time and resources on deals and customers.
3. Rely on analytics to uncover patterns and forecast accurately
Sales analytics tools include mathematical models based on past purchasing behavior and other information.
Rank factors such as probability of winning, what products to sell, expected revenue, and sales cycle time.
Account target lists can be based on current successful accounts and the most promising prospects.
4. See data more clearly and effectively
View data from disparate sources in a holistic analytics environment.
Use visual analytics to present information in a streamlined and intuitive way, such as dynamic reports or customizable dashboards.
Look for a platform that “slices and dices” data without IT help to make more informed decisions faster.
5. Let it go
Demand analytics that delivers the same out-of-the-box functionality on any device, whether you're working from your laptop or your phone.
Create, view, and share applications anywhere, drilling down to the detail level of a transaction in any dimension.
Gain customer insights anytime, on any device, to work at the speed of business.
Uncover the full story inside your data with Qlik. Learn more here .
*Unique Selling Points: Separating Sales Leaders from the Herd Johnatan Hopner / Charles Ross, Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, July 2015.