Among sales and marketing leaders we meet, one of the hot button topics we hear about most often is the subject of sales analytics. Often the symptoms are heard ahead of the root cause:
- “My analyst team keeps generating reports, but few of them are actionable.”
- “There are too many spreadsheets with conflicting numbers and we wind up with multiple versions of the truth.”
- “My instincts are telling me this is the right decision, but I can’t get my hands on the right data to support the decision.”
A recent client engagement presented us with these very real questions to resolve. A software company with a sales force selling multiple products experienced rapid growth and quickly outgrew its “start-up” ways of management. The leadership team needed to understand how they could efficiently scale the business without a parallel increase to the cost of sales.
Rather than starting with a deep dive into the pain points (data integrity, report accuracy/relevance, analytics process, etc.) our approach was to first identify and understand the key business questions we were trying to answer in context of the company’s overall objectives. Only once we have a firm grasp of these objectives could we then move forward and develop a roadmap for delivering improved business intelligence. (more…)
May 10th, 2012
Click
We’re growing more accustomed to buying clothes and shoes online. The once intimidating experience of returns and exchanges through the mail has been streamlined and the customer service excellence of stores like Zappos has paved the way for increased trust and participation from mainstream consumers. Black Friday is eclipsed by Cyber Monday.
Even with all the refinements and convenience, online retailers, or e-tailers, tend to lack personal touch during the sales process. Either you already know what you want or… how many brown leather work shoes can you look at before your eyes cross and you click away to YouTube? And how likely are you to buy one of those pairs after you’ve given up? (more…)
April 24th, 2012
Accelerating the Sales Cycle: Lesson 3 – Keeping Score: How to Prioritize the Right Opportunities
In a previous post we discussed the advantages of mapping your sales process to your buyer’s purchasing decision process. From a sellers perspective, during the “qualify stage” we should be proactive in identifying whether or not the customer has intent to purchase measured by a specific timeline, a committed budget/resources and the authority to execute the transaction. Assuming we’ve done a thorough investigation of these areas, we then move the customer forward in the sales cycle by prioritizing our selling activities (primarily) driven by the timing of “when” the customer plans to make a purchase or the total dollar value.
It’s reasonable to assume that the deals that are scheduled to “close” earlier in your pipeline should be the ones that you focus the majority of your efforts around. Yet, month after month, quarter after quarter, your win/loss ratio remains stubbornly high and/or shows little improvement. (more…)
March 7th, 2012
In spite of the many technological changes that have directly impacted the effectiveness of telephone sales programs, (internet, mobility, caller ID, voice messaging, etc.), Telesales operations continue to maintain their position as a sales practice of choice for B2B sales organizations.
Given the continued and rapid changes in technology, Sales leaders must be proactive and learn how to effectively address the changing nature of telesales and the role it plays in their overall sales strategy. (more…)
November 11th, 2011
Whole Foods is doing it. The 5 nail salons down the street are doing it. The local outdoor shop is doing it (twice). Even the fanciest restaurant in town has succumbed to the pull of the daily deal. Are you starting to wonder if your business should jump on the daily deal bandwagon? And if you do decide to jump on, how can you effectively acquire and retain these new customers?
For the sake of research, I subscribed to nearly 30 daily deal, specialty, group buying and members only sites and then treated myself to groceries, dinners, manicures, outdoor gear and sailing lessons.
(more…)
November 11th, 2011
As we enter Q4, many organizations begin planning for the fiscal next year. At the top of every Sales Executives’ mind is “What are going to be my revenue targets and how am I going to achieve them?” That in turn poses the question, “How am I going to convert that into quotas for the sales reps?”
Calculating Sales quotas is a tricky science. When determining quotas, how do you know what will work best for your sales team? What is the best algorithm to use? How do you ensure they motivate the right behaviors? The quotas that you are preparing need to balance the need for the organization, but they also need to be attainable and motivating to the sales rep. How do you successfully achieve both? (more…)
October 10th, 2011
With the passing of Steve Jobs, the impact of Apple on our lives is well-documented, and in the travel space, its products have indirectly impacted how we plan and experience travel. Its spate of recent “iTravel” patent-filing may do so even more directly in the future.
What’s taken a temporary back seat in Apple news right now with Jobs’ death, albeit for good reason, is the new iPhone 4S and its clear focus on Siri’s voice platform.
For travel, we’re on the verge of another serious potential player in mobile and voice-based travel search along with Google’s emphasis on Android voice search and Microsoft’s integration of voice in Windows Phone, Xbox and Kinect. (more…)
October 7th, 2011
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