The Power of Sales Analytics

by Andris A. Zoltners

profits could increase by 16 percent if the sales team expanded the number of calls to high-value, responsive industries and reduced or eliminated calls to low-value,

Sales approach

consultative sales approach: they engaged customers more often and asked questions that led to customer understanding and better product recommendations.

insight mind-set,

requires processes and tools that allow both proactive analysis and flexible, quick responses to sales force queries.

merging data from multiple sources.

Designing Sales Force Effectiveness Drivers

environment evolves and diagnosis reveals opportunities for improvement.

Sales force size and structure

Hiring and training

hiring profile,

Incentives and goal setting

goal-setting process

design need creative problem-solving, project management, consulting, and change management skills.

the sales analytics function has earned the respect of top leaders and of other departments

minimize customer and organizational uncertainty and avoid a drop

Fact-based decision making

collected and organized data

Speed

Communication

300 meetings with over 500 company managers,

Proactive,

helps sales leaders set priorities for what to do,

effectively estimating account potential

Build an integrated database.

Develop initial estimates of accou...

Use sales force input to improve estimates and estima...

Account profile data, such as the account name, location, and type of business