Today’s world is data-driven, especially when it comes to business. A constant stream of information regarding a company’s activity, employees, customers is available, and collecting it is only the first step. If you read our Sales Enablement Guide for 2021, then you know that leveraging data is part of the foundation for a successful Sales Enablement strategy. Here, we will go more into detail about why data is essential and how to use it as an asset when it comes to increasing your sales efficiency.
How to leverage your Data for Sales Enablement?
1. Set up standardized reports
2. Score your leads
3. Evaluate your acquisition channels
4. Measure the adoption of your content
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What is Data and why is it important?
We can safely say that nowadays data is at the core of nearly every business decision made. This comes from a simple principle: the best way to make decisions about the future is to look at what has worked (or not) and why in the past. In business, extremely large data sets can be analyzed to reveal trends, associations, or patterns: this is referred to as Big Data. It initially had three dimensions which have evolved into five, commonly known as the 5Vs of Big Data:
Volume
It refers to the size of the data set, which plays a crucial role in determining its value. If this volume is exceptionally large, it can be considered as Big Data.
Variety
it refers to the heterogeneous sources where data comes from and its nature (structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data)
Velocity
it refers to the rate of generation and accumulation of data as well as the speed at which it should be analyzed.
Veracity
it refers to the potential unreliability of data, which is inherent from different sources. A large number of sources may translate in a difficulty to control their quality and accuracy.
Value
it refers to the use that the Data collected has. Indeed, Data in itself is useless, it needs to be leveraged into something valuable to extract information.
A successful business in terms of Data Management should aim to maximize the 5V’s. In other words, it should leverage as much reliable data issued from various sources as fast as possible to obtain valuable information.
The smart use of Data is a crucial way to direct your Sales Enablement strategy as it will help you pinpoint what you are doing right as well as what you can improve. A data-driven sales enablement strategy can go as far as giving you a competitive edge as it is able to innovate, compete and capture value.
How to leverage your data for Sales Enablement?
The ability to collect, analyze and interpret the large amount of data collected is a vital component of managing an effective Sales Enablement strategy. There are a few ways to make data a true asset for your sales team and therefore encourage sales efficiency.
1. Set up standardized reports
One of the first measures that you should put into action if you want to benefit from the data available in your company is a standardized sales report. The goal is to quickly have a clear and concise overview of your business to extract valuable insights from. The content of these reports may vary from one company to another, but some indicators are common to all. We will go further into details and give some examples further in this article.
2. Score your leads
Today’s world grants salespeople an extended reach when it comes to finding new leads. Information, however, can sometimes be overwhelming: not every lead is necessarily suitable for your business, and sorting them out takes time. In this context, qualifying leads through lead scoring can be extremely valuable. To put it simply, a positive or negative score is attributed to companies or contacts to determine how much of a good fit they could be for your business. The score is based on data gathered from external or internal sources and configured to fit the company’s ideal persona profile. A few examples of characteristics that could be used to qualify leads are company size, geography, size of a certain team, or company growth.
3. Evaluate your acquisition channels
A sales process review is a thorough, data-based analysis of a business’ sales process to pinpoint areas where sales performance or sales efficiency could be improved. This kind of report will highlight points of disconnect that should be addressed by your company’s leadership. For example, imagine that your team generates a significant number of leads issued from inbound marketing every month, but few results in a closed deal. In this case, the number of incoming leads indicates an effective inbound marketing strategy whereas the low conversion rate indicates that your sales speech needs improvement or that your team isn’t properly trained to address new leads.
4. Measure the adoption of your content
Sales Enablement is at the cross-road of Marketing and Sales since the former is often creating branded content for the latter. Tracking content usage by salespeople or its impact on customer retention can be a valuable tool for Marketing. Indeed, they can measure the success of their content strategy and adapt it accordingly. This ensures that their work is always in sync with the Sales department and customer expectations
Key metrics & KPIs for Sales Enablement
As mentioned earlier in this article, Sales Enablement metrics and KPIs may vary from one company to another. The performance indicators that you should track and improve depending on your company’s industry, size, or strategic goals for example. However, here are some of the most common metrics that you will find when it comes to Sales Enablement:
- Average deal size : The average amount of money per deal closed in a set period of time.
- Overall win/loss rate : The percentage of sales opportunities won/loss.
- Competitive win/loss rate : The percentage of competitive deals won/loss. These are the deals in which you and a direct competitor are competing over the prospect.
- Sales cycle length : The amount of time between when a lead is generated to when the deal is closed
- Lead to conversion rate : The total amount of customers divided by the total amount of leads.
- Sales productivity : The total monthly sales revenue achieved divided by the number of sales employees
- Quota attainment :Total sales as a percentage of the quota set for a determined period of time
- Lead generation : The number of potential customers (leads) reaches out in a determined period of time
- Lead engagement : The click/response rate of leads that were contacted in a determined period of time
- Content usage : Percentage of content made available as sales collateral that is effectively used