How to Use Data to Increase Sales

If you’re looking for direction toward better sales, look to your data. Customer feedback is data your sales team can rely on to increase sales, improve results, and boost productivity.

Sales has always relied heavily on intuition. Salespeople research possible customers, then engage them to gauge their interest. Things are changing in today’s data-driven age, however. Analytics and technology have changed how sales departments think about their jobs. Intuition is no longer the sole strategy when conducting the sales process: Data has become just as important – and for good reason.

Faced with a rapidly changing market and the rising costs of acquiring new customers, companies need effective tools to respond better. A study of more than 100 sales organizations around the world has found just 53% of high-performing companies consider themselves effective users of analytics, however. That leaves room for others to close that gap, as data is one of the most effective tools available for insights into customer preferences, competitor activity, company-wide campaigns, and market changes. 

Relying on guesswork is simply not an option for savvy company founders because it leaves them vulnerable to data-savvy competitors. Here’s what to know about how data can increase sales.

The sales data you should start tracking now

The usefulness of your analytics depends largely on capturing the right information in the first place. Here are the useful metrics you should be tracking:

• Total revenue: How much revenue your sales team is generating

• Sales by lead source: Where your sales is coming from and whether the lead generation sources are bearing fruit

• Revenue per sale: How much revenue is gained from every sale

• Total sale by time period: How your sales team is performing (either better or worse) over time

• Revenue by product: How much income is generated by each product, service, or product line that you sell

• Sales per prior activity: How many sales were made by each prior activity (email outreach, in-person meeting, phone call, etc.)

• Percentage of revenue per new business: How much new revenue comes from new customers

• Market penetration: How your product or service is being used by customers compared to the total market

• Year-over-year growth: How your sales team is growing compared to the previous year

• Average customer lifetime value (LTV): The average income you can expect from one customer throughout the length of the business relationship

• Percentage or revenue from existing customers: How much money is made from existing customers through selling, cross-selling, upselling, etc.

• Number of sales lost to competition: The number of sales lost to competition within a given time period

• Net promoter score (NPS): The degree to which people would recommend your business to others

• Cost of selling as a percentage of revenue generated: How much your company is spending to generate sales

• Percentage of sales reps attaining 100% quota: How many sales reps in your team are meeting their targets

• Revenue by market: How much money the sales team is making by market

• Revenue by territory: How much money your sales team is generating in each territory

With these metrics, it would only take a glance to know what is happening in the sales department. This allows you to adjust as necessary to improve your overall productivity.

How to use data to boost your sales

When you set up your sales team to leverage data in their operations, the result is often a better closing rate. Here are tips on how you can go about that:

1. Align your sales team goals to the company’s mission statement

When the sales team is aligned with the company, it becomes clear which sales data are the most important to pursue. Your team also learns the goals to prioritize, which data can help them, and what each member needs to focus on to stay in alignment with the overall mission.

2. Establish and maintain a sales methodology

When your sales team follows a set process for making sales, it becomes easy to see which parts of the process work. Your data gains context and grows even more useful as you use it to perfect your sales strategy.

3. Leverage existing data to inform your sales strategy

Your existing data includes valuable insights on customer behavior and preferences. Tap into this goldmine when building your sales strategy to increase effectiveness and the likelihood of success for your sales team in the field.

4. Use a CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) software can help track customer and prospect activity, create reports on that data, automate routine tasks, conduct follow-up, and update contacts. It’s a must in today’s fast-paced, data-driven world.

5. Share best practices

Your sales team should always be exchanging best practices with each other to improve their overall strategy. This strengthens morale, acts as a means of sales coaching, and helps with the compilation of useful data and analytics.

Contact MetaGrowth Ventures to grow your team

MetaGrowth Ventures is a sales consultancy service that helps founders stuck in founder-selling get out of that space. We provide the tools and expertise needed for building the world-class sales to scale their businesses, training personnel to exceed expectations, and tracking team members’ progress to ensure they always deliver.

If you need tried, proven expertise on how to use data to increase sales, contact MetaGrowth Ventures today.