Recently, we’ve witnessed an explosion of data, especially in the B2B space. However, no matter how much data you collect, it means nothing if you don’t know how to turn it into actionable insights.

This means that besides capturing data, you also need to know how to use it to its fullest potential. That’s exactly what it means to be data-driven – knowing what data to collect, how to collect it, and how to utilize it once it’s gathered.

There are many elements of your organization that can benefit from a data-driven approach, and sales are one of them. Your sales teams need to track different metrics in order to measure their performance and they need customer data in order to make smarter decisions and achieve their sales goals.

A data-driven approach to more accurate predictions and more precise forecasting, helping sales reps make more informed decisions that lead to higher conversion rates and faster revenue growth.

Here are 5 ways you can use data to improve your sales.

Get the right tools

The first step to implementing a data-driven sales strategy is getting the right tools. You need to invest in the resources that will help your sales reps do their job efficiently and effectively.

Your sales reps need tools that combine automation with predictive capabilities in order to make the best of the data they collect. 

When looking for sales engagement software, choose the one that offers robust data management and allows your sales reps to make the most out of every interaction with leads. With repetitive tasks out of the way, they can use the power of centralized databases to optimize their workflow and focus on selling. 

These tools can help align marketing and sales efforts, improve sales execution, and drive revenue. They also allow you to use dashboards to visualize data and gain actionable insights into the sales process.

Set shared goals

Everybody in your sales department should share common visions and goals. What’s more, your sales team should also be aligned with your marketing department. They should all be on the same page regarding the relevant metrics and performance indicators they should track in order to measure efficiency.

Successful companies that use big data succeed not because they have better data or collect more of it, but because they have a clear and unified vision of what success looks like.

Simply gathering data without knowing what you want to measure won’t really give you the best results. You need to know exactly how the data you’re collecting will help you predict and optimize sales outcomes.

Offer more efficient training

Hiring the right inside sales representative for your team is really important, and so is their onboarding and training.

However, many companies don’t even have a formal sales training strategy. In order to perform well and learn how to sell, your sales reps need to be educated and supported through the sales process.

With the help of technology, you can implement a data-driven education strategy. It can help you determine which training materials yield the best results and deliver dynamic and personalized training content to your sales reps.

A data-driven approach can also be used to analyze and track sales rep’s performance and determine if they need additional training in order to achieve expected results.

Provide sales reps with relevant content

When it comes to content, it’s only as successful as the number of views, shares, and downloads it generates. However, many companies don’t really track content performance data.

This often results in delivering irrelevant content to the leads that are unlikely to convert them into customers. The best way to avoid this is by using relevant KPIs to determine which content performs the best.

Once your marketing team has this information, they can work on producing similar content that can help the sales team close deals. The key is to create a continuous feedback loop between the sales and marketing team and empower content creation with data to achieve the best sales results.

Tweak sales strategy

Tracking sales metrics is equally, if not even more important, than tracking content metrics.

In order to gain actionable insights and track the performance of sales reps, sales leaders need to know which data to collect. With relevant data and metrics, they can make better decisions and improve the sales strategy depending on what worked the best in the past.

KPIs such as sales cycle length, conversion rates, average deal size, call rates, and deal response time can be extremely useful and help not only track current progress but tweak sales strategy in the future.

Wrapping up

A data-driven approach is essential for every sales team that wants to understand exactly what factors impact the success of their sales strategy and what changes should be made in order to improve sales performance.

Follow these tips to use the full potential of data to optimize your sales strategy.