What is Sales Intelligence?

Knowing an account inside and out has always been the key to success in making a sale, but the time it takes to get to that point is not only precious, but also far from minimal. In this economy more than ever, sales teams are on overdrive trying to make ends meet and hit their numbers. Time previously spent researching and preparing is being sacrificed to make more phone calls: the brute force sales method. More cold calls does not always equal more sales, especially if they are not prepared for; you can’t force your prospect to become your customer. Sales intelligence can alleviate all of these issues that hinder your success.

But, as always, preparation is time-consuming. And the troubles do not end there; all research is NOT created equal. Raw research is not optimized for use by sales reps; it must be aggregated, organized and delivered to reps “in a manner that is unobtrusive and within the daily workflow.” In other words, reps cannot and should not be creating their own sales intelligence.

The Aberdeen Group did a study on the impacts of external sales intelligence on sales success in their report, “Sales Intelligence: The Secret to Sales Nirvana.” Aberdeen defines sales intelligence as “external content that is sourced from a third-party and used to supplement, not replace, internal assessments of sales performance.”

Of the more than 300 organizations Aberdeen surveyed, 76% of them indicate that they use sales intelligence, and 59% of them said that the current state of the economy is the “prominent factor” in deciding to incorporate sales intelligence into the sales process. Incorporating sales intelligence is not only a time saving strategy but also proves its ROI by “enrich[ing] leads in the sales pipeline.”

Obtaining and delivering sales intelligence to reps is only the first (and easiest) step in correctly utilizing research to achieve the best sales results. In order to see numbers rising and to justify the investment, reps need to be educated on how to process the information they are given, do it in a timely manner, and get in the habit of using the tools they are given. The difference in success when sales intelligence tools are used properly versus when they’re not is tremendous…

- Carolyn Sebasky
carolyn . sebasky@salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 107