Featuring:
Phil Harrell, VP, Senior Research Director
Show Notes:
The way many B2B sales organizations operate is out of sync with how buyers buy today. Smaller deals, subscription-based purchasing, and a preference for online self-service leaves less room for one-off blockbuster deals that singularly pull sales organizations over their number. What’s needed instead? An insights-driven sales system that combines prowess with process and helps everyone succeed.
As Vice President and Senior Research Director Phil Harrell explains on this episode of What It Means, an insights-driven sales system relies first and foremost on defined processes. For example, how will sales follow up on leads from marketing? How are new clients handed over to customer success teams? Once processes are in place, sales leaders need to think through the technology required to support them. For example, integrating sales technology with marketing and customer success tech stacks so that teams have a clear end-to-end view of customers.
The third component of the insights-driven approach is, unsurprisingly, insights. “It’s not enough just to have data,” says Harrell. “The challenge for organizations is to mine that data and surface insights that will help decision-makers and reps make better decisions.” These include insights into the web pages prospects have browsed before talking with a sales rep or insights into customer behavior that may help predict churn.
This isn’t to say that talent is no longer important: It is. “But sales leaders need to emphasize process, infrastructure, and talent to make more of their talent successful,” says Harrell. “You want to put that playbook in place.”
Listen to the full episode to learn more about adopting an insights-driven sales system.
