A recently published Deloitte survey shows that around 67 percent of executives are not comfortable accessing data and analytics. Therefore, they tend to come out with all kinds of excuses stating data analytics does not offer enough Return over Investment (ROI).
Data analytics is here to unveil relevant insights to boost profitability and increase revenue while improving the brand of your business. The right utilization of data analytics will not only help the sales team discover new target audiences but also discover new areas for future growth.

The truth is, most sales leaders do not have clarity on the ROI of their investments.
Despite understanding the principle involved, sales leaders prefer sticking to their old routine rather than learning how they can utilize data analytics. The truth is, not every leader of an organization has optimized their opportunities in carrying out analytics projects.

Fast forward to today, the advancement in data analytics has turned on its heads. This means sales leaders can now use data analytics and change the sales and marketing landscape. With the latest advances in data analytics, organizations can now equip their teams with workflows to drive sales revenue.

How data analytics can drive sales ROI?
Data analytics allows organizations to see the full picture. However, getting a grip on analytics is still a challenge. But here are a few bedrock strategies that won’t fail you.

Try digital, enable everything that matters for every sales rep 
Most often we find organizations with excellent operational strategy but tend to fail when applying the same strategy to sales. A misconception which states that sales often tend to be motivated only through incentives is an understatement.

This needs to be replaced by enabling a highly active and effective sales strategy. It can be overcome by drawing attention to certain metrics that matter. For instance, conversion rate, size of the pipeline, and incentives that are aligned with the organization’s overall vision of transforming businesses.

Sales leaders must start focusing on data analytics capabilities to drives sales ROI.
Data analytics can help companies prioritize their actions. Customized dashboards provide transparency, drive efficient selling prices, and boost performance management. Advanced analytics tools are needed to accelerate solutions across organizations.
When problems occur, that is when organizations realize they don’t have the right people working with the right deal. Such type of situation forces companies to develop tools like CRM systems. Therefore, providing people with the right set of tools to deliver profitable results.

Engage with data for personalization
Top organizations across the globe stress to build frontline capabilities when any type of transformation takes place. However, this needs to be applied within their channel partners and sales force; otherwise, they’ll be left with no hope of utilizing any new tool or approach to establish positive results.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that these leaders now utilize data analytics to highlight which skills to teach and whom to teach. The tool is used to identify the skills of the topmost performer, thus, highlighting the skill gaps.
As a result, companies now realize that identifying and building frontline skills is the core key to sustainable business transformation. However, prioritizing each skill is a challenge, since businesses need more skills. This is where sales leaders turn to data analytics.

Consider insights every sales rep needs

Despite the swaths of data generated using advanced analytics, the organization yet fail to transform the data into sustainable revenue.

Most of the frontline managers’ distrust data analytics will help improve decision making. One of the most common complaints received is that the tool acts as a black box and managers simply lack the knowledge to understand everything it suggests.
Sales revenue will improve only when people start having a deeper understanding of using advanced data analytics. Organizations that have already incorporated data into their operations showed greater productivity rates. A car manufacturer is a perfect example of managing frontline needs. Most of the car dealer networks work autonomously in terms of making decisions on stocking and product configuration. Which means, 2000 dealers, 2000 decisions – thus, everybody gets to decide which stock to take. Such decisions could be highly optimized if only the data were used efficiently. Now to upgrade the stock at the dealership, one of the manufacturers combined all data into the specific car configuration. This included the car color, trim, and the type of engine that was purchased within the network. Further on, they could gather data by calculating the optimum mix of stock based on customer appeal and profitability.

The gathered information could easily be updated in real-time as they keep generating sales. Insights were then demonstrated to the dealer to boost the process and to keep them updated. Therefore, providing insights on which car to order next. Within nine months the adoption rate had a staggering growth of 80 percent.

What’s different?
Previously, even though companies were clear about the outcome, they forgot to take the dealer’s opinion into accountability. However, this time around, it was different. The tools used to deliver insights were built hand-in-hand with the dealers themselves to give them a clearer view of the information valuable to them. Both the manufacturer and the dealers understood what the company expects from them. Most importantly, data analytics unlocks the power to deliver drastic growth in sales.