Data analytics fuelling sales effectiveness

As rapid technological advancements are reshaping the business scenarios in entirety, sales and marketing functions have also not remained untouched by this revolution and are undergoing major transformations. We all are aware that the basic-most entity which formulates the foundation of this industrial metamorphosis is ‘Data’ itself and with the evolution of data analytics, we have indeed set ourselves on a journey of smart business practices. No doubt, data has become the biggest asset and can be regarded as a new business currency in the realm of sales and marketing. While the concept of data analytics has been there for many years, it is now being leveraged much more widely.

Rise of Data Analytics:

Nuances of human mind knows no bounds and hence, be it the exploratory analysis of multi-dimensional data by leveraging neural networks or the transition from descriptive to predictive analytics by leveraging artificial intelligence, technology adoption has been the driving force behind the humungous volume of data. There is an increase in the number of organisations which are now making a shift to a data-driven digital infrastructure. This shift is creating new roles and re-inventing several organizational functions which specialize in meaningful analysis of data. This skimming of data assists the organizations in unearthing information which can be leveraged to strategize new business practices. Ultimately, all these practices provide a competitive edge to the organizations. Therefore, with its due role in boosting the sales outcomes, data analytics has become one of the most critical pillars for the growth of any enterprise. All the advancements, i.e. the progression from just ‘selling’ to ‘intelligent selling’ is predominantly the prerogative of data analytics.

Data analytics is now being adopted by both big and small enterprises and has no more remained an exclusive vantage for any specific segment. Today there are many more leverages of Data analytics in the sales domain and there has been a conscious logic behind this increased penetration. Data analytics is fueling sales effectiveness in ample ways, couple of them listed below:

Increasing the size of the pie is one of the prior-most requirement of any organisation and data analytics helps in unearthing that untapped customer base with the help of smart data extraction engines. Using artificial intelligence and analytics, these data extraction engines are realized. Thus, there is an increased market share potential for brands.

Identifying Purchase Probability by connecting the dots between the available set of data and the past purchase trends, the odds of positive selling can be figured out. Putting together this mechanism, we get a smart database access platform which can be used instead of the old-school static database which has an accuracy rate of 30% to maximum 60% (lesser in case of untapped customer base like SMBs).

Aiding campaign intelligence: Probability mapping when further bifurcated based on the factors such as area, industry, product etc. allows marketers to fine-tune their campaigns better and thus, have higher conversion ratio. Purchase propensity leveraging digital marketing and digital marketing analytics - probability further honed by propensity calculation increases the conversion rate by another 40%-50% thereby increasing effort to yield ratio – the biggest indicator of sales effectiveness. Also makes Digital marketing campaigns more measurable.

We are witnessing an increased rate of adoption in alignment with the dynamic industry needs. It is no more a ‘need of the hour’, and has evolved into an essential element for any organization which aims to sustain and accelerate growth. Providing organisations the perfect way to draw qualitative inferences and make effective decisions through strategic planning, data analytics has now become one of the core disruptors of the digital age. As per an industry report , the overall global big data market is expected to reach $81 billion with a CAGR of 17.6%; where the total revenue garnered for professional services will be $21 billion by 2022 and for streaming IoT based digital data and analytics will be $1.8B by 2022.

On the road to change

From assistance in defining and capturing the business objectives, harnessing smart analytics provides innovative business insights and creates real business value. Moreover, applying analytics across multiple data sources acts as a catalyst fueling the internet-of-everything philosophy. With all the progress around analytics and its impact on sales as a function – selling will soon become a game of change with constantly evolving set of insights.

Snehashish Bhattacharjee
Global CEO & Co-Founder, Denave