It is all about asking the right questions
Every company has blind spots. Using your big data to help identify these spots is a good place to start addressing missed opportunities and avoidable profit losses, but more than that, you need to ask the right questions.
The following data-driven questions are the right questions. When you have answers, you will then be better positioned to develop strategies that address your business blind spots and achieve targets.
Strategy
- How can you quickly assess the potential of new products and markets? (What data do you already have on social media that could support claims?)
- How do your customers perceive your company and brands when compared with your competitors?
Marketing effectiveness
- How can you track the effectiveness of each campaign and channel from marketing through to sales? (This should identify previously unknown prospects.)
- Which companies are visiting your website but which do not respond to CTAs?
- How can you target and market to previously “unknown” prospects?
- How can you generate more qualified leads?
- What are the benchmarks across the industry? (Lead generation, sales, retention rates etc.)
Sales effectiveness
- Where you are losing prospects in your sales funnel? (and what is the potential revenue gain from improving the funnel?)
- If you need additional sales representatives, how many do you need to balance between revenue generation and missed sales?
- What subtle traits or qualities (according to the numbers) do your most successful sales reps have in common? And your least successful sales reps?
Know your competitors
- What information about your competition do you need to know? (Sales figures, social media analytics, brand awareness campaigns etc.)
- How can you obtain this information?
Growing your database
- What subtle characteristics do your best customers have in common? How can you leverage this to attract more such customers?
- What are the big gaps in your database?
- To what extent are duplicate records and inaccurate data interfering with your sales productivity (and marketing effectiveness)?
Recommended analyses
- Which quantitative methods can help you better score leads?
- Which advanced methods can help you target products to customers more accurately?
- What do you need to know about your current customers (but don’t)?
- What do you need to know about your potential customers (but don’t)?
Building a data-driven organization
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- What are the key challenges in improving your data-driven strategies?
- How can you overcome these challenges?
By using your data to develop strategies, you are more likely to understand how and why your business is connecting, and missing, certain segments of your target audience. B2B sales can sometimes feel limiting in certain industries, but with some real analysis and creative thinking, new audiences are often found which have been overlooked by your competitors. An organizational focus on data-driven analysis can help your business grow rapidly.
