Karim Iskandar, Vice President International, OneSource Information Services discusses why sales professionals need to adjust to selling in the Internet age, and how valuable selling time will often give way to redundant research time if sales teams are not equipped with easily-accessible, accurate and relevant business intelligence.
Have you embraced the digital revolution?
The digital revolution has well and truly arrived and we are living in a more competitive business environment than ever before. In fact, some may say we have now reached an evolutionary phase and that the revolution is over. Whatever your viewpoint is, the fact remains that as with all revolutions, change is inevitable. Those that adapt to change and understand the rules and expectations in their new business environment will be those companies with the competitive edge; businesses that stand out from the crowd among those jostling in the competitive market for recognition.
If we define waste as any activity that consumes time, resources, or space but does not add any value to the product or service then we can say quite clearly that time spent searching, filtering and processing often unreliable information from disparate online sources falls well and truly into this definition. The Internet provides us with a wealth of information from which to find out more information about the people and companies we are meeting – a Google search can call up pages of data on companies, markets, competitors and even the key decision makers you are meeting, including profiles on social networking sites like LinkedIn, blogs they have been writing or tweets posted on twitter. Since the volume of information on the Internet doubles every 11 hours (Massachusetts Institute of Technology study) it easier than ever to drown in data, and waste time and money sourcing it. At the same time, too little information about a prospective new customer or even existing client can mean lost sales opportunities.
Less is more (reliable)
Providing too much information isn’t the only issue. Possessing the best quality data should be an absolute priority. Making decisions or using out of date or inaccurate information in a meeting will not help prove your understanding of the company, its markets and competitors and it will also make you look sloppy and unprepared.
Quite simply, obtaining accurate business information shouldn’t be burdensome and it certainly shouldn’t reduce valuable selling time. The adage ‘less is more’ is relevant here. It is possible to subscribe to a service that aggregates business information from traditional compiled data as well as information stored on social media networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Ideally the business information provider should employ an editorial team to mine the web for updates and subject all of the data to a rigorous, multi-step process to ensure that high quality is delivered in a single unified information service. Such services can be invaluable to anyone working in strategic sales or business decision making processes.
It’s worth remembering what author, management consultant and self-described ‘social ecologist, Peter F. Drucker, once said, “The fewer data needed, the better the information. And an overload of information, that is, anything much beyond what is truly needed, leads to information blackout. It does not enrich, but impoverishes.”
Reputation, reputation, reputation
Furthermore, a little in-house PR savvy will go a long way if adopted by sales teams. Reputation management is important to remember when making contact with any outside agency and existing or potential new customers. The business intelligence you have received prior to that first meeting will reflect on you and, as you put your reputation at stake, your credibility too. Having impressed the room with your knowledge and insight and identified several areas of their business that could benefit from your product or service, while reducing those all-important costs, you may have just demonstrated how a strategic partnership might be possible, clinching the deal in the process. Therefore, the delivery of accurate and timely business information is key to empowering successful, reputable and professional sales and marketing teams.
Where does the time go?
Of course, there has to be some kind of trade off – a balance between research and selling time. Recent information shows that this balance needs to shift and more time should be allocated to doing what you do best – selling.
The latest CSO Insights study into sales performance optimisation showed that sales reps spend 21 percent of their time on insight and lead generation. This marginal increase since 2006 (when it was 18 percent) highlights a continued issue with how effectively selling time is being used.
Knowing what information is required, where to source if from, how social networks can be effectively utilised and how this information fits in to the sales cycle is paramount for managing existing customers and for generating new business.
Targeting the best prospects
Many sales calls are made to prospects who are unlikely or expensive, as a cost of sale to convert to new business, or unlikely to be a profitable prospect. With the right information on company financials or size of the industry, for example, it is possible to segment the market and focus efforts on those companies that are best suited to the solution. It can also ensure that you don't target those companies who may end up being "high risk" and therefore not a good investment of your time.
Having customer data on the name of the manager responsible for a specific business function; the number of employees; and turnover, for example might be useful to refine the segmentation of your prospect list. This can save waste in marketing campaigns and ensure that you spend your time and energy (and your budget) phoning and visiting only those companies that are most likely to fit your 'ideal customer' profile. It also gives you a fast-track into the company, getting to the right person faster and showing that you've taken the time to research and understand the company and market.
Intercall Europe, a provider of conferencing services to businesses, estimated that it has saved £489,000 on time spent generating leads since it started using the OneSource Business Browser service.
Finding the right sales triggers
Access to accurate, reliable and timely information on markets and companies is critical for researching the prospect as well as for keeping up to date with business trends and market opportunities.
Being more selective about where to invest time can increase the chances of a win. By keeping track of updates and developments on the company, competitors, and markets for example, it’s easy to spot a reason to make a call to a fresh prospect, move further along the sales cycle or even up-sell with an existing client. We call these sales triggers. A sales trigger might include targeting organisations that have just received a cash infusion, or responding to opportunity resulting from M&A activity or even a key executive change that could suggest time for a review of performance or strategy. All of these events can trigger a response at any stage in the sales cycle that could make a positive difference to turning the prospect into a customer. It makes sense to keep track of potential sales triggers.
Right Time Right Place
Having the right information is important, but it needs to be accessible at the right time as well. Sales triggers are an important example of the importance of timeliness of data. Simply having access to information is not enough. It needs to be integrated into the business workflow, regardless of whether that is a CRM system or a database of prospects.
Understanding of how to combine and interpret disparate kinds of information from different sources will be necessary. If you don't have this expertise in house, it is advisable to seek the help of information consultants who can analyse the data that already exists internally with what is needed from external sources to drive strategy or provide a tactical plan for what information is needed during specific operational processes. In this way, waste is minimised and the benefits of actionable information can be immediately realised.
In this fast-moving constantly-changing market, business solution providers are tasked with delivering business intelligence from a multitude of online and offline sources in a format that can be easily integrated into existing databases or systems and leveraged by sales professionals at key stages of the sales lifecycle. A reputable business information provider will already have verified the accumulated data from trusted sources to give you the right amount of relevant information at the right time during the sales cycle. The use of the Internet for maintaining your competitive sales edge then becomes less of a hindrance and more of what it was intended for – to help.
Karim Iskandar is Vice President International of OneSource Information Services, a company that provides sales and marketing professionals with actionable insight from business information –OneSource consolidates content from over 50 world-class suppliers, new media, and social networking sources to provide unparalleled data accuracy and information depth, delivered through the Web, CRM, enterprise applications, and portals. UK customers include: O2, HSBC, Ernst & Young, Eversheds, Penna Consulting, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and AXA PPP Healthcare.