How connecting all your data helps you connect better with customers
Your company has data – lots of it. And you may even be using some of it to support your sales team. But if you don’t have an automated analytics system that pushes info and insights to them in the field, you’re not taking advantage of everything that data can tell you.
The solution? Give your sales force easy access to those insights, right on their mobile devices. It’s an approach that puts knowledge and analysis in the hands of the people who need it most: sales reps and their leaders. Here are 10 reasons a mobile analytics solution will help you drive sales.
1. It empowers reps to build relationships.
Pharma sales reps need to be very informed – even more so than the average salesperson. They’re dealing with ethical health care professionals who won’t be swayed by a discount, but want products that will genuinely help their patients and clients. Reps have to understand not just their products, but their customers.
Having current info on purchased products, purchasing patterns, product gaps, sales, billing, and call center logs provides a customer view that is both holistic and interactive, giving reps knowledge and insights that allow them to deliver real value. Instead of seeing the rep as someone who’s just there to sell, customers see them as a partner who “gets” their business and can help them meet their goals. Mobile analytics can mean the difference between a good meeting – and a great one.
2. It opens their eyes to opportunities.
There’s value in the data. But if a rep can’t see it, they may walk out of a meeting not even realizing they’ve missed an important opportunity. Imagine a customer sent in a complaint about the product, but it was siloed with customer service, and the rep didn’t see it. Then the rep comes to the meeting, doesn’t mention the complaint, and looks uninformed at best, and uncaring at worst. The customer feels ignored, and the relationship is negatively impacted – or lost.
Now imagine a slightly different scenario. The pharma rep comes into the same meeting with the same customer. After seeing the complaint in the mobile analytics dashboard earlier in the day, he or she proactively mentions it – and finds a way to fix it. The result is a happy client who feels heard and valued, and the relationship is strengthened.
3. It shortens the learning curve.
Pharma has a notoriously long ramp-up time for salespeople – it can take them months to get up to speed on complex products and clients. Combine that with high turnover, and you’ve got a recipe for a sales team that isn’t as knowledgeable as it should be. Mobile analytics cuts down the curve dramatically. Data tells salespeople what they should be doing, who they should be focusing on, and gives them easy access to customer and product information that makes them look informed and intelligent in meetings.
4. It helps target the right customers.
Sales history can be used by machine learning models to help reps understand a customer’s propensity to buy – they can be more efficient by engaging with customers at the right time. It also gives them a view into payment history, flagging those who are in arrears and ensuring time isn’t wasted selling to clients who haven’t paid their bills and aren’t in a position to purchase more product.
5. It helps reps to stand out from the crowd.
Having a holistic view of each customer, and that customer’s pain points, preferences and needs means each interaction has value for the client. The sales relationship becomes a partnership, differentiating the rep from your company from so many other faces in the crowd.
6. It enables planning.
Do you map out your week on Sunday night? A lot of people do – it’s a helpful way to get organized. But if your plan depends on getting information from a person, you probably won’t be able to get it until Monday – or even later in the week. With mobile analytics, reps don’t have to ask anyone to pull the data or help them understand what it means. That information is already on their screen. They can access info that determines who they should talk to that week – they’ll see where sales are highest or lowest, and understand where they should spend their time.
7. It motivates and engages.
Reps can see exactly how they’re doing at a glance, how they measure up against other reps, and even how they compare to other performers in the industry. And using data in the sales process is motivating in itself – once they see how effective it is as a sales tool, they’ll want to use it more, and their success – and the resulting engagement – will only grow from there.
8. Leaders can see the big picture.
Data and insights are valuable predictive tools. Aggregated data gives sales leaders a unified view into market penetration, sales performance, product placement, market share, territory trends, purchasing patterns and more. They can see how many calls reps are making and compare them to sales. They can get a picture of the competitive landscape. And they can make informed decisions based on those numbers, ID problem areas fast, and drill down into issues quickly and easily.
9. It helps companies compete.
Pulling in third-party competitive data gives leaders a chance to compare their own sales with competitor info to see a clear picture of how well they have penetrated a sales territory. Using these insights, sales leaders and reps can proactively change how they target that territory.
10. It’s a great coaching tool.
If the numbers for a specific salesperson aren’t measuring up, a leader can turn it into an opportunity for guidance and mentorship. With sales stats on hand, a sales leader can call in a rep and ask what they’re doing to sell, how they’re promoting products, how they’re managing leads, and then give them the tools they need to be more successful. It’s also useful information for performance reviews.
Salespeople aren’t data analysts – they’re in the relationship game. Mobile analytics finds them the info they need where and when they need it, levels the playing field for less experienced reps, and takes emotion and “gut instinct” out of the equation. It empowers them to provide value, build trust, and turn the “art” of sales into a precise science.
Find out how data analytics can help your specific organization of revenue leaders and field force reps, contact Gensquared for a data assessment today – we can power up your team in less than 60 days.